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The
Comic Collector's Primer
by Mike-oh
Everything you need to know about collecting comics but were too
afraid of sounding like a geek to ask.
Why anybody would choose to become a comic collector, I don’t
know. Collecting is just something you do. You might have been interested
in comics for a variety of reasons. But unlike normal, well-adjusted
people, you weren’t satisfied with just reading one on occasion
and then tossing it in the trash or giving it away to your little
brother. Somewhere along the line, you decided to keep it. And get
a whole bunch more just like it. When you first started collecting
comics, you didn’t think too much about it, you just kept
buying issues of X-men or whatever. And then one day you realized
there’s this whole, big world of comics. Lots of genres and
title and publishers and writers and artists and characters. Some
of it is really great. Some of it really sucks. And one thing is
for sure. You’ll never be able to collect it all. So now you’re
interested in a few pointers on how to maneuver the vast wasteland
of comicdom successfully. Well, you came to the right place. Read
on, ye of the voracious appetite for pulpy sequential art stories.
Appreciating comics.
You’ve noticed by now that there’s more to
comics than just POW! And BLAM! And “Up, up, and away!”
A whole lot more. Comics are an amazing, unique form of storytelling
that present ideas simultaneously in text and visual forms. They’re
not like books. They’re not like movies. And when they’re
done right, they’re better than anything that’s ever
been produced in any medium. I could write a book about the amazing
nature of comics but I don’t have to. Scott McCloud already
did. It’s titled “Understanding Comics” and if
you haven’t read it but you’re reading this, then you
need to stop reading this and go read that. Right?? Right! Scott
has it totally nailed. And your appreciation for comics will be
fully schooled. Once you finish the book, come on back and finish
this article. We’ll be right here waiting…
We’re still waiting…
Welcome back (for everyone that just finished reading “Understanding
Comics). We were just getting ready to talk about characters versus
creators.
Characters VS Creators. Probably the first thing
that pulled you into comics was the characters. You like Wolverine.
Or Spider-man. Or Batman. Or Hellboy. Or Booster Gold (scratch that
– nobody likes Booster Gold). But it wasn’t too long
before you realized that there’s more to comics than just
the characters and the stories. As a matter of fact, you probably
realized early on that even though a story featured your favorite
character, it could still suck oysters on any given Wednesday. Why?
Because the writer or the artist telling the story sucks oysters,
that’s why.
So here’s the next big tip. Don’t collect comic books
because of the character. Like, don’t try to buy every single
issue with Spider-man in it. You could try. And that might be cool
if you actually did it. But once you’ve really learned to
appreciate comics, you’ll have to admit that your Spider-man
collection blows because it’s 85% crap. And that’s not
Spider-man’s fault. That’s the creator’s fault.
Let me be clear about this point. Spider-man is a great character
and a great creation. Spider-man stories make for some of the all-time
best character-driven comics ever. But if you want to collect quality
comics, don’t buy them just because Spider-man is on the cover.
Buy comics that are great stories written and drawn by great creative
talents.
If you want a comic book collection that will be envied by other
comic book collectors (until you learn enough about this game to
envy your own collection), start by collecting the work of the best
creators. Now this is a highly subjective area. What makes a great
creator is subject for debate. Although there are some creators
that are nearly universally appreciated. Guys like Alan Moore, Kurt
Busiek, Joe Kubert, Mark Waid, John Cassaday, George Perez, Neal
Adams, Jack Kirby, Bryan Hitch, Bryan Michael Bendis, Jim Steranko,
Alan Davis, J. Michael Strazenski, Alex Ross, Mike Mignola, Jeph
Loeb, Jim Lee, Mark Millar, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, and Neil
Gaiman are all like box office gold. Publishers know that if they
produce work by one of these guys, it will sell like crazy. Oftentimes,
these creators are more popular than the characters they are writing
about. In addition to these guys (and it’s not a complete
list, just a representational one), there is also a whole other
group of creators that are equally as great but just not as widely
accepted. Guys like Greg Rucka, Guy Davis, Mike Allred, Ed Brubaker,
Michael Lark, Gene Colan, Jim Starlin, Tim Sale, Travis Charest,
Steve Rude, Darwyn Cook, David Finch, Edward Risso, Mark Silvestri,
Kevin Smith, Francis Leinil Yu, Warren Ellis, Robert Kirkman, Bruce
Jones, Jose Luis Garcia, Carlos Pacheco, and Brian Azarello. Again,
this is a partial list of amazing talent that you can count on every
time. But if you pick up any of their work, you won’t be disappointed
because these guys always deliver.
Top Ten Time. It’s
time for a top ten list. Make that two. Here’s my top ten
list of artists (ever) followed by my top ten list of writers (ever).
In order of greatness.
Artists
1.
Jack Kirby
2. Neal Adams
3. Darwyn Cook
4. Mike Mignola
5. Edward Risso
6. John Cassaday
7. Travis Charest
8. Bryan Hitch
9. Frank Quitely
10. Jim Lee
Writers
1.
Alan Moore
2. Brian Azarello
3. Mike Mignola
4. Grant Morrison
5. Warren Ellis
6. Neil Gaiman
7. Bryan Michael Bendis
8. Mark Millar
9. Ed Brubaker
10. Mark Waid
Keeping Up With Creators.
Sorry. I geeked-out there for a minute. Make your own top ten list
if you want. Not sure where to start. Try picking up a few issues
of Wizard magazine or Comic Shop News. These publications always
offer insights and observations on the most talented people in the
field of comics. And then be sure to pick up the work of the artists
and writers and judge for yourself. When you find stories that move
you and make you giddy or leave you itching for the next issue and
have you salivating over the amazing artwork, build your collection
around that. And then pick up more issues of Wizard and Comic Shop
News and follow your favorite creators as they plan their next project.
It helps you to stay one step ahead of the books before they come
out so you know what to look for when you walk into your local comic
book store every Wednesday.
Once you have a good understanding of the creators you prefer, be
sure to keep an eye out for them at the local comic book conventions.
Your comic book retailer can keep you informed as to the time and
place as well as the creators that will be there. Go to a convention
and meet your favorite artist or writer and spend a few minutes
learning a little more about the things they do that keep you coming
back for more. It’s a great place to just go and talk comics
with people that won’t look at you like you’re some
kind of total weirdo (unless of course, you are some kind of total
weirdo in addition to being a comic book fanboy). Just one word
of advice, no matter how comfortable you get with talking about
comic books, NEVER NEVER NEVER talk about comic books with girls.
That is so uncool. I don’t care if they’re talking up
a blue streak about comics. Let ‘em. Practice your listening
skills. But no matter what, don’t join in the conversation.
Trust me. If you do, you’ll turn the corner and become a true
geek and then there won’t be any hope for you, ever. If you
resist, then later, you’ll thank me. You’ll realize
that it was the right thing to do. And you’ll be able to have
pride in keeping a little perspective around what can otherwise
easily turn into something dark and twisted.
Keep it real, man.
Your Bookshelf. Okay.
So now you’ve been reading and appreciating comics. You’ve
discovered who your favorite creators are. And you’re starting
to think pretty highly of yourself and your comic book collection.
Well don’t praise yourself yet. Not unless you’ve already
purchased and read the following:
Watchmen
Maus
Dark Knight Returns
Batman Year One
V for Vendetta
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Marvels
Kurt Busiek’s Astro City
Mister X
DC The New Frontier
Kingdom Come
Earth X
Red Rocket 7
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth
Batman the Long Halloween
The Sentry
The Inhumans
100 Bullets
1602
The Ultimates
Any or all of Steve Ditko’s and John Romita Sr.’s
runs on Amazing Spider-man
Any or all of Jack Kirby’s run on Fantastic Four
Jim Steranko’s run on Captain America
Neal Adam’s Kree Skrull War in the Avengers
Neal Adam’s and Denny O’Neil’s run on Batman
and Green Lantern/Green Arrow
Jim Starlin’s Captain Marvel
Frank Miller’s Daredevil
And
for extra credit, try these:
Any
of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy collections
Any of Will Eisner’s Spirit collections
Burne Hogarth’s Tarzan
Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon
Superman VS Spider-Man
Superman VS Muhammad Ali
Getting
Comics. Collecting comics is a pretty futile endeavor
if you don’t know where to go to find the comics that are
really worth collecting. Start with your local comic book retailer.
This guy needs your support as much as you need his. Go there every
Wednesday to get the latest releases and get to know your comic
shop owner along the way. But keep in mind, that no matter how much
you like him and his store, he’ll never have every comic book
you need. So be sure to hunt down and explore all of the comic book
stores in your area. You’ll find that each one has a unique
offering.
In my town (Dallas), there are a variety of comic book stores that
I frequent for a variety of reasons. Zeus Comics is the store I
go to every Wednesday because it is the absolute best, most organized,
coolest, hippest comic book store anywhere. And I consider myself
lucky to have it right here in Dallas. And I say that, having compared
Zeus to places like Midtown Comics and Jim Handleys Universe (both
in Manhattan) or Zanadu Comics in Seattle or Graham Cracker Comics
in Chicago or Funny Papers in Austin or the NostalgiaZone in Minneapolis
or a dozen other places I’ve been to all over the U.S.
But as great as Zeus is for their selection, customer service, great
deals, excellent atmosphere, and extremely knowledgeable sales staff,
they don’t always have everything I’m looking for. And
when it comes to back issues, I go to Titan Comics in Dallas. Titan
has some kind of insane collection of comics. If you want to find
back issues of Tarzan when it was published by Dell in the sixties,
go to Titan. If you have every issue of X-men except issue 113,
go to Titan. If you’re looking for a complete collection of
Michael Lark’s Terminal City: Aerial Graffiti don’t
bother going to Titan ‘cause I just picked that up a couple
of months ago. Oh, what the hell. Go ahead and look anyway. Those
guys are great about replenishing their stock when they make a sale.
So they probably already have all five issues back on the shelf.
Try to find a Silver Age issue at Zeus and it will be a wild shot.
Go to Titan and be instantly gratified. Silver Age, Golden Age,
Bronze, Modern. These guys have it all. Or at least it would seem
that way.
But sometimes, a comic book comes out and it’s instantly hot.
It sells out like crazy. And I made the poor decision to not buy
it when I first saw it and later, having learned of it’s greatness
and then desiring to read it for myself, try to find a copy of it
for purchase. In these cases Zeus has sold all of their copies.
And so has Titan. And so has Lone Star Comics (which I’ll
mention when I get to online comics). And that’s when I make
a trip to Keith’s Comics. Keith’s is a dump. Their back
issues are either a meager selection or are completely covered up
with a bunch of boxes and junk. I don’t think even Keith knows
what he’s got, it’s so unorganized. Even the new releases
are kind of piling up in sloppy stacks all over the store. I think
the problem is that Keith has no idea how to buy comics for his
customers. He is always buying too many issues. And that’s
why I go to Keith’s. Because when everyone else has sold out,
guess what? Keith still has ten more copies on his shelf. I’ve
tested this over and over. This is as reliable as death and taxes.
Go to Keith’s to pick up your copy of sold out comics.
So once you’ve explored all the local comic book retailers,
don’t neglect to visit your local Half-Price Books. This place
is a dumping ground for comics and a great place to find relatively
current issues as well as wild deals on back issues. Here’s
the deal. It used to be that when some old lady got mad at her kid’s
comic collection, she’d burn it. Or sell ‘em in a garage
sale as soon as the poor sucker went off to college. What today’s
old hag does is take the boxes of comics to Half Price Books where
she gets a few bucks for them in the bargain. And then there’s
the guy who reads new comics every week and buys a lot more than
he wants to keep so he takes his new comics to Half Price Books
and sells them in an effort to recoup some of the money spent to
support his habit. In either case, you’ll find a regular flow
of comics coming from these sources so weekly visits will land you
with some pretty awesome books for very little dough.
If you enjoy hunting for comics at a Half Price Books, you should
also poke around inside of Antique stores. There’s been at
least one box of old comics in every antique store I’ve ever
been in. Especially in rural towns. Which leads me to the next point.
And that’s travel. Particularly, before you travel, be sure
to do a little research and find out where the comic book stores
are located in the city you are traveling to. First, it’s
a lot of fun to go exploring like that. And second, you might find
issues that you’ve been hunting for a long time. Or you’ll
run into books you’ve never seen before or that remind you
of other books that you’re interested in and suddenly, you
have a new prize to hunt for.
Perhaps the best place to hunt for comics is the Internet. If you
know how to use search engines effectively, you can find pretty
much anything you’re looking for. And when it comes to finding
great deals on comics, you should start with Ebay. Now, volumes
could be written on how to be successful at bidding on items on
Ebay. I won’t go into all of that. One suggestion though.
Be sure to check out the value of a specific comic book at the grade
it’s listed at using Overstreet’s Guide or Comicspriceguide.com
before you set your maximum bid price.
And also check with a couple of other online retailers to see if
they have the comic at as a good a price or better. I frequent Lone
Star Comics’ web site at mycomicshop.com. They have an immense
collection and fairly decent pricing. I also look at Mile High Comics
(milehighcomics.com) but don’t buy from them as often. Their
comics are usually priced higher than I’m willing to pay.
I read someone online who said that they’re called Mile High
Comics because their prices are a “mile high.” That’s
funny. I reprint that joke here for your amusement. Don’t
all thank me at once.
Keeping
Comics. You have a good collection of comics? Take
care of them. Put each of your comics in a Mylar sleeve with a piece
of white chipboard backing it up. I recommend Mylar because plastic
bags get dingy and dull looking in a very short period of time and
end up making really great comics look like their in pretty old
shape. Mylar on the other hand brighten up the shine factor on any
comic which looks great on new ones but is particularly helpful
to old comics that have lost all of their original luster. You can’t
go wrong with Mylar.
Put all your comics in a comic book box. You can buy these boxes
at your comic book store. They have long boxes and short boxes.
You’ll know what’s right for you collection. And when
you put your comics in the box, put them in alphabetical order and
in sequential order. I used to order mine by publisher but after
a while I was way beyond having just Marvel of DC books so I decided
to order them strictly by alphabetical order, mixing publishers.
Also, be sure to check the copyright info at the bottom of the first
page for the correct title of the book. The way it’s worded
on the cover is not always the actual title of the comic book.
Make sure you keep these boxes of comics in a safe, dry, place with
lids on the boxes or some protection against the light. Keep ‘em
in great shape and one day they’ll be worth something. Not
that you’d ever really sell them. But what’s the sense
in having a collection of a bunch of comics in crappy condition
when they can just as easily be in mint condition?
Selling
Comics.
And if you do decide to sell your comics, here’s a few tips.
First, don’t take your comics books to a comic book store
and try to get top dollar for them. The guys that own comic book
stores are going to turn around and sell them for a profit meaning
that they usually only pay pennies on the dollar. You’re not
going to get a fair price.
Second, learn how to grade your comics fairly. You will either piss
off buyers if you over grade or you will rip yourself off if you
under grade. Pick up the Overstreet Guide and follow the guidelines.
Also check out CGC online and learn how they grade comics. The biggest
mistake people make is thinking that since the comic looks pretty
good and has hardly been read, it must be in mint condition. The
problem is that for every small crease near a staple, on the spine,
or on the edges even if it doesn’t break the ink (which would
leave a faint white line in the crease), it counts against the grade
of the comic. Some collectors are extremely picky. The best rule
of thumb is to be conservative and fair and err on the side of a
lower grade. Of course, a lower grade means lower value which is
why comic collectors are so hesitant to lower the grade.
Perhaps the best place to get top dollar for your comics will be
on Ebay. I suggest that you start by selling some of your more insignificant
comics first until you get a feel for the marketplace. There are
a lot of buyers who are total jerks and plenty of people that will
either rip you off or just plain waste your time. But once you learn
how to play the game, you’ll be able to get more for your
comics than anyplace else.
Have fun. So now you’re
all set to be all the comic collector you can be. Here’s one
last suggestion. You’ll keep it real and enjoy the collection
more if you make sure that you’ve read every comic book in
your collection. They’re fun to collect but if they aren’t
fun to read, then what’s the point? Enjoy. |
