eBuying Comics: Week 72
This past weekend I attended my first comic con since 2019. In fact it was my first visit to the London Comic Mart since 2017! The one thing I immediately noticed was my fingers were well out of practice at nimbly working my through the long boxes. The good news is that the event seemed rather busy and pretty much everyone was compliant in wearing masks. While it did seem busy, the floor space and number of vendors felt smaller than previous years. In my past visits to the comic mart it has been 95% vendors selling comics and trade paperbacks. Maybe there was one trading card vendor and a stall selling Heroclix a few times. All of that has seemed to change as this time there were two vendors of Funkos, one guy selling DVDs, another selling prints and even a vendor doing mystery bags. I always enjoyed the fact the mart was so dedicated to comics and just having rows and rows of long boxes. I would personally be disapointed if it became just another small con. But with the 2 years the vendors have just gone through I understand the need to diversify. There were a lot of younger collectors in attendance with parents compared to previous years. It is good to see even if there is a 50/50 split over if they are MCU adjacent or looking for good reads and putting collections together. One particular moment of joy was seeing a boy and his dad go through the long box of old school Fantastic Four comics. I didn’t see how far they went back but it puts pay to my theory that Fantastic Four doesn’t appeal to a younger audience.
It wasn’t just my fingers that weren’t nimble my whole plan of attack felt off. Then I had to question if I have ever really had one. I mean having a list is one thing but actually having a plan to whittle down the issues on that list is a whole different ball game. I tried to complete a lap of the floor before making a purchase, just to see what was on offer back issues vs newer issues and trades wise. I then just picked a vendor based on the fact it wasn’t busy. Luckily for me, they had Master of Kung Fu issues at £1.95 each. They didn’t have any of the ones I had selected out as must-haves but at that price they filled some gaps. I have pretty much accepted the fact the majority of my Master of Kung Fu back issues are going to be UK price variants. After browsing two more vendors, one of 75p comics and another of older back issues the plan went out the window. Perhaps I need to equally divide my money between Master of Kung Fu and Daredevil. I always have one key Daredevil issue in mind that I would purchase at the right price. For a while that issue has been #150. If I can’t find it I then go random on the back issues depending on price. I think at my next con my aim for Daredevil will be making a dent in the Ann Nocenti run and maybe one key issue. For Master of Kung Fu perhaps I will start low and try and put a run together and fill any existing gaps. Two things I had on my to-do list for this con was first to start my collection of The ‘Nam and secondly to spend some time in the cheap bins looking for gold. I was able to do the first picking up #12,#13,#17 and #20 for £1 each. I did spend a little time in the cheaper bins but I didn’t stop for anything unknown to me. There were plenty of comics I have heard of in there for good or bad. Like Stryfes Strikefile! I was waiting for something to catch my eye whereas instead I think I need to be bolder and just go for something. Now I am going to take a closer look at some comics I picked up and how they compare to Zap Kapow values and current eBay listings. Also I have to comics I picked up for the purposes of reselling.
Marvel Comics Presents #1 – I have been pricing this up for a year or so on eBay without ever pulling the trigger. I paid £10 which I was more willing to pay face to face rather than on eBay. The vendor didn’t grade their comics. They did have good clear price stickers often with some useful information on them about what makes it key or just the creative team. I would say this issue is a 9.2 NM- which Zap Kapow values at £11. For Wolverine fans this is the first appearance of The Princess Bar.
Marvel Comics Presents #50 – This is a comic I have had on my eBay watch list more recently. I paid £2.50, I have seen it cheaper online but the postage would always put it other this, so again it paid off buying in person. It is a milestone issue but Erik Larson, who teams Wolverine with Spider-Man. The white cover is still very crisp and clean. I graded it at 9.4 NM and Zap Kapaow have this at £3. So fater two comics I’m £1.50 up!
Wolverine: Save The Tiger – I claim to be a Wolverine expert though I didn’t know this collects the story from the first 10 issues of MCP! It is an odd book in the sense that its not a trade paperback. It is a hefty number of pages between a regular comic cover. I will continue picking up the single issues of MCP #1-#10 as I also enjoy the other stories. It will be handy to read this Wolverine story in one sitting now. I paid £3.50 and gave it a grade of 9.2 NM-. There are currently two listings for similar grades of lower and the same price, though again the postage will put it over £5. Zap Kapow value it at £4.
Daredevil Annual #1 – The Daredevil annuals along with the Giant Size MOKF were placed high on my want list during the last year. I paid £10 and despite the condition I am pretty pleased with it. Baring in mind this is the first Daredevil annual from 1967, its Gene Colan and Stan Lee. It is a 39 page original story, some comedic shorts and a handful of gorgeous pin-ups by Colan. A very fun piece of Daredevil history to own. As for the condition the cover is dog eared, it has a stamp on the cover, spine wear, and brown/yellowing pages. So I have it as a 2 G. I must be learning something as Zap Kapow have 2 G vlaued at £10. On eBay I found one listing for the same grade at double the price.
Daredevil #92 – This was my third choice when it came to key Daredevil issues I wanted to purchase on the day. What makes this issue significant? It is the first time Black Widow shared the title with Daredevil after being a co-star for a long time previously. This is a UK price edition and like my MOKF I think most of my lower Daredevils will be like this as they seem more readily available. I was expecting this issue to go up in price after the Black Widow movie and I think it may have even got a ‘True Believers’ edition which indicates to collectors and specualtors that it is desirable. This particular vendor did actually have grades on their comics. They had this marked as 8.0 VF,which Zap Kapow have valued at £13. The vendor did have it priced at £12.95 but were having a 25% sale which they then rounded down to £9 so another good result for me. For similar grades on eBay it varied between £8 and £20 and I believe that is a side effect of the Black Widow connection.
Resale Items
Robin #1 (1991) – This is the first issue in Tim Drake’s first solo series as Robin. Written by Chuck Dixon, with art by Tom Lyle and a Brain Bolland cover. The poster is still intact which will appeal to collectors. Even more appealing to collectors is the condition. When you consider I picked this up from a £1 long box, it wasn’t bagged or boarded and I don’t know how long it has been in there or how many times it has been transported from con to con. The only mark against it is the slight creasing that shows on the black spine. Because I picked this up out the cheap bins from the same vendor I brought the Daredevil annual and another Daredevil issue he let me have this for free so whatever I sell it for I am in the profit. I have given it a grade of 8.5 VF+. Zap Kapow have this grade valued at £2.77 but I will be starting my listing higher just to test the water. I don’t want to go too low with it in the future so if it doesn’t garner much attention it might be worth sitting on till Robin makes his way to the big screen again.
New Mutants #100 – This is the last issue of New Mutants before they become X-Force. Essentially in this issue though they are already there. This is the second printing white cover variant. It is also the first time the readers see Stryfe unmasked. So this issue has a lot going for it from a collectors point of view, apart from the fact it is not rare. There always seems to be a buzz around Liefeld comics and hopefully his association with NFT’s won’t see the fanbase dwindle. As we saw a version of X-Force in Deadpool 2 it won’t be worth sitting on this unless Disney completely revamp the direction of Deadpool 3. I have graded this copy at 8.0 VF. Again I have started it high but will bring it down in price somewhere between the £2.50 I paid at the £5.40 it is valued at by Zap Kapow.
