c/comic-book-fans

The collector who graded comics just for resale pissed me off at a convention last month

I was at a small con in Des Moines and this guy had a whole booth of slabbed books. Every single one was a 9.8 variant cover. He wouldn't let anyone open them to read. I asked why he even collects if he never looks at the pages. He said he doesn't collect, he invests. Kinda ruined the vibe for me. Has anyone else run into these flippers who treat comics like stocks?

I finally figured out why my buddy's collection was so clean

My friend Mark from Detroit showed me his long boxes last Saturday and they were spotless. He said he wipes down every single bag and board with a microfiber cloth before storing them. I used to just bag them straight from the shop and wondered why they looked dusty after 6 months. Has anyone else tried this or got another trick for keeping covers fresh?

I finally get why some comic book fans hate movie adaptations now

So three years ago I was at a convention in Nashville and saw a guy ranting about how Batman v Superman ruined his childhood. I rolled my eyes back then, thought he was just a gatekeeper. But last month I watched The Last Airbender with my nephew and got legit angry at how they butchered it. Now I totally see where those fans were coming from, the attachment to source material is real. Has anyone else had that moment where a bad adaptation made you side with the purists?

I finally saw the shift in comic book fans at my shop over the last 3 years

I work at a store in Austin and around 2021 the crowd went from mostly dudes in their 40s debating Batman runs to a mix of teenagers and young women hunting for manga and indie horror books. The old regulars got pushed out by the new energy and now we sell more Junji Ito than Spider-Man. Has anyone else watched their regular customer base completely flip like that?

Overheard a kid at the shop call Silver Surfer a 'space snowboarder'

I was flipping through back issues at my local shop last Tuesday when this kid maybe 12 years old pointed at a Silver Surfer cover and asked his dad why the space snowboarder looked so sad. It hit me that we all come into comics from totally different angles. That kid saw a cool board and a shiny dude, not Galactus' herald or any of that cosmic weight. Made me wonder how many other characters I've been reading wrong just because I never had that fresh pair of eyes. Any of you ever had a new reader say something that totally flipped how you see a book?

That $80 variant cover that's worth maybe $5 now

I grabbed a foil variant of a #1 issue back in March because the shop guy said it'd be "hot." Paid $80 for it and now it's basically cover price on eBay. Anyone else fall for the variant hype one too many times?

Frustrated with how I used to hunt for back issues vs how I do now

Back in 2009 I used to dig through dollar bins at every shop in Portland for hours, finding random gems like a first print of 'The Umbrella Academy' for $3. Now I just sit on eBay and pay $20 for the same book because my local shops are all variants and wall books. Anyone else feel like the thrill of the hunt is completely dead?

Had to pick between two longbox collections at a garage sale yesterday

I found a guy in Portland selling two big comic collections for $50 each. One was full of early 90s X-Men runs, the other had a mix of Bronze Age horror like Swamp Thing and Tomb of Dracula. I went with the horror stuff because I'm tired of overpriced mutant books. So far I've found 12 issues in really good shape and a few with ads for old horror movies that are fun to read.

That guy who lectured me for 10 minutes about a variant cover at my local shop

I was at Cosmic Comics in Austin just trying to grab the new X-Men issue last Saturday and this dude sees me picking up a Storm variant. He literally followed me to the register telling me how the artist's early work was 'objectively better' before they sold out. I just nodded and paid but he kept going on about how real fans don't chase variants. Has anyone else had a fellow customer try to gatekeep what you buy at the counter?

Hit exactly 500 issues of X-Men in my collection yesterday

I was just sorting through some long boxes in my garage and decided to count my X-Men run for fun. Turns out I have 503 issues from Giant Size #1 all the way through the Morrison stuff and then some stragglers. Never really thought about how many dollars that represents considering I bought most of them for cover price at Hastings back in the day. Has anyone else here ever totaled up a full run just out of curiosity and been shocked by the number?

Hot take: back issues are way easier to find if you check the letter columns first

I was trying to track down a specific 90s X-Men issue for months and kept striking out at every shop in town. Then I started flipping through the letters pages of random issues from that era and noticed fans kept mentioning which stores had stock. I followed up on one tip from a reader in Ohio and found the exact issue I needed for $3.50. It turns out those old letter columns are like a hidden map of where comics were actually selling back then. Has anyone else used the old letter columns for detective work like this?

The week I went to 4 different comic shops in 5 days and it was totally exhausting

Debate: Are older comic fans gatekeeping or just protective of the hobby?

I was reading through some posts on a comic forum last night and saw this stat: 62% of comic readers at my local shop in Portland are 35 or older. It got me thinking about how the older crowd sometimes gives new fans a hard time for not knowing classic storylines or for picking up variant covers over key issues. On the flip side, I get why they don't want the hobby to turn into a pure speculation game like the '90s crash. Where do you guys land on this - gatekeeping or just looking out for the community?

Shoutout to the guy at my LCS who talked me into a 'before and after' of my pull list

Honestly, I walked into Cosmic Comics on Grand Avenue six months ago with a stack of 12 titles a week. This older collector saw me and straight up said, 'You're burning cash on half that filler.' He challenged me to drop it to 5 core books and actually read every issue for 3 months. Ngl, the difference was wild - I actually looked forward to Wednesday again instead of just piling up unread comics in my cab. Has anyone else had a shop regular or staff member call them out on their pull list size?

That Saturday where the key issue I hunted for 6 months finally showed up

I had been looking for a beat up copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 for months to fill a gap in my run. Last Saturday I walked into my local shop in Portland and the owner Tom had just pulled one out of a collection buy. I didn't even haggle on the 40 dollar price tag because the cover was still attached and the pages were clean. Has anyone else had that random day where a long wanted book just appears out of nowhere?

Just realized that old guy at the comic shop was right about pressing books

I was at Heroes Con in Charlotte back in June and this older collector saw me flipping through a raw copy of ASM 300 I picked up for $200. He said “son, you need to get that pressed before you even think about grading it.” I laughed it off because I figured pressing was just a gimmick for the super high end stuff. Six months later I finally sent it to a presser and it came back a 9.4 instead of the 8.5 I was expecting. I sold it for $600. That guy must have been looking at things I couldnt even see. Anyone else ever brush off advice from a long time collector only to eat your words later?

Learned a hard lesson about paying for variant covers online

I bought a variant cover of X-Men #1 from a seller on eBay for $75 because the picture looked perfect. When it arrived last week, the spine had a nasty color-breaking crease they covered up with the lighting. I tried to return it but the seller claimed it was "shipping damage" and I was out the money plus shipping. Anyone else get burned by misleading photos of variants on auction sites?

Hot take: 90s comic fans gatekeep way harder than the people who got into comics through the MCU

I grew up in the 90s and collected X-Men and Spawn. My dad was a huge fan from the 60s. But lately I've been in a few shops where older fans openly mock people for not knowing who Onslaught is or for starting with the movies. I saw a guy get laughed at for asking about a Deadpool run that wasn't Joe Kelly's. That's not enthusiasm, that's just being a jerk. Isn't the whole point of a community to welcome new readers so the industry doesn't die?

Tried a new comic shop in Brooklyn and got schooled by a kid half my age

Last Saturday I went to this small place called Ninth Circle Comics off Bedford Ave. I was grabbing a random X-Men issue from the 90s and this kid maybe 12 years old walks up and starts telling me about the artist's whole story on that run. He knew more about Jim Lee's panel layouts than I ever did. Made me realize I just flip through back issues without really looking at the art. How do you guys actually study the art in comics instead of just reading the words?

Found out most comic fans skip the letters pages and I'm shook

I was flipping through an old issue of Amazing Spider-Man #300 I grabbed at a con last month. Decided to actually read the letters page for once instead of just looking at the art. Turns out there's a stat online from some fan survey that says over 70% of readers never even glance at those pages. I always thought they were a big deal for the community back in the day. Has anyone else actually read through those old letters or am I just weird?

My back issue tracker at the con in Seattle last year was a game changer

I dropped $40 on a padded adjustable back support strap for lugging around long boxes at shows. After three days of carrying 50 pounds of comics, my chronic back pain didn't flare up even once. Has anyone else tried one of those posture correcting vests or is it just me?

Just dropped $75 on a signed copy of Sandman #1 and I'm worried it's fake

I bought this copy off eBay from some seller in Ohio last week and the signature looks a little too clean compared to the other examples I've seen online. The seller had good ratings but idk, the ink doesn't have that slight smudge you'd expect from Neil Gaiman's pen. Has anyone here dealt with fake signatures in the comic market and what did you do about it?

Blew a fuse at a convention in Dallas trying to get a sketch from a popular artist

I was standing in line for 3 hours at the Dallas Fan Expo to get a quick sketch from Jim Lee, and when I finally got to the front, my phone died and I lost the reference photo I wanted him to draw from. I panicked and tried to describe it, but he just looked at me funny and told me to step aside. Has anyone else had a situation fall apart right at the moment you were supposed to meet your favorite artist?

Stop calling every variant cover a 'rare find'

I was at my local shop in Portland last Saturday and overheard this guy bragging about scoring a 'super rare' variant of a Marvel book from 2022. Dude, that print run was like 40,000 copies. It's not rare just because you saw it on eBay for $50. I've been collecting for 15 years and I swear people just repeat whatever they hear on YouTube without checking numbers. Has anyone else noticed new fans inflating rarity on stuff that's still in dollar bins?

Found out 70% of Silver Age comics are actually reprints and it blew my mind

I was digging through a longbox at a flea market in Cleveland last weekend and saw 3 copies of the same Green Lantern issue from 1963. The seller told me that most of those classic books people think are original are actually later reprints from the 70s and 80s. Apparently publishers like DC would reprint entire runs with just a tiny mark on the spine to tell em apart. I checked a few of my own comics when I got home and yeah, half my collection is fake. Has anyone else accidentally been hoarding reprints thinking they had first prints?