warning: this is gonna be dorky...
as i mentioned a while ago, i've been buying a lot of comics over the last while, starting last summer (i blame disposable income and a semi-lucrative commission-based sales job). until a few years ago, my target collection had revolved around superman: i aimed to own every superman comic published after crisis on infinite earths. however, as that had been my goal for at least 5 years, i eventually fulfilled it, finding those last few elusive issues while i was working in disney world in 2005. of course, me being the obsessive collector and packrat that i am, i simply couldn't stop there. so i expanded my target collection. instead of starting with a new publisher (though many of marvel's titles do interest me), i thought that i might as well stick with dc, who i've always preferred. thus, my new (and current) target collection became the entirety of dc's main continuity since crisis on infinite earths (basically excluding most crossovers and elseworlds titles). now, if you know comics at all, you'll know that's a pretty ambitious goal. but i'm well on my way!
since beginning to actively search last summer, i've bought about 30 long boxes worth of comics. each long box holds ~150-200 comics (that's a conservative estimate). that means that i've bought at least 5,000 comics since last summer (holy shit, that's the first time i've sat down and done the math on that). prior to that, my comic collection was only about 10-12 long boxes. i've been reading tonnes, but i still have easily twice as many comics that i've never read compared to those that i have.
these are the kickass comic boxes i asked for at christmas. they're basically hardcore cardboard filing cabinets. you can actually stack them up to 6 high, but if i did that i wouldn't be able to reach them all. drawerboxes. i actually haven't read any of the comics in that entire stack yet. O_o
this is basically my original collection, from before all this buying started last summer. i'm adding comics to it as i read them.
me and my paper babies. :p
the majority of this buying has occurred via ebay. and i have gotten some fucking killer deals, often getting full runs of titles for well less than a dollar per issue. among my most exciting finds:
- an entire run of volume 2 of flash (that alone is 230 issues, friends), including annuals, a bunch of specials, and extra copies of many issues FOR $80!!!! that's insane! and he gave me a great deal on shipping. i can't help but feel like i took advantage of this guy a bit, but i think he wasn't getting many bids because his auctions didn't have pictures. i also got a hawkman and green arrow run from him, for equally fantastic deals.
- full runs of nightwing, birds of prey, gotham central, and another couple of batman-related titles all from the same seller. and he was canadian, so i didn't get railed on shipping!
- full runs of several different aquaman titles at really reasonable prices. (go figure, aquaman doesn't fetch a high price? :p)
- full runs of hard-to-find, critically-aclaimed runs such as animal man, sandman, starman, and grant morrison's doom patrol.
- from the same seller, who was liquidating his collection, and all for less than a dollar an issue: every teen titans series since COIE (except the current one, which i already owned). this was my first big purchase.
- from several different sellers, i pieced together all of the legion of superheroes series since the mid-80s, which was a rather daunting task!
- too many others to list! :p so i'll stop.
it's probably easier to list the few major series that i'm still looking for. there are still myriad miniseries and one-shots i have to find, but the only major, 20+ issue ones are infinity inc., mister miracle, plastic man, wonder woman, and harley quinn. that being said, my want list is still about four and a half pages long (though it was closer to fifteen when i started this madness last summer!). and speaking of wonder woman and harley quinn, why the fuck are comics featuring girls (sorry, WOMEN) in such higher demand than anything else?? i think my birds of prey run was by far the most i've spent per issue on a long-running series. is it that girls only buy comics featuring female characters? do they somehow appeal to a vastly wider audience, and are consequently insanely expensive? i think the issue of birds of prey where nightwing and oracle kiss is worth like $50+. that's the most i've ever seen for a non-variant cover or limited print modern age issue. craziness.
i've learned some pretty annoying (and costly) lessons during all of this too. particularly while finding batman comics: since those runs are all so long, i figured it'd be easiest to buy small lots and short runs and piece together full runs from them. holy fuck, was i ever wrong. i ended up with so many doubles, and having to spend shitloads on runs containing key issues and storylines, not to mention all the extra shipping costs associated with all the small shipments. i even managed to buy the same run of about 20-30 issues twice, by mistake *facepalm*. still, i persevered and managed to put together full post-crisis runs of batman, detective comics, and shadow of the bat using these methods. legends of the dark knight is still kicking my ass, however. buy in full runs! it's much easier, and infinitely less stressful. oh yeah, and cheaper.
mainly because of this attempt at piecing together full runs from small lots, but also as a result of buying full runs of which i already owned a couple of issues, i've ended up with almost three full long boxes of extras. i don't want them (i'm gonna have enough trouble storing single issues of them all, let alone multiples!), but i haven't decided how i'm going to get rid of them just yet. i might just wait until i'm living in the states, and sell them in lots on ebay (i'll get a much better price selling them on american ebay rather than canadian ebay... just a wider market). i know i've got a couple of comic collectors on my friends list. anyone wanna see the list of extras? maybe we can work something out. :p
and the last of what i suppose are comic acquiring "words of wisdom" (learned the hard way): canadians, don't use fucking ups if buying from the states!! at first glance, their shipping rates look much cheaper than those of the united states postal service, but the exorbitant "brokerage fees" that they charge on delivery have fucked me over more than once. it's ridiculous. in fact, ever since the postal service changed their rates and dropped their least expensive canadian shipping option last year, i've only been buying very small lots from the u.s., so i don't get screwed in shipping and duties. besides, i've found some of my best deals right here, within canada! lower population = fewer ebayers = less bidding competition! and while canada post's rates aren't fantastic, they're a lot better than paying for american shipping to canada, even before duty!
as far as what i've read out of this gaggle of comicy goodness, i'd say my favourites so far have been james robinson's starman, frank miller's dark knight returns, and dc: new frontier, which i'm only halfway through, and only received last week. but it's great. i'm really starting to love darwyn cooke's storytelling. and he's canadian, too! i have the new froniter dvd waiting to be watched, but i thought i'd read the comics first.
anyways, i suppose this is enough geekery for tonight (and probably several subsequent weeks, as well :p).
PS - this totally counts as saturday's post towards my goal of posting every day of my five days off, because it was saturday when i started writing it, and i haven't gone to bed yet. :p
since beginning to actively search last summer, i've bought about 30 long boxes worth of comics. each long box holds ~150-200 comics (that's a conservative estimate). that means that i've bought at least 5,000 comics since last summer (holy shit, that's the first time i've sat down and done the math on that). prior to that, my comic collection was only about 10-12 long boxes. i've been reading tonnes, but i still have easily twice as many comics that i've never read compared to those that i have.
these are the kickass comic boxes i asked for at christmas. they're basically hardcore cardboard filing cabinets. you can actually stack them up to 6 high, but if i did that i wouldn't be able to reach them all. drawerboxes. i actually haven't read any of the comics in that entire stack yet. O_o
this is basically my original collection, from before all this buying started last summer. i'm adding comics to it as i read them.
me and my paper babies. :p
the majority of this buying has occurred via ebay. and i have gotten some fucking killer deals, often getting full runs of titles for well less than a dollar per issue. among my most exciting finds:
- an entire run of volume 2 of flash (that alone is 230 issues, friends), including annuals, a bunch of specials, and extra copies of many issues FOR $80!!!! that's insane! and he gave me a great deal on shipping. i can't help but feel like i took advantage of this guy a bit, but i think he wasn't getting many bids because his auctions didn't have pictures. i also got a hawkman and green arrow run from him, for equally fantastic deals.
- full runs of nightwing, birds of prey, gotham central, and another couple of batman-related titles all from the same seller. and he was canadian, so i didn't get railed on shipping!
- full runs of several different aquaman titles at really reasonable prices. (go figure, aquaman doesn't fetch a high price? :p)
- full runs of hard-to-find, critically-aclaimed runs such as animal man, sandman, starman, and grant morrison's doom patrol.
- from the same seller, who was liquidating his collection, and all for less than a dollar an issue: every teen titans series since COIE (except the current one, which i already owned). this was my first big purchase.
- from several different sellers, i pieced together all of the legion of superheroes series since the mid-80s, which was a rather daunting task!
- too many others to list! :p so i'll stop.
it's probably easier to list the few major series that i'm still looking for. there are still myriad miniseries and one-shots i have to find, but the only major, 20+ issue ones are infinity inc., mister miracle, plastic man, wonder woman, and harley quinn. that being said, my want list is still about four and a half pages long (though it was closer to fifteen when i started this madness last summer!). and speaking of wonder woman and harley quinn, why the fuck are comics featuring girls (sorry, WOMEN) in such higher demand than anything else?? i think my birds of prey run was by far the most i've spent per issue on a long-running series. is it that girls only buy comics featuring female characters? do they somehow appeal to a vastly wider audience, and are consequently insanely expensive? i think the issue of birds of prey where nightwing and oracle kiss is worth like $50+. that's the most i've ever seen for a non-variant cover or limited print modern age issue. craziness.
i've learned some pretty annoying (and costly) lessons during all of this too. particularly while finding batman comics: since those runs are all so long, i figured it'd be easiest to buy small lots and short runs and piece together full runs from them. holy fuck, was i ever wrong. i ended up with so many doubles, and having to spend shitloads on runs containing key issues and storylines, not to mention all the extra shipping costs associated with all the small shipments. i even managed to buy the same run of about 20-30 issues twice, by mistake *facepalm*. still, i persevered and managed to put together full post-crisis runs of batman, detective comics, and shadow of the bat using these methods. legends of the dark knight is still kicking my ass, however. buy in full runs! it's much easier, and infinitely less stressful. oh yeah, and cheaper.
mainly because of this attempt at piecing together full runs from small lots, but also as a result of buying full runs of which i already owned a couple of issues, i've ended up with almost three full long boxes of extras. i don't want them (i'm gonna have enough trouble storing single issues of them all, let alone multiples!), but i haven't decided how i'm going to get rid of them just yet. i might just wait until i'm living in the states, and sell them in lots on ebay (i'll get a much better price selling them on american ebay rather than canadian ebay... just a wider market). i know i've got a couple of comic collectors on my friends list. anyone wanna see the list of extras? maybe we can work something out. :p
and the last of what i suppose are comic acquiring "words of wisdom" (learned the hard way): canadians, don't use fucking ups if buying from the states!! at first glance, their shipping rates look much cheaper than those of the united states postal service, but the exorbitant "brokerage fees" that they charge on delivery have fucked me over more than once. it's ridiculous. in fact, ever since the postal service changed their rates and dropped their least expensive canadian shipping option last year, i've only been buying very small lots from the u.s., so i don't get screwed in shipping and duties. besides, i've found some of my best deals right here, within canada! lower population = fewer ebayers = less bidding competition! and while canada post's rates aren't fantastic, they're a lot better than paying for american shipping to canada, even before duty!
as far as what i've read out of this gaggle of comicy goodness, i'd say my favourites so far have been james robinson's starman, frank miller's dark knight returns, and dc: new frontier, which i'm only halfway through, and only received last week. but it's great. i'm really starting to love darwyn cooke's storytelling. and he's canadian, too! i have the new froniter dvd waiting to be watched, but i thought i'd read the comics first.
anyways, i suppose this is enough geekery for tonight (and probably several subsequent weeks, as well :p).
PS - this totally counts as saturday's post towards my goal of posting every day of my five days off, because it was saturday when i started writing it, and i haven't gone to bed yet. :p