Any fellow comic book collectors? I've been thinking.

[JJandJanice]

So lately I've spent some pretty big money on comic books (honestly WAY more than I have any real right too) and one prize of my collection is Batman Adventures #12, which is the very first appearance of Harley Quinn in comic books,. As people know, especially those who know me personally but probably a few on this forum as well, I have just a massive crush on Harley Quinn,. I think the comic is in "Near Mint" condition, a couple very minor and very hard to noticed flaws. And because of my intense fandom, I also have a few other key Quinn books and variant covers. But I also have some pretty good comics not Quinn related.

Anyhow, I'm bringing this up cause lately, I have been seriously considering getting these comics "professionally graded" by the CGC. It might sound weird, but I've collected comic books, off and on, for about two decades now and I use to swear to myself I never would need to get my comics graded. I use to have chats with other comic book collectors, actually people who worked at comic book shops about getting them graded. Some think it's for the best, others thought of them as a flat out rip off. I never thought that strongly that it's just a flat out rip off, but I did use to think the idea of "professional grading" seemed a bit strange to me. Sort of like a beauty in the eye of the beholder thing, maybe what's considered little or even a flaw to one person is considered a HUGE deal breaker to another. I mean I'm sure all of us would agree that a comic book is in poor shape if it's missing it's cover and has water damage. But some can be a bit more fussy about some like creases on the spine or something.

While I've been a comic book collector and reader for the better part of 20 plus years now, truthfully the fact that I own some comics now that are worth some pretty serious money (at least in my world) is perhaps a bit new to me. I've had a few worth a few extra bucks sure, but now I have that are worth hundreds. So I'm starting to think it would be smart to get them graded.

However another thing that's becoming a bit of a concern, I must admit is if I disagree and/or I am disappointed with the grade. I would hate if a comic I felt deserved something like a 9.6 to 9.8 got like a 9.0 or lower.

Here is my list I would get graded so far....
Batman Adventures #12- the first apperence of Harley Quinn, outside of the DC comics cannon.
Batman Adventures Mad Love One shot Special (1st print)- The origin of Harley Quinn, again outside DC cannon.
Batman: Harley Quinn (1st print)- The first CANNON and origin of Harley Quinn in DC comics.
XYX #3- The first comic book appearance of Wolverine's clone Laurna Kinnely aka X-23
Sonic the Hedgehog #1- First issue of the long going and still running comic book series of the famous fast blue Hedgehog. Which is has more than 200 issues ( not including mini series, one shots and spin offs) and is in fact, the longest running and most successful comic book series based on a video game character.

I'm sure I have some more, including those Harley Quinn variant covers that getting graded would be good. But, anyhow sorry if I rumbled too long on this subject, what do you all think. Is it worth it? Hopefully there is someone here who has gotten their comics CGC, I would love to hear from you. Thanks.

 

[Drtooth]

I'll tell you this much about variant covers. After a frustrating 3 months of collecting 12 issues of Mega Man/Sonic crossover mural covers...

I am OVER variant covers!!!!!

I'm blessed to be within range of so many comic shops, if even some within a half hour mass transit trip. But I'll tell you this. Nothing says despair like going to all of them in one day and seeing either the standard cover or in most cases nothing when seeing every single cover of Squirrel Girl ordered multiple times over. Heck. Even among Archie. Archie vs Sharknado. Archie vs Predator. How is a massive crossover between Sonic, Mega Man, and freaking Street Fighter less epic than Archie vs. Cultural Footnote past its prime?

One cover (Mega Man 51) was so incredibly impossible to find, I almost gave up with comics completely at that point. I got a slightly mangled copy at one place I wasn't even going to bother with. It was a terrible day.

So yeah. I can safely say that in the case of 3-D lenticular covers, foil covers, Wolverine on covers of issues he's barely in, shooting a bullet through the comic (which is admittedly kinda cool), guest artist covers, and all that, the worst cover gimmick ever is FREAKING CONNECTING COVERS!!!! Why? Because the ding dang comic stores never freaking get them in!!!

 

[JJandJanice]

I hear ya on the variant covers. I'm getting really sick of them too. They're cool in some cases, but nowdays does EVERY comic book series need a couple variant covers for EVERY issue? Comic book collecting can be an OCD nightmare.

 

[fuzzygobo]

That's something I truly miss. Comic book stores have all but vanished around here.
You can buy online, but it's so much fun sifting through and being able to actually hold the comic in your hands.

I've never been into superheroes, but gimme the funnies and I'm a happy guy. I have a sizable stash of Bugs Bunny Dell Giants from the 50's. That's my speed. As far as collecting goes, I'm still a novice.

If you wanna talk about serious collections, I've got a few thousand vinyl LP's. But that's a whole different thread.

 

[Drtooth]

I've never been into superheroes, but gimme the funnies and I'm a happy guy. I have a sizable stash of Bugs Bunny Dell Giants from the 50's. That's my speed. As far as collecting goes, I'm still a novice.

I've always been more in tune with collecting TV Memorabilia type comics, and watching super heroes on television. By which I don't mean specifically classic old comics with cartoons on them (not that I don't grab one cheap occasionally). I was badly burned by a horrible Dudley Do-Right Comic. No original stories, poorly transcribed from TV episodes that cut off all the humorous bits when they weren't mangling them through truncation. Anyway, I'm in love with the current crop of cartoon and video game based comics, and have been since DC's wonderful Animaniacs line. I've seen some older licensed comics before, but they're treated like merchandise. They're no different than t-shirts or coloring books. But now, they're treated like an outside, alternate medium. And we have writers that, if aren't from the show proper, actually watch, love, and respect these shows. That's why I'm a huge fan of what Roger did with the Muppet Show comics. There's so much love and respect for the characters that you get something as good as something Jim and co would do. We even have these comic writers and artists who are so big of fans that they volunteer to work on them.

I hear ya on the variant covers. I'm getting really sick of them too. They're cool in some cases, but nowdays does EVERY comic book series need a couple variant covers for EVERY issue? Comic book collecting can be an OCD nightmare.

I don't mind that everything has a variant cover, so much as when they do, not every comic store orders them. I don't know if individual stores are to blame or it's Diamond Distribution. But I don't see the point of comics having 3 or 4 covers per issue when you only see multiple copies of the standard cover. And I don't mind if it's a one off cover... but when you're collecting something big and connecting, missing a piece because they don't get all the covers in, it's just frustrating. Especially when you see loads of lenticular covers for a DC comic that no one wants to touch still falling off the shelves. I guess if it's a major 2 comic company, they're forced to order as many as possible. If it's a second string, it depends on if they want to or not.

 

[Drtooth]

After hearing that one of my favorite current comics has been unceremoniously pulled, I think I'm TOTALLY FREAKING over comic books now.

Maybe I'll stick around for the BTTF series from IDW. But other than that, I'm done.

 

[mr3urious]

I read one of the Mega Man comics a long time ago, and credit should be given to all in making a series full of repetitive boss fights into a coherent narrative. Sucks that they're canning that in favor of their flagship comic that is only desperately clinging to relevance.

 

[Drtooth]

It's infuriating because the writers themselves are ticked off because they built a whole world to make the games make sense, and by all means they made the best Western Mega Man lore there is. I once read this terrible Mega Man 2 novelization, and it was the most tediously repetitive thing. They breathed life into these and added drama. But that's the problem. That world of drama ended. Even if these comics come back, they're not going to give us the epic Mega Man 4 (or any of the other games) adaption they've been building up to.

Seriously. If this was something episodic like, let's say Valiant's 1990's Super Mario comics, I wouldn't mind. But I've been invested in this friggin series for four years. They moved with a snail's pace through these games, adding in original storylines to keep it from being repetitive. If it wasn't for the crossovers, Bass wouldn't even have appeared. They even managed to get some Mega Man 9 characters thrown in for things to come. Those things won't come. And even if MM comes back as an Archie comic, it's a reboot, making all 4 years worth of storyline completely worthless. I dunno about you, but I'm not going to bother with a second coming that starts the freaking clock again.

Seriously. Archie is essentially DEAD to me with this one. This was a freaking [Richard] Move and a huge screw you to the fans of this comic that put up with multiple crossover arcs. They couldn't even keep the freaking thing a freaking year to tie up loose ends? Bull. And while Sonic's comic is insured to run at least until issue 300, I'm not freaking going to bother with it. Even if they throw Sticks into the cast. BTW, they canned Sonic Boom, but that's because the video game hurt that franchise. Hopefully the cartoon manages to wriggle out successful. There's only loose talk of a second season, and I'm not holding my breath.

 

[D'Snowth]

I used to collect the classic Cartoon Network comics when they were out: I actually have the very first Cartoon Network comic book ever, which contains a sample of future issues, including a COW AND CHICKEN story, a SCOOBY-DOO story, and a JETSONS story. Unfortunately, being in the hands of a giddy little kid, and having let friends borrow it, it's certainly not in any good condition to be worth any value.

I also used to collect CARTOON NETWORK STARRING, but usually the COW AND CHICKEN issues.

Then, when CARTOON CARTOONS came out, I would get issues that contained ED, EDD N EDDY and/or COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG stories. I'm still missing two specific issues, mainly because at times, the only bookstore in my town that carried comic books (which was BAM, way out west) would occasionally skip a month with the comics. Despite that I keep them all in their plastic sleeves when I don't read them, some of are in better condition than others: issues #1, #5, and #11 have slightly wrinkled covers because I didn't have any sleeves at the time I had them; I would say #7, #9, and #28 are practically mint condition - the former two are because I ordered them directly from a comic supplier as they never hit the shelves in my town, and the latter one because I rarely read it (it's a poor issue); I would say all the others are in very fair/near-mint condition.

Not sure how much any of them would be worth today, however, most of these are from when comic books were still $1.99 (many of the latter CARTOON CARTOONS issues did jump up to $2.25), and not four and five dollars like today.

 

[Drtooth]

If there was one CN comic book they really should have collected into graphic novel form, it was the Space Ghost Coast to Coast comics. Not that horrible first issue they did in Cartoon Network Presents. The one where they try and fail at recreating the TV show's nonsense and (not making this up) the reused animated footage. It was...awkward. I'm guessing the team behind the actual Space Ghost show were embarrassed by that because when it changed to Cartoon Network Starring (I'm actually kinda confused which one came first), you had the writers and artists from the actual Space Ghost series come on to do these comics. And they were glorious. Half the time they sold out. That's why I only have like 3 of them.

Sigh... those were amazing and deserve to be preserved.