Please share your opinion...I am considering a focus on pre-Robin Tecs !

[showcase4]

Ok GA experts....I am at a threshold with my new, increased focus on GA collecting. I find myself drawn to pre-Robin Tecs, and always look long term with my collecting focus. How strong do you predict the market to be over the next 20 years for pre-Robin Tecs? I may not respond, but will certainly listen to each and every response.

Thank you for your input.

 

P.S. I am still collecting Platinum Age books.....just broadening my collecting focus

[Straw-Man]

Ok GA experts....I am at a threshold with my new, increased focus on GA collecting. I find myself drawn to pre-Robin Tecs, and always look long term with my collecting focus. How strong do you predict the market to be over the next 20 years for pre-Robin Tecs? I may not respond, but will certainly listen to each every response.

Thank you for your input.

 

they're about the coolest, rarest, most desirable, and pulse-racingest books out there, period. and this from a timely guy. outside the referenced books and spectre-cover more funs, i don't look twice at a dc g.a. book. probably goes back to my marvel bias as an 8 year old in '63, when dc books were funnier than archies, only not on purpose. [just how many times did supes and the flush race?]

 

and they ain't making any more of 'em. maybe they won't go up, but if they don't nothing in the hobby will have either. in other words, assuming the g.a. market in general is good in two decades, these books should remain at the top of the pyramid, just as now.

[Silver Surfer]

Not a DC collector but if I was going to buy any Tec's they would be the pre-Robin one's as I think their value will hold with the best of them. 20 years from now we will be amazed at how prices have sky rocketted especially key series like this. Just look back 20 years from now and see where we are today. There should be a lot of people coming into excess cash (aging parents, estates, etc) over the next 20 years so I wouldn't worry too much about a dip in value.

[G.A.tor]

hello all...

well, I am glad you asked....by Pre Robin tecs, I assume you are strickly refering to the Post Batman (issue 27 to 37) and not all the way back to issue 1?...given that "assumption", I can tell you that they are some of the most desirable books to have , and depending on your criteria (restored, unrestored, low grade, hi grade, etc) some of the more difficult/impossible books (I am still looking for an unrestored #36)...and considering that most, if not all are trading at 2-6 X guide already in most any condition, I think there is sufficient evidence to point to more demand than current supply...and, as more and more current supply end up into collectors hands, naturally, the price will continue to rise, even if new demand diminishes relative to supply...

great stuff, you can't go wrong, especially if you are a Batman fan...

rick

[showcase4]

hello all...

well, I am glad you asked....by Pre Robin tecs, I assume you are strickly refering to the Post Batman (issue 27 to 37) and not all the way back to issue 1?...given that "assumption", I can tell you that they are some of the most desirable books to have , and depending on your criteria (restored, unrestored, low grade, hi grade, etc) some of the more difficult/impossible books (I am still looking for an unrestored #36)...and considering that most, if not all are trading at 2-6 X guide already in most any condition, I think there is sufficient evidence to point to more demand than current supply...and, as more and more current supply end up into collectors hands, naturally, the price will continue to rise, even if new demand diminishes relative to supply...

great stuff, you can't go wrong, especially if you are a Batman fan...

rick

 

actually Rick, I am intrigued by all issues back to No. 1. Early Actions, Adventures and More Funs' are nice, but there is something about virtually every issue of Detective Comics that is very appealing.....a "gut feeling" for me.

 

So I would say my bigger question is, what are the top 5 pre-Robin Tecs aside from the obvious issues #1, 27, 31, 33 and 35?

[RareHighGrade]

If your goal is to go after a run that (1) is historically important, (2) has some of the best pre-hero and hero covers ever, and (3) will take you years (if not a lifetime) to complete, especially if you want the books to be in decent unrestored condition, then you have hit on the perfect run to collect.

[nearmint]

Frankly, I've stopped thinking about "the market", and just collect what I think is pretty damn cool. My focus is on Nedors, Actions & Supes. If there was room in my budget for one more focus, it'd be pre-Robin 'Tecs.

 

Go for it!

[thedarkknight]

Ok GA experts....I am at a threshold with my new, increased focus on GA collecting. I find myself drawn to pre-Robin Tecs, and always look long term with my collecting focus. How strong do you predict the market to be over the next 20 years for pre-Robin Tecs? I may not respond, but will certainly listen to each and every response.

Thank you for your input.

 

With the new movie series that really takes Batman back to his roots (not like the Burton/Schumacher ones) as the lone avenger, unrestored could truely go through the roof. I've noticed this year many collectors are picking them up and the price seem to keep going up. Restored is taking a hit right now, but I think those will make a comeback when all the nice unrestored are bought up. Hell, my 36&37 are unrestored at FR and they both set me back about $1500.00. Actually, my 37 has a back cover from a different copy of the same book, but there has been no resto on it.

[Silver Surfer]

Frankly, I've stopped thinking about "the market", and just collect what I think is pretty damn cool.

Go for it!

 

Exactly.

[action1kid]

If I were to collect a run, my choice would be Detective 1 to 38.

Think of all the historical significance within those 1st 38 books.

There is no other run that can capture the historical significance of the early 38 books.Certainly the most beautiful 38 covers I have ever seen back to back to back, and there all scarce to rare too.You cant top collecting the big 38.

[showcase4]

Frankly, I've stopped thinking about "the market", and just collect what I think is pretty damn cool.

Go for it!

 

For me, there is NOTHING cooler than the Classic Cover of Tec 35! Screw "the market" if they disagree!

[ciorac]

You should stay away from those books at all costs! They are worthless and a bad investment.....

 

(Once I finish the set, my opinion will be the exact opposite of the above)

 

In all seriousness, they are THE golden age DC books in my humble opinion. 1 - 37 is a monster run to have.

 

Unrestored is going to be a real challenge though. Personally I buy restored, but I know you don't. If you are satisfied with mid to low grade unrestored you may have a ghost of a chance. If you are looking for high grade unrestored, forget about it.

[ciorac]

Ok GA experts....I am at a threshold with my new, increased focus on GA collecting. I find myself drawn to pre-Robin Tecs, and always look long term with my collecting focus. How strong do you predict the market to be over the next 20 years for pre-Robin Tecs? I may not respond, but will certainly listen to each every response.

Thank you for your input.

 

they're about the coolest, rarest, most desirable, and pulse-racingest books out there, period. and this from a timely guy. outside the referenced books and spectre-cover more funs, i don't look twice at a dc g.a. book. probably goes back to my marvel bias as an 8 year old in '63, when dc books were funnier than archies, only not on purpose. [just how many times did supes and the flush race?]

 

 

I hate to admit it but that is one

[*paull*]

Welcome to comic book collecting! I'm sure you'll have many hours of enjoyment from your new hobby!

[action1kid]

Ill be darn. He didnt think you were a Newby Showey did he?

Na, he meant he knew you were refocousing away from Platnum right?

[bluechip]

Ok GA experts....I am at a threshold with my new, increased focus on GA collecting. I find myself drawn to pre-Robin Tecs, and always look long term with my collecting focus. How strong do you predict the market to be over the next 20 years for pre-Robin Tecs? I may not respond, but will certainly listen to each and every response.

Thank you for your input.

 

It simply is not possible for any other comics to be worth a lot of money unless first year actions and tecs are worth a lot, too, if not more than any other.

 

Comics collecting did not begin because people wanted comics with sharp corners, white pages, or rich color covers, or a pedigree to some previous collector. Comics collecting began because the books were the source of real cool stories and characters and stories that made people want to find the earliest and rarest examples. And nothing will ever beat the early actions and tecs because nothing will be as cool and old and influential and famous and rare all at the same time

[batman_fan]

DIdn't Showcase come on here trying to get all of us to flip to Platnium books? Wow, what a change! He is on the brink of crossing over to the dark side, a world you can never leave as it consumes your very soul.

 

BTW, good luck with it, All Detectives rock, but the pre-Robin ones are somehow more "pure".

[1koko]

You should stay away from those books at all costs! They are worthless and a bad investment.....

 

(Once I finish the set, my opinion will be the exact opposite of the above)

 

In all seriousness, they are THE golden age DC books in my humble opinion. 1 - 37 is a monster run to have.

 

Unrestored is going to be a real challenge though. Personally I buy restored, but I know you don't. If you are satisfied with mid to low grade unrestored you may have a ghost of a chance. If you are looking for high grade unrestored, forget about it.

 

I agree - rather than moving from Platinum to GA I moved from SA where the comics in very high grade were easy to collect. I would only collect NM or higher in SA and have adjusted my focus to GA unrestored low to mid grade due to scarcity (mid -high grade restored where no availability eg 28-29).

 

The census shows how few 1-37 comics have been graded by CGC (usually done where a collector wants to sell down a collection) and therefore general scarcilty for new collectors makes it a difficult collection to complete.

 

When a raw collection comes to the market you basically have to bid as much as you can for a comic to get it as there is no market info (GPA little use as a guide as so few comics in each grade and year of purchase to make a comparison).

 

They are the best run to collect.

 

Good Luck

[G.A.tor]

 

So I would say my bigger question is, what are the top 5 pre-Robin Tecs aside from the obvious issues #1, 27, 31, 33 and 35?

hello all...

2 and 3 are down right "tough" in unrestored condition (attainable, but tough)...

22 has a cool cover as does issue 18, but I have trouble distinquishing desirability between issues 4-26 (they all have merrits, mind you, but I am a Batman kind of guy, and hence have decided that I won't be persuing a 1-53 run, will stick to my 27-53 job)....

top 5 for me, would fall in the issue 28,30,32,34 then 29/36 (both bat covers) ....the post bat, pre robin non Bat covers are all "tough", relatively speaking...they have continuing Batman stories, but lack the Batman covers, and hence seem to have been deemed "less" desirable/collectible, and don't come up for sale as often...I see far more #29's for sale than 28...far more 31's than 30's, etc...

rick

[innocuous]

I'm new to GA as well. My initial thoughts, if you take out Batman from the TECs, is that the Adventure and New Adventure covers give the early TECs a run for "cool".

 

(I'll have a more informed opinion next week when I open up and study my Gerber guides sitting under the tree right now.)