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**sigh**I still have 20,000 out in my garage. I've got to get them itemized, listed and sold so that my wife doesn't get burned...I have so many signed copied copies and a lot of those guys are long gone...like any collectible, you have to find the right person that will pay you something near the value and as already been mentioned, the comic stores aren't going to give you the big price as they have to make a profit as well.
I am a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, and I've purchased about 150 comics, mostly "vintage TMNT" along with some graphic novels and books, and those tend to sell more readily than others. But prices vary widely, and The thing about TMNT is that its popular and the original main Mirage series is only about 65 issues, and the secondary Archie series is only about 75 issues, with the first seven issues direct adaptions of the cartoon series. Then with all of the long-running titles, knockoffs, and . I do enjoy my Action Comics #1 reprint from 1974 though since it offers to joy of owning a nice replica of the original 1938 issue for only $15 that I paid for. But it's depressing seeing a box of about 300 comics at a garage sale with a price of just $5, as most modern comics are lame attempts to carry a classic forward. It's always best to seek the "golden age" of the respective title. Sure, comic books maybe making a comeback of sorts, but given the growth is more towards electronic readers, it just isn't quite the same.
there are niches within comicdom which really stay strong..
horror/sci-fi especially with a 20c cover or less
is still sought after.. there are a limited supply of these.
same for old Warren mags. Eerie, Creepy, Original Vampirella,
that stuff has its diehard collector base.
For a comic book to fetch a collectible price at an auction, it has to be from at least the 1960s and earlier. I grew up in the 1960s, so I still have from that period some favorite issues of the Flash, The Doom Patrol, and The Atom.
Don't get me wrong--there were/are some excellent stories produced after the 1960s but they don't command high collectible prices. 1960s is valuable because that's when the Silver Age began, when DC began reviving the heroes that were popular during the Golden Age of the 1940s.
So even though comic books produced after 1960s don't command collectible prices, I still say that a true comic book fan should still collect them for the excellent stories and art. For example, Geoff Johns is an excellent writer, currently, for The Flash, and so also writes for the current CW-television series of that character.
It depends. There ARE valuable comic books from the 80s and 90s, but they tend to be issues that were printed in very low numbers and were not intended as collector's items because no one at the time knew they would catch on. That's why a whole box of comics sells for $5, and TMNT #1 sells for a couple thousand.
Just like there are still a few valuable examples of just about any category of formerly hot collectibles that most people have written off for worthless like Beanie Babies and Pokemon cards. The ones that are TRULY scarce can still demand a premium price.
Did anyone watch that auction on ebay a few months ago where the number 1 Superman sold for about $3.5 million? At least if I recall that's about the highest any single comic has ever sold for. I kept it on my watch list, but it's gone now. You had to be pre-approved and allowed to bid before you could even place a bid. Special rules for special sellers. Ebay always plays the favorites. It was impressive though to see to the prices rise. Of course the sellers were kept private which was wise. The seller donated 10% to a charity as well. That was cool!
I sold all my newer comics at a small town auction last year. I only had about 300 or so that were late 80's to late 90's and made about $800 for them. I was actually surprised and happy because I had bought them in an auction myself and had about $20.00 invested. So apparently newer comics do sell good, but perhaps it has to do with the persons who want them, because the buyers of mine were all older people, but not necessarily seasoned comic book dealers.
Did anyone watch that auction on ebay a few months ago where the number 1 Superman sold for about $3.5 million? At least if I recall that's about the highest any single comic has ever sold for. I kept it on my watch list, but it's gone now. You had to be pre-approved and allowed to bid before you could even place a bid. Special rules for special sellers. Ebay always plays the favorites. It was impressive though to see to the prices rise. Of course the sellers were kept private which was wise. The seller donated 10% to a charity as well. That was cool!
I sold all my newer comics at a small town auction last year. I only had about 300 or so that were late 80's to late 90's and made about $800 for them. I was actually surprised and happy because I had bought them in an auction myself and had about $20.00 invested. So apparently newer comics do sell good, but perhaps it has to do with the persons who want them, because the buyers of mine were all older people, but not necessarily seasoned comic book dealers.
Technically eBay allows any seller to restrict the bidders to a pre-approved list. You just have to set up the auction that way when you create the listing. It's pretty common on extremely expensive items and listings that the seller expects will attract a lot of bidders who have no intent to pay.
Good job on the comic book sale. That's how the dealers who are still around make money on newer comics. They buy them in bulk lots for a low price then resell them for a slightly higher price. You can still make money on a comic that sells for $1.00 if you only have $.15 invested in it.
I've always done pretty well with comics. I've never sent out any to be officially graded and slabbed although I have about 600 higher gradeable comics I could do that with, but when I had my store I would use Overstreets and try to be conservative instead of loose and I think because of that I had quite a few return customers. Now that my store is closed though, I didn't want those extra newer ones around. I've stored my older ones.
One comic that I had a few years ago was the number 83 Journey Into Mystery 1964 that was the first time Thor was introduced. I did send that off to a guy who is an advisor for Overstreets and he sent it back that said the condition wasn't the greatest and I knew that, but he said if I did get it graded, then I'd be stuck at that grade (maybe a 3-4 range). His advise was to wait till the first Thor movie was released on opening night and then list it on ebay that Friday night. I took his advice and it did probably better than had I took the time to grade it. It brought me close to $1900.00 on ebay. So I was pleased. Later on I had the number 1 Barbie, which was a real beater, but it brought me $60.00, but still good price as the condition was really bad on the cover with a huge coffee stain on it or maybe coke, not sure but it was a brown color.
Right now I am currently working on trying to buy from a friend of mine 3000 plus Spiderman and X-men comics all bagged and boarded since new and since number 1 all in multiples of 5 to 10 each. I have no idea what he wants, or if he'll even sell them. They are a little past my my childhood era, but since none have been read and his dad got him started as a father son hobby and he is now in his 40's and they been boxed and put away since he was a teen I imagine they might be worth quite a bit although I haven't bought a new overstreet in a few years or been watching comic auction that much as I'm concentrating on coins more than anything else these days.
Are the Archie Comics from the early 50's worth anything? My mom gave me her collection of comics.
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