Made in America
Today’s post is mostly a collection of my observations and opinions, it is not meant to be a dissertation nor something to be read as fact. These are just my views. This post was inspired by an email I received…
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Category Collecting Community
Read MoreMade in America
Magazines
I had a good long talk with my pal, Chris Owen, about magazines recently. We could not figure out why magazines have not exploded in value as collectibles. We were talking about comic book related magazines, so we narrowed the…
Character Introduction: Villains
A few times a year I’ll visit elementary schools and do a history of comic books presentation for a class of grade 5 or grade 6 students. I know what they like, I’m light on the actual history and heavy…
Original versus Restored
It used to be that a purple label (the colour of the label CGC gives to comics designated as restored) was the kiss of death for a comic book’s value. I remember when guys would see a purple label and…
Character Introduction – Improving on an Idea
The most important driver of value for comic books is character introduction. Cover driven value has picked up over the past few years but covers are still a distant second to character introduction. Character Introduction is a huge topic and…
So What’s the Play?
I hope everyone is safe and healthy and practicing their social distancing responsibly. Right now we need to keep up our mental health as well as our physical health so I thought I’d post something positive that looks forward to…
Covid 19
It seems the whole world has been turned upside down with this Covid 19 virus and my thoughts are with everyone and their health and safety. Let’s take the necessary precautions and let’s put all our efforts and energies into…
Writers
Honestly, I’m not even sure how valid my observation is this week. I’m doing it by feel, this is the way I feel about the subject and I’ve somehow morphed this feeling and lack of awareness into a full-blown summation…
Covers: Part 1 – Good Girl Art
Covers! While the number one driver of comic book demand and value is and will remain character introductions (I have some posts coming on that topic too) there is no denying that cover appeal is the second biggest comic value…
Sort of Heroes
As many of you know, this column began seven years ago as part of my attempt to focus a newly minted retirement on something both interesting and challenging, albeit perhaps trivial in comparison to the struggles we all face daily…
Comic Cons
I’m getting those email notifications for the big C2E2 Comic Con happening this coming weekend in Chicago. C2E2 is the official launch of the mega con season, San Diego Comic Con is probably the best known comic con with all…
Nostalgia Cycles
Nostalgia cycles exist and they have a great effect on collecting comics and other pop culture collectibles. The process seems eternal. As kids we enjoyed what we enjoyed then too suddenly we grew up and found ourselves in school. After…
Origin issues
Like I mentioned in the first post of this column, I’m planning to cover a lot of topics with some being meaty and others a little lighter but still worth discussing. I’m not sure where the Origin Issue falls but…
Scarcity of Grade
It looks like most of us have a very difficult time defining what kind of collectors we are; we seem to be opportunistic and have erratic buying habits. If we can’t be more focused on what we buy let us…
Collector Types
Time to Collect is a series of posts exploring collecting comics. We’ll focus on recognizing and exploring our collecting motivations and uncovering some common mistakes we seem to be prone to. The goal is a better understanding of how and…
New Column
On Monday, January 27th I’ll be starting a new weekly column. I can’t tell you what the title of it will be because I’m still not sure but I can tell you what it will be about: collecting comics. The…
Undervalued Spotlight Sign Off
It’s time to put the Undervalued Spotlight on the shelf, I’m stopping my weekly column after 10+ years of posts. I’ll leave the door ajar and allow myself to revisit this post if and when the urge and inspiration arises.…
Undervalued Spotlight #476
Marvel Holiday Special #1, Marvel Comics, 1991. Merry Christmas. The relationship between Christmas and American comic books goes beyond everything, the day is so entwined in the medium, so celebrated over the history of comics that it’s hardly important noting…
Resurrection
Christmas is just a week away and the eye-of-the-storm peacefulness and sentiment of the coming Christmas eve and Christmas day, rather than its stressful bustle and rabid commerce, begin to rope me in. This holiday season, I’ve been wistfully thinking…
Under the Weather Spotlight
Apologies folks, I caught something bad, not sure if I can get one up tomorrow, I’ll see how I feel. These things take time and energy. Anybody brave enough to submit just one Spotlight candidate for today? No argument needed.…