chapter 273

Comics

12/13/2012

I have issues

Holy Bat Guano

I really don't care about comics but my son does (graphic novels?) so as a public service I offer all I know. I threw out all my comics but I did go to a Bat Cave at a frat party in the 60's.

A retired friend gave me these 3 out of his collection of thousands for Shawn's amusement. Shawn has ? hundreds collected from his era. The retiree had amassed a large collection from back in the late 30's but his brother, as they are wont to do, didn't care about them and had given most of them away to various friends.

As I ebay checked these three, I realized this Bat Man issue # 121 was the "famous" first issue where Mr. Freeze (or Mr. Zero) appeared in Feb 1959. A slightly better quality issue sold for $595 last week on ebay.

From what I saw I'd guess I was holding a Bat Man of about $125 like this above sale in November from the guy who thought it was "very good condition" for a rare issue? I had to give the Bat Man issue back, too valuable as a gift.

The DC Superman #114 1957 (Superman's Billion $ debt) and Atlas Uncanny Tales #38 1955 (Pharaoh Walks) seem to fetch around $30 each, the market varies.

The point is: These dusty ole comics are nothing to sneeze at. Ebay's old "Silver Age 1956-69" category is the new hot ! There are 200,000 listings on ebay.

This1938 Action comic book sold for $210,000 in Nov. with this miniscule actual image size and a one liner description merely said "add a truly one of a kind comic to your collection". Apparently it was only graded 4.5 compared to the 9.0 that went for $2 Million. Many are run-of-mill and only fetch a couple bucks or go unsold. Not for me to decipher the whole market, can get real tedious. A good retirement job for those with a collection of comic books or the greedy type who just want to make a killing.

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