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!

Cool Pick #1: Giant-Size Iron Man #1

Since I started collecting again, I've been trolling Craigslist as the weekends approach to see what stoop sales, if any, may involve comics.  It hasn't been easy to find many on any given Saturday or Sunday.  Some days, I go to the stoop sale and there isn't much to choose from.  Or I get to the location and there is no sale, which happened just last Saturday in Park Slope.  Still, once in a while, I find something pretty neat (yeah, I like using the word "neat").

One Saturday morning, I went to Bay Ridge and walked up to a sale organized by some hipsters (or what I think are hipsters.  I find that anyone younger, thinner, and unshaven to be of that ilk, and I mean it in the best sense of the word, no irony intended).  It was a house on 3rd Avenue just feet from the elevated BQE, but when I walked up the covered porch, I found myself rather insulated from the noise and grit of the highway.  A couple of short boxes with a sign that said "$1" made it very welcoming indeed. 

So I knelt down and thumbed through them.  No Golden or Silver Age find...but I did grab a stack of about eleven comics, many of them Marvel's Giant-Size series from the 1970s.  A few Captain Americas, one drawn by Jack Kirby, another by Gene Golan; a Men of War #1, an origin story about a Black soldier designated for grave duty who battled both racism from his own superiors and the Nazis; and a Giant-Size Iron Man #1.  This, the Iron Man issue, was a great personal find.

Well, what's so special about it, you may ask.  After all, it's just a reprint of some 1960's Tales of Suspense Iron Man stories.  Ah, but it does have the origin of Hawkeye and his first encounter with the Black Widow (before she changed her costume).  And where do they meet?  In Coney Island!  Wowsers!  And who else is in Coney Island?  Why, Tony Stark with Pepper Potts!  For a buck, I get to appreciate those early adventures, one of which takes place in Brooklyn, my hometown!

So, what's it worth?  For the condition it's in, Overstreet says it's about $9.  On eBay, there are several selling for around that price.  I think there's too much supply and not enough demand for this issue to sell well on eBay.  It's just a comic reprint even if there's a "#1" on the cover. 

Still, if I were to resell it at my own stoop sale, I'd probably place a $7 sticker on it and go as low as $5. I might be able to get my asking price because the Iron Man 3 movie is out and there are many kids in my neighborhood who like the character.  In any case, on paper at least, I'll make a profit.  And with that profit, I'll probably end up taking my daughter out for ice cream.  And that's how I roll.

But will I sell it?  That's the hard part of being part collector, part speculator:  being sentimentally attached to an old comic.  Maybe I have too much of the collector in me...We'll see.  I'll let you know what happens.