Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
In the past few days, it's started to feel like spring has well and truly sprung in the environs I call my home.
But there's another kind of spring.
A spring into action!
Astonishing.
It's the one in which the first person to comment below gets to decide just what's to be the topic of the day.
And just what will they decide?
That is something that even a man as awesomely powerful and wise as I cannot know.
Therefore, feel free to get that particular ball rolling and we shall see just what magic unfolds, unfurls and unravels before our literal eyes.
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20 comments:
This topic may have come up before; if so disregard it; my aging brains get repetitive at times. It's actually a two-part question:
What was the best deal you ever got on a purchase in your collecting days? And the flip side:
What was the worst deal you ever got stuck with?
To get it started, here's mine:
Probably the best purchase was a box of comics I got off Craigslist. A fellow met me after work and pulled an old cardboard box out of his car, asking 30 dollars for it. I saw they were Silver age books, so jumped at the chance. Got home and went through the lot; among them were Batman 181 (first Poison Ivy) and Flash 175 (2nd. Superman/Flash race). Worked out to about 25 cents per comic.
Worst deal- early on, when I was a teen age collector, I went to a convention. Was particularly looking to find a copy of "Silver Surfer" #1. I did indeed encounter a dealer with one; of course he had it priced well above the Overstreet NM price. Nevertheless, I bought it. And, made the cardinal mistake of a back issue buyer- failed to open the book. Upon doing so later, it turned out to have a detached cover and two missing pages. Learned that lesson well...
interesting topic, Redartz - I don't remember it cropping up before!
In the early-mid 90s (I forget), I got a big box, full of mid 70s UK weeklies, from OK Comics in Leeds, for £5. It was the collection of a lad who died in a motorcycle crash (so tinged with sadness.)
Also, about 15 years ago (?), I got a collected edition of Strange Apparitions (Marshall Rogers/Terry Austin Batman), reduced to either 50p or £1.50 ( I forget! )
At the moment, I can't think of a bad deal. If I remember one, I will include it later!
Phillip
Excellent subject Red!
Best deal was a box (like copy paper box) of late 1940s to mid 1950s Looney Tune (Bugs, Porky, Westerns) for $3. Maybe 30 a 40 comics? This was at a flea market at what used to be a KMart in dying Gary Indiana around 1975? Many were super nice; all had that musty odor.
This was a lot of fun (maybe I sent you a few?)
It also led to my favorite being rip-off story to follow, lol.
As in aside, due to my part-time hobby of buying old Time or Paris Match magazines off eBay, I think I finally found a way to get rid of that musty odor, lol. I hang them on a drying rack over heating ducts (mine are in the floor) for some days. Seems to work!
Charlie Horse 47
I never really went to dealers or anything for comics. There was one place I got a few bargains though.
In the North-West seaside town I spent my late childhood and teens, I used to have to scour the newsagents for comics week after week.
Naturally, when I left to go to university in 1991 a proper comics shop opened up there a month later.
So whenever I was back to visit I’d pop in and usually find something interesting. The prices were decent as it was pre-internet and the market was pretty contained.
As time went on and the comics bubble burst in the mid-90s it stocked fewer and fewer comics and more toys and tat, and the comics got cheaper and cheaper. I once picked up a big swathe of replacement Sienkiewicz Moon Knight issues (my originals had the price scribbled on the front as I’d got them from an indoor market) for 50p each.
Then one time in the early 2000s I got issues 13-15 of Eclipse Miracleman there for something like £2 apiece. I already had my originals and this was when they were going for stupid sums, so I said to the owner at the counter that he could sell these on eBay for decent money; but he said he couldn’t be bothered with all that.
Fair enough. I definitely could be bothered.
I remember issue 15 went to a woman in the US who was desperate to get it before Christmas as it was a gift for her boyfriend.
No bad deals to speak of. I do remember when I was in the throes of a frenzied UK comics creators obsession (the Warrior / Daredevils era) I asked my parents to get me a huge stack of back issues of Savage Action for Christmas 1983 and found the contents very disappointing.
Oof. I feel the pain.
Also my local charity shops have turned up bargains occasionally. The Bumper Book Of Magic and the Sienkiewicz ‘Revolutions’ book for £12 apiece, Alice In Sunderland for £5 etc.
OK, here’s Charlie’s story of how he got rooked!
In the late 70s, perusing the buy, sell, trade section of the biweekly must – have newspaper “the buyers guide for comic fandom“, Charlie spied an advertisement where a guy wanted to trade late 1950s issues of WORLD‘s FINEST for DELL funny animal comics from similar time frame.
CHARLIE WAS LIKE, “HELL YEAH I’LL TRADE PORKY PIG FOR SUPERMAN AND BATMAN FROM 30 YEARS AGO!“
So me and this dude exchange books. I’m looking at this issue of world‘s finest, which actually had BATGIRL in it too, I think in a yellow costume. And the comic was in really decent shape as was the porky pig I sent him.
So far so good.
I then open the book and I noticed a good 1“ x 1“ section of the top right corner of the book where the comic code authority stamp is a scotch-taped piece of paper!
This piece of driftwood had actually recreated, with surprisingly good counter, fitting skills, the torn off right corner. If you were simply looking at the cover of the book, you would never notice it until you flip it open.
Anyhow, it’s not like I really lost any money. It was more of the nature of this chumley ripping me off like that!
CH
And red, I know you’re pain about missing pages and cut outs too. The first time I ever went to a comic book store was in Alexandria Virginia on a family vacation in 1976. God I was why but my parents actually thought it would be fun to stop in this comic book store that was there.
So old Charlie buys a Steranco X-Men. We get in the car and driving away I finally opened up the plastic bag only to see some coupon or something had been cut out.
It was a good experience to have at the age of 15 that cost me three dollars versus… Who knows… Maybe spending hundreds 10 years later and learning that lesson!
The moral of the story is comic books are a nickel and dime business and you have to know your stuff before slapping down the dough!
Ah, cut out coupons in old comics. You especially had to check 70s Marvels for missing value stamps!
Btw Charlie, re: the yellow costume - that would have been Batwoman.
She was actually around in the '50s. Batgirl's first appearance wasn't until Detective Comics #359, in 1967 (although there was a different early 60s Bat-Girl, who was Batwoman's niece).
And yes, I do realize it's a bit sad that I know that...
-sean
Phillip- very impressive pickups, sadly though the first one originated. Those Rogers/Austin Batman stories are amazing.
Charlie- indeed, you can't go wrong with Golden Age Dell comics! Yes, you were so kind as to send me a few. Love 'em (and also always get a kick out of the fun ads usually found on their back covers). And sympathies on that World's Finest! Do you still have it? Seems like it would make an interesting conversation piece...
Matthew- enjoyed your stories! Cool that your Miracleman score worked out well both for you and for that gift-seeking woman (hope it arrived in time)...
Sean- yes, you really have to watch for those cutouts. One series I've collected is "Sugar and Spike" from DC; which always featured paper doll pages. Hence you often encounter issues of that title with missing centerfolds. Same problems with some "Katy Keene" books, and other such fashion/pin up comics. Sometimes it feels like an accomplishment when you snag a complete copy!
Red-
Yeah, Charlie is great! He's sent me some nice stuff too.
Don't think I forgot, Charles!
Talking about deals, I spent something like 70 bucks on a Thor comic once.
Lee/Kirby.
It's a classic, but I'm not gonna do that again.
What was I thinking.
I got some nice stuff though, at bargain prices. First appearance of Thanos, in Iron Man 55. I think I paid 15 bucks for that. It's in decent shape.
...I also have a strange fondness for Dell comics, like Charlton comics.
It was a different time.
M.P.
Matthew - Like myself, Moon Knight was a favourite of yours ( I seem to remember); so Savage Action (a Moon Knight fest!) not hitting the spot, seems puzzling. Were the other 'dark avenger' stories ( the Punisher, Dominic Fortune, Night Raven, etc) disappointing for you?
Phillip
I wasn't into American comics at that point - though I was a year later.
I was solely into UK creators, and I'd read that Marvel UK comics had been a hotbed of talent a few years earlier; so Savage Action looked like a sure bet. But as it was 99% US stuff - even if, in retrospect, it was mostly interesting material - I was pretty disappointed.
Phil-
As a Moon Knight fan, you must have read that Defenders arc. Y'know, with Scorpio.
He was depicted as a bit of a wise-ass back then,, making jokes while trying not to get creamed by the Hulk and the LMD Zodiac.
It was great! He escaped Scorpio's death trap by controlled breathing in an empty beer can.
Ah, beer.
Is there anything it can't do?
M.P.
M.P. - Regarding that Defenders arc, I read some of it - for sure - but not all
( UK newsagents being hit & miss! ) I definitely read Defenders # 47 - Wonder-man battling Moon Knight, plus the Defenders, being a must buy!
( bought on holiday, I seem to recall! ) Also, I definitely got the LMD Zodiac's debut, in Hulk Comic (# 52/53, etc) - a UK Weekly. Keith Giffen taking some inspiration from Kirby - and with fab inking! Unfortunately though, that Defenders arc's ending eluded me. One to think about acquiring for Christmas, perhaps!
Phillip
Matthew - Yes, I suppose the UK's only (although not without its merits) contribution to Savage Action was Night Raven!
Phillip
Red, thank you for the topic.
Tragically, I don't remember ever getting a great deals on any comics.
On the other, hand, I don't think I've ever got a bad one either.
I shall console myself that I've achieved a happy balance.
Red:
Closest thing I ever got to a surprise “best deal” was finding a run of 6 issues of TALES OF SUSPENSE from 1966 for a few bucks apiece in a longbox full of mostly “kids comics” (Harvey, Bugs Bunny etc) in a junk store in the mid-1980s. None were in “Mint” condition but only one of them was in rough shape. They were, I believe, the oldest comics I’d ever purchased at the time — and they really SEEMED “old” — funny now to realize they weren’t quite 20 years old at the time.
As for “unwelcome surprise” comics, I’ve had the usual assortment of missing Marvel Value Stamps and interior scribblings. I’ve unknowingly purchased more than a few BETTY AND VERONICA comics over the years that some horny doofuses have “improved” by drawing huge knockers on the gals, usually in ballpoint pen. Also, i had one memorably yucky chocolate surprise smashed perfectly flat between two pages (and not ad pages either).
b.t.
M.P.- hope you enjoyed that Thor book! Does it qualify for a "bought it for the art" label? I've spent as much as 25.00 for a cover with no regard for the comic itself.
B.t.- sometimes it pays to search through a box of seemingly unremarkable books. As you demonstrated! And the interior surprises in comics could inspire a whole new post. Squashed bugs, sticky candy residue, and so on...
One of the best deals I got was picking up Thor issues 180 ( Neal Adams issues) for £3 . It was compete and in very nice condition so I have no idea why the shop sold it for that price , possibly as it was a 1/- editions? Like b.t. I have bought so many comics that have had pages missing, invisible but large ripped pages, value stamps cut out or pen scrawls on pages.
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