I save comic books from people who stack them inside shopping bags

Or at least that's how I feel whenever I find some in poor condition.  I remember at a stoop sale in Carroll Gardens, I ran into a guy whose parents were being evicted so he had gone back home to remove some of his own items.  As a child, this fellow had received many free comics from his father who once worked for Mad Magazine and now he was selling them, piles of them, on the sidewalk, out of shopping bags.

Well, I thought, there probably won't be any in near mint or anywhere close to collectible condition.  But who knows what one might find...this was a young guy, so most of his collection were from the 80s and 90s. He had a number of trades, too, none of which interested me.  But then in the bottom of a few piles, I found some comics worth saving:  a Flash #192 (the Flash saves a submarine from the clutches of some evil organization hiding in some sea cave), a Daredevil #44 (Daredevil fights against some maniacal toy master), and an Invincible Iron Man #15 (featuring some villian named the Unicorn - geez...). 

As I expected, they were in rough shape.  The covers were chipped and creased.  The spines were all stressed out.  The Daredevil one was in the worst shape:  some of the interior pages had started to separate.  In collector parlence, they were no better than in Good condition.  Basically worthless - if you wanted to resell it.  But I thought they were pretty neato.  Comics from the late 60s are not that uncommon.  You can get them on eBay and comic book shops in far better condition.  But I was happy to find and buy them for about two bucks a piece.

The nice thing about buying comics that are already hurt is that you really can't reduce their value any further.  And you can just enjoy reading them.

Best of all, Maddie selected a hardcover anthology of superhero stories, Bizarro World, conjured up by indie writers and artists.  Imagine if Batman and Superman were written by William S. Burroughs disciples.  She really likes those weirdo stories, especially the one in which Superman is found and raised by elves from the North Pole and grows up to be, well, Super Santa!