In my Auction Highlights #43 I looked at the recent $21,250.00 ComicLink sale of a CGC 9.6 Amazing Spider-Man #11. This comic book has an Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide value of $2,400 in the 9.2 grade. ComicLink noted that the CGC 9.6 grade is rare for this comic book...

What kind of features should we demand of a principle Marvel key? This group of comics is one of the most important investing blocks in the hobby. People are buying up high grade Marvel keys as a group and you can’t really have one without any of the others and call yourself a true high end collector...

Black covers. Comic book collectors and investors have always coveted classic black covers when found in very high grade. It’s very hard to preserve and old comic with a black cover, any little fleck, color break or crease just seems to be amplified...

This week I wanted to feature a collecting focus that is beyond cool. It’s nice to have that Amazing Spider-Man run and that Batman run but thousands of those runs are being put together (with perhaps thousands more already completed). What will really impress the guests at your dinner party is the run of Feature Books you are trying to

This week’s collecting tip will touch on the wonderful world of promotional comic books. The topic is a big one and this article will just serve to spark your interest in promotional comics. I encourage you to research more on this great collecting focus.

Consider Superhero Annuals. The super hero annuals as we know them began in 1960 with Superman Annual #1 (fittingly since Superman also launched the whole superhero genre back in 1938). Though annuals started out as vehicles to reprint past issues...

Double Covers. Basically a comic book with a double cover is the result of a factory binding defect. Somehow two (and sometimes 3 or more) covers get scooped up by the rollers and get bent and stapled to the rest of the book...

Remember that oh so true quote from that great fictional San Francisco Police Detective, Harry Callahan? Comic book fans are never short of opinions...

Probably should have posted this one last week (the week before Free Comic Book Day). That’s OK though, we get it done now and it can serve as the rallying cry for all FCBDs to come...

Over the years I’ve purchased many large comic book collections. I still remember the first big collection I bought back in around 1986. There were over 7000 comics in this collection dating from the early 1940 through to the mid 1970s. This was the collection that set...

I remember back in the early 80s when the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide had those big 10 issue groupings for most of the major Golden, Silver and Bronze age comic book titles. Amazing Spider-Man issues #131-140 were all worth the same...

Jim Steranko’s first Marvel Comics work was Strange Tales #151. The high end Overstreet Price Guide value for this book is $135 versus $85 for the book just before and the book just after...

Comic book conventions are dangerous places for impulse buyers. You can end up heading home with a 50 cent comic or you could end up heading home with a 4 foot R2D2 replica, a gorgeous 42” x 38” framed painting of Phoenix, 3 short boxes full of CGC graded comics, 2 Samurai swords, a Viking sword and a 50 cent comic...

It’s often said that the quickest way to learn anything is through the mistakes you make. Based on this old piece of wisdom I must be one heck of a smart guy.

Convention Tip #8. So, you’ve saved up some extra cash and you’re planning to attend the next big comic con. There are a few glaring holes on your list and you’re all fired up about checking those issues

Convention Tip #7 – Network! Big, juicy delicious Comic Book Conventions don’t come to small towns. In fact you can probably count on both hands the number of really big important cons in North America

Convention Tip #6 - Security and Safety! Last week my convention tip was all about the benefits of bringing cash to the con. I’d like to follow up that tip with a few words on safety

Convention Tip #5. There are places though where cash is still king and a comic book convention is one of those...

Convention Tip #4. Choose who you are going to the convention with wisely, based on your goals. I work the dealer side of the convention booth and its incredible the amount of stressful situations I’ve witnessed over the years

Convention Tip #3. Haggling is not for the squeamish. It takes a certain type to do it well but in reality anyone can be a good haggler if a few simple rules are followed