Recently my esteemed editor at Comics Buyer's Guide Magazine asked its team of reviewers and columnists for feedback on this issue's theme: What's in your collection? For today's blog, I've included my responses to the questions, based on our experiences with buying back issues, going to conventions, and looking for those "gems" that can literally show up anywhere. Among the questions were:
Where Do You Buy Your Back Issues?
My response...
"For several years my wife has been the primary buyer of back issues in our household. Her marketing and research background has proven invaluable in making deals with both private owners and professional comics dealers. Although we find some good deals at such larger conventions as Heroes Con, our best finds have been located through Craigslist. Among her finds was "The Telegraph Collection" (we often name our collections based on the street on which they were purchased), a private collection of 10,000 comics that consisted of a mix of Silver Age, Bronze Age and Modern comics, including such great finds as a near-complete run of Sandman and two NM copies of New Mutants #98 (Feb '91, the first appearance of Deadpool). Perhaps her best find was "The Eagle Trace Collection," which consisted of almost 5,000 comics at a cost of 8 cents per issue. Just in the first couple boxes, we found Near Mint copies of such gems as Amazing Spider-Man #300 (May 88), Batman #492 Platinum Edition (May 93), and Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8, along with a large variety of such hard-to-find small-press comics as Scud the Disposable Assassin #1."
What's Your Favorite Comics-Related Find?
My response...
"Once again, my wife gets the credit for several “favorite finds,” among them a Fine+ copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb 74, the first appearance of The Punisher) she found at Heroes Con at a very reasonable price and a nice copy of Ghost Rider #1 (Aug 73) at Adventure Con, which I then proceeded to get signed by co-creator Gary Friedrich just a few minutes later."
What's Your Biggest Regret In Buying Or Selling Or Both?
My response...
"My only real regret would be that I left the field for about three years back in the late 90's for personal reasons. There are definitely some comics I had during that period that I wish I had not sold at "blowout" prices, but it's all part of the learning process."
What's Your Holy Grail, The ONE Item For Which You're Looking?
My response...
"One comic that I have been searching for during the past couple years is The Walking Dead #2 (Nov 03), which is the only issue I'm missing in the entire run. Although I had two copies of the first issue, #2 has proven to be both elusive and priced outside of my budget."
There's lots of additional feedback and stories from the entire team of contributors in this issue, plus great reviews, articles and market updates. You can also check out the additional responses on their website at http://www.cbgxtra.com/!
Check out Comics Buyer's Guide #1689, now on sale!!
