It seems that people are obsessed with MY comic collection.
Not sure why but someone just watched or read (it seemed a bit unclear which) something I had done about my Class collection in particular. Apparently "That makes it a key issue!" regarding the story in one edition of Suspense. No. Class Comics could be hit or miss when it came to printing quality as the intention was to get the comics printed off as cheaply as possible to make the biggest profit. I have two copies of one particular number and one is nice and crisp while the other is not so clear and has a tad of 'fading' (not actual fading but where the printer was low on ink.
A Class Comic cannot be seen as a "key issue" for the very simple reason that Alan never published original material and so everything was simply black and white reprints. I have seen reprintsm and in bad condition, Uncanny Tales 64 featuring the first appearance of the Vision going for £250 and later for £500. You can pick up good quality origanl Marvel Comics Avengers #57 in full colour for less than that -someone purchased a copy for £150 in the U. S. recently. This is not a rare or "key" issue and if I go by what comic pundits push I have a book worth around £500! Yeah, gimme that and you can have the book!
The above issue of Creepy Worlds #68 was being sold for £650 as it was "key" and featured "an early appearance by Kang" -or Kang The Conqueror as we formally address him. It does not. I have the story in Marvel Collectors Item Classics as well as the Class version. Kang does not appear in the book and the seller obviously (accidentally or deliberately) mixed up Kang's Rama Tut incarnation mixed up with a "mad pharoah"! Pay £650 if you want but try getting your money back when you find out the error -sadly, many buy these books and do not open up the bagged comic but keep them as "investments" 😂😂
Creepy Worlds #34 I saw listed a year ago as "a key issue" and it was not in good condition and had a smudgy cover -£1000.99 (that "99p" must have been added as a joke -comic vanished after four months but never sold on Ebay.
I do not put all of my comics in Mylar bags with acid free backing boards -if you can afford to do that then good luck to you. When I see and hear people hold up a comic sealed in its little Mylar tomb "I got this for $75/£75 and I think -character- appears in three panels but not sure what his connection is in the storyline" I utter certain rude words. "Not sure who the writer and artist are" -more rude words because they HAVE the book in hand but simply swapped it from one comic bag to a dearer one and never looked inside or read the book. The book is in front ofbthem and how do they check the contents and details? By fumbling for a few minutes for the Overstreet Price Guide!
This is, I know, controversial but I buy and read All my comics. I never use a price guide and I never give my own price estimate for a book because it is a waste of time. I value a title at £300 because it features a "yellow and black" costume Daredevil adventure. So someone is going to give me £300 without quibble? No.
I have a full run of the Marvel UK Avengers weekly and, again, the printing quality varies and I knew the printer involved and the print price was low and the story from one U.S. full colour Avengers comic could be split up as a b&w 3-parter. "First Dr Strange appearance!" says one seller but it's a b&w UK reprint of a comic strip published 20+ years before in the U.S.
The Avengers #5 Marvel Comics UK (1973) First UK appearance of Kang for £100 +p&p..never
sold. Wonder why?
I buy comics to read and because I like the various art styles and designs and I do not look at it after an unboxing and say
"Yeah. I'll say a good 8.9 so value probably around the £200 mark" -what crassness. My Class collection,
I just decided, is worth somewhere areound the £6000 / $6000 mark. Now, give me that amount and you can have them
(collect of course!).
The things that immediately make me stop watching a video on You Tube are "Comics predicteto rise in value this year" (because they never do unless it is the You Tuber using another name to
sell them on Ebay (they have been caught out at that game so many times) or "How I value my
comics" -which is pointless because, as noted above, you can call your own price based on YOUR own criteria but
are they going to be bought at YOUR price by someone and when the grader states "I'll never sell them" what is the point?
My comics are My comics and when I die they will probably be burnt or dumped in a bin. Fact. So just ****** enjoy your comics and let me enjoy mine
and we'll live happier lives.
