My golden age adventure 4 4

[Arkadin]

2 minutes ago, fifties said:

You posted that you are interested in both the covers and stories and on a budget (like all of us are), so raw is the only way to go, and for you, online.  There is an eBay seller in Switzerland that occasionally sells, and his shipping fee would most likely be reasonable on the European Continent (16 bucks to ship here).  Most of his fare is reader grade, so might be a seller to watch for.  I think his nic is lambielaysdown.  Also, there are smaller dealers here in the states where you can get some deals, Jim Payette, Terry's Comics, four color, DTA Collectibles, and even Metropolis.  You can bargain with them as well.  Also, My Comic Shop has weekly auctions, and their fixed prices aren't too bad.

Lambsliedown is a great seller. His collection is epic! 

[Robot Man]

 

It's never too late to jump on the GA bandwagon. There is something for every taste and pocket book. Key to it is not to set your sights too high. There are so many genres to explore and many are very affordable if you can live with lower grade books. I just ran a fairly ill received thread of GA Fawcetts. Probably nothing over $50. Great reading books but not in high fashion at the moment I guess.

If you like DCs try World's Finest, Comic Cavalcade or even lower grade All Stars. These seem off the radar right now and contain stories of the great DC characters. Lower grade examples are very available and they are great reads if you like those characters.

If you are looking for the big guys, hot covers and keys, you can still collect them but will amass a collection very slowly if your pocket book isn't fat. Great thing about GA is there is so much to explore and a bit of a challenge to find. Nothing like landing that cool book you have been searching for. Jump in the pool, the water is fine! 

[originalisbest]

2 hours ago, newshane said:

I could have found a copy at a yard sale. That doesn't mean I'll spend 20 hours a week rummaging through yard sales. 

Of course great books show up on eBay every now and then. My argument was that you are more likely to find great books and great deals on the boards. 

Half of what I see listed in the sales forums are impossible to even find on eBay. 

Of course, the best thing to do is to keep as many lines as possible in the water, so to speak. It doesn't take long to see what's available online. 

I'll agree that both the boards and eBay will have books that the others don't at any given time, but deal-wise (as far as prices paid) I've found them to be same-ish -- neither one a screaming deal vs. the other for what I'm after -- but YMMV, depending on what you're looking for! I do have to agree a great Centaur (other than Rick's auction, gl Rick) will be more likely to appear here vs. on eBay.

[Black Bat]

Well lately the boards have been frustrating for me because people with super fast connections immediately scoop up everything golden, it’s like a competition who can get the most. Great for sellers if these sharks are feasting on their thread, but for buyers not so much. At the same time I’ve bought dozens of fine books here from cool folks, so there are plenty of opportunities. But at least on eBay and the auction sites I know I can the squire books if I want them bad enough and have the means.  

Edited March 6, 2019 by Black Bat

[Jayman]

18 minutes ago, Black Bat said:

Well lately the boards have been frustrating for me because people with super fast connections immediately scoop up everything golden, it’s like a competition who can get the most. Great for sellers if these sharks are feasting on their thread, but for buyers not so much. At the same time I’ve bought dozens of fine books here from cool folks, so there are plenty of opportunities. But at least on eBay and the auction sites I know I can the squire books if I want them bad enough and have the means.  

[Rezin1234]

Honestly im in the same boat but started last year. I always thought ga books were insanely more expensive than silver age but it’s not really the case in some areas. 

 

I found buying cool cool books that others aren’t into at this moment is the key. Last year action comics were not talked about much or had too much attention while joker covers were going crazy in people chasing them. 

 

This year action comics are doing well and joker covers are cold. Now I’m looking at joker covers myself. 

Buy what you like but if you like severa different titles focus on the ones no one else seems to care about right now 

[lou_fine]

13 hours ago, Lukesaurus said:

I have only recently started getting into Golden Age books , don't have a really big disposable income to spend on them and after reading several threads on the Golden age board it seems I am a bit late to the party .

I think most collectors tend to feel that they are too late to join the party.  

Heck, I definitely felt that I was a bit late to the party when I started collecting GA books back in the late 80's.  You just have to know that there'll be others that will end up joining the party even later than you.    

[newshane]

1 hour ago, Black Bat said:

Well lately the boards have been frustrating for me because people with super fast connections  DEEP POCKETS immediately scoop up everything golden, it’s like a competition who can get the most. Great for sellers if these sharks are feasting on their thread, but for buyers not so much. At the same time I’ve bought dozens of fine books here from cool folks, so there are plenty of opportunities. But at least on eBay and the auction sites I know I can the squire books if I want them bad enough and have the means.  

Some people seem to buy without giving a millisecond's worth of thought about what they are getting! Before I can even consider a buy, it's gone! 

But like you said, that's great for the seller! 

[fifties]

Of course it's not too late to join the party.  Consider that in 10 years, you will be 10 years older and prices will be 10 years higher.  As a collector, simply buy what appeals to you, and don't worry about potential market value - that'll take care of itself.

[Crimebuster]

There are lots of titles and whole genres that are still cheap. Funny animal books for instance. There don't seem to be a whole lot of us Boy Comics collectors out here either. Once you get past around issue #30, everything up through #119 can be found cheap, with even mid grade or higher books quite reasonable. I think I got low grade readers of #40-119 for $10 each or less. I only dipped into GA collecting ten years ago with my first issues of Boy Comics (I got 6 issues between #34 and #44 for $6 each) and now I have a complete run for pennies on the dollar what it would cost you to get a comparable run from DC.

My suggestion would be to read some offbeat or less mainstream GA comics (many of which are public domain and can be read digitally online for free) and see what sparks your interest. Batman might always be expensive, but there's great stuff from Quality and other publishers that's much more reasonably priced. I had never even heard of Boy Comics before I bought them on a whim just so I could have some GA comics, and it quickly became my favorite series. The same could happen to you — who knows what cool GA title might catch your fancy if you give it a chance. 

[Bird]

11 minutes ago, Crimebuster said:

There don't seem to be a whole lot of us Boy Comics collectors out here either.

Don't I know it (been trying to sell some beautiful copies with no luck. Of course price factors into it I guess.)

But he is correct. IH181, Detective 27, AF15, all era have books that take a lot of cash to pick up these days. But those same eras have affordable books. I love books from the 1940s, they look groovy baby. GA has Wings, Ranger Comics, a lot of titles are affordable. Jumbo and Jungle have great covers (and stories as well I presume, but I know about the covers for sure!). I have been bitten by the Planet bug like many, but not as many go for Masters Comics and Captain Marvel Jr., which I adore. I love those Mac Raboy covers! Just love'em! Archie and Archie-related comics are a blast! So find some titles you like and take your time, as most collectors realize...it is a marathon and not a sprint.

[Jayman]

Whatever the OP decides to do, I’m just loving all the words of encouragement! The GA forum ROCKS! 

[Old_Man_Adam]

I grew up at the end of the silver age so by the time I was reading it was my dad’s leftover eerie , creepys , and war comics , little did I know many years later the time was set for those in the golden age ww2 comics and the amazingly awesome true crime stories ... I’m still a silver / bronze fanboy at heart but have a newfound love for golden age books - many visual thanks to October’s killer thread a few weeks back 

[SuperBird]

3 hours ago, Rezin1234 said:

This year action comics are doing well and joker covers are cold. Now I’m looking at joker covers myself. 

I am not seeing much movement in Action prices. What am I missing? 

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

I have been bitten by the Planet bug like many, but not as many go for Masters Comics and Captain Marvel Jr., which I adore. I love those Mac Raboy covers! Just love'em!

+1

I would definitely go after some of the Fawcett books as they are not quite the flavor of the day yet.  After all, doesn't the Big Red Cheese have his own movie coming out and you can never go wrong with those early Raboy Master covers, assuming you can find them that is.  

Just look back at now hot books like Wonder Woman, Police Comics 1, L.B. Cole books which were lukewarm at best only a few years ago, but definitely not the case anymore. It's always best to buy books when they haven't popped yet, as opposed to buying them at the top of market when every Tom, , and Harry are chasing after them.  

[FineCollector]

11 hours ago, Lukesaurus said:

I've been looking at Baffling Mysteries , most books on ebay seem to go 4-5 x guide prices . 

This caught my eye.  I'm a silver age guy, and there, you can pick your copy, there's always another available.  If you're playing in GA, throw out the guide.  For hot or rare pieces, you're competing with people who have been hunting for months or even years without finding a copy for sale.  They'll pay what they have to in order to get it.

[Robot Man]

I don't pay a lot of attention to the prices of Baffaling Mysteries or ACE horror since I have all of them. But other than a few great covers, these have always been kind of "stinker" PCH books in the marketplace. As have ACG. Last I noticed, these can still be had for pretty decent prices if they aren't classic covers or "in grade".  Hard to imagine them at 4-5 times guide unless in super high grade.

[fifties]

2 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I don't pay a lot of attention to the prices of Baffaling Mysteries or ACE horror since I have all of them. But other than a few great covers, these have always been kind of "stinker" PCH books in the marketplace. As have ACG. Last I noticed, these can still be had for pretty decent prices if they aren't classic covers or "in grade".  Hard to imagine them at 4-5 times guide unless in super high grade.

Yuppers, until recently Ace and ACG books -and don't forget Quality- were at the bottom of the price barrel AFA PCH.  Atlas USED to be cheep, but that was ages ago.  Lately I've been picking up plenty of late '40's - early '50's crime books, and most for a song.  They make for good reading.

[szav]

19 hours ago, Lukesaurus said:

So am I late ?

Depends on what your goal is...if you're looking to get value out of popular titles and highly sought after scarce keys then you're probably a few decades late.  But if you're wanting to just explore what the golden age of comics had to offer and you're willing to be a patient treasure hunter opportunities still abound.

I got back into collecting, and into GA books for the first time, 4 years ago and was somewhat intimidated by the prices on the things that first caught my eye.  Largely through scouring these boards and conversing with people here I was turned on to many of the cooler lesser known publishers/titles/artists and I like to think I've done pretty well finding affordable killer books.  There are many unsavy sellers, online and in brick and mortar stores when it comes to GA books....here's a few of my favorite finds over the last 4 years, and I think there's still lots of these to be found...all of them less than $100

Edited March 7, 2019 by szav

[Tri-Color Brian]

It really depends on what you like and how patient you want to be.  My focus is mainly on covers and I've been doing this a long time, but I keep finding new stuff I like.  Ebay has been good to me, and so have the boards and my favorite dealers...as well as comic shops with "under-priced sleepers" in the boxes.  Being a poor bottom feeder, I have NEVER even spent $500 on a comic.  But I'm patient and my wants show up at my price eventually.  So, NO, it's not too late.  It's a great time to start...as long as you don't want an Action 1 or Tec 27...and as an example...this was under $300 three weeks ago...