Comic Book Talk!

[SteelSD]

Big Vanisher fan, SD?

LOL! I'm, of course, impressed with the Vanisher reference, sir.

Nah. It's just that I'm about 25 issues away from the full run (1963-current) on the title and most that I need are the "reprint" issues (#67-#93). As of two years ago, I needed all four "grails" (#1, #2, #94, and Giant Size X-Men #1). I now have the latter three in my possession and anything resembling a mid-grade copy of #2 is VERY hard to come by, much less at below guide.

The copy I have was purchased for $160.00 and was accompanied by a VG to VG+ copy of X-Men #7. I'll be able to turn around and sell that #7 for about $40-$50.00, meaning that the actual investment in #2 is nearer to $120.00. To put that in perspective, a VG copy of #2 just sold for about $240.00 on eBay.

How'd that happen? Dumb seller. Bad title on the auction. Poorly chosen listing time (@12:30 AM on a Friday/Sat). Heh. Mine! MINE!!!

So I'm stoked. Now if someone wants to part with a nice copy of #1 for a little bit of nothin', I'll be even happier.

I've spent very little actual money on the high dollar books in that run. I purchases a Fine copy of GS #1 for $150.00, then came across a poorly listed eBay auction for another F/VF copy (which I got for $72.00). Then a third copy popped up at a weird time (late at night) in Fine- condition and I gobbled that up for $65.00.

Sold the F/VF copy for $250.00, then sold the Fine- copy for $150.00. The resulting profit means that I ended up investing about $35.00 in my collection copy. Then I came across a NM 2nd print of Batman #608 for cover price at the local comic shop. For some reason that's a RARE book so I sold it for $75.00 on eBay and turned that into my VG copy of Uncanny #94.

I think I need to write a book on how to do this stuff because I've turned eBay wheeling and dealing into a virtually free 51" HDTV, a whole slew of nearly free high-value comics, and the new laptop I'm typing on right now. Full run of Wolverine? Free. Full run of Ultimate Spider-Man? Free. Early run of Star Wars #1-20? Free. Free. Not completely "free" for course. My initial investment was about $75.00 after all.

Heck, even got a free NM (NM- at worst) copy of Giant Size Defenders #1 out of the deal (there ya' go, TRF). Free is good.

[TRF]

Steel, my wife is trying to do something similar with my kids clothes. Not at your level, but she's getting there. And her dad just sniped what is going to be my daughter's car on ebay last week.

Giant sized Defenders? CURSE YOU STEEL!

[Raisor]

The two best Marvel Universe books right now are Captain America & Daredevil.
I really dug the Winter Soldier storyline. Yeah, they brought back Bucky, but it's just a retcon of a retcon. Bucky wasn't "killed" until Stan Lee brought Cap back in the Avengers. The story worked, so I'm not going to complain. Anything for more Brubaker goodness.

Bendis' run on Daredevil is probably second all time only to the classic Frank Miller run (Born Again is still probably my all time favorite comic book story). Brubaker and Lark have some serious shoes to fill, but they were both born to produce this series, so it should be nothing but great.

I've really been diggin DC the most lately, though. Everything since Identity Crisis has been really good. I'm looking forward to most of the OYL stuff, but I have to say, I'm really dreading the new "Flash" writers (couple of guys that worked on the old FLASH tv show, which did in-fact rule, but I'm still scared they'll screw it up). Wally West is probably the very best example of what a true (comic book) "hero" is. He's the most well rounded "real" character in either of the big two.

I'm going to be really cheesed if Wally isn't in the red costume after Crisis.

[TRF]

Word is the star of the new Flash series won't be the star of issue one, but will be as of issue 2.

for whatever that is worth. I'm picking up IC #5 today. Steel, i showed my wife your post about what you have done on Ebay. she's jazzed and wants to do something similar. She's got the Ebay skills and I'm a web developer, so we got that for making pages look ok. And I need a 60 inch DLP.

[TRF]

Steel, do you have any idea what the Forge (CrossGen) TPB's are going for? I can get my hands on a complete set pretty cheap.

[SteelSD]

Steel, do you have any idea what the Forge (CrossGen) TPB's are going for? I can get my hands on a complete set pretty cheap.

Define "cheap". If you mean like a buck or two each because you want to read them, then ok. Otherwise, don't waste your time as they're not a decent re-sell item (a set of 3-5 just went unsold at $3.99 on eBay).

Maybe one day, CrossGen will be the "next" Valiant in that bored collectors will attempt to grab every book ever issued by the company but right now it appears that even the TPB's are $0.50 bin fodder.

And good luck to you and the wife on the eBay thing, TRF. But a 60" DLP? Do you have a cavern for a living room?? That's HUGE.

Anyway, a couple things I learned:

Focus on two or three things and make sure you know your buy and sell prices backwards and forwards. I specialize in buying and selling a couple things- comics and comic-related material, collectible games (particularly MTG and Star Wars Miniatures). I also seem to have an eye for antique dolls found at auction. My mother is a professional doll restoration artist so I've learned a few things via osmosis.

If you take a stab at selling comics be sure your grading is precise and it's always better to downgrade by half a grade if it's questionable. I've sold a number of most likely solid NM books at NM-minus just to hedge my bets and I've never had a buyer question my grading. I also have had good success writing detailed "defects/attributes" descriptions for mid-grade books. For example, I may grade a book at Fine-minus, but I might also note that it "Displays as a VF copy". People eat that up because they'll pay a premium for a mid-grade book that shows off better to their friends.

And always be on the lookout for stuff you can sell because you can get lucky that way. I hit on a couple items that I wasn't even looking to buy. Last year I purchased six early (6 of the first 13 made) Randy Bowen Marvel mini-busts for a total of $80.00 from a pawn shop. I turned around and sold them for $920.00 (Thor netted me about $250.00 all by himself). Came across a large lot of complete Viewmaster reel packets from the 1950's at an auction and grabbed them for $25.00. Sold them for over $250.00. Yeah. Viewmaster reel packets. Local comic store owner sold me four Wolverine #20 RRP cover variants for $5.00 each. Sold them for a combined $280.00. Local auctions are a Godsend. Pawn shops are good. But for some reason, antique shops are mostly just the Devil for me. Can't find a bargain at one to save my life.

If you have an eye for stuff like that, eBay can be the alchemy of the 21st century. For less than $150.00 invested in the above items, I had almost $1,500.00 in the PayPal account. At that point I started buying up large Star Wars minis and comic book collections- never paying more than half the resale value (which is eBay, not "guide", value) while continually cycling funds to build more inventory to cycle for more funds. AND, along the way, was able to keep a bunch of great stuff for free. Buy large lot, keep the books you need, sell the rest for a profit.

Over the past year, my overall investment to "start up" was less than $250.00 and the total sales probably ended up around the $9,000.00 mark. But the funny thing is that all but about $75.00 of that $250.00 was actually profit re-invested. At one point, I had about five grand just sitting in the PayPal account with an additional couple thousand bucks out on purchases. And I was just doing it part time. Still have about three grand of inventory just waiting to be sold. Wish I had the time right now. Sigh.

Also, suppress your web developer instincts to build dramatic cool eBay auction pages. Remember, many folks still have dial-up internet and even if they don't simple is generally better. The key is to just give a solid pic (or three) of the item. Not too large because it'll slow up refresh rate, but not too small so that the item isn't clear. For condition-sensitive stuff, make sure the pic is larger and able to be supersized. Write good (and I mean GOOD) descriptions, ship in boxes (and note that in your auctions), and always with Delivery Confirmation (note that in your auctions as well). eBay also has a good free application you can download (TurboLister) and use to "template" your auctions and upload them to eBay 'en masse rather than having to work directly online. Much easier and faster.

There's more, but I don't want to turn the comic book thread into eBay central so if you want a couple other "tricks", PM me and I'll be happy to help.

[TRF]

My wife and i discussed the web part. Ebay offers tools to jazz things up (at a cost of course) but it is simpl html for me. a few tables, BG colors, borders, etc. no BG images for me... i detest them.

I was thinking the comic route, but have not been a collector in a looooong time, so those skills are very rusty. more of a reader now. i think sports cards are waaaay oversaturated.

Niche collecting seems to be the thing. My wife put a stuffed Woody Woodpecker, just a regular stuffed animal bought at Wal-mart on and got a bid immediately. So, I'm thinking that might be our thing. Tom and Jerry, Warner Brothers, Popeye. as old and as much as i can find.

Back to Comics.

Does anyone think this may be the year of oversaturation as far as comicbook fils goes? I count 3-4 major films released within 4 months of each other. (Ghost Rider, Spiderman 3, X-3 and Superman)

[M2]

Just curious, is Cerebus the Aardvark still bouncing around?

[Raisor]

Just curious, is Cerebus the Aardvark still bouncing around?

Dave Sims is either finished with it, or very close to it.

Longest limited series EVER.

[TRF]

Ambush Bug vs Quantis the Koala that walks like a Man.

One of my all time favorites. Nik nik.

[Johnny Footstool]

Does anyone think this may be the year of oversaturation as far as comicbook fils goes? I count 3-4 major films released within 4 months of each other. (Ghost Rider, Spiderman 3, X-3 and Superman)

I thought Spidey 3 was set for Summer 2007.

[TRF]

I could be wrong. But i thought it was this year.

[Raisor]

I could be wrong. But i thought it was this year.

nope, it's next year.

Superman is the big one for this year.

X-Men 3 will stink.

[Gainesville Red]

I just saw the X-men 3 trailer. It looked pretty cool.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/t...iler/large.html

[SteelSD]

nope, it's next year.

Superman is the big one for this year.

X-Men 3 will stink.

X3 is going to rock. Juggernaut. Colossus. Dark Phoenix. Beast. Angel.

C'mon!