What Am I Missing with Mile High Comics... 4 4

[lou_fine]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:21 AM, JollyComics said:

On 4/20/2023 at 8:14 AM, Robot Man said:

Who’s smiling now? 

Now, that's definitely a nice big big smile from your ever loving Chuckles in all her glory.  

Maybe this is where they got the idea for Mrs. Doubtfire or is it the other way around.  

Edited April 20, 2023 by lou_fine

[Dr. Balls]

I shopped at Mile High (and had my pull orders there) in the 90s. Prices were straight out of Wizard, which - at the time - was reasonable.

[Nschenks]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:08 PM, StillOnly25Cents said:

just as an aside since the OP used the comparison

I can find thousands of ridiculous listings by MCS on ebay

so much so that I wish there was a filter to not to be able to see their listings

now I do understand that a number of their listings are on consignment and they may not have full say on the listing price (they certainly should be able to provide solid guidance).  
on a very positive note I have found MCS to be very conservative with their grades 

if you enjoy your books retaining value, you probably have MCS’s ebay listings to thanks for keeping prices high

To be fair, MCS books are priced higher on eBay than their own site, to account for fees. If you see something you like, just find it on the MCS website and it'll be something like 20% cheaper (I have no idea the actual percentage just threw that out there). Couple that with conservative grading, and I think there are actually many very fair deals to be found. Hopefully people don't use MCS listings on eBay to comp their own books  (but I imagine that probably happens)

[ThothAmon]

Everyone needs to face facts that Chuck is the most interesting person in comics, ergo the most interesting person in the world. 

[valiantman]

On 4/19/2023 at 8:38 PM, Robot Man said:

Hey, weed and women’s clothes are expensive these days…

Don't forget the pottery... 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 4/20/2023 at 1:09 AM, Doctor Obscure said:

Not trying to troll... genuinely wondering what the deal is, what your thoughts are. Can prices go up if the store in question is notable due to ads within comics? I'm asking seriously here...

Just as a random example. Iceman #2 is 65.00 in NM at Mile High Comics. Sixty-Five Dollars. 

What am I missing.

By contrast, Iceman #2 is 7.20 in VF at MyComicShop.  Seven Dollars and Twenty Cents. No, I do not work at MCS and I have no prior interaction with Mile High. I genuinely went on Mile High to look for back issues and initially thought there was a mistake with the various non key eighties books I looked at.

So... what am I missing about this store?

 

 

The owner, Chuck, discovered the legendary Edgar Church Collection, which changed the face of comic book history.

Ergo He charges a celebrity premium on his books. He also offers a buy-back service where he will generously give you a dollar for any book you bought off of him.

[Cat]

On 4/21/2023 at 2:01 AM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

I wonder what percentage Chuck would buy my VG copy of Brave and the Bold #28 for?   I'd be happy with 15% of $100,800.00

One thing's clear; we're not the lot to do the math on the transaction. As a collective we're awful at maths. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Cat

[Mmehdy]

On 4/19/2023 at 6:48 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

A friend of mine took this picture at Chuck's a couple of weeks ago. 

price guide is $3250...it looks worse than a VG by the way.....how does he come up with that price......?

[ttfitz]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:06 PM, roach04 said:

I went to the giant store in Denver - it was like 2000 flea markets in one building but all run by the same guy - Chuck Rozanski.  It was the Indiana Jones warehouse but more disorganized.  Chuck had a giant bowl of noodles and was sorting piles of comics.  I was there for about 45 mins and just took it all in - didn’t buy anything bc it was all too expensive but it was something to behold.

Say what you will about Chuck and his pricing, but the store in Denver is quite amazing.

[jdandns]

On 4/20/2023 at 1:08 PM, ttfitz said:

Say what you will about Chuck and his pricing, but the store in Denver is quite amazing.

I was only ever to go to an actual Mile High Comics store sometime in the 90's. It was the one in Anaheim, CA, near Disneyland, and my couple of visits there were made not too long before they closed that location down and returned to being only located in Colorado. It was an impressive place to be sure, easily the biggest comic store I'd ever been to, in terms of both square footage and the sheer amount of material for sale there, which including a lot of comics, of course, but also movies posters, action figures, trading cards, and other miscellaneous items. . 

I vividly remember they had a small "clearance section" right nearby that was in an otherwise vacant storefront in a strip mall. It was odd in that it was basically unattended by MH employees. Anything you found in there, you would just gather up and go over to the actual store to pay for it. This predates "Ring" type cameras, so it was a real honor system deal as it would've been pretty easy to just walk out with the stuff in the other direction. I happy to say my comic buddy back then and I were/are honest dudes, so we paid for our stuff. It was an odd mix of material, but as usual, I wish I had today's eyes when I was looking through that stuff. It was all dirt cheap and there were definitely items that are much more in demand now in 2023 than they were in the mid to late 90's. 

[thehumantorch]

On 4/20/2023 at 10:12 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

I now have this bizarre picture of Chuck in my mind, leaning against 30 foot warehouse shelving, in a dress, high heels and having a toot. 

Edit: hadn't realised until after I posted this, that Chuck likes drag. You learn something every day! 

High heels helps him reach the top shelves 

[ThothAmon]

My first recollection of Mile High comics were their ads in 1980 or so comics. I drooled over the pricing of the various grails and hoped someday maybe just. Then he made that ridiculous deal for a zillion or so supposedly remaindered comics called the Mile High 2 collection and his ads became far less drool worthy. Every once in awhile I’ll find a book that has a Mile High receipt but they’re few and far between. His greatest contribution to the hobby was his discovery and preservation of the greatest comic find yet. He’s been a colorful ambassador for comic book collecting and definitely represents the Ying and Yang of the business. 

Edited April 20, 2023 by ThothAmon

[Telegan]

On 4/20/2023 at 4:47 PM, ThothAmon said:

My first recollection of Mile High comics were their ads in 1980 or so comics. I drooled over the pricing of the various grails and hoped someday maybe just. Then he made that ridiculous deal for a zillion or so supposedly remaindered comics called the Mile High 2 collection and his ads became far less drool worthy. Every once in awhile I’ll find a book that has a Mile High receipt but they’re few and far between. His greatest contribution to the hobby was his discovery and preservation of the greatest comic find yet. He’s been a colorful ambassador for comic book collecting and definitely represents the Ying and Yang of the business. 

As weird as it seems, my fondest memories of collecting/reading comics in the 80's was finding those Mile High Comics ads in a comic and drooling over the comics I couldn't have because they were too expensive and my parents didn't want to spend money on comics. lol.  Ah, memories ...  I have yet to visit the store, but I've been meaning to.  Just to say I did and cross it off the bucket list.

[Cat]

Their ads frustrated the hell out of me as a kid. All these great comics for sale, cheap. I'm sitting here continents away reading the pricelist, not quite understanding forex going "$4.00? I'VE GOT THAT! DAMN YOU, COMIC GODS!". 

[valiantman]

On 4/20/2023 at 4:47 PM, ThothAmon said:

• All comics guaranteed to be in very good condition
• Please list alternate choices
• All prices subject to change without notice

Even with a time machine, I'm not sure it would be worth playing this particular mail order game.

[ttfitz]

On 4/20/2023 at 7:51 PM, valiantman said:

• All comics guaranteed to be in very good condition
• Please list alternate choices
• All prices subject to change without notice

Even with a time machine, I'm not sure it would be worth playing this particular mail order game.

A good number of comics in my collection were bought from these sales. My experience with MHC and grading is different than most folks here, I never had much of a problem with their grading, but I've always been one to buy in the G+ to VG+ range, occasionally a FN if the price was right. At least back in the day of those ads, I thought they did just fine with grading, and I've actually got a few books from back then which they graded G+ that I thought were nicer.

[jdandns]

I remember my friend ordered like crazy from those 50 cent sales. He was especially happy about a long run of Kubert Tarzans that included the first DC issue.

I remember the condition being exquisite on those, they were clearly unread and high gloss, so you could hit some gems even with the "Very Good" caveat. 

[minutekev@50]

Think I filled in my Bryne FF run with Chuck's comics. Can't remember. No issues, I can recall, books were actually really nice and I still have them. This is pre-eBay.

There's a video on YouTube where a re-seller visits MHC and Chuck and Chuck takes him on a tour of the place. Chuck's basic response to the question about his prices was that "I'm still here muthaf******" lol.

[Ken Aldred]

On 4/21/2023 at 3:44 AM, jdandns said:

I remember my friend ordered like crazy from those 50 cent sales. He was especially happy about a long run of Kubert Tarzans that included the first DC issue.

I remember the condition being exquisite on those, they were clearly unread and high gloss, so you could hit some gems even with the "Very Good" caveat. 

They had some good stuff in those Special sections.  With NM / M you’d get some really nice books, often an easy 9.4 on newer books, overall I’d say in the general 9.0 + zone. But, for the price, and the favourable £ exchange rate in the early 90s, great value.

Took forever to receive them by surface mail, but very well packed.

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[serling1978]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:34 AM, comicginger1789 said:

I think that at this point, as others have alluded to, Mile High Does Not Care. They have comics, a huge "collection" and almost operate more as a museum nowadays. And hey, mycomicshop may sit on that $7.20 comic for a while. Mile High, likely forever. But Mile High attracts the comic people who don't know comics in and out. So yeah, they may make hundreds of sales a year that are 5 or 6 times what a self respecting collector would pay just because they get the "rookie" market who is simply wowed by the spectacle of the place.

This pretty much sums it up nicely.