c/comic-book-fans

6

reese_taylor69•17h ago

Fellow collector at the shop told me I was grading wrong, and he had a point

I've been sending comics off to get graded for about two years now. Mostly Silver Age stuff, a few key Bronze Age issues. I always just popped them in a cardboard box with some bubble wrap, figured that was good enough. Then this older guy at my LCS saw me packing up a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 and shook his head. He told me I was basically asking for bent corners and surface dings. He showed me how he uses a specific type of rigid mailer, adds a cardboard sandwich inside, and tapes the bag shut so the comic doesn't shift at all. Switched to his method for my last submission of 8 books and got back 7 9.6s or better, where before I was lucky to hit 9.2. Has anyone else gotten a reality check from a random shop regular that actually improved their collection?

28

abbyd36•1d ago

Hit up a comic con in San Diego last weekend and saw something wild

I went to the big comic con in San Diego last Saturday. It was my first time going in about 5 years. What caught my attention was how many people were walking around with like 20 different variant covers of the same issue. One dude near me had 3 copies of the same Batman #157 all in different plastic cases. And he was showing them off like trophies. But when I asked him if he actually read any of them, he just shrugged and said "I buy them to flip later." It felt less like a fan community and more like a stock market floor. Anyone else notice cons turning into just reseller warehouses instead of places to actually talk about stories and art?

23

xena886•2d ago

My buddy's rant about variant covers made me realize I was buying for the wrong reasons

So I was talking to my friend Dave at the shop last Saturday. He was going off about how he used to grab every variant cover that dropped because he thought they'd be worth something someday. Said he spent like $600 last year alone on variants he didn't even read. Then he just stopped and asked me what my pull list was actually about. Made me think about why I grab the books I grab. Is it for the story or just to have a pretty cover sitting in a bag? Anyone else ever look at their collection and wonder why they bought half of it?

10

john_murphy•4d ago

Still mad I ignored the shop teacher who told me not to store my books in my garage

Back in 2017, Mr. Patterson said the humidity would kill my collection, and sure enough half my long boxes are warped now. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way?

9

rivera.holly•5d ago

Torn between the classic Claremont run or starting fresh with the Ultimate universe

I had about two hours before my night shift last week and finally had to pick which big X-Men storyline to dive into. Went with Claremont's Dark Phoenix Saga because everyone swears by it. Got through the first issue and honestly felt lost with all the old references. Does anyone else struggle jumping into older comics without the full backstory?

5

the_stella•5d ago

TIL a local comic shop's pull list system changed my whole collecting habit

I wandered into Cosmic Collectibles over on 3rd Street last Saturday after ignoring it for years. Turned out they keep a detailed pull list with free bag and board for every issue you reserve. I signed up on the spot and now I don't miss any Wednesday releases. It cost me $0 upfront but saved me the gas of hunting down hot variants later. Plus the owner showed me how to sort my back issues by event arcs. Has anyone else found a shop that changed how you organize your pulls?

5

the_kai•6d ago

Just spent 4 hours sorting my pull list by writer, realized I've been doing it by title for 20 years

I was reorganizing my long boxes last Saturday and decided to group everything by writer instead of by series title like I always have. Thought it'd take maybe an hour tops, but nope. I had to pull every single comic from three boxes, check the credits on each one, and then figure out if I was counting runs from the same writer across different books. Took me from 2pm to almost 6pm before I had them all in order. The worst part was when I got to Bendis stuff and realized half his issues were scattered across Avengers and Ultimate Spider-Man and Daredevil, so I kept finding stragglers. Has anyone else tried sorting by creative team and regretted how much longer it actually takes compared to just alphabetical by title?

0

hayden_martin29•6d ago

Had to pick between collecting runs or one-shots, and I chose wrong

I was at my local shop last month staring down a wall of 90s X-Men issues for $2 each or a single Jim Lee variant cover for $50. I went with the variant because it looked cool and now I just have this one fancy comic while the guy next to me snagged a full 30-issue run of Uncanny for the same price. Felt like a total rookie move when I got home and realized I had no story to read, just a pretty picture on my shelf. Anyone else ever drop cash on a single flashy book and immediately regret it?

26

gray_patel•6d ago

That moment I realized I'd been bagging my dollar bin comics upside down for like 15 years...

Some guy at my local shop in Portland pointed it out gently while I was flipping through a stack, and I just froze because suddenly every single comic I'd stored since 2006 made horrible sense as to why the spines were all messed up.

13

jana_price•7d ago

Had to pick between a $200 Omnibus or 10 single issues last Friday

I went with the Omnibus because it looked like a better deal per page, but now I'm stuck lugging this 5-pound brick around the house. Has anyone else regretted going for the collected edition over floppies for a story you weren't sure about?

9

emma72•7d ago

Found out only like 12 people saw my favorite comic book in person last year

I was looking up sales data on Comichron last night for a series I love called Stray Bullets by David Lapham. Turns out issue #41 from 2014 only had like 12 sales reported to Diamond in all of 2024. That blew my mind since it's one of the best crime comics ever made. I get that it's not a Big Two book but 12 copies total feels crazy low for something that good. Does anyone else ever check sales numbers on older indie books and get bummed out by how few people are reading them?

20

jason958•8d ago

The shift from Byrne to Claremont on X-Men - what really changed the vibe?

I was reading some old issues from 1981 and then 1984 and the whole feel of the book switched from this tight action-focused plot to these long, soap-opera style character arcs. Over about three years, John Byrne left and Chris Claremont took over fully, which brought way more internal drama and less big punch-ups. Which approach do you think actually made the series better for the long run?

20

rileyowens•24d ago

That guy at my LCS was dead wrong about Swamp Thing

I had a regular at my local shop back in Portland who swore Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run was overhyped and just 'weird for the sake of it.' He convinced me to skip it for a year until I grabbed issue 21 on a whim last month. Now I'm 40 issues deep and wondering how many other bad takes he's talked me into ignoring before I check them myself - did anyone else have a comic shop friend whose opinions were completely off base?

16

diana_moore75•26d ago

That comment at my local shop about Wolverine's origin made me rethink the whole thing

Was at Cosmic Comics in Portland last Saturday and this older guy was telling the clerk that Wolverine's real origin story got butchered by the movies and most fans. He said the whole Weapon X thing and the adamantium is cool but what makes Logan tick is way simpler - just a guy who keeps getting back up no matter how many times life knocks him down. Never really thought about it that way before. I always focused on the claws and the healing factor. Now I wonder if I've been missing the point of other characters too. Anyone else ever have a random comment from a stranger totally shift how you look at a character?

10

jakef66•26d ago

Best comic convention day I ever had was at a small show in Des Moines

Found a long box full of 90s Image comics that some guy was practically giving away at $1 each, and I pulled a near mint copy of Spawn #1 that I flipped for $80 same day to a dealer three tables down; has anyone else ever had a random find like that completely save a slow con weekend?

21

joseph_hunt•27d ago

Vent: The one trick that got me into Silver Age comics without breaking the bank

I was tired of paying $50-$100 for beat-up copies of early X-Men or Spider-Man at my local shop in Portland. Then I started buying raw, lower-grade issues from estate sales online instead of graded slabs. I got a 1972 issue of Giant-Size X-Men for $15 that way. Anyone else find a sneaky source for old back issues?

8

webb.victor•27d ago

I finally caught a fan damaging books at my local shop last week

I go to Comic Kingdom in Cleveland every Wednesday for new releases. Last Thursday I saw this guy flipping through a first printing of Saga #1 and he ripped the cover with his thumb. He just put it back on the shelf like nothing happened. I told the owner and he pulled the guy aside. Turns out this same dude had been doing it for 3 years and they never caught him until now. They banned him from the store. Has anyone else seen people wrecking books at their shop?

28

susan424•28d ago

Can we talk about gatekeepers at comic shops?

I was at my local shop in Portland yesterday picking up the new issue of something and this guy behind the counter literally laughed at a kid for asking about a trade paperback. The kid was maybe 12 and just wanted to know if they had the one with the blue cover. The employee said 'you don't even know what you're looking for, do you?' and the kid just walked out. Why do some people working there act like you need a degree in comic history to buy a book? Has anyone else seen this kind of stuff drive new readers away?

22

quinnbailey•28d ago

Kid at the shop made me rethink my whole pull list the other day

I was standing at my local shop in Portland flipping through the new releases when this teenager maybe 15 asks if I read Department of Truth. Told him nah I've been reading the same Batman and X-Men books for 20 years. He just goes 'that's cool but you're missing the whole conversation happening right now'. He pulled out like 5 different indie comics from the shelf showed me how they all tie together thematically. Made me realize I've been stuck in a loop for over a decade without even noticing. Has anyone else had a younger fan call them out like that?

30

joseph_hunt•28d ago

Went from hating Frank Miller to loving him after reading Batman Year One again

I used to think Frank Miller was just overrated edge lord stuff after The Dark Knight Returns felt too grim to me. But last month I pulled out my old copy of Batman Year One from 1987 and actually paid attention to the panel layouts and dialogue pacing. The way he builds Gotham as a character in just 4 issues is something I totally missed when I was 17. Has anyone else had a total 180 on a creator after revisiting their early work?

26

the_seth•29d ago

Noticed a guy at the comic shop pulling keys wrong from dollar bins

This dude at my LCS last Saturday was flipping through dollar bins and skipped a copy of New Mutants #98 because the cover was a little bent. I grabbed it after he left, got it graded at a 7.5, and sold it online for $180 last week. Have you ever seen someone miss a big key over a small cover crease?

31

jennifer358•29d ago

Saw a huge shift in how fans talk about Batman in just 5 years

I remember back in 2019 at a con in Chicago everyone was all about the dark gritty Batman. Now I see posts everywhere praising the campy Adam West style. It's like people got tired of the gloom and started embracing the fun side. Anyone else notice this flip in the online comic fan spaces?

8

the_jason•1mo ago

Swapped my weekly pull list from a paper notebook to a Google Keep list back in March

I used to write down my pull list on a scrap of paper every Wednesday at my local shop in Denver, but after I forgot it three weeks in a row and missed a first print of Hickman's new book, I switched to a shared Keep list with my buddy so we can both add stuff we want and not double up on variants anyone else grabbed yet.

14

the_ben•1mo ago

Just realized I was bagging my comics wrong for 15 years

I was at a small con in Austin last weekend and a guy at the next table over showed me how he bags his books. He puts the book in spine first, not the bottom edge first like I always did. I thought it was just preference but he showed me how bottom-first can crease the cover over time if the bag is a tight fit. I never even considered that and I have 400+ books all bagged wrong. Anyone else hear about this or am I the last person to figure it out?

16

emmap16•1mo ago

DAE notice a huge shift in how long it takes to sell a slabbed book these days?

Honestly, two years ago I could list a 9.8 key issue on eBay and get a sale within 48 hours. Now I'm sitting on a copy of a major first appearance for over three weeks with barely a watcher. I think the market just got flooded with people cracking and submitting their own books during the pandemic. Has anyone else seen their average sale time drag out this bad?