What to do with "junk" comics?

[mlovest]

Folks,

 

I have a couple of boxes of basically junk comics. You know, the kind you can find in the $1 or less box at your local comic shop. Not sure how I ended up with them... Well, I'm trying to clear out my closet, and I would like to get rid of them. Any ideas? I don't think they would be worth the time of trying to sell via eBay. I was considering donating them to charity and taking a tax write-off. Any ideas out there?

 

Thanks!

Mike

[aardvark88]

If it is legal in the US, donate a long box to a LICENSED charity & write off Wizard or Ostreet value. This practice is frowned upon in Canada. The fed is chasing a long time comicshop (Silver Snail in the Toronto area) for back taxes after they used this tax deduction technique a few yrs ago. Greggy may be able to update us on this tax case.

[FlComicFan]

you can use them as a write off just dont go overboard when declaring their value. Give them to a childrens hospital or charity sick kids can always use something to do while recuperating

[aardvark88]

That is the BEST advice I have read this week. Thank u for sharing that with us.

[Smokinghawk]

Donate them to a children's hospital, domestic violence shelter, or other child abuse/crisis program. It would mean a lot.

[FlyingDonut]

Just a word of caution - make sure you look through what you're giving away. Make sure there's no "mature readers" stuff in there, as you don't want to get slapped by the people you're trying to be nice to.

[blowout]

Give them away to kids......... childrens homes, schools, hospitals etc.

That way you are not only giving to charity but you are also helping to promote the hobby, kids are the future.

You said the comics were basically 'junk' so don't think about the money you can make from them. Just try to do a good deed.

[Bugaboo-migration]

When I was growing up as a small child, we were pretty poor. I didn't realize it at the time since I always had enough to eat, a roof over my head, and no rich friends with tons of toys and stuff to make me realize how poor we were.

 

But, when I was very young (probably between 6 and 10 years old.....I don't exactly remember).....somene gave a small stack of used comics to my mother for me and my older brother. There were no key issues.......and no future hopes that they would make me a ton of money later in life.......but man......where those books ever beautiful to me. Superman.....Batman......Justice League of America.....Wonder Woman......Thor.......Flash.......they were all there. Just an issue or two of each title......but I was hooked.

 

And now......all these years later.......I can realize just how big of an impact those books had on me. I eventually amassed a collection of one or two thousand books (all low grade reader copies now cause I read the out of them). I can still remember ordering from the Mile High adds in the middle of comic books.

 

Anyway.......what I'm trying to say is.....YES......give those books to some needy kids and organizations......it will TRULY mean a lot to them as they read those adventures and stretch their imaginations. I know it did for me. In fact......the ONLY books I'm collecting right now are cgc high grade copies of those first books that were given to us all those years ago. They really did mean that much to me over the years.

[awe4one]

"Sniff..." (Wipes a tear)

 

Seriously though, Bugs right. Comics can be extremely precious to young children especially those that have other "real world" problems that occupy their lives. They can at least get their minds off their problem if only for a few minutes..... Giving to children's hospitals are the way to go in my opinion (and in fact I have).

 

 

Jim

 

[Bugaboo-migration]

"Sniff..." (Wipes a tear)

Yeah.....I know......a bit melodramatic......but man did I ever love those books.

[underthebigw]

I just have to echo the advice given above. The only new books I ever buy are when I'm on the road for work in Wash, DC. I know they'll never make it home in anywhere decent condition, so I typically give them to the cleaning staff at the hotel I stay at-they love the chance to bring them home to their kids and I get the satisfaction of knowing that there may be at least one kid out there who may keep the hobby alive for another generation. Hopefully, they'll have the same fond memories of these books that I do for the Spidey's, Thor's, Little Dot's, Hot Stuff's and Archie's my dad used to bring home after a hard day's work.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

1.) Feed them to your dog! It'll save you some money on dogfood.

 

2.) Toilet paper! It'll give you something to read while sitting on the toilet, and when your done reading, something to wipe your @$$ with. So you'll be able to enjoy your beat up books, while making them useful, and save money on toilet paper.

 

3.) If you have a bird in a cage, your bird would thank for for lining the bottom of the cage with Rawhide Kid books.

 

Seriously, you can have the paper recycled, or donate them to a hospital, library, or neighborhood kids, while taking FD's advice (watching for content). Or you could do as many eBay sellers do, unload them at very low starting bids, and see where they go. BUT please be honest about the conditon. Let it be CLEAR that your selling low grade reader copies.

 

I probably wouldn't do a tax write-off, but that is just me...

[mlovest]

 

OK, some interesting thoughts, especially about giving them to kids and hospitals. However, I didn't make myself very clear. When I wrote junk, I just meant low price-guide copies. Most are all un-read in VF or better condition. Lots of first, second, third copies of new titles from Image. At one point and for no good reason, I was buying all the first issues of just about everything from Image... Also, there are lots of Spider-Man titles that I upgraded to tight NM copies.

 

Thanks for the input!

Mike

[Bugaboo-migration]

You said you don't think they would be worth the time of trying to sell via eBay. So, if you don't want to give them away.....the only other thing I could suggest would be to group them into either one large or several smaller "lots" (several smaller lots would probably be better) and sell them in a couple of eBay auctions in quantity.

[mr_highgrade]

I've given out tons of comics & cards that I don't want anymore to my friends kids or neighbors.

[atakra-migration]

I've been known to do the following with junk comics...

1. Leave them in the local laundromats for the kids (I live in a pretty bad neighborhood and I figure that it may tempt the little hoodlums to read instead of killing each other, smoking crack or shooting dope).

2. Unload boxes of them on eBay for $1.00

3. Leave them in the reading room at my day job and see how long it takes for them to disapear.

4. Use them for packing material.

5. Christmas presents for young kids.

[Smokinghawk]

Oh, and I also give them out for Halloween.

 

Last year, within an hour adults started showing up, scuffing at the pavement with their foot, and saying "um, I heard...uh, you were giving away comics?"

 

[Rickdogg]

I receive junk comics (advertised as NM) from "Nochips" and resell them at a loss

[dam60]

Sorry I am hoping on this one a bit late, but I donated some comics earlier this year and here are my thougts:

I first called Reading Is Fundamental and they told me that they won't take donations. I ended up giving them to the Salvation Army and they gave me a blank receit.

 

I would also recommend the NYC Comic Book Donation. They advertize in CBG that they want your books, and next time I think that I will give them my donation.