So I want to start collecting comic books but I have no clue how to start. I was wondering If anybody could give some advice on where to start and tips and tricks?
OK, you want to collect? They find something you are interested in and start buying them. I know someone who decided he wanted every Avengers appearance (not individual characters, but when the Avengers would show up in a comic). Another friend I know collects photo covers. Or pick a creator and track down everything they have done. John Byrne used to have a large group of fans who would buy his stuff, even if he just did the cover. Neal Adams, Art Adams, Michael Golden had similar fans. I know people who decided to own everything a company put out (like every EC book or every Atlas horror comic).
Pick yer poison and start hitting shops, conventions and eBay.
However, if you want to be a comic book READER: Go to the library and check out a bunch of books that seem interesting. Keep reading what you like.
A popular online retailer that many on this site use is called Discount Comic Book Service - DCBS and their sister site Instock Trades. Usually everything is 40 to 50 percent off cover price. A good way to get new comics, trades, and create a insurmountable to be read pile like the rest of us generally have.
check out your local comic book stores. Once you have a good idea what type of comics you want to explore, usually the people working at a shop can help with recommendations. *not all comic shops are good - there can be some trial and error.
Go back through the archives of the CGS show and check out different type of episodes - spotlights, previews, off the racks, book of the month, best of the year, top 5, etc. The guys on the show have covered/reviewed a lot of stuff over the years. It might help point you in the right direction.
If you want to read a lot of older Marvel and DC stories (and you do not mind them being in black & white), the Marvel essential and DC Showcase line of books are a relatively inexpensive way to go.
You know, I was just talking to a friend this past week about this. As a recovering archivist (IE, former collector) turned reader, I talked about how I would approach collecting if I ever wanted to get back into it.
As much as a CGC slabbed comic doesn't appeal to me as a reader, I think that if I were to start collecting again, that is the way I'd go.
In this scenario, looking only at the investment value, knowing the wide and varied ways in which people generally grade books, this would be the most reliable way for me to have confidence in my collection.
Of course, if this were the way I were going, and seeing how you only get to see the covers, that would have to be the basis of my collection - great covers. I'd set a mark to strive for (like, I don't know, no books under an 8.5 grade... something like that) and get to work.
But, I don't think I'd get back into collecting as an investment. It is an unreliable market with so little consistency across the board. Plus, always knowing that a comic is really *only* worth what someone is willing to pay for it, if they are willing to buy at all, means it isn't a very liquid asset.
(Not that I'm against collecting things that aren't liquid, it is just that there isn't enough other intrinsic value to a slabbed comic for me. Your mileage may vary.)
If your goal isn't investment, but just reading and enjoying, all of the advice in this thread is dead-on. Go to the library and read some graphic novels/tradepaperbacks/collected editions. Get a Comixology account and download some free books. Get on eBay and buy a longbox of reader comics on the cheap. Find out what you like - characters, writers, artists, type of stories, genres. Then go to DCBS and order what you believe you will enjoy. Keep what you like, drop what you don't.
Get on eBay and buy a longbox of reader comics on the cheap.
I agree with this. I was able to get 35 straight years of Fantastic Four (starting around issue #145 up to the present) with a series of eBay purchases. I didn't really care about condition, which made it easier to accomplish.
Comic conventions are also great for getting your hands on lots of comics at cheap prices.
There is so much material out there, covering so many decades, that the only way to collect in a sensible way is to seize on a character, a title, a creator or an event. Unless you have loads of disposable income and can buy anything you want.
Sure you could "collect comics," but I think many collectors have a specific book they collect or artist or writer they focus on. The broader sense of collecting comics is probably going to cost you more in the short term simply because you're buying everything you want. If you narrow your collecting field to a specific title/character/artist/writer, you may be better off finding better quality books and you'll know what you're looking for when you shop.
If you're collecting comics to read them, then the suggestions above are good advice.
Buy a month's worth of comics off of the rack. See what you like and keep getting those; scrap the ones you don't like. If you really, really like them, start researching and go hunting for older appearances; look for the key storylines, the top writers and artists on those series. Branch out from there.
Thank you all for giving me your advice. I just started my collection with the Spider-Man series "Beware the rage of a desperate man " and two star wars books from the dark times series
Comments
Pick yer poison and start hitting shops, conventions and eBay.
However, if you want to be a comic book READER: Go to the library and check out a bunch of books that seem interesting. Keep reading what you like.
check out your local comic book stores. Once you have a good idea what type of comics you want to explore, usually the people working at a shop can help with recommendations. *not all comic shops are good - there can be some trial and error.
Go back through the archives of the CGS show and check out different type of episodes - spotlights, previews, off the racks, book of the month, best of the year, top 5, etc. The guys on the show have covered/reviewed a lot of stuff over the years. It might help point you in the right direction.
As much as a CGC slabbed comic doesn't appeal to me as a reader, I think that if I were to start collecting again, that is the way I'd go.
In this scenario, looking only at the investment value, knowing the wide and varied ways in which people generally grade books, this would be the most reliable way for me to have confidence in my collection.
Of course, if this were the way I were going, and seeing how you only get to see the covers, that would have to be the basis of my collection - great covers. I'd set a mark to strive for (like, I don't know, no books under an 8.5 grade... something like that) and get to work.
But, I don't think I'd get back into collecting as an investment. It is an unreliable market with so little consistency across the board. Plus, always knowing that a comic is really *only* worth what someone is willing to pay for it, if they are willing to buy at all, means it isn't a very liquid asset.
(Not that I'm against collecting things that aren't liquid, it is just that there isn't enough other intrinsic value to a slabbed comic for me. Your mileage may vary.)
If your goal isn't investment, but just reading and enjoying, all of the advice in this thread is dead-on. Go to the library and read some graphic novels/tradepaperbacks/collected editions. Get a Comixology account and download some free books. Get on eBay and buy a longbox of reader comics on the cheap. Find out what you like - characters, writers, artists, type of stories, genres. Then go to DCBS and order what you believe you will enjoy. Keep what you like, drop what you don't.
Comic conventions are also great for getting your hands on lots of comics at cheap prices.
There is so much material out there, covering so many decades, that the only way to collect in a sensible way is to seize on a character, a title, a creator or an event. Unless you have loads of disposable income and can buy anything you want.
If you're collecting comics to read them, then the suggestions above are good advice.