After my Dads death in april my brother and I have been sorting through his treasures (tongue in cheek) that he kept in the garage.
Among them are our old comic books. I thought they were long gone. They must be 40 years old. They are stacked in a cardboard box.
My Question
Where can I find a listing of the value of the books.
They have been dry all this time so would they be damaged by age?
Whats the best way to handle them?
I have to admit I came here first before searching on the web.So are there any good old comic book sites?
Wizard magazine has a price guide, but it’s better used as toilet paper. Ebay is the best guide for what you can actually sell things for.
And whaddaya got in that lot? 
The best thing to use to price those comic books is Overstreet’s Price Guide. Most comic book store owners use it as the primary pricing tool.
You can get a copy at any major bookstore. It runs around 15.00.
What you need is the The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. Comprehensive listing of the value of just about every comic ever printed, and updated annually. It will also explain how book conditions are rated, so that you can assess your own.
Get thee to a comics bookstore and buy some backing boards and plastic bags. Carefully lay each comic on the backing, slide it into a bag, and tape the bag shut with regular Scotch tape. If you’re concerned about lasting quality (assuming they’re in decent shape), try to only handle them by the corners, so that you won’t leave your skin oils on the covers, and avoid any stress on the spine of the book.
If you want to sell them, consider eBay. It’s where my husband buys almost all of his E.C. comics, among others.
The one thing I’d add is that, like any other collectibles market, condition is very important. The comics that are the most valuable are not only the oldest ones and the major events (first appearances of characters, costumes and creators, etc) but the ones that are closest to the original condition.
So I hope you don’t look at a price guide, find that some of the comics you have are potentially very valuable, and assume that you’ll get that high-end money. The big numbers are for “Near Mint,” which essentially means that you can’t tell that a comic has been read at all. Every little rust spot, tear, rolled spine or wear mark drops the value.
I don’t know where you live, but keeping comics in the garage (or any non-climate controlled space) for 40 years would probably not leave them in the best condition. You will need to take that into account when you try to figure out their value. (Overstreet’s guide has a good guide to condition, and I recommend that book in general.)
The questions on where to get prices are fine. Never take them to a dealer to price until you do your own checking. Chances are they may find a gem and offer you a pittence because they know something you don’t.
Ok on to you others
They have been dry all this time so would they be damaged by age?
Dryness does not account for a lot. Comics more than 40 years old will contain a lot of wood pulp so sun and water are the worst that can happen (as well as rats and bugs). Any creases, tears, non standard folds, missing pages, yellowed pages, chips, or other can decrease the value of a comic HUGELY so take practiced care. (For example, a Spiderman #1 has about a 5k price difference between show quality (near Mint) and VF (Very Fine)) If they are in this shape, then you probably do not have much more than something you could sell to a collector looking for it simply to have.
Do buy comic bags and backing boards PLEASE. And I agree with the rest, try Ebay. You never know when someone will go crazy for one of your old ones
You’ve received some good advice in this thread, so please satisfy the curiosity of us comic book geeks (who dream of finding forgotten boxes of old comics) and tell us what comics you found. Any gems?
Well I really didn’t look except to see what was in the box. He saved lots of stuff.
IIRC ,its been 40 years folks, there will be superman it’s about the time bizzaro showed up,spiderman,archie,batman heck I don’t know.
My brother and I have decided to slowly pick thru the stuff on mondays. It gets both of us down there at the same time in case Mom needs anything and it will take longer,same reason.
I’ll try to keep you guys informed.
Now where is the best place to buy backer boards and book bags?
Those don’t vary much in quality. Just make sure to buy the right size, and you’ll be set! Any comics bookstore will carry them in spades.
Please keep in mind that no matter what Wizard or Overstreet says. Or any other collectible for that matter. They aren’t worth anything unless you can find someone willing to pay the price.
Ebay might be your best bet.
It seems from your post that these comic books were probably read at least once, then stored unprotected for 40 years, so odds are their condition is not going to be that good. That doesn’t mean that they might not be valuable, and I’d agree that $15 for an Overstreet guide is worth the investment.
As mentioned above, pricing guides will give you an idea of what a comic book will sell for at a comic book store, not necessarily what you would be able to get for it. I still think these guides are useful as a starting point though. If the guide price for a NM copy of comic book A is $500 and for comic book B its $3, then you know which one is potentially worth more to investors. Also, the Overstreet will give you good pointers as to what the condition grades mean.
Given that you have a large number of them, I would definitely pre-screen them this way before offering them on Ebay, otherwise you might be wasting your time setting up an auction for something nobody wants. Just remember in your Ebay descriptions not to say something like “this comic is in very good shape”, or other comments that might be taken as a literal grading. Full disclosure of any damage and scans if possible are your best defense against a buyer who feels misled.
You can also try getting them priced at a comic book store or at a convention if you live in a big city. I’d definitely not sell them there, though. Even a completely honest dealer has to make a profit, and won’t be able to give you as much as you might be able to get yourself.
Whoa whoa whoa, just be careful how you handle them. If they really are in nice shape (I kinda doubt it in a garage but you never know), you can drop the price pretty quickly by adding any creases dents, etc. to them - which is very easy to do. I can’t express to you how insane collectors are about appearance. Don’t open them flat, at the very least.