Here’s an exceptional Marvel freebie from 1989: All About Collecting Comic Books. It’s a nice look at what Marvel thought comic readers needed to know about collecting back issues.
Time Capsule: All About Collecting Comic Books
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Interesting; I don’t remember even seeing that pamphlet before. If only I’d earned more than $5 or $6/hour in 1989. About 3 grand for FF#1 *and* ASM #1…but it might as well have been $300,000.
There is an even more comprehensive guide (but in some ways more outdated) in ASM #234 (1982). That one was, I think, the first place I learned about “specially cut boxes” for storing comics. I remember thinking that would be the greatest thing ever, since it would prevent my comics from sagging and the edges from getting frayed in whatever regular boxes I was using. But I was only a 6 year-old variety store comic buyer. It was about another 5 years before I entered a real comic shop and got a proper comic box. That guide still makes for a nice nostalgic read today, though unfortunately it hasn’t been reprinted anywhere, to my knowledge. (The issue’s main story has, but not the guide insert).
If you can scan the guide from the issue I’d gladly post it! The digital editions I have access to don’t include the guide, just the main story.
I’ll see what I can do, Scott. I don’t have a scanner but I can try my dad’s.