Was anyone here collecting Marvel in the 70's or 80's? 7 7

[NewWorldOrder]

On 1/17/2022 at 5:54 PM, KCode98 said:

Oh come on, explain why. We had the X-Men and Spiderman TV series on weekly. Great cover art and was the last era of true paper pages comics. It was glorious!

You said comics.  

[universal soldier]

On 1/17/2022 at 8:15 PM, KCode98 said:

So have you guys made away like a bandit in the night value wise!? I know even in the 90's before there was CGC or anything you could get Hulk 181 for $300-700, ASM 300 were $20 books, X-men 1 1963 could be found for just a few thousand. Being a kid I had no chance at the big ones but if I had a job and was still into it I would be a wealthy person today.

Yes and no. I made out on a number of books such as ASM #129 VF for $2.95, ASM #122 VF/NM for $8, and ASM #300 off the rack but at that time in my life I had minimal money so even if a copy of FF #1 could be had for cheap $$, I still couldn't afford it. Around 1988 I was living in my first apartment and had to choose between paying rent and buying books. I spent most of the mid to late 90's going back and filling these gaps in my collection.

[Albert Thurgood]

Yes I was collecting comics in the '70s. It was very difficult getting hold of back copies, especially living outside the USA. (I am in Australia). You had to mail away to dealers to get their price lists, then send your order with a bank check. It took 2 weeks at least for the turnaround. (Amazing that the post was so good back then - I am still waiting for a shipment that was sent by USPS on 20 December, which they have lost track of and according to them is still in NJ).

Anyway because of the tyranny of distance the dealers knew they could get away with sending poor quality books - so for example I paid for a AF 15 in VG or better and got this:

If it had been VG or better I could retire now...

Edited January 18, 2022 by Albert Thurgood

[Mercury Man]

The 7/11 rack was where we got our 'previews' at.  

[MattTheDuck]

I did most of my collecting in the 70s.  I bought all my new issues early on at Joe's Market, an independent grocer 1/4 mile from my house.  I think I "discovered" there was a place to buy back issues in about 1973.  In fact, there were several places.  I had very little access to the early Silver Age Marvels, and in fact I don't think I saw any FF under #24 except for a remaindered #10.  I never had a shot at high grade books in the first 20-30 of any of the books I collected, but I did pick up a handful of lower grade books - like JIM #93, FF #24, Avengers #22, ASM #33.  It was a lot of fun.

Edited January 18, 2022 by MattTheDuck

[1950's war comics]

On 1/17/2022 at 9:18 PM, Albert Thurgood said:

Yes I was collecting comics in the '70s. It was very difficult getting hold of back copies, especially living outside the USA. (I am in Australia). You had to mail away to dealers to get their price lists, then send your order with a bank check. It took 2 weeks at least for the turnaround. (Amazing that the post was so good back then - I am still waiting for a shipment that was sent by USPS on 20 December, which they have lost track of and according to them is still in NJ).

Anyway because of the tyranny of distance the dealers knew they could get away with sending poor quality books - so for example I paid for a AF 15 in VG or better and got this:

If it had been VG or better I could retire now...

great book either way

[kav]

On 1/17/2022 at 3:58 PM, KCode98 said:

I'm curious how collecting was back then. Luckily for me I feel like I grew up in the last good era to collect anything (mid 90's). After that the internet really spoiled collecting IMO. Before the internet you had to put in the work and physically go out and find your collectibles. It really made it that much more rewarding IMO. I remember weekly going to the magazine section of book stores or even grocery stores and looking through the comics.

But anyways, in the 90's it was pretty much all over and nothing really new happened. Even then we had Wizard magazines to give us heads up and all. But in the 70's or even 80's how was collecting? For example, in 1984 when the Spiderman alien suit came around or anything different did anyone know about it before or was it a huge "WOAH what's this?!" when you went to the comic stands?

Spider man 149 my first marvel purchase.  would go every month and buy ASM, avengers, and back issues thor dr strange ASM FF etc.  back then you could buy avengers #1 for $40 and GSXM 1 for 1.00.  No one gave 2 sqauts abt Hulk 181.  Howrd the duck was where its at.

[spracknetch23]

I collected from about '86 on. At first it was Disney Gladstone comics, Heathcliff, Planet Terry, ALF, etc. I wasn't into the "cool stuff" until the '90s. Spider-man Saga is responsible for sparking my interest in collecting silver age superhero back issues. 

[KCode98]

On 1/17/2022 at 10:14 PM, spracknetch23 said:

I wasn't into the "cool stuff" until the '90s. Spider-man Saga is responsible for sparking my interest in collecting silver age superhero back issues. 

I think I'm there with you. I can't remember exactly why or how I got into Marvel comics but I think it was either from the Spider-Man or X-Men series on TV. I remember I had a friend in middle school and I think one day he brought to school some comics after we were talking about the TV series and up to that point I didn't even know comics existed. Needless to say the rest is history once I discovered that. But Marvel action figures and the playing cards were a much bigger thing to us than the actual books.

[ThothAmon]

My love for comics really took off in grade school c. 1975 when I discovered Overstreet and Empire Comics on Mt. Hope Ave 4 or 5 miles from my house. This article will give you a good feel for what it was like. The picture is of the owner Jim and the interior of Empire Comics.  He was a comic assassin  

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/recent-updates/building-an-empire-from-flea-market-dealer-to-helping-sell-a-1-million-dollar-comic-four-decades-of-empire-comics/

Personally I wish that I’d taken all my hard earned newspaper carrier earnings and bought old books and not new. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by ThothAmon

[Cat]

On 1/18/2022 at 12:18 PM, Albert Thurgood said:

Yes I was collecting comics in the '70s. It was very difficult getting hold of back copies, especially living outside the USA. (I am in Australia). You had to mail away to dealers to get their price lists, then send your order with a bank check. It took 2 weeks at least for the turnaround. (Amazing that the post was so good back then - I am still waiting for a shipment that was sent by USPS on 20 December, which they have lost track of and according to them is still in NJ).

Anyway because of the tyranny of distance the dealers knew they could get away with sending poor quality books - so for example I paid for a AF 15 in VG or better and got this:

If it had been VG or better I could retire now...

Wait what? How was Australia Post so much more efficient back then, even taking COVID into account? What the heck?! 

[djpinkpanther67]

My parents had bought me comics since I was about 4 (1971/72), Harvey’s and such.

My first superhero comics were in ‘73 - ASM , FF, Captain Marvel were among the first. I remember ASM 125 being the first spidey I ever read. 

Started getting back issues in ‘76 at my first LCS visit (thanks Grandma! 🥰)

I miss the days of going in an LCS with $20 and walking out with at least a short box full of books.

[csaag]

On 1/17/2022 at 8:15 PM, KCode98 said:

So have you guys made away like a bandit in the night value wise!? I know even in the 90's before there was CGC or anything you could get Hulk 181 for $300-700, ASM 300 were $20 books, X-men 1 1963 could be found for just a few thousand. Being a kid I had no chance at the big ones but if I had a job and was still into it I would be a wealthy person today.

Started collecting in the late 70's thru 1990 or so.  At first from a spinner rack in the back of a pharmacy then at at LCS soon after when one finally opened near me.    Originally mostly DC but then I soon started with Spiderman/Xmen/Thor/FF/DD

I always jealousy eyed the key books hanging on the wall but didn't buy them with the thought of getting rich one day as 

1) who knew they could be worth so much.  Sure I saw FF 1/AF15/etc in the glass case but never imagined others would get the prices you see today.

2) Where would I sell them anyway? Ebay wasn't around then. 

3) I didn't have much money at all anyway

So the ones I did buy were limited to $20 or so at a time and I just bought the ones I really liked and wanted to have regardless of condition.

One of the happiest moments of my collecting life was when I was rifling thru the back issue bins and found a poor copy of GL 76 for a buck or two.  I felt like I hit the lottery.

[KCode98]

On 1/18/2022 at 9:15 AM, djpinkpanther67 said:

I miss the days of going in an LCS with $20 and walking out with at least a short box full of books.

I miss the days of just going to LCS. All the ones here around here either closed up or turned into board game shops. 

I remember my old honey hole had rows and rows and rows of carboard boxes to flip through. 2 counters to go to with a wall behind them of magnificent silver age comics. And then a whole nother room full of nothing but comic action figures and cards. I always had to be dragged out of that place by my parents or else I would have ended up there from open to close. 

 

I blame the internet for killing them all.

Edited January 18, 2022 by KCode98

[workingdog]

I started collecting in the early 70's.  At the 7-11, local grocery store, or the local news agency.  Sometimes from the newsstands in downtown Chicago.  Strictly Marvel with one exception.  I did get Brave and the Bold because while I really wasn't into Batman at the time, I liked the fact DC showcased a new character every month (or was it bi-monthly, I can't remember) that I had never heard of. 

Does anyone remember when certain titles came out bi-monthly?  That was the case with the new X-Men when they were re-introduced.  It was such a great read and couldn't believe each issue only came out every other month.  I think it was around issue 112 when they finally made it a monthly.

[Ken Aldred]

Like Steve / Marwood I started out with the Marvel UK reprints such as Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly in 1973.  That led me to buying new, original American pence copy comics from the newsagent, my first big obsession being DC 100 pagers.  I’d continued getting the Marvel U.K. reprints as well, and noticed an ad for a mail order company in there, Fantasy Unlimited, and bought some really nice books from them, circa 77 to 78. I was a bit of a Conan obsessive at the time and I recall them sending me Savage Sword 1 to 10 in absolutely beautiful condition.  I started going into Manchester looking for comics around 79, initially finding a few scraps here and there in the book exchanges, but the first shop I went to that was specifically dedicated to comic books was Forbidden Planet in London, where I got my first GSXM 1 (£5), and a couple of EC science-fiction comics, with ECs in general being very hot at the time. I would take at least one ‘day off’ from school each term to travel down on a cheap Intercity ticket and get a stack of brand new US cent copy imports, up until around 1980, and which accounted for most of my Claremont / Byrne X-Men collection.  That was curtailed when, while walking around Manchester, I was handed a flyer in the street from a guy who turned out to be one of the organisers of the local comic mart. I then started going to those events regularly and less travelling was required.

Edited January 18, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[EastEnd1]

My mom bought me my first comic book around 1972... it was an issue of Superman and I remember she bought it for me to get me to behave while she was shopping at Woolworth!   I also remember choosing the Superman because I was really into the George Reeves Superman TV series that ran on syndication back then.  My mom would drag me to Woolworth quite a bit and that's where my earliest comics came from.  They're beat up now but are probably also my most treasured as they remind me of my mom.  Later on in the mid-1970s, my closest friend and I went through a period of buying comics at the local stationary store... we would hang out at one of our houses, read them and then tried to write and draw our own.  My character was named Astroman and his was Captain Dynamic!  They were pretty bad but a fun way to pass the time.  Btw, he and I wound up being Best Men at each other's weddings and we're still the closest of friends today.  Finally in 1978 I stumbled across my first two comic book stores... Mike's Comic Hut in Flushing NY and Richie's Comic Den in Bayside, NY... they were both a short bike ride away.  I started hanging out at Richie's on the days that new comics came out.  The famous Howard Rogofsky (yes, he of the old Marvel ads!) used to hang out there a lot too.  It was there that I learned that old comics had value and that I should take care of them because the better the shape they were in, the more money they were worth.  But my first big "expensive" back issue purchase came at Mike's Comic Hut... a VG/FN Iron Man #1 for $8.00!!  I remember being so nervous parting with that much money for a comic book... and I also worried that if my mom found out she would kill me!!  Anyway, I still have that issue and it is also one of my most treasured.  Oh and I just looked it up on GPA and looks like it's worth $500-600 today!  Turned out to be a wise investment!!             

[valiantman]

On 1/17/2022 at 6:06 PM, Bird said:

Valiant was big and speculated on, I remember Solar 10 on the racks...WTF?

The only Solar 10 that I ever saw on the racks was the 2nd print.  It arrived about the time of Solar 17.

[kimik]

On 1/17/2022 at 6:15 PM, KCode98 said:

So have you guys made away like a bandit in the night value wise!? I know even in the 90's before there was CGC or anything you could get Hulk 181 for $300-700, ASM 300 were $20 books, X-men 1 1963 could be found for just a few thousand. Being a kid I had no chance at the big ones but if I had a job and was still into it I would be a wealthy person today.

Late 90s I was buying ASM 300 for $5-$10 depending on the store, NM 98 was even less, and you could nab NM Hulk 181s for $500 into the early 00s. Heck I was buying Marvel SA keys from stores for $250-$500 in VG to FN back then and was ecstatic to be selling them for $500 - $1000 when the first real price spike in a few years hit in the early 00s. Wish I had held onto some of them now.  

Edited January 18, 2022 by kimik

[lostboys]

I was very young but followed my older brother around.

 

All I remember is the comic/card conventions he took me to.

Usually in the lobby of a Holiday Inn...nothing but COMICS and CARDS. I still remember the smell and the rush Id get just walking in.