The need to own the actual comic - or - fan vs. collector vs. combination

[HeroX]

I posted some of what I've written below as a reply in a thread in the Silver age section, but I thought I'd be interested in a more thorough discussion. Just for fun, of course...

 

I always used to feel like I needed to own a copy of the first appearance and/or key issues of characters/teams that I like. I guess I felt like it kind of "confirmed" my appreciation for those characters/teams.

 

Of course, the reality is a character can be your favorite and you don't actually have to own a single comic (all fan, not a collector). With the great quality trades, omnibuses, and digital comics out there nowadays, owning the original physical first print copy of the comic isn't necessary at all to be a fan.

 

Well, we do find ourselves on a comics discussion board, so we are most likely all collectors to varying degrees, and with that collector mindset, we will find ourselves wanting to own the real things. For most of us that can't be avoided because there's something about comics that appeal to collector type people. But collecting can be quite expensive.

 

For the longest time, I was an X-Men/Wolverine only fan and collector (combination of the two). But, eventually this can and did start to get old. I wanted to get into other great Marvel characters and teams that I'd been ignoring for so long. But I had to avoid letting this branching out as a fan send me into a shopping spree of picking up all sorts of other expensive key issues (collecting) for these new interests. I bought a lot of Marvel Masterworks lately (Spider-man, Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Thor (already had all the X-Men)) and have been enjoying the hell out of reading them. (Of course, that does constitute a collection of Masterworks...) So far I've remained convinced (trying very hard) that I can love these characters and stories (being a fan) without buying all their key issues (being a collector, or a combination of collector and fan).

 

I know the reality is that most likely all of us are a combination of fan and collector to a certain degree or another. I'm sure there are some on here that may be more investors than anything else, which is another category completely.

 

1. What determines which key issues you buy?

2. Are you a fan of books/characters/teams of which you don't actually collect any key issues? (Put another way, are there books you love to read but feel no need to own?)

3. Do you collect any key issues of which you are not a fan of the characters/teams/subject matter, just because they're keys? Why, resale, collector-itus (just to have it), other?

[999ghosts]

I'm just happy that my favorite character, Rogue, her books are still in my price range. I would love to own some other key's, but I just don't have those deep pockets.

[freshcollect]

I'm just happy that my favorite character, Rogue, her books are still in my price range. I would love to own some other key's, but I just don't have those deep pockets.

 

I'm in a similar situation, there's a long list of keys I'd like to own, either for my preferred characters, or related supporting characters, but the budget isn't there, so I'm trying to keep a smaller focus - emphasis on trying as sometimes I just can't help but pull the trigger elsewhere.

 

For me, I have decided to abandon chasing graded runs of my favourite books but I'm still looking to get the runs raw, and the keys graded, that's going to be enough work for Avengers, that I can't really be chasing other keys as much as I'd like to.

 

That said I do have a couple of keys that don't fit my collecting habits, I've never been a Spidey fan, but I do have graded copies of ASM 252 and 300, have been tempted to move them, but always come back to wanting to keep the keys.

[catrick339]

Heaven help me, I tried to go cold turkey on the pamphlets more than once. The last time, I had both Marvel Masterworks and Marvel Essentials on my bookshelves for my favorite Silver Age titles (Fantastic Four is my Flagship and will remain so) and sold off the comics. All my fave stories, in both black and white and color. What's not to love?

 

Then I bought a big batch of Fantastic Four from right in the middle of the Sweet Spot, circa issues 35 through 60. Got a nice deal, thought I could make a little bank to throw at a nice GA book.

 

I then made the fatal mistake of reading a few of them....and I was hooked. As it turns out I need the comics themselves after all, and have been rebuilding my SA Marvel (and select DC) collection ever since.

 

Sigh....anybody got a loose cover or incomplete copy of FF 1 or TTA 39? Oh, or Adventure 247?

 

Rick Santman

who has completed his X-Men, Doom Patrol, Strange Tales and Sergeant Fury runs, and is teetering on the edge of finishing off FF, TOS, Silver Surfer, JIM and TTA (Spidey and Daredevil are lagging waaaay behind, )

 

 

[Brian48]

Batman (Adams run) and Conan (Smith run) for me. I buy the trades and the original issues. I rarely buy outside of that. So far I've been fairly discipline about it.

[oakman29]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

[Illustrious]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

 

Not to mention the big keys are historical pieces of pop culture now, so owning an original copy is that much more attractive.

[FineCollector]

1. What determines which key issues you buy?

 

If it's in the run of a title I'm collecting, or relevant to the run, I want it.

 

2. Are you a fan of books/characters/teams of which you don't actually collect any key issues? (Put another way, are there books you love to read but feel no need to own?)

 

No, if I collect it, I'll want all of it.

 

3. Do you collect any key issues of which you are not a fan of the characters/teams/subject matter, just because they're keys? Why, resale, collector-itus (just to have it), other?

 

No, I've outgrown that phase. Everyone sees dollar signs in their collection eventually, but I didn't enjoy having a random selection of issues I never intended to read. The final straw for me was trying to complete a run of Miller Daredevils that I didn't give a fig about.

 

Truthfully, I think most key collectors are just small people who want people to look at their collection and say, "wow, you're so lucky, I'm so jealous" in the same way many people buy a luxury car strictly for the status.

 

Flame on!

[oakman29]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

 

Not to mention the big keys are historical pieces of pop culture now, so owning an original copy is that much more attractive.

With a sig. line like yours,WOW! Just wow.

[Illustrious]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

 

Not to mention the big keys are historical pieces of pop culture now, so owning an original copy is that much more attractive.

With a sig. line like yours,WOW! Just wow.

 

Well they're all restored or incomplete, so I think your sig line still has me beat!

[Bio-Rupp]

Been trying to get a high grade Baby Snoots run finished for about 15 years.

 

So far, only found two 9.6 slabbled issues.

 

Why won't God let me finish this run

[shadroch]

Omnis and Archives for reading. Keys for investments.

[HeroX]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

 

I know. This is what I'm fighting against. I've really opened Pandora's Box with these new runs I'm getting into reading. I felt all squared away with the X-Men (trade and floppy wise) and then I go and branch out!

[HeroX]

Truthfully, I think most key collectors are just small people who want people to look at their collection and say, "wow, you're so lucky, I'm so jealous" in the same way many people buy a luxury car strictly for the status.

 

Flame on!

 

Well, let me get your opinion. I'm an X-Men fan. I have tons of X-Men books in Omnis, trades, Masterworks, and Essentials. I've read all of that stuff. The floppies I own are the Stan Lee run (1-19), a few "keys" after that until my early Claremont run (GSXM1; 94-143), and then the major keys after that. While there are a couple specific runs in there, a lot of what I have are keys (at least from an X-Men perspective). I just don't feel the need to own the whole Uncanny run (with some junk in it) when I have most of it in reprint for reading purposes anyway.

 

Does this make me a "key collector" in your opinion? BTW, I've never had someone over to my house to show them my comics. Can someone want to own the keys without wanting to do so as a status symbol?

[HeroX]

Omnis and Archives for reading. Keys for investments.

 

See, I have some key issues, and while I do appreciate that they may hold their value, I did not buy them as "investments." I bought them because I want to own them for their pop culture historical significance (as was previously mentioned in this thread) as it relates to the books and characters that I like. And maybe that's what this all boils down to.

[rjpb]

I am in the camp for whom there is a sensory and emotional experience in reading comics in their original form that is tough to replicate when reading reprints ( the closest being reprints that are nearly as old as the originals and in comic book form), but at the same time, as books are slabbed and prices rise some comics, keys especially, become more like fetish objects that we seek to give our collections importance or a to complete the challenge of acquisition. Take the term "holy grail"", which perhaps gets used too frequently for whatever is next on a collector's list, but is still a term which imbues the desired object with an almost mystical power to elevate one's collection in their own eyes and perhaps in the eyes of others as well.

 

There has always been an element of this in collecting, as for the reader, once there is a less expensive alternative, or at least a cheaper lower grade copy that can still be enjoyed, it would seem pointless to chase high dollar, high grade originals, but the collector wants the object not just the experience. Still, I have to imagine that collectors from the early days of fandom would be somewhat baffled by much of what happens in the today's collecting community, the obsessiveness over minor differences in grade, entombing books in plastic, the prices some are willing to pay for certain books ( as shelling out $20 for a book in 1964 was no where near the financial commitment to the hobby as $20,000 is today - it's the difference between spending on a hobby you enjoy, and may never see the cash again , and spending money that while it may not turn out to be a great investment, one still hopes can largely be recouped if they have to sell). They'd also be thrilled at the sheer amount that is available in high quality reprints, though they might balk at having to purchase them in pricier hardbacks rather than cheap pamphlets, and this is the other side of the equation. As little as 30 years ago, the amount of reprinted material was paltry, it was hard to consider oneself a knowledgeable fan without accumulating back issues from whatever genre or era's appealed. Even putting together an inexpensive reading collection of SA Marvel books meant picking up or keeping back issues of reprint titles stretching back nearly 20 years, and even then their would be holes in the collection. There was no internet, and even with articles in ( often hard to find) fanzines over the years, answering simple questions like "What were Captain America stories like after S&K left?" or "Who was Animal Man?" frequently required picking up the originals if you really wanted to know, or at the least cross referencing Overstreet to figure out what BA reprint books might have an answer.

 

When I was a teenager, one's commitment to particular musical artist was often measured by how much of their actual catalog one possessed in album form, and if it included bootlegs, obscurities and original pressings, all the better. For my kids, the idea of owning anything more than digital downloads is completely alien. Being a fan is less dependent on being a collector ( or even accumulator) than ever before.

 

 

 

[PovertyRow]

Masterworks are great for reading,but there is just something about owning the original book.The feel,smell etc.

 

A great holdover until the day one can possibly afford the originals are the SA reprints Marvel did.

 

Marvel Tales #1 published in 1964 reprints the full 13pp 1st appearances of Spidey, Iron Man, Ant Man and Thor. It also has 6pp reprints of the origins of Hulk and Sgt Fury.

 

Marvel Tales #2 from 1965 reprinted X-Men #1 and Avengers #1 stories as well as Doc Strange's origin from ST 115.

 

Marvel King Size Special Super-Heroes #1 (a one-shot) from 1966 reprinted Daredevil #1 along with an early Avengers story and the GA Torch/Subby.

 

So with just those three books you have the the first appearances of the Marvel key early SA heroes.

 

And the beauty is they are all true Marvel SA books with the usual Marvel/Stan Lee banter, real ads etc. And yes, they have that SA feel/smell!

[ThoseBackPages]

Collectors are born, not made. Either you are or are not a collector, matters not what it is.

 

i am a collector. Sports Cards, and Comic Books are what i collect. There really is no choice. Sure i could choose not to collect them anymore, but then i'd just collect something else.

[Psithyrus]

 

1. What determines which key issues you buy?

 

Many of the major keys, I would think about, simply because it is an interesting piece of history, in my mind. Do I have to own them? No. Would I like to? Yes. I just picked up a raw JIM #83 that is all of a 1.0. Basically, there really isn't anything I could do further to the book, so I'm going to read it. . . because I want to.

 

2. Are you a fan of books/characters/teams of which you don't actually collect any key issues? (Put another way, are there books you love to read but feel no need to own?)

 

Usually, I like "keys" to at least characters I like (I bought a Flash #86 for Black Canary). I think I would like to read some of the Bronze Age or Modern keys, but not necessarily feel the need to own them. You know, get a feel for the early adventures of some of these characters, without breaking the bank. In reality, I had several (Tomb of Dracula #10, ASM #129, WD #19, etc.) and sold them for first appearances of Silver Age characters that I really like. We'll see if I get the itch to get those issues back.

 

3. Do you collect any key issues of which you are not a fan of the characters/teams/subject matter, just because they're keys? Why, resale, collector-itus (just to have it), other?

 

I might do this sometimes, but not often. Those are usually the books I look at and say, "I should sell that and get something else."

 

So, to answer your question, I think I am starting to lean heavily towards SA keys as a collector (I'd love to spend more time with Golden Age stuff, but man, that gets pricey quick for things like Flash or Batman), but there are a few other key books from the Bronze, Copper, and Modern Ages I would like to own because they are characters or storylines that I really enjoy. . . I certainly wouldn't turn down a nice book out of those other timeframes.

[oakman29]

I collect all keys(major and minor)from Silver age to current.

I am a hopeless OCD collector,so I must have all keys.Whether I like the character or not,but thank God I like most of DC and Marvel characters.