Comic book collecting tips for beginners

Collecting, above all else, should be fun.  If you're into comic books for profit, well, that's sort of important, too, because sooner or later, you may want cash for all sorts of things.  But the perspective I'm going to share will be pretty basic and guided by my personal philosophy about this hobby:  do it because it's fun, not because you need to pay the bills.  That's just me.  All right, here goes some advice:

1. Buy what you like.  Number one golden rule.  Comics are meant to be enjoyed.  Back in 1993, I bought this one comic because I loved The Batman Animated Series.  I collected about the first 25 issues of Batman Adventures.  Loved the cover.  It sat in my comic box in my mother's home for another twenty years.  When I cleared out the closet, I sold some of my comics at a yard sale.  But I kept this one copy because it brought me joy every time I pulled it out to look at it.  Turns out my Batman Adventures #12, the first appearance of Harley Quinn, is one of the most popular issues being sought out by comic book fans.  I still have it, now slabbed, and it still brings me joy.

2. Research, read, and, um, read as much about the market as possible.  Now, comics can get expensive.  I sure don't want to overpay what I'd like to have.  There are enough websites that you can find and determine for yourself how popular a particular issue is.  You can go on eBay, GPA, etc., to find information on recent sales.  The questions that I ask myself are:  how badly do I want it? Is it within my budget? Is the comic undervalued or overvalued?  If it is priced right, should I go ahead with the purchase?  If I pass, will I regret my decision fearing that the price will rise beyond what I can afford?  If I choose to resell it, what will be my estimated hold time and how much profit am I aiming for?  You may have different questions more relevant to your circumstances, and that's cool.  I guess what I'm trying to get across is that I take my collecting seriously because it costs money.

3. Have a budget.  This is something you should always practice no matter what you do in life.  For me, I have a Paypal account funded entirely through sales via eBay.  If I can't afford what I want, I will not fund it through a transfer of monies from any of my other financial accounts.  I have to sell what I have to buy it.  This practice has helped to keep my perspective on this hobby.  Hey, it can get addictive, and no one is gonna rein you in except you.  A budget helps me to focus on what I truly want.  It doesn't mean I haven't made stupid purchases.  I have.  And those failures remind me of how important every dollar counts.

4. Hit as many yard sales as you can.  Comics in comic book stores are not cheap.  They have what you want, but they know that and will price accordingly most of the time.  Yard sales, tag sales, whatever sales out on the streets...they require you to work the hardest but they can give you an opportunity to find gems that the sellers don't know or don't care about.  I once found an X-Men #94 this way.  Price: $7.  It's not common, but it can happen to you.  Accept that you will fail most of the time.  But if you enjoy the hunt, then that's important, too.  Just remember to do your chores and take care of your family.  They should matter most of all.

5. Be nice to comic book store employees and dealers.  I bear no grudges against these folks who are in this business.  I respect them.  I talk to them as a fan.  I buy from them when the prices are decent. I don't get into arguments.  If the price is too high, I thank them and walk away to deal with them another day.  Sometimes, they remember me and they may be nice in return, offering me a lower price.  

6. Beware of chasing comics you don't really want.  Yeah.  Websites today have many folks sharing their thoughts on which comics are expected to rise in demand.  I found myself with dozens of comics I didn't really care for nor could I resell them.  Remember your core values, your want list, your Grail comics.  You'll be happier with comics you really want.

7. Ask yourself:  are you going to keep all your comics forever?  For me, the answer is no.  I live in a small apartment with my family.  I can't buy more comics than I have a place for them.  So I sell some, give some away, and keep the ones I want to hold onto for a long time.  I have fun doing all three.  I find no joy in hoarding.  But again, that's just me.

So, these are my thoughts on this Sunday evening.  Happy collecting!

Wizard Magazines - remember them!?!

It's been a while since I last posted.  During this hiatus, I discovered various communities on Google+ and other internet websites.  I learned about about which artists and comics were in high demand.  I became a bit of a speculator from time to time.  But I also became a little more discerning in what I wanted to have for my personal collection.  Collecting really is all about what makes you happy, and this hobby should be fun.  I have certain comics on my "want list," but I also have a budget, and what I am reminded during this time is that, like any investment strategy, I have a risk comfort level beyond which I dare not venture.

This hobby is my escape.  It recharges me.  I don't smoke and rarely drink.  When I discover a hard-to-find comic or a "hot" book in the wild, I chalk it up to being 50% lucky, 25% persistent, and 25% aware.  When I say aware, I mean that the time spent researching and reading anything shared by other comic book hunters often pays off when I come across an unrecognized gem tucked inside a neglected long box.

So here I am today, on a Sunday morning, and I'd like to share what I recently found:

Yeah, boy!  Wizard magazines, #83 and #94!  With covers by Adam Hughes!  And they are still polybagged!  Are the worth anything?  Maybe.  If you go to Hughes's website at http://shop.justsayah.com/category/Magazines.html, you can see that he is retailing his other Wizard cover for $15.00.  On eBay, the unpolybagged #83 sells for around $4.00 while #94 had a recent polybagged version sell for about $10.  #94 has two covers:  the one by Hughes, and another with Mike Meyers as Dr. Evil.  I don't know what print runs are, but I am assuming that the AH! version is probably 1/2 the print run for #83.  So I am going to value my finds at about $10-15 each.  Not bad considering I paid a dollar each.  And I love Adam Hughes.  So win, win!

So here is how research helped me when I came across boxes of old Wizard magazines:  I remembered reading about the AH! covers from a June 8, 2015 posting found on the Comic Book Speculation and Investing website, Comicbookinvest.com.

What will these be worth one year, five or ten years from now?  Who knows.  But that's the fun of collecting.  Maybe you'll see these on eBay soon.  If so, then I'll really know what the market value will be!

Have a great hunt, readers.

The secret formula to collecting comics

No, there isn't a secret formula to investing in comics.  Just like there isn't one for buying gold, silver, stocks, bonds, etc.  Nevertheless, as in any long-term investment strategy, diversification is one important key to success and having fun in this hobby.  I'll come back to diversification later.  But first, there are legitimate variables to consider when considering what makes a comic valuable.  And when I say valuable, I mean highly sought after. 

Here's my formula:

Value =   ((Condition * Popularity) + First appearance or Death of a character) / Existing copies

It's a pretty rudimentary approach, I admit, and I'm sure a statistician could make it more robust (maybe Popularity should be cubed?).  But more importantly, it helps to guide me before I plunk down money:

1. I cannot anticipate the popularity of any existing comic.
2. I may be able to estimate the existing number of copies.
3. I can select the condition that the comics are in for my collection.
4. I can determine which issues have first appearances or deaths. 

The formula may help to explain how certain comics are highly valued now, but it cannot predict which comics will rise, or continue to rise, in value.  For modern comics, it is even more difficult to predict because there is little historical reference to base their future performance. 

Let us consider the relatively high values for these Modern Comics:  Batman #404, New Mutant's #98 (Deadpools' first appearance), and Batman Adventures #12 (Harley Quinn's first appearance).  When can  we expect these comic values to shoot even higher?  I don't know.  But one, or both, things must happen:  their populairy must rise even higher and/or the number of existing copies must fall.  Now, which factor is more iimportant: popularity or number of existing copies?  I would say that popularity is more volatile while the number of existing copies tends to remain stagnant.  Perhaps the real question is can we predict these comics' future popularity?  No.  We cannot.

And this is what makes comic collecting fun! 

Here's where diversification comes in:  buy what you like, but choose a few comics from the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages.  Depending on your budget, and if it's anything like mine, you might end up having a portfolio with a high number of issues from the Bronze Age and Modern Age compared to the Golden and Silver Ages.  And that's okay.  The key is not to lock yourself into one or two key comic (or even one era of comics) that may or may not experience a rise in demand.

And from a pure collecting point of view, it's nice to see how characters, art, and storylines change over the decades.  Who doesn't like to see how Batman's costume changes over time?