This article is exactly what the title says and no less! For context, I'm going to let you know about a few times reselling or trading books when it didn't quite go my way! As an adult, I didn't start collecting books weekly until sometime in 2016 due to Captain America uttering the words "Hail Hydra!". At that point I learned that new issues came out weekly and I was hooked. You see, as a kid I just sporadically got Spider-Man issues, with months between issues and never the same title (Ultimate, Peter Parker, Amazing, etc.). But with my ability to budget and make my own money as an adult, it was on!
"With great power comes, great responsibility." rings forever true, and even relevant, in this instance! My first time deciding to sell or trade books was after my first year or so of just collecting and reading EVERYTHING! I wanted to know what I might actually enjoy versus was I'd just been exposed to more prior to becoming a weekly collector. This left me with tons of books I wasn't impressed with alongside the stories and characters I loved.
At the time, I had generally assumed 99.99999% of modern books instantly depreciated to pennies on the dollar with no value.
This brings me to one of the very first DC events that I followed (or tried to) and ultimately just didn't care for too much. The Metal event and tie-ins began about a year or so after I had begun collecting weekly so I was still willing to buy and read absolutely everything I could get my hands on. This issue, specifically pictured here, was one of my favorites of the evil Batmen origins and also had one of the coolest character designs out of them all. As a whole, though, I wasn't really captivated by what Metal had turned out to be and I sold all of the Batmen origins and first print issues of the event for roughly 50% of cover price just to move them quick and clear out some space. This one of the reasons I am so appreciative of the Bags & Boards Podcast, Key Collector App, and all of the content that ComicTom101 provides in all formats. It allows us to better position ourselves as collectors when it comes to maximizing our returns on what we can potentially refer to as investments if done strategically.
*Record scratch, Avengers 684 appears* "Hey, I'm the Immortal Hulk. You're probably wondering how I got in this $1 bin, huh?" That's right. I traded in this first Immortal Hulk appearance, along with a short box of books, to a local Vintage Stock because I wasn't a huge fan of this event, as a whole. I had followed up my last mistake with another! I almost kept this issue and broke up the story just because I was really digging this cover. However, as someone who wasn't the biggest Hulk fan, I decided to just keep it all together and get rid of it from my collection completely. To be fair, this book hadn't immediately started selling for $35 at the time I was willing to get rid of it. Now, that wouldn't have changed my mind on getting rid of it but it definitely would have worked out more in my favor.
In closing, I just wanted to show additional appreciation for all of the tools that we have
available as collectors to maximize our returns and study the current market. As I know now, even eBay sold listings are fantastic resources to gauge current demands of specific items. And, just so we can end this on a positive note with a small humble brag. I'm including a photo of The Amazing Spider-Man 238 because this is possibly my biggest win ever when it comes to finds. I was able to grab this gem for only $12.50 and it is in absolutely spectacular condition. The damage is just the top staple being removed from the cover and the free tattoos aren't intact. Personally, given the price tag, I couldn't care less about the tattoos and am still overly impressed with the display ability of this issue.
Now, to wrap this up, this is just a snapshot of the learning curve to comic books and with hundreds of characters, thousands of keys, and millions of issues, with more coming weekly, it can be a real whirlwind to keep track of! Just another reason to be thankful for the blessing that is the internet and modern society!
Thanks for hangin out with us!
