My Private Stock

My interest in comic books started in the early 1970’s when I was about 10 years old.  My friends and I would go to the local newsstand and spend our $2.00 allowance.  Comic books has just started costing 25 cents, so we each bought a few books and shared them amongst ourselves.  Of course, my favorite along with most of my friend’s favorites were Hulk and Spider man.  On TV, we often watched the original Superman and Batman shows since we only had 3 TV channels to choose from (Wow, have times changed). 

As I became more intrigued with the stories, I started to try and collect entire story lines.  I did have 1 local comic book store that sold many back issues and also mail order was an option.  I quickly became educated that the old back issues, and certainly the first appearances, were way out of my price range.  After all, $2.00 only got you so far in the early 1970’s.       

The cost of the back issues immediately sparked my awareness that I should carefully preserve my books as someday they may be of some value.  I no longer shared my books, and would read each story as if the book was print on gold paper.  I also started to try and speculate which books would become value.  Of course, my speculation was way off however by 1976 I had accumulated quite the collection.  Unfortunately, during a relocation several years later the books were inadvertently given away and lost to me forever.  I was heartbroken to say the least.

Over a decade later, in the early 1990’s my interested regained however this time as a retailer and not as a collector.  I started purchasing in small quantities to see if I could supplement my income.  My timing was very fortunate as I caught the upswing of the Valiant Comics surge along with the Death of Superman and several other great story lines.   My inventory quick grew along with my customer base allowing me to retail many great books that were once merely a dream to hold.

Today, I retail mostly back issues that are in high demand such as first appearances, first issues, Golden Age, and Silver Age.  Most of these are graded to avoid any customer dissatisfaction.  The customer knows exactly what they are purchasing simply because it’s graded and certified by a third party.  I try hard to avoid customer dissatisfaction that could result from unknown color touch or a misinterpretation of grading.     

Thank you for reading my story and I hope you check back often.