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Where is my head at ? Where am I going with this
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60 posts in this topic

Journal Entry #3Thoughts of possible new purchase

 

So I have decided to sell some books and make my collection a little smaller, roll those books into 1 book worth more money. Just thinking what book it should be.

 

Batman 121 - 1st appearance of Mister Freeze. Reasons I want this. I love batman villains, have a few of their first appearances and want them all. I will buy the major villains not all of them, and when I'm done with the villains I want to move to early detectives.

 

Flash 139 - 1st appearance of Reverse Flash. I have a CGC 4.0 and with this book I would like to upgrade, a recent CGC 8.0 went for $1,150. So both books are in the same price range. Ever since the TV show as corny as the first 6 or so epodes were, the show got really good. Tom Cavanaugh plays the Reverse Flash in Season 1, what an actor. I really didn't know to much about Flash books in general but ever since the show, I have been hooked on the Flash.

 

I don't know what book I will get, I have feelers out for both books. I'm leaning towards the Batman 121 since I think the price of Flash 139 is a little inflated right now, but I will keep the journal updated.

 

See more journals by Jking3437

Edited by Jking3437
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I just went through this process. I cut a lot of the fat from my collection and have actually been happier with a narrowed focus. It can be difficult because there are so many awesome books to own. Stay the course and best of luck to you.

 

Regarding the two options you list...I guess good advice is to buy what you love more/go with your gut. Prices for some of these older keys climb so fast that it creates (at lease for me) a sense of "I better buy this soon before it gets too high". It's both good and bad for the hobby...it's nice to see these things appreciate, but also bad for my wallet.

 

Cheers and best of luck.

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I agree that the lash 139 prices are inflated. Reverse Flash (#139) is currently in the "cashing in" phase of popularity. Prices are high and going up. They are due to level out, which means the market will react with more books on the market (since some people were holding to see how high the book would go before selling). Those additional books on the market will help make the price dip a little. That's when you want to buy. Keep an eye on the number of BINs on ebay and when that's peaked and the price has stabilized then put an offer in on one of those BINS with the argument of the glut of books offered on the market.

 

Bat121 has already been through that. And is the harder to find (generally) on the market. I'd keep an eye out for one of them and snag it.

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Hey finally made it to the big leagues, made the CGC message boards!!

 

I'll try to keep this thread updated with random nonsense, thoughts , and rants. There is a lot of thoughts about buying comic books that run through this oversized head on a daily basis.

 

Stay tuned

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Going to add the other 2 journals in this thread also really quickly to let the good people of their message board a little background info

 

Journal Entry #1

 

Where to go with myself in comic book collecting? I find myself wanting everything in this hobby and dust bunnies inside of my wallet. Don’t get me wrong I have put together a very nice collection since getting back in the hobby a little of 4 years ago. I find myself at a cross roads now, with the question/thought pounding in my head of what to do next. Buy what I want now or save for the big ones.

A little back history on me first for the board members that don’t know me. My name is Jim and I’m a CGC addict. I collected comic books when I was younger just like most kids but I got involved in sports and that meant baseball cards. Boy, I wish I could go back in time and say to myself “ Stay with comic books, Buy that Amazing Fanstay #15.” I love the walking dead, watch the show religiously, well the show after that most people seem to dislike is Comic book Men, well one day watching it they were talking about comic books and the prices. Well that really peaked my interest. Let me look in the closet and see if I have anything worth lots of money. Well i didn’t, most of the books stayed in the same bag and were taken to the local good will store a week later. I did keep one book though, it was Batman #500. Now people might ask why Batman #500? Well I bought that comic and stood in line for about an hour when I was younger to get that book signed by Doug Moench. Who back then I had no idea but it was a big deal going on at the local mall that day and I needed to be a part of it. I guess you can say Batman #500 brings back memories.

Well fast forward a little while and I started to search through eBay for walking dead comic books and came across these books incased in plastic, I thought they were cool looking an protected the book, so i bought my first book. Well that was like taking a hit a crack!!! And the addiction started. At first I tried and collect the whole series of the walking dead , every issue. Mad a major bone head mistake when I started trying to collect them all, was in New York for the weekend and went into midtown Comics ( the one with the steps upstairs ), well the had issue #1 behind the register for a price of $50, i thought to myself well thats a lot because the book has a 3 or 4 dollar price tag, and I found a Omnibus in the back that collected issues #1-48 for $60. Me thinking that I was being smart passed on the #1 and bought the omnibus. DUH. !!

Well i’m going to try and start this journal because I want some feedback to the madness, that goes through my mind sometimes. I am having a tough time deciding on what to do with my collection sometimes. There are a few books that I would really want one day, but with price increases are going to be unobtainable very shortly, and I would always cruse myself for not buying them sooner. Then there are books I want to have. The problem is what to buy first, what to buy , what to buy???

There is two things in comic books I like, it’s the Walking Dead and Batman Comic books, and I should say its more of the batman Villains then batman himself. Now you can see in my signature line there is only one batman books (232) Ras Al Ghul, it was the first book I bought on these boards when I started. It is the one book that I will not part with, or try to upgrade.

Big Key Books that I would love to own and the order in which I would purchase them

Tales of Suspense 39 - my goal for this year 2016

AF 15

Hulk 1

Showcase #4 only putting this in here because I have been on a flash kick lately, Really digging the flash because of that TV show

 

Now Books That I want to own

BATMAN

#121

#155

#171

#181 With #234 being the only book in say 9.2, the others I wouldn’t mind owning in say 7.5 or higher. Besides 121 5/0-6/0 ish

#189

#234

Detective #359

 

Now this journal will be updated with LCS Stops random Ebay listings and just maybe ramblings down the road. If I can’t keep up with it, Sorry for wasting your time

 

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Journal Entry #2

 

Went to the LCS on Wednesday, grabbed my copy of the Walking Dead #151 and Batman Europa #4. Looked around the shop for awhile, there was one book that I wanted but here is a little back story to my LCS. They are overpriced !! Everything in the shop. They had a VG copy of Detective Comics #359, price tag a whooping $500. Now I know the book is on the rise but for $500 I would want a nice 6.0. Shop also had about 3 copies of NM 98 in VF+/NM-, for prices of $400 and $600 a graded copy 9.2 for $550. I have no idea where these prices come from sometimes, and the shop is one of those shops that don’t except offers. I made offers all the time for slightly under going rate or right at what GPA would be. Makes shopping there sometimes very difficult.

Last night missed out on a Batman #22 CGC 3.5, with about 12 seconds left the bid was at $170, I figured someone would try to grab the book right at or right under $200. So i placed a bid of $209.79 or something like that, lost out with 1 second left. If i only checked GPA on that book would have put a max bid right around GPA 260-270. Well there will always be another book.

 

Tell next time

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Journal Entry #4

 

Well I'm finally back, it was a short hiatus , but I'm back. I took a short break to study for a promotional test at work. I put the time in and read the books but I'm pretty sure after taking the test last Saturday, I'm sure I failed the test. I have 12 years with my job and another 18 to go so that means I will have atlas another 9 promotional test to try and get promoted. I know I shouldn't think like that, but on the other side for the first 2 years as a supervisor, the position is a about a 10-15k pay cut. I can't really afford that right now as I will be getting married in May.

 

But if somehow by the grace of God I past the first part of this test, there is a second part, if I get the second part. I will let this thread know.

 

SO I finally got to the LCS today to grab a couple books, and I left there frustrated again today. I think they way this LCS is setup is to showcase the owners Personal collection, price everything high so things don't sell. I wonder sometimes what the owner and employees think. So Journal #2 i posted on 2/15/16 , both New Mutants 98 are still available at the store along with the $500 Detective #359. Offered $400 for the Detective #359 got shot down again.

While walking around the LCS something caught my eye, the I really wanted, I don't know if it was the money burning a hole in my pocket from the recent addition of a income tax check or what, but I have wanted one for a while. It was the Harley Quinn sideshow statue, I have had saved as a search for awhile now on eBay. I offered a good chunk of change for the statue which is listed at $495, got shot down again. Walked out with 2 walking dead books and a bill of $7 lol. I'm confused sometimes when a customer comes to a store and is willing to spend $1-2k ( which I have before in the store) I'm just confused, I'm not saying to bow down to my every need but I guess it is what it is. I will wait for my books/ statue to pop up on eBay and will buy them then.

 

Also i'm looking for a Batman #121 !!

 

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:hi: Jim ................. Glad you have a direction for your collection or at least it sounds that way. When you talked about the things that go through your mind with collecting comics ,it brings me back to my own struggles. But a least they are fun struggles....... I feel like my collecting habits are always changing. When I finally set goals or direction, it always seems so hard to stay the course.

The only good thing is for the most part its always Walking Dead related.

My new kick is hunting down raw copies of WD..........

Where is my head at ? Where am I going with this.......... I have no ideal lol

 

I look forward to reading your journey....... (thumbs u

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:hi: Jim ................. Glad you have a direction for your collection or at least it sounds that way. When you talked about the things that go through your mind with collecting comics ,it brings me back to my own struggles. But a least they are fun struggles....... I feel like my collecting habits are always changing. When I finally set goals or direction, it always seems so hard to stay the course.

The only good thing is for the most part its always Walking Dead related.

My new kick is hunting down raw copies of WD..........

Where is my head at ? Where am I going with this.......... I have no ideal lol

 

I look forward to reading your journey....... (thumbs u

 

Hey James,

 

Ya i'm going to start getting my collection under control, its out there with a million modern books. I cut back the last 3 weeks and just buying the Walking Dead, got to keep up with the DZ. I'm ok with my Peter Panzerfaust, East of West CGC collection and will always look for Walking Dead Books , that I need or want, but besides that I'm done with modern books.

As batman and the flash, I think that will be it will for DC collecting, but Marvel will just be silver/bronze/copper 1st appearances. I added ASM 129 right before Christmas but haven't scanned it yet, I need to purchase a new scanner to get some high res scans of my books.

Was thinking about upgrading my Flash #139 but right now is not the time, it is starting to cool down but shops/ dealers still want a premium. I sent a eBay seller a message about a Batman #121 but the person did not respond, kind of a bummer because at the time I had the funds for it.

 

Time will tell

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I haven't updated this much lately, I have been extremely busy as of late. I recently made the plunge and got married, after that came the honey moon and I took off work for a extra week after that just so I could relax a little bit. 3 weeks off it was nice, but now since all the wedding stuff is over and done with BACK INTO COMIC BOOKS.

 

So I recently subbed one of my larger submissions in the last couple years, 25 books in total. I had a couple books in there to make the money back for the submissions which was nice, and made all that money back with 5 books, so besides a couple more dollars, everything else I will be free rolling/ straight profit. I was happy with the submission and I was excited to check out the new cases. I really do like the new cases, such a cleaner look especially when looking at the front cover. I did not have any books that were wavy, but I a couple books 9.8s with the grease looking stains on the back covers.

 

Alright so back to taking about were my collection is going, while I'm saving up for the next big purchase 1/3 of the way there, I'm debating about selling 2 keys books to pay for the rest of the BIG book. It's tough when it comes to looking at your collection and checking out EBAY and looking at books you want vs the money in your bank account

 

Was thinking about selling my Daredevil #1 CGC 5.0 and my Spiderman #129 CGC 8.5 and putting that money towards a Tales of Suspense #39

anyone have any input for this

 

Should I sell the ASM 129 and DD1

or

Should I keep both books and just continue to save ?

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I did not have any books that were wavy...

 

keep checking them from time to time over the next few months, apparently sometimes the waviness occurs over time due to ongoing pressure of the slab on the book.

 

 

And I say it's never a bad bet to swap two second tier keys for a first tier key! Though you might want to wait until the Punisher show is getting ready to drop before selling the 129. It got some heat after DD season2 came out, and after the Punisher show news, but maybe it's cooled a bit (by comparison, it's always a desirable book)? I'd have to check.

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Journal Entry #5

 

Well I'm back to writing about this crazy journey that Comic books have taken me on the last couple years. Boy, I with I could go back in time and stayed collecting comics instead of baseball cards for two reasons.

1) I would have a awesome collection

2) I would be broke lol P.S I'm not broke, I have a legit job and I will survive

 

Well I got the book I wanted from the first journal entry. I got my Batman 121 and I love it. It's very sweet and sorrowful at the same time , to want something so bad and the day you finally buy it, there is a emptiness left inside. It was right in my price / grade range and couldnt be happier. Didn't want a 1.0-3.0 and can't afford a 7.5-9.2 so 5.0 it was. And big shout out to Assparky for selling it to me. Batman 121 doesn't come up for sale that often on the boards and when it does it seems like it sales fast. i guess it was perfect timing.

 

Now what do i do?

 

What book do I want now? next?

 

Well there is always another book, it just depends on how much that book is.

 

O ya here is the batman 121

3EF72478-B327-4237-9C50-1586D13A94E6_zpsxevmp9y9.jpg

 

I'm still undecided if I will sell the DD1 and SM 129 for the Tales of suspense 39, or go after a AF15 before they get more expensive and out of range forever.

 

Simple solution--- Win the lottery lol

Edited by Jking3437
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And I got a new scanner today, walked into to best buy to buy a USB cord for my old printer. ( wireless went on the old guy ) They wanted $25 for it, Walked out with a Hp Envy 5660 , as you can see from the sig line its 8.5 X 11 so it cuts off the bottom 2 inches of the books. But it is much faster and cleaner then the old guy. The printer was only $89 so I felt like I was getting a deal

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Going to throw this out there for some batman peoples

 

Next book

 

Detective comics 359 8.5

 

Batman 171

 

Batman 181

 

I have the extra money, so figure I ill go after the more expensive books first and work my ways to the cheaper books the batman 234,222,227 and such after

 

any opinions out there, what book to buy first. which book might sky rocket in price and price me out.

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