Charlie Kim

Charlie Kim

Charlie Kim is a designer who is currently transitioning into teaching. While working for various companies, he helped develop many international brands such as the Hong Kong Airport identity, Lenovo’s sponsorship program for the Beijing Olympics and Lavasa, a new city being developed in India. Locally, he's also worked on the 1998 campaign for the Canadian Opera Company, the Canadian Innovations stamp for Canada Post and the terrible Grand & Toy re-brand (hey, they can't all be winners). Charlie’s love affair with art and design all began with comics.

Change and Opportunity

The online market has turned many collectors into dealers who prefer to focus solely on the more lucrative first appearance of popular characters, adding to the competition for “key” books. But unless you have access to a stockpile of “key”…

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Quiet Moments

If you’re old as I am, then you’ve been around long enough to notice change. One of the most notable changes that we can point to is how and what we consume on television, and nowhere is this more apparent…

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Crack and Flip

I was at a local shop last month wanting to buy an X-Men #120. The book was certified by CGC as a 9.0 but the slab was cracked and scuffed so I thought maybe I could negotiate a deep discount.…

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Have Comics Peaked?

If you troll the auction sites as much as I do then you’ve noticed something interesting lately. It’s hard to account for every book but many of our favourite keys seem to be levelling out and some even trending downward.…

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Where to Sell

In my last write up, I wrote about being more strategic with your purchases and not letting sentiment dictate your investment decisions. One of the things I discussed was understanding the value of a book. Buying a $100 book over…

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What to Buy

If you’re in this hobby to read books and be entertained, then far be it for me to tell you what you should be buying. The answer is simple: buy books you like and don’t let guys like me tell…

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Speculating Ads

One of the biggest social issues is the prevalence of advertising and how much it influences us, if at all. John Kenneth Galbraith is the philosopher, economist and critic who coined the term “conventional wisdom” in his highly influential and…

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Marvel vs Fox

Let’s quickly recap… If I had to put a finger on it, I’d say that the superhero movie boom that we are currently experiencing began with Sony and their first iteration of Spider-Man way back in 2002. Yes, Fox released…

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Winter Show?

February 22nd was another episode of the Toronto Comic Book Show (TCBS) and I was thoroughly impressed. Everyone who set up and attended the show seem to be very satisfied. For me, it was an interesting study. The last batch of…

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Pressing Issues

Many CGC collectors are engaged in an activity called “pressing”, which can greatly enhance the value of your comic books. Unless you own a perfect “10”, all comics have some degree of flaws. But, there are good flaws and bad…

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Show Time

This winter has been a real boon for comic book collectors with three one day shows in a row. I wish I could have participated all three shows but I was busy with exams. However, I did manage to squeeze…

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