Comics and Me
In August 2008, I started to inventory, organize, and grade my comics, most of which I’ve had for over thirty years.
When I was 6 or 7 years old, my grandfather sent me the first of several big boxes of comics. Here’s the story, as I understand it. These were remaindered comics that retailers hadn’t sold, so they tore off the cover to “prevent” their sale and returned the covers to the publishers for a refund. Then they sold the coverless comics to Grampa for very cheap, maybe nothing. I loved reading them, and there were lots of duplicates, so I could trade with my friends while keeping one of each.
Later, whenever I had a little pocket money, I rode my bike to the U-Tote-M store. This was a convenience store like a 7-Eleven. I’d buy as many comics as I could, which wasn’t many. They cost 12 cents each. I had to be very selective! I came to prefer DC over Marvel, because DC often gave me one or more complete stories in an issue, while Marvel seemed to always continue the story in the next issue, or sometimes even cross over to a completely different title. I had no hope of keeping up!
I kept my comics with me through many moves, protecting them the best I could, not always successfully. While I was away at college, I left my comics in boxes in my parents’ garage. They were not protected by individual plastic bags, and they were stacked flat, rather than on edge. When the garage flooded, the bottom inch or two of each stack suffered severe water damage. At least they hadn’t been thrown away.
I bought more comics wherever I went, still preferring DC. In the Eighties, I first expanded my buying, since I finally had some discretionary income. But I slowed down again as I realized the publishers were increasing their output. New independent publishers were giving creators more control and ownership of their creations, so many of the new titles were excellent work. There were more new comics every month than I cared to read! My first child was born in 1989, and it wasn’t too long after that I stopped buying comics altogether.
More years and moves came and went, and my comics were in boxes in the closet. My first child turned 20 in 2009! So, after finally finishing the house remodel that was forced on us by a washing machine breaking and flooding our house, I decided to look into selling my comics. (Don’t worry, my comics were not damaged this time.) I immediately felt like Rip Van Winkle! So much had changed when I wasn’t looking. Cover prices had shot up like a rocket, but it was easy to get new comics at big discounts. Thousands of comics shops had gone broke, flooding the market with leftover inventory from the 80s on. For back issues, EBay made it possible to eliminate the middle man. There was this new service called CGC. They grade your comic fairly objectively, but then they slab it in plastic to prove it is still as it was when they graded it. This was all truly new to me quite recently!
This is fun! So fun that for a few years I looked for opportunities to pick up more vintage comics I can sell. Even Marvel! But now I value the space more than the fun of selling. If I ever have grandchildren who are interested, I would love to pass on the family tradition.
