When comic collecting becomes just checking a box 3 3

[CKinTO]

Agree with a lot of the sentiments here. In terms of reading, my comic book purchasing falls into 2 buckets: 1) going to my LCS every Wed and picking up a few books that I like, follow, and READ. 2) going after slabbed keys for my personal collection.

If I want to read my slabs, fortunately a lot of what I collect is available digitally (either through Marvel Unlimited, or through Comixology). For example, it's been great to be able to actually read silver age / bronze age keys via Marvel Unlimited, and I don't have to crack books out of the slab!

[MGsimba77]

14 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

jeebus - where do you live?  I just keep the Rottweilers and AR-15 handy.

Miami FL. 

One home invasion is enough.

[lizards2]

6 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

Miami FL. 

One home invasion is enough.

 

Glad I don't have to live in a place like that.

[MGsimba77]

Just now, lizards2 said:

 

Glad I don't have to live in a place like that.

It's really a very nice city with the best weather but just like with any other large metro crimes are committed. Even in a suburb like mine. No such thing as too much security for your prized collectibles!

[Martin Sinescu]

9 hours ago, Reno McCoy said:

I've been selling off a bunch of my comics lately. When I do buy a book, it feels like I get the book and immediately put it in a box, rarely to be seen again. It's (almost) to the point in which it feels like I'm just crossing items off my want list and little else. As if it's the checking of that box, checking it off the list, that's the fun part these days. 

Is this a fairly common phenomenon? I've been incredibly introspective lately, and as I enter what might be my midlife drama period, I'm wondering if this is just part of growth, or if this is a sign that the end is near for my collecting. The thrill of the hunt is still alive and kicking, but the actual ownership of a particular book I've hunted isn't what it was was.

 

Yes it is common. In fact, just recently I've picked up some nice X-Men comics as a diversion from my Batman run  

8 hours ago, CKinTO said:

2) Try to extend the "happiness" I get from my books, by having readily accessible photos of the slabs on my phone (in an album). I end up going through all my slabs (and key raws) every couple days (or whenever I'm thinking about it), and I think seeing it in person helps me remember all the different books I have, and I get a little *jolt* of happiness seeing them. If I didn't, I agree I rarely take my books out of their storage boxes, so I wouldn't see them nearly as often

I wish I'd thought of this sooner, but now I make it a point to save the seller's pic when I buy a book and keep them all in one folder, then run that folder as my screen saver. It's actually quite a nice way to enjoy the collection. I also catch myself gazing lovingly at my sig line after I post something. I bet I'm about to do it again.

[Shadow]

I’ve struggled with this as well. I gave up new comics 3 years ago because I wasn’t even reading them, just satiating my completionist curse. That and the space dedicated was growing too fast. But even on older books, I’m not reading them like I did as a kid. Somewhere with age, I lost the story magic...

[Alf Pogs]

I am a comic scrounge and will pass on almost anything unless it is a buck or a super deal. I have even passed on a free Hulk 181 if you can believe it. Among my 60 boxes of dollar books there is a box of my super scores that I pull out from time to time and marvel over the fact that I own these books and found them for so cheap or got hooked up by a bro'. (I always hook up my friends with cheap books too!)

I also know how many of these books were printed and how many cases sit unopened in warehouses around the country.

I would be very bored if I just went "Alexa: order me a Hulk 102, and a 103, and a 104...."

[speedcake]

I liked this thread until the last post. Nobody passes on a free IH 181.  I don't care what condition it is in.

[catman76]

This is the whole collecting thing which I never understood, it's more like hoarding to me, just getting it to have it and filing away never to be seen again. I read and look at every comic I have. I have so many it may take a year to see it or even find it again, but I don't like organizing too much and everything I have is just piled everywhere really, especially my comics. I have hundreds just stacked in boxes or on shelves. I never really lose the thrill of the hunt thing, because its fun to go through stacks of old comics and it's like rediscovering them all over again when I found them in piles at the flea market 25 years before. Same with old records, they are in no way organized and piled all over and it's fun to find something I forgot I even had.

[Ken Aldred]

I wouldn't turn down a free Hulk 181, but, I can imagine someone really jaded saying 'No, I'll pass. It's such a mediocre story.'

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by Ken Aldred

[exitmusicblue]

Collect $$$ slabs, hunt for cheap raws to read = happy exitmusicblue.

Trade sports cards for comics... even better.

[Von Cichlid]

Most every Friday after I get off work I go to the LCS and spend close to a hundred on the best combination of reasonably priced and desirable back issues they have at that time.  I then go to out to eat with the family, have a few drinks, and then go home and listen to some metal while looking at the books I picked up in some nice mylites.  The smarter thing would definitely be to save that money and invest it in some books off ebay.  However, its the thrill of picking up that nice find in the LCS that keeps me going.  There is nothing like walking into the store and then leaving with some cool book you didn't even know you were going to get that morning.

While I do have the discipline at times to save and wait for a great deal, If I only bought predetermined purchases and checked off my most wanted list, I would have a more valuable collection, but the joy of discovery and the random nature of my purchases would go away and that would probably cause me to fall into a bit of a jaded rut.  

[Cocomonkey]

I do check off a list, to try to avoid duplicates and to know where I need upgrades to complete my UXM run. But I try to still keep it to the "thrill of the hunt" and avoid feeling like it's just working a list by limiting myself to stores/cons and finding the issues for myself. I know I can hit the auction sites/ebay and quickly complete my run (well, assuming the $$$ to do so), but the fun is in finding the issue I need, in the grade range I want.

[1950's war comics]

11 hours ago, Shadow said:

I’ve struggled with this as well. I gave up new comics 3 years ago because I wasn’t even reading them, just satiating my completionist curse. That and the space dedicated was growing too fast. But even on older books, I’m not reading them like I did as a kid. Somewhere with age, I lost the story magic...

Me too , i read all the classic silver age marvels back in the 70's and i loved them ,,,and even though i have forgot most of them when i try reading them today i lose interest within a couple issues...

Edited January 24, 2018 by 1950's war comics

[WoWitHurts]

I will read one occasionally. I started my 12 year old on a TPB of Michelinie/McFarlane ASM Venom stories. I also have a narrow collecting interest. I also use it as a alternative investment strategy as I am maxed out on what I want to put in the Stock Market and its fun hunting for and acquiring high grade books. A nicely represented collection is nice to look and can be appreciated whether it is beanie babies or comics. OK maybe not beanie babies.

[followtheleader]

I'm in the same boat.  Maybe it's the northern Colorado air. 

I've been selling books like crazy in the past 2 months.  I can hardly hang on to stuff very long (which was previously abnormal). 

Keep the core and those you're not solid about selling/not selling.  I usually counteract by focusing on my other hobbies for a bit.   Then it feels fresh when you come back.  I'm really focused on toys right now.  

Patrick

[Alf Pogs]

On ‎1‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 9:46 PM, speedcake said:

I liked this thread until the last post. Nobody passes on a free IH 181.  I don't care what condition it is in.

It's 180 or nothing for me!     But seriously 181 was like $3.00 for years and years. It was even 25 cents for awhile. 

[marvelmaniac]

I have not bought any new books or actually looked at any of my books since I regraded/cataloged/photographed all 3600 two years ago.

I have absolutely no desire to get rid of them, brings me joy just knowing they are there.

[WoWitHurts]

10 hours ago, Alf Pogs said:

It's 180 or nothing for me!     But seriously 181 was like $3.00 for years and years. It was even 25 cents for awhile. 

I was going to throw out a demolished 181 I had in 2009. I pulled it out of the trash and threw it on ebay starting at .99 and it sold for$318. I was surprised. I assumed someone really wanted the value stamp but don't really know.

[rjpb]

The moment of acquisition is the high point of collecting anything.