What's the WORST comic buying decision you ever made???

[dgarthwaite-migration]

One art regret I have was passing on a Manara "Little Red Riding Hood" storyboard art for a TV commercial. It was $1,000 and I only owned a few cheap pages of comic art at the time. If the opportunity had still been available a few years later I would have bought it without thinking twice.

 

DG

[asr0462]

Not buying triplicates of all the Walking Dead issues so I could pay off my student loans.

[The-Collector]

How about not buying Gobbledygook 1 at a garage sale for a dollar because I didn't know what it was...?

 

 

I'm sorry, man. Hearing that makes me hurt too.

 

Ouch!!

 

Not sure if I posted in this thread already. Mine was a copy of ASM 15 in gd- from mile high comics when I was 13. My parents took me to America for my birthday that year and I took all my savings with me. (and no my parents were not rich they had saved for a long time as i was absoluetly obsessed with america). I paid about 50% over fair market value. It was a tough lesson to learn when i got back to australia and checked prices but on the holiday I was estatic. I still have it. And wouldn't sell it for 10x fmv.

[The-Collector]

That Gold sticker is the only thing that keeps you from knowing if "She"'s pre or post op

 

Rofl

[bb8]

I paid $20 for a copy of Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 back in 1993. I was 11 and figured it was a lot, but it would only go up in value since Bruce wasn't going to be recovering from a broken back anytime soon.

 

:: Classic.

[jimbo_707]

Probably all the Star Comics I bought off the rack in the mid-80s. They weren't worth the space they took up in my closet!

 

Oh, and the Magic Comics issue I bought (not for more than $10 or $20) that turned out to have brittle pages. After that, I learned to take books out of the polybags before purchasing.

 

And of course, I can't omit buying lots of books I sort of liked and thus not having the money to buy books from my want list when they came up for sale. I seem to be incapable of learning that lesson.

[mtlevy]

I'd imagine most have more regrets not buying than buying

 

I missed 2 shots at awesome Cap America 46 before I finally got a mid-grade one -both felt pricey for me at the time but now incredible bargains - Olveshky copy when I was in college probably and another that became a 9.2 for a few $K

 

Quite a few original art stories from when I collected comics more than art - Kirby Surfer page, Starlin Warlock cover, Wrightson Swampthing, et al.

 

I did buy an Atlas Astonishing Tales 3 for over guide and the next sale was at about 50% of my purchase price...that was probably my worst buying mistake

[Dr Chaos]

Worst decisions were errors of omission. Could have bought books like ASM 129, GSX 1, X-Men 94, etc. for less than $100 each during the 80s. Of course back then there was no 10 point grading sale so I am not sure I would have known or cared if the books were 9.2 vs 9.8.

 

When I ultimately part with them I may still end up ahead but the worst buying decisions I made were many of the black and white or otherwise hot books from the 80s (Adventureres, Lone Wolf and Cub, Red Fox, Fish Police, etc.). I think I paid $30 for the Adventurers 1 skeleton cover [keep in mind than this amount bought a lot of comic book value back then, I later paid less for books like ASM 121 (7.5), ASM 122 (9.2), and UXM 95 (9.0)]

 

Another thing that hurt a bit at the time and even more in retrospect was a stock out on an online order than included 10 copies of Wolverine LS at $1 each, 5 copies of Spectacular Spider-man 27 ($3 each?), and a few other books (this was around 1987 or 1988).

 

Some of my best purchases back then included IH 182 (9.6) for $5, Wolvie LS 1 (9.8) for $5, five copies of ASM 300 (4x 9.8, 1x9.6) at cover, and 10 copies of Wolvie 1 at cover (5x 9.8, 4x 9.6, 1 9.4).

[Bosco685]

My Batman #232 CGC SS 9.2...

 

I bought your CGC SS 8.5, and was grateful as a fellow Adams fan.

 

And you are still welcome, my friend I don't regret who I sold any of the aforementioned books to

(all were sold to boardies, who have yet to flip them )

 

[MR SigS]

I was going to mention the 5 sets of X-Men #1 I bought, but...

 

Buying 300 copies of X-Men #1.

 

...For some reason I feel a little better about it

[Gatsby77]

At ComicFest '93 in Philly I passed on Bone # 1 for $50 because I didn't like or really "get" the book. I instructed my buddy to buy it as an investment instead (having never heard of it, he did not), while I bought a whole run of Ultraverse books, including Prime # 2 for $12.

 

To be fair, my big purchase at that con was a 9.0 All Star Western # 10 that I paid $45 for and later sold for $270, but that the next $50 went to Ultraverse issues rather than the Bone 1 still chafes.

 

Another was meeting James O'Barr at my first convention in 1990 and passing on a pile of autographed copies of The Crow # 1 at cover price.

[ChasingKingKirby]

Easy, X-force. Lots and lots of X-force...

[Point Five]

Buying an old Tales from the crypt comic at a downtown comic shop listed as VG, drove 70 miles home then pulling it out of the bag to find the book had a large chunk of Rat Chew taken out of the back of the book.

Five years later buying an Archie 35 that looked to be in fine condition, then driving 70 miles home to find the book had a large portion of Rat Chew in the back of the book. (Not learning my lesson the first time.)

Have you checked the car for rats?

 

 

+1...

 

 

[Shaven Kev-migration]

I dont really have any regrets beyond maybe that valeria she bat 0 white cover I bought for $30 (a ton of money to me at the time) at one of the first conventions I ever attended in jacksonville FL in the 90s.

 

That stupid valeria spawn crossover never happened

 

I dont really regret buying and reading the books I did. I do hate that stuff like Defiant and Continuity folded without any resolution to the stories. I still have blue balls from Schism.

[Ditch Fahrenheit]

Buying an old Tales from the crypt comic at a downtown comic shop listed as VG, drove 70 miles home then pulling it out of the bag to find the book had a large chunk of Rat Chew taken out of the back of the book.

Five years later buying an Archie 35 that looked to be in fine condition, then driving 70 miles home to find the book had a large portion of Rat Chew in the back of the book. (Not learning my lesson the first time.)

Have you checked the car for rats?

 

 

+1...

 

 

[AnkurJ]

Not buying a restored Tec 27 two years ago at NYCC at a fair price.

[mangbus]

I didn't start collecting/reading comics until college and on my first trip to a comic store, I asked for recommendations. The shop owner tried to sell me the latest Image book by the guy who wrote Invincible. Told me if I bought 5 copies that he'd give me an additional 5 for free. I told him I had never even heard of Invincible so I did buy issues #1-6 of that and told him I'd come back later for a WD#1 if I liked invincible. Turns out, I didn't even read Invincible for a few months and by then, the WD's were long gone.

 

 

I also regret not asking Clayton Crain for a commission at Tampa Con 2 years ago. He was doing full figure paintings for $100. Silver lining... At that same show, I found 5 copies of The Sixth Gun #1 FCBD and 4 copies of the regular 1st print and flipped them for enough cash to afford an SDCC pass, airfare and hotel stay. $9 for a trip to SDCC does help forget about missing out on a Crain piece.

[spracknetch23]

At ComicFest '93 in Philly I passed on Bone # 1 for $50 because I didn't like or really "get" the book. I instructed my buddy to buy it as an investment instead (having never heard of it, he did not), while I bought a whole run of Ultraverse books, including Prime # 2 for $12.

 

To be fair, my big purchase at that con was a 9.0 All Star Western # 10 that I paid $45 for and later sold for $270, but that the next $50 went to Ultraverse issues rather than the Bone 1 still chafes.

 

Another was meeting James O'Barr at my first convention in 1990 and passing on a pile of autographed copies of The Crow # 1 at cover price.

 

Ha, I passed up a TMNT #1 at that same convention for a little over $100.

Glad I got the Defiant: Genesis CF '93 exclusive signed and personalized by Shooter though!

 

And hey, I got to meet Mr. T at that show, so that was worth it right there.

[jaeldubyoo]

I’ve had many regrets over the years.

 

My biggest regret is not buying something I actually had in my hands. Back in the early 80s, I was at a small local con mulling over an Incredible Hulk #181 for $30. I hesitated and put it down thinking I could go back later and pick it up after looking for a better price. I never did. This haunts me to this very day. I’ve never bought one because all I ever do is think about that $30 comic and can’t bring myself to pay more. Anybody got one to sell to me for $30?

 

There are many comics I wish I hadn’t sold or traded away. Often way too cheaply. Particularly DC keys. Long ago, I sold my Flash #105 for $15. I traded my Green Lantern #1 for a Howard the Duck #1 and #2. I sold a high grade Green Lantern #76 for $12. And not just DC. I once sold a NM X-Men #94 for $1.50 to a friend as a favor, even when dealers were offering $20 at the time. I traded a stack of 100 ASM, #120-#150, which included several #129s (before Punisher became hot) for a Tracy comic, Large Feature #8. The list just goes on and on.

 

One other thing. I’ve always been satisfied with mid-grade. I guess I still am. But sometimes I wish I had gone after high grade instead of settling for less, especially considering the price difference these days.

 

[Jaymole]

Way, way, way too many regrets in both buying, not buying and selling.

 

One of the biggest was buying over $1,000 worth of Pre-Unity Valiants back in the early 90's at one store in one day!! I came back into the hobby right after Unity came out and had to have multiples of every issue as I loved the line and I thought they would be the next Marvel.