c/comic-book-fans

4

abbyp61•18h ago

The guy at my local shop told me to stop pressing so hard on my brush pens

I went into East Side Comics last month to grab the new issue of Saga, and the owner Jeff saw me hulking over my sketchbook. He walked over and said, 'You're trying to carve the page with that thing, just let the nib do the work.' I had been digging into the paper so hard my lines looked like scratched concrete. He showed me how he barely touches the paper and lets the ink flow natural, and now I use like 70% less pressure. My crosshatching actually looks clean now instead of a muddy mess. Has anyone else had an old pro change your whole approach with one simple tip?

11

abby_cooper•2d ago

Warning: Don't let your buddy 'help' organize your long boxes unless you want to play find-the-issue for two hours

Handed my collection to a friend who alphabetized by publisher and then by character name, so issue #3 of Firestorm ended up between Fantastic Four and Flashpoint, and now I'm triple-checking every box for a random Wolverine appearance I swore I owned.

24

wendy_lee48•4d ago

Update: That collector who corrected my grading at a show in Portland

He quietly pointed out a color-breaking crease on a Silver Surfer #4 that I'd graded at 9.0 myself, then spent 10 minutes showing me how to spot misprints on the spine, and I left the table with a whole new respect for how much I still don't know.

34

blair70•4d ago

That time a collector at my LGS tried to trade a beat-up copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 for 3 brand new omnibuses

Last Saturday I was at Comic Quest in Anaheim and this guy walks up to the counter with a rough copy of ASM #300. I'm talking spine damage, a big crease across the cover, and some stains. He wanted to swap it straight up for three brand new omnibuses that were like $75 each. The owner, Mike, politely explained the condition knocked its value way down and offered him $40 store credit instead. The guy got pretty upset and stormed out. Has anyone else seen people overvalue their personal comics based on cover price or raw eBay listings?

4

abbyp61•4d ago

Last Wednesday a guy came into my local shop and traded an entire long box of 90s Image comics for store credit.

He told me he was just tired of hauling them around and I flipped through and found a near mint copy of Spawn #1 and a Savage Dragon #1 that paid for my whole grocery trip that week, have any of you ever gotten a surprise score like that from someone just unloading their old collection?

15

the_sean•10d ago

Appreciation post: The comic book rack at Half Price Books in Austin

I used to think digging through a messy longbox was the only real way to find deals on old floppies. But last weekend I visited the Half Price Books on Lamar and they had a whole spinning rack of 50 cent comics sorted by character. It was so easy to flip through and grab a stack of 90s X-Men issues for 5 bucks total. Has anyone else found a spot that makes browsing actually fun instead of a chore?

9

david703•10d ago

My local comic shop had a 'mint condition' back issue sale... I learned what that really means

So I went to this shop downtown, Comic Kingdom, for their big back issue sale last Saturday. They had a stack of old X-Men #266s from 1990 marked as 'near mint' for $40 each. I grabbed one, took it home, and noticed the spine had this weird crease I missed in the store. Turns out 'near mint' to them means 'looks okay from three feet away in bad lighting.' I went back the next day to complain and the guy behind the counter just shrugged and said 'that's how we grade 'em, pal.' So I learned to bring a magnifying glass and a bright flashlight to any sale now. Has anyone else dealt with shops that have their own weird grading system that doesn't match the official scale?

34

emma_garcia•11d ago

Overheard a guy at the comic shop say 'real fans don't read Marvel' and it got me thinking

I was standing in line at Midtown Comics last Saturday and this dude in front of me tells his friend that anyone who reads Marvel is just in it for the hype, not the stories. He said DC is the only place where 'real fans' go. I took away that some people gatekeep just to feel superior about their hobby. Has anyone else run into this kind of talk at their local shop?

23

charles836•13d ago

Am I the only one who had a terrible Wednesday at the comic shop? Last week was rough.

I usually love Wednesdays because that's new comic day, but last week nothing went right. The shop was out of the new issue of Ultimate Spider-Man I was waiting on, and then a guy next to me spilled his soda all over the grab bag section. Has anyone else had a comic day that just bombed completely?

3

the_sean•15d ago

TIL I dropped $150 on a first print Uncanny X-Men #266 and it got me thinking

Gambit's first appearance cost me a lot, but I've seen copies grade higher than mine and that either means I scored a deal or I got burned on condition. Do you guys think throwing cash at key issues is a solid move or just a trap for nostalgia?

24

the_robin•15d ago

My comic book swap meet totally flopped last Saturday

I organized a small comic book swap meet at a local library in Portland last weekend and only 12 people showed up. I spent like 3 hours setting up tables with my extra issues from the 90s and nobody was really trading. One guy offered me a beat-up copy of X-Men #1 for my entire stack of Spider-Man comics. I think I put too much effort into the display and not enough into finding the right crowd. Did I miss something obvious about how to get collectors to actually show? Any tips on what works for making these events not feel like a ghost town?

32

lee689•18d ago

That one collector at my local shop told me to bag all my Silver Age books even if they looked rough

I ignored him for 6 months until I found a 1967 Daredevil #30 with a torn cover that actually graded at a 2.0 and sold for $80 on eBay, so now I bag everything like he said.

11

cameron_hernandez69•18d ago

Just crunched the numbers from the 2024 Diamond Comics sales charts

I always figured Marvel outsold DC by a huge margin but after looking at the annual report from Comichron last night, the gap is only about 15% in dollar share which surprised me given how many folks I see online saying DC is basically dead, has anyone else dug into those stats and found something that changed your mind about the fanbase?

16

wright.leo•19d ago

Still not sold on variant covers being worth the hype

Back in 2016 I used to grab every variant I saw at my local shop in Portland. Now I just stick with the regular cover and spend that $5 on a back issue instead. Anyone else feel like variants are just a cash grab now?

13

wright.leo•20d ago

Picked up a full run of 90s X-Men vs. a carefully curated short box of indie books and the difference was night and day

Last month I grabbed a long box of 1990s X-Men comics from a garage sale for $40, thinking it was a steal. But after reading through them, the stories felt so bloated and over the top compared to the tight, weird indie books I normally collect. Anyone else find that older mainstream stuff just doesn't hold up as well as the smaller press books you actually read more than once?

26

ray_sullivan•21d ago

Got told my pull list was for babies by a shop owner in 2006

Back when I was 15 I walked into this store in Portland and handed over my stack of Ultimate Spider-Man and New X-Men. The guy behind the counter laughed and said "you know there's more to comics than spandex and teen drama right?" I was pretty ticked off but he handed me a copy of Y The Last Man number 1 and told me to read it. That one book got me into Image and Vertigo stuff and I never looked back. Anyone else have a store clerk or friend who called you out and actually helped you find better books?

13

singh.harper•24d ago

That time a collector told me my Iron Man run was 'boring grading material'

I brought my full 2008 Invincible Iron Man run to a local shop in Portland to get slabbed, and the owner said I'd waste $30 per issue on common books that wouldn't hold value. He suggested I focus on key first appearances or variant covers instead, which made me realize I was just hoarding filler issues. Has anyone else had a dealer give you harsh feedback that actually made you rethink your collection strategy?

8

singh.harper•25d ago

Got called out at a comic con for not knowing a character

I was at WonderCon last month standing in line for a signing and this guy next to me starts talking about a deep cut from the 90s X-Men run. I nodded along but he caught me making a blank face and said 'you don't actually know that do you?' I felt pretty dumb and admitted I was just being polite. After that I told him to explain it and we ended up talking for 20 minutes. Has anyone else gotten busted fandom bluffing at a show?

21

ericcraig•28d ago

Saw a guy at Baltimore Comic Con totally transform a beat-up Silver Surfer #4 with a wet q-tip

I watched him do it on like 10 key issues and every single one looked way sharper after. Has anyone else tried that trick on older books or is there a better way to clean them up?

8

xena582•1mo ago

Had a guy at my local shop explain why my pull list was a mess after 15 years of collecting

I walked into Cosmic Comics in Austin last Tuesday to pick up my stack and the owner, Mark, pulled me aside. He showed me that I had been double-buying about 8 titles because I never dropped the series I finished and just kept adding new ones. I had 27 comics coming in every month, half of which I didn't even read anymore. He spent 10 minutes helping me trim it down to the 12 I actually follow. Has anyone else gone through their pull list and realized they were just hoarding subscriptions by accident?

6

nancy_wood•1mo ago

Vent: Saw a dude at the comic shop go from quiet newbie to arguing about variant covers in just 3 months

He started coming in every Wednesday and now he acts like he owns the place, has anyone else watched a regular transform that fast?

30

eva_moore•1mo ago

Grading incident at my comic shop almost got me banned

I was at Green Lantern Comics last Saturday and brought in a bag of silver age books for grading. The owner grabbed a Batman #181 out of my hand without cotton gloves and left a thumbprint on the cover. I had to call the store manager 3 times before they apologized and comped my next submission.

11

miasanchez•1mo ago

Best week versus worst week at the comic shop - which one defines you more?

Last year I had a week where I found a first print of Watchmen #1 for $3 at a garage sale, then sold it for $400. But the NEXT week, a pipe burst in my shop and ruined 50 longboxes of back issues, including that same copy I hadn't cashed yet. It got me thinking - do you remember your best sale or your biggest loss more? Which one sticks with you and why?

10

hannah_west39•1mo ago

Debate: Are variant covers a genuine art form or just a cash grab? I've seen both sides now.

I used to think variant covers were just a way for publishers to squeeze more money out of collectors. Like, who needs 15 versions of the same issue? But then I picked up a Skottie Young variant for a $4.99 price tag at my local shop last month, and the detail in the art really blew me away. On the flip side, my buddy swears they're ruining the hobby because it's all about flipping them on eBay now. What's your take - do variants add value to the reading experience or are they just overpriced distractions?

16

green.iris•1mo ago

Friend told me I was reading comics too fast and missing the art. Changed my whole approach.

I used to blaze through a 22-page issue in 5 minutes, just focusing on dialogue and plot. Then a buddy said I was treating it like a novel and ignoring how the panel layouts tell half the story. Now I spend a good 15-20 minutes per issue, especially on stuff like the double-page splash in issue #47 of Saga. Does anyone else struggle to slow down and appreciate the artwork, or is speed-reading just how you do it?