Did a Speculation Buy Ever Not Go the Way You Were Hoping? 2 2

[sckao]

Back in the day, I ordered massive quantities (for me at the time) of some comics that did not pan out for a long time via my mail order comics service that needed 3 months lead time. (New Teen Titans #1 and #2 Baxter Paper, Man of Steel #1-6 Direct (Byrne), New Mutants #18, Camelot 3000, Thor #340 (I had to go around and pick up extra copies of #337-338 from local drugstores and shops), Crisis on Infinite Earths #1,  Alpha Flight #12 and #17. The list is too numerous to count. 

For the X-Men, Miller Daredevils, and other popular comics at the time, I picked up only 2-3 copies of each issue usually. Maybe 5 copies of issues like X-Men #166. 

Much easier to order multiple copies when comics were only like 40 cents each after discount. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by sckao

[whomerjay]

On 10/21/2021 at 9:37 AM, William-James88 said:

Is this the original Frank Miller set? Because that one has done ok.

Ordered decent #s of those but held on to only a few. What I have the most of is that crappy (late 90's) series with like 4 different covers for #1. Assume many  of us in same boat with those books. 

[lostboys]

I traded a pack of Now And Laters for a Wolverine(Patch) 1 in 6th grade.

I remember the feeling. Pure adrenaline!

But I also sold Spider Man 150 through 200 at a yard sale for $1 each that same year.

Probably to one of you geezers!

 

[Randall Dowling]

Wolverine 50 and Marvel Comics Presents 90.  Went strong on both, got punished badly on both.

[Qalyar]

I had (and... probably still have, somewhere) more than few copies of Fish Police, although at least I was only into them for cover price. To be fair, there was a moment when I could have cashed them out for a fairly crazy profit. So I guess that's less of a speculation fail than a timing fail. If the TV adaptation hadn't been terrible...

[Figment]

I'll let you know in about a month.

[MattrixAlien]

As a kid my version of spec'ing was buying 1 extra copy   On one occasion I was on holidays & I visited a regional LCS where they had a Wolverine #14 up on the wall with a $60 price tag  I already owned one so I knew it wasn't a key and I was perplexed about why they were selling it for so much. Was it a signed copy? When I asked about it the owner said that's just what it's worth. To this day I still wonder if he was trying to rip peeps off or made a mistake. Maybe he mixed it up with 8? Long story short I bought another copy for a couple of bucks somewhere else and well it's still a dollar bin book.... 

[Namtak]

Sleepwalker 1

[chrisco37]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:06 PM, whomerjay said:

Ordered decent #s of those but held on to only a few. What I have the most of is that crappy (late 90's) series with like 4 different covers for #1. Assume many  of us in same boat with those books. 

Legends of the Dark Knight 

[mattn792]

On 10/21/2021 at 6:11 PM, MattrixAlien said:

As a kid my version of spec'ing was buying 1 extra copy   On one occasion I was on holidays & I visited a regional LCS where they had a Wolverine #14 up on the wall with a $60 price tag  I already owned one so I knew it wasn't a key and I was perplexed about why they were selling it for so much. Was it a signed copy? When I asked about it the owner said that's just what it's worth. To this day I still wonder if he was trying to rip peeps off or made a mistake. Maybe he mixed it up with 8? Long story short I bought another copy for a couple of bucks somewhere else and well it's still a dollar bin book.... 

Was it Mile High Comics you were visiting?

[THE_BEYONDER]

Not sure what I was thinking here....

[toro]

Not speculation, but my biggest regret was back in the late 80s  Keith Conterino would send me books.  Most of all my Spider-Men from 2 on up are from him.  One day he sent me an X-Men #1 it was kind of beat maybe a 3.0 to 2.5 at beat. I called him and asked how much he wanted for it.  He said $300, I laughed and said I wish I could, but that is too rich for me as I was pretty poor working only part time jobs.  He then asks, "how much could you pay" and I said "Keith I can't even go 3 figures on it".  Then he said, "Okay $99"  I wanted too, but I knew he could get the $300 for it and so I thanked him and returned it.  Wish I would have taken the deal.

[thehumantorch]

On 10/20/2021 at 5:09 PM, 1950's war comics said:

i bought a couple Howard the Ducks #1 at cover price when it came out and sold them soon after for $20  !! and i was only 16 at the time and $20 was a ton of money back then , it was the first time i ever bought more than one copy of any issue...

and then a few years later you couldn't give away a Howard the Duck #1 

i used the $20 to buy a half ounce of weed

Howard #1 was so hot.  I was buying them at a local drugstore and flipping them the same day for $10.  Back when $10 meant something.  I still love that book

[aardvark88]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:04 PM, chrisco37 said:

Legends of the Dark Knight 

That #1 and Turok #1 shiny cover must have been the biggest spec turds of their respective years. Still see Legends Dark Knight #1 at 50c that can't be given away in the 4/$1 bin.

[Randall Dowling]

On 10/20/2021 at 6:09 PM, 1950's war comics said:

i bought a couple Howard the Ducks #1 at cover price when it came out and sold them soon after for $20  !! and i was only 16 at the time and $20 was a ton of money back then , it was the first time i ever bought more than one copy of any issue...

and then a few years later you couldn't give away a Howard the Duck #1 

i used the $20 to buy a half ounce of weed

My favorite part of this story is the happy ending.  Well done, sir!  

[MattTheDuck]

I've done very little speculative buying, and it's really amazing how tone-deaf I've been over the decades.  I did buy numerous copies of HTD #1-#16, Nova #1 and Eternals #1-#5 off the rack.  Eternals has worked out, but the jury's out on the others and may have left the courthouse entirely.  I also came back into comics just long enough in 1992 to pick up a half-dozen copies of ASM 361 and ASM 362, but didn't tumble to other key issues (#238/#252, etc) that I could have had for reasonable prices at the time.  Not even smart enough to ask the right questions, and I was old enough to know better.

[William-James88]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:06 PM, whomerjay said:

Ordered decent #s of those but held on to only a few. What I have the most of is that crappy (late 90's) series with like 4 different covers for #1. Assume many  of us in same boat with those books. 

eeesh, yeah you'd be right

[MattrixAlien]

On 10/22/2021 at 11:51 AM, mattn792 said:

Was it Mile High Comics you were visiting?

Can't remember the name of it, but I don't think there are Mile High stores in my part of the world. It would explain it though. I'm always shocked by how much they try to sell books for on their website 

[Black Bat]

On 10/20/2021 at 4:09 PM, 1950's war comics said:

i bought a couple Howard the Ducks #1 at cover price when it came out and sold them soon after for $20  !! and i was only 16 at the time and $20 was a ton of money back then , it was the first time i ever bought more than one copy of any issue...

and then a few years later you couldn't give away a Howard the Duck #1 

i used the $20 to buy a half ounce of weed

Ha ha this was literally my story!  Also the Adv into Fesr 19, first appearance of Howard, grabbed a few of those from a few shops. Sold them back to the shops. Probably spent some on cheap weed too- we called it “dirt weed”. 

[Gaard]

FF 337.

I like Simonson, so naturally these would be worth a ton in the future. Bought 12 copies. Still have them. Somewhere.