c/comic-book-fans

That guy at the comic shop changed my mind about silver age stuff

I used to think silver age comics were boring because the art looked stiff and the stories were too simple. But last Tuesday at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, an older collector handed me a beat-up copy of Amazing Spider-Man #50 and said 'read the letter column, man'. He was right, the fans writing in back then were just as passionate and nerdy as we are today. Has anyone else had a random stranger totally flip your opinion on a whole era of comics?

Can we talk about which comic shop setup works better, the organized bins vs the messy long boxes?

I went to two shops last weekend in Portland, one had everything sorted by publisher and alphabetized while the other just dumped new arrivals in random stacks on a table. The organized shop took me 45 minutes to find what I wanted but I found a rare first printing of Watchmen #1, the messy one I grabbed 3 good issues in 10 minutes but missed a deal on a Silver Surfer run. Which approach actually helps you find better stuff and not just waste time?

Appreciation post: The guy who told me to stop bagging my comics wrong

I was at my local shop in Portland last Saturday digging through the dollar bins. This older dude next to me saw me cramming a few issues into a bag that was way too small, like bending the corners and everything. He just shook his head and said "you're ruining those books, son" and handed me a proper sized bag and board. He showed me how to slide the board in without scratching the cover and how to tape the flap without it touching the book. I had been collecting for like 5 years and nobody ever told me that. Ever had a random stranger at a shop teach you something that actually saved your collection?

Warning: My comic book short box just split open at the bottom

I was moving my long box of Silver Age X-Men comics last Saturday and the bottom gave out, spilling about 40 issues onto my garage floor. The cardboard was all crumbly and wet from a small leak I didn't notice. Has anyone else had their boxes fall apart like this, and what kind of storage do you use now?

TIL that buying every variant cover of a run doesn't make your collection impressive.

A long-time collector named Dave at my LCS told me I was wasting money on variant covers after I bragged about my 12 different Batman #1 issues, and three years later I realized he was right since none of them have held value while his beat-up original copy is worth ten times my whole pile.

That guy at the comic shop changed how I see variant covers

I was at Cosmic Comics on 4th Street grabbing the new X-Men issue when the owner, this older guy named Pete, told me he thinks variant covers are just a way to make us buy the same story twice. He said he watched a kid spend $60 on three different covers of one comic last month and it hit me that I do that too sometimes. Does anyone else ever step back and wonder if we are collecting comics or just collecting the hype?

Finally figured out the right way to bag and board my silver age books

I spent about 4 hours last Sunday trying to fit a 1968 Fantastic Four issue into a standard bag and it kept wrinkling the cover. Turns out I was using the wrong size bag for that era of comic, the dimensions changed slightly between decades. Did anyone else have a moment where a small storage mistake cost you way more time than it should have?

Spent $150 on variant covers last month and realized I never read them

I bought 8 different variant covers for one issue of X-Men thinking they'd be worth something someday. They're sitting in a box under my bed and I cracked open the interior story exactly once. Who else has a stack of variants they wish they could trade back for store credit?

Hit 500 issues in my collection and it just snuck up on me

I was reorganizing my long boxes last weekend and actually counted everything for the first time in years. Turns out I have 500 issues now, mostly random Bronze Age stuff I picked up at flea markets and conventions. I never set out to hit a specific number, it just kind of happened after digging through bargain bins for like 8 years. What surprised me is that I don't even remember half the stories in these books, they're just accumulated. Does anyone else lose track of what they actually own until they pull everything out?

Spent $200 on a graded comic from the 90s and got burned by a restored copy.

Bought a supposedly 9.8 Batman #500 off eBay, but after paying a pro to check it, turns out the cover was color-touched and now I'm out the cash - anyone else deal with restoration scams?

I finally figured out why people bag their single issues wrong

Was at my LCS last Saturday and saw a guy put his new pull list books in those thin poly bags without boards. They were already starting to bend by the time he got to the counter. I used to do the same thing until I noticed my 2019 run of Immortal Hulk had spine rolls from not using proper backing boards. If you store them flat and use a board with the bag, your books stay crisp way longer. Anyone else see people messing up their bagging at the shop?

Stuck between buying issue by issue vs waiting for the trade: how do you collect your comics?

I used to buy single issues every Wednesday without fail. But after moving last year I realized I had 3 long boxes of stuff I never re-read. Then I tried waiting for the trade on a new series and missed out on that weekly buzz at the shop. Now I'm half and half and it feels messy. What do you do for your pull list? Do you go single issues all the way or wait for collected editions?

My local comic shop guy got mad at me for bagging my pull list wrong

Last Tuesday I brought in my stack to get new bags and he saw I had the flap folded inside instead of out. He took them all off the counter and re-did every single one while muttering about "amateurs." Has anyone else gotten scolded by their LCS owner over something that silly?

My buddy said I was overthinking comic book fan meetups, and he was right

I spent two weeks planning a local meetup group for Silver Age collectors in Portland, making name tags and a strict agenda. My friend Dave told me to just pick a coffee shop and let people talk, which I ignored until half the attendees left after 20 minutes. Why do we get so caught up on details when all fans really want is to just hang out and talk comics?

Pro tip: I stopped reading variant covers and actually started paying attention

I used to buy every variant cover that came out... thinking they'd be worth something someday. After 3 years and maybe $400 wasted on duplicates, I realized most of them are just money grabs. Now I only pick up a variant if the art is by a specific artist I follow on Instagram. Anyone else feel like variants are a trap for collectors?

Warning: That $60 hardcover omnibus fell apart after one read

Bought the Absolute Edition of a classic run last month. Opened it carefully. By page 50 the binding cracked. Pages started falling out by issue 3. I babied it. Not like I was bending it backwards. Contacted the publisher. They offered me a 20% discount on my next order. So basically nothing. Anyone else had binding issues with those premium editions?

My dad's old trick for bagging comics actually saves me money lol

I used to buy those expensive comic bags and boards from the shop every month. Was dropping like $30 a pop just to keep my 90s X-Men run mint. Then my dad showed me he just uses standard polyethylene bags from a craft store and cuts his own backing boards from thin cardboard. I tried it like 6 months ago and honestly they work fine. No acid migration issues or anything so far. Anyone else cheap out on storage or am I just being dumb here?

I finally dropped $80 on a full run of The Spectre from the 90s

Found a guy at the local shop who was clearing out his collection and I snagged all 62 issues for $80. Thought it was a steal till I got home and half of them smell like cigarette smoke from his storage unit. Gotta air em out on my porch for a week before I can even read em. Has anyone else gotten burned by a collection buy like that?

Found a simple trick for organizing my long boxes

I used to spend forever flipping through issues until I started adding a numbered index card at the start of each title run. Has anyone else tried using color coded tabs on the bags for quick sorting?

Hit 500 issues in my longbox last week and it made me think about my old collection

I was just organizing my longbox and realized I have 500 issues now. That number surprised me because I remember when I started collecting back in high school and thought 50 issues was a lot. Most of my old books from the 90s are beat up and not worth much, but I still have my first issue of X-Men that my buddy gave me in 1995. It's wild how I used to flip through bins for hours looking for key issues but now I just buy trades or whatever catches my eye online. Has anyone else hit a random milestone and just stopped to think about how your collecting habits changed?

Hot take: buying variant covers is a waste of money compared to just getting the regular issue

I used to chase every exclusive variant cover I could find. Dropped $80 on a store variant for a Batman issue back in 2021. Now I just buy the standard cover and put that extra cash toward more back issues. What changed was realizing those variants don't hold value like people claim. My LCS owner even told me "90% of variants end up in the dollar bin after a year." Anyone else stop caring about variants?

Watched a guy at my local shop spend 45 minutes arguing about continuity errors in a 1975 issue of Amazing Spider-Man

Was a floppy comic hater until I saw a proper bag and board system

I used to just stack my issues on a shelf. Thought bags and boards were a waste of money. Then I saw a buddy's collection from 1985 last week. Every spine was straight, no color fade. He showed me how he rotates them every 6 months. Now I'm re-bagging my whole 200 issue run. Anyone else switch from stacking to boarding late?

Had a guy at a con in Cleveland tell me my indie comic was 'too personal' and it made me rethink the whole thing

He said he'd rather read something fun and escapist than hear about my breakup with a hardware store manager, and now I'm wondering if comic fans really avoid stories with heavy emotional weight or if that was just one dude's opinion on a Tuesday afternoon.

Figured out the trick to getting Silver Age comic prices right at flea markets

I spent 3 months overpaying for beat-up copies before I realized that checking the last sold on eBay for that exact issue number, not just the character, saved me $20 on a single Fantastic Four #67 last Saturday, am I the only one who used to just grab anything with a cool cover?