Opinions Matter

c/comic-book-fans

26

iris574•13d ago

My $200 'rare' comic collection turned out to be worthless

Bought a mystery box from a guy online last spring. Paid 200 bucks for a stack of '90s comics he swore were valuable. Got home and found most had coupons cut out or coverless issues. Even the ones in good shape are worth maybe 10 cents each. Anyone else get burned on those mystery bundles?

20

derek_schmidt6•14d ago

TIL that guy at my local shop was right about Silver Age books

Back in March a collector at Cosmic Comics in Austin told me to stop chasing slabbed 9.8s and grab raw readers instead. I thought he was just pushing his own junk until I actually tried buying a beat up copy of Amazing Spider-Man #50 for 40 bucks. The story is the same whether it's a 2.0 or a 9.0, and now I have way more cash for keys. Has anyone else had a comic shop regular give you advice that actually saved you money?

15

xena_fox39•14d ago

Took me 3 years to realize I was storing my comics wrong

I had a stack of long boxes in my basement for ages. Found out last weekend that the humidity down there was ruining the covers. A friend at the shop pointed out the wavy pages and said I basically ruined maybe 50 issues. Anyone else have a storage setup they thought was fine but turned out to be a disaster?

6

johnson.daniel•14d ago

The way comic book fans treat movie versions now vs 10 years back is night and day

I remember going to see The Dark Knight in 2008 and fans were mostly just stoked we got a serious Batman movie. Jump to now and every new Marvel or DC trailer drops, the forums light up with people nitpicking every costume seam and power level change before the movie even opens. I think social media and YouTube breakdown channels turned fandom into a contest of who can spot the most inaccuracies first. It went from enjoying the ride to hunting for things to complain about. Does anyone else miss when we just watched the movie and talked about it after instead of tearing it apart frame by frame before release?

3

haydenbutler•15d ago

A buddy at my LCS told me I was reading comics wrong and it actually helped

He pointed out I was flipping through issues way too fast and missing the background details. After he showed me how he spends 5 minutes just looking at the art before reading, I started catching little Easter eggs and storytelling clues I'd always glossed over. Anyone else ever get called out on their reading habits and change things up?

23

lily_singh2•15d ago

Used to hate on variant covers until I saw one in person at my LCS

I always thought variant covers were a cash grab for collectors with too much money. Then last month I walked into Cosmic Comics in Denver and saw the Skottie Young Baby Variant for Avengers #1 on the wall. The detail and the colors were way better than the standard cover, and the owner explained they hold value better too. Got one for $15 and now I kinda get the hype. Any other variants out there that surprised you in person?

22

murray.spencer•15d ago

Saw a guy at a con wearing a Wolverine costume that was way too clean

I went to the Baltimore Comic Con last Saturday and walked past a guy in a full Wolverine cosplay. Thing is, his costume looked brand new, like he just pulled it out of a packaging. No scuffs, no dirt, no wear at all. I get that it's a costume, but Wolverine is a guy who lives in the woods and fights in mud pits. It felt weirdly disrespectful, like seeing a Batman cosplayer in a pressed suit with no scratches. I asked him if he ever thought about distressing it and he said it took him six months to sew and he wasn't about to ruin it. Fair enough I guess, but it broke the illusion. Has anyone else noticed cosplayers skipping the worn-in look on characters who should be beat up?

25

finleyw99•16d ago

Can we talk about the guy who tried to school me on Batman's origin at a coffee shop?

I was just reading my comic at a cafe in Austin last Tuesday when some dude straight up interrupts me. He points at my copy of Year One and says 'you know that's not even the real origin, right?' Like he had some secret knowledge I was missing. He went on for 5 minutes about how the real Batman started in Detective Comics 27 and I should throw away my 'modern garbage'. Has anyone else run into these gatekeeper types who act like anything after 1985 doesn't count?

12

olivia_rivera88•16d ago

Overheard a guy at my LCS say modern variant covers are ruining collecting

He was ranting about how there were 14 different covers for the new Absolute Batman and it made me wonder if chasing rare covers is more about FOMO than actually reading the story anymore, has anyone else noticed collectors skipping the issue just to flip the variants?

5

tyler6•16d ago

Vent: A full box of comics got soaked in the rain last weekend

I was carrying about 40 issues from a local flea market near Portland back to my car when the sky just opened up. The box I had was cardboard and it fell apart before I could get the trunk open. Water got into about half the books, mostly 90s X-Men runs I had scored for a dollar each. I spent two hours that night carefully separating pages and laying them flat with paper towels between them. Has anyone else had luck saving water-damaged comics with this method or a better one?

11

clark.robin•17d ago

Friend swore I needed to bag my comics in Mylar or they'd decay

Buddy of mine who collects golden age stuff kept telling me poly bags were garbage and I was ruining my 90s X-Men run. I switched a few issues over to Mylar and honestly can't tell a difference in the books after six months. Anyone else find Mylar is overkill for modern comics or am I just missing something?

8

haydenbutler•17d ago

The difference between Claremont's X-Men and modern runs hit me hard last night

I used to think old comics were boring compared to the shiny new stuff. But I started rereading the Dark Phoenix Saga from 1980 for the first time in years. The way Jean's internal struggle builds over 10 issues is so slow and deliberate, not rushed like some modern event comics. Then I looked at a newer X-Men run from last year and the whole story arc happens in 4 issues. The time spent on character moments is what changed my mind. Has anyone else gone back and felt the pacing was actually better back then?

14

simon717•18d ago

Can we talk about the guy at the comic shop who kept pulling keys from the quarter bin

Overheard a collector at Bedrock City in Houston saying he found a first appearance of a minor X-Men villain in a quarter bin last week. Makes me wonder how many hidden gems I am walking past while chasing overpriced books on eBay.

17

blake322•19d ago

Spent 4 hours trying to find a single variant cover that was sitting in the discount bin the whole time

I was hunting for this 2023 Ultimate Spider-Man #1 virgin variant and kept checking every shop in town for weeks. Finally went back to my local shop after giving up and saw a stack of them under the new releases table. Dude at the counter said they'd been sitting there for 6 months. Has anyone else wasted way too long looking for a comic that was right under your nose?

6

the_zara•19d ago

Hot take: Binging the entire Dark Phoenix saga in one night was a mistake

I collected all the X-Men comics from the 80s run on Ebay and tried to read through the whole Dark Phoenix storyline in one sitting last Saturday. By issue 8 my brain was fried and I realized I mixed up which character betrayed who. Has anyone else ruined a classic run by trying to speed through it?

15

karen_perry38•19d ago

The Marvel Legends I bought on clearance still haunt me

Last month I found a box of Marvel Legends figures at a discount store for $8 each. Everyone online loves these things, saying they are the best value in collecting. I grabbed three different ones thinking I got a steal. When I got them home, the joints were so loose one figure could not even stand up on my shelf. The paint apps were sloppy with red bleeding outside the lines on two of them. I tried posing them carefully but they just look cheap next to my older figures from 10 years ago. I ended up donating them to a local toy drive because I did not feel right selling them to someone else. Has anyone else noticed a drop in quality on these newer mass market figures?

11

the_jana•20d ago

Thought Invincible was overhyped until I binged the whole run in 3 days

Kept seeing everyone rave about it but the premise sounded dumb to me. Found a cheap tpb at a used shop for $8, read the first issue and couldnt put it down. Anyone else sleep on a series and then get totally hooked?

20

felixfisher•20d ago

Hit 500 issues in my collection and it changed how I see the hobby

I passed 500 comics last week after digging through a longbox at a flea market. That number made me realize I was more focused on quantity than actually reading the stories. Has anyone else hit a milestone that made you rethink your buying habits?

24

jadew63•21d ago

Called out by a longbox at a con in Chicago - my organizing system was a mess

I used to think stacking my floppies in random piles by when I bought them was FINE. It seemed faster than alphabetizing. Then at C2E2 last year, a dealer asked to see my #1 of a certain run and I spent 20 minutes digging through three short boxes. The guy just shook his head and said "you're making this harder on yourself." That's when it hit me that I was treating my collection like a junk drawer. Now I sort by publisher first, then character, then issue number. Has anyone else had that lightbulb moment where you realized your whole system was worthless?

16

taylor_young•21d ago

Vent: That LCS owner told me to bag every issue - even the junk ones

Bought a dollar bin box from my local shop in Austin. Owner said bag every single one. I laughed it off. Figured I'd just keep the key issues safe. Left the rest in a shoebox. Three months later my garage flooded. Ruined 40 books I could've flipped for $5 each. Now I bag everything. Even that Wolverine issue nobody wants. You guys bag your dollar bin finds or pick and choose?

16

lindamartin•22d ago

The week I realized Image comics fans aren't all snobs

Tbh I used to think people who only read Image comics were just hipsters trying to look cool. But last Tuesday I wandered into Graham Crackers Comics in Chicago and this employee spent 20 minutes explaining how Saga's writing actually makes you care about characters. Then he handed me a beat-up copy of The Wicked + The Divine for free. I read the whole thing that night and totally get it now. Has anyone else had a comic shop employee totally shift your perspective on a whole publisher?

1

phoenix198•24d ago

Found a weird trick for making comic book longboxes not sag in the middle

So I've been collecting floppies for like 12 years now and my longboxes always start bowing out after about 6 months. You know, that ugly dip in the middle where the cardboard just gives up. I tried those plastic dividers from my LCS in Portland and they helped a little but not much. Then last month I saw a guy at a garage sale using these thin wooden yardsticks shoved vertically along the sides of his boxes. Like the cheap ones from Home Depot that are like 89 cents each. I thought it looked dumb but he said it keeps the walls straight. Tried it on three of my worst boxes and it's been a month now with zero sag. Anyone else got a cheap fix like this or am I just late to the party?

26

olivia_rivera88•25d ago

Hit 1,000 issues in my collection this weekend and didn't even realize it

I was reorganizing my long boxes on Saturday afternoon because I couldn't find my copy of Brubaker's Catwoman #1. Pulled everything out and decided to count just for fun. Turns out I crossed the 1,000 mark somewhere around issue #462 of some random 90s X-Men tie-in I bought for a dollar. I've been grabbing back issues for about 8 years now, mostly dollar bin stuff and random runs that caught my eye. My wife thinks I'm crazy for stacking them in the spare bedroom closet but hitting that number felt like a weird accomplishment. Has anyone else hit a milestone like that and felt more surprised than proud?

21

jamesf26•26d ago

Which matters more for a collector? Getting the first appearance or the best story arc?

I had to choose between buying a near-mint copy of Batman #121 (first Mr. Freeze) for $180 or a full run of the Knightfall saga for $150 at my local shop last month. I went with the Knightfall run because I figured more reading value for the money, but now I keep thinking about that first appearance. The Mr. Freeze issue is only going up in value and I feel like I missed a chance. But then again, I've already read the Knightfall stuff three times and loved it. For you guys, do you prioritize key issues for investment or do you go for longer story arcs that you can actually enjoy? What's your rule on this kind of choice?

5

adam_lewis•26d ago

Saw a guy at a con carrying 40 pounds of back issues in a grocery bag

Watched that bag split open outside the convention center. He was trying to save $8 on a tote. Has anyone else seen collectors treat their books like trash?