So, I've started accumulating comic books. If I decide I want to sell them later on..

Cafe Society
1

Mostly I’m reading Batman at the moment, but I’m waiting for the next stand alone or first issue of a Green Arrow series.

I generally prefer my comic-book type literature in graphic novel form if I can get it, but I am not a paitent woman and do not wish to wait for War Games to be bound up into a trade paperback. Archer’s Quest is actually due out as a GN soon, so I’m not going to go to Dreamwell and buy it up, even though they have the entire series. If I get some extra money soon, I may pick up the Straight Shooter series.

So, anyhoo, let’s say I buy some massive multi-title crossing series, or, hell any series that’s bound to come out as a graphic novel sooner or later. I’ll have all these comic books taking up massive amounts of space in my room, and selling them off in favor of the GN seems like a prudent move.

At Dreamwell, I’m seeing complete series go for well over the accumulated cover prices of the collected issues. They just sold Hush off for I think around $55, and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive, which is relatively recent, is going for $65.

So, if a series I happen to own all the issues of comes out under a single cover, I see a potential for saving space in my room, and still making a profit even after I buy the GN.

What would be the best way to put no-longer-needed comics on the market? I know that comics are not guaranteed to go up in price, but it seems that complete series have more potential than any given single issue to do so, and I’d probably be wanting to hang onto stand-alones anyway.

Any advice? My room is in serious danger of becoming extremely cluttered.

2

I’ve bought quite a lot of comics from e-bay.

A word of warning about that is that I’ve bought some significantly under what would have been the shop bought price, so you may lose money.

I’ve also recently started buying and reading Batman - TPB’s and graphic novels are definitely better value but who wants to wait months to get the latest story arcs?

3

Well, I’m not planning to become a comic-book speculator. I would expect your average stand-alone issue to not increase, or actually decrease, in value, unless it was something that was destined to become a classic. But what I’m thinking is that for some story arcs that span multiple issues, and multiple titles, if you have the complete set, and it was a really, really good story, there are collectors who would pay some bucks if they could get them all at once. Archer’s Quest is selling for more than the cover price right now, for example.

And, like I said, I’ll probably be hanging on to the stand-alones, and they would probably be the least saleable anyway.

4

FWIW, YMMV:

I’ve found that on average, TPBs/GNs actually hold their value better than the single issues do. Sets of singles often do well in the short term - say, up to a year after their release, but usually even shorter than that. Long term, they tend not to do very well. The X-men “Age of Apocalypse” is often cited as a large crossover that brings good money when sold as a set. That’s true, to a point, but it’s not like any of the people selling them are making retirement money off the difference between cover price and current value, especially after eBay takes its cut. Even many “classics”, like Watchmen, don’t bring much money as singles compared to TPBs.

I advise cashing in on the short-term “bubble” that often occurs on popular titles between the release of the singles and the release of the TPB. (Anyone else remember what first printings of “30 Days of Night #1” and “Y, the Last Man #1” were bringing before the TPB releases?!) Over the long haul, plan on your singles being worth no more than $1 (often much less), whereas your GNs will generally be worth about 50% of cover. That 50% starts looking pretty good after you consider that Amazon’s discount on new copies is usually, what, 25%?

eBay’s probably your best - although often depressing- research and distribution tool. If your LCS will allow you to trade in singles for TPBs, and I’m told some do, that’s probably your best bet in most cases. If not, compare what they’ll offer you as a buy back (assuming they will) to what you’ll get on eBay. Of course, with eBay, you also have to factor in the time, hassle, and prospect of non-paying bidders.

5

Well, being that my actual plan is to hold onto the singles until the
GN/TPB’s come out…

Is that even a good idea? When I get fond of a book, I tend to cause it to fall apart with rereadings. I’m very hard on paperback spines, so I’m expecting the GN/TPB’s to have zero resale value. I just want them for my own enjoyment. And, like I said, I’m not really looking at this as an investment. I just want to be able to replace the singles with GN’s in an economical fashion.

So, what would be a good rule of thumb for how long I should sit on them before I put them on the open market? “Hush” is currently selling for about $55, and IIRC, it was a twelve-issue series, which means at cover price it would have originally cost about $30. Do the potential prices for complete sets of singles go down when the GN/TPB is released? Or is that even a factor? And “War Games” is going to run across eight titles, so it would take a certain amout of determination to get the entire set. Would that be a factor as far as the resale value is concerned?

6

It depends upon a bunch of factors. Issues that go up in price quickly tend to be first prints of issues that were underordered then became hot properties. For example, the first few issues of Kirkman’s Walking Dead became a very hot property when word spread about how good the series was, and the quick release of a bargain priced trade did nothing to stem the tide. A set of the first five issues in NM will go for three or four times the cover price.

An interesting side effect is that another Kirkman title, Invincible went way up in value after Walking Dead became a hot property. The forementioned Y: The Last Man early issues still go for a premium, despite thier having been reprinted in well selling tpb.

Mainstream titles like Batman seldom go up in value unless something special happens in them, or they are kept in perfect condition and held for a very long time.

The “Hush” (Batman 608-619) storyline is currently going for about $20 on E-bay for a standard set (all regular issues, first or second prints), or about $70-$90 for a set with all variants (second prints with different covers, sketch prints, and so forth). It’s available in two hardback editions for about $20 each.

The release of tpb don’t usually hurt price; it can in some cases increase the value of high quality singles. Collectors who buy the trades will sometimes like the story enough that they then want to get the singles to replace it.

Sets of storylines from the mainstream titles will usually go for a premium in comic stores, but you can get short storyline sets for about cover price on E-bay pretty much the moment they’re complete, and longer sets for a pretty good discount. I recently bought the “Hush” follow up form Gotham Knights 50-54 for $14 including shipping.

It’s hard to tell how long you should wait. As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t try to sell them right as the storyline ends. If you do, you’ll be in competition with speculators who buy in bulk to assemble long runs for resale, and comic shops that overordred and are dumping their extras. If you wait a while, you can often get a better price for your singles.

7

Hmm. I thought comic book speculation had become a thing of the past after the speculation craze of the '90’s turned out to be a complete disaster.

It’s good to know that TPB/GN’s won’t have a negative effect on the value of the singles, though because one of my major concerns is what if the comic books then the story never comes out as a graphic novel?

Of course with a really short miniseries (two- or three parter), the money-space trade-off wouldn’t be worth getting the TPB, so I’ll just hang on to my LODK: The Secret City singles, thanks.

8

uh, make that what if I sell the comic books then the story never comes out as a graphic novel?

9

I respectfully couldn’t disagree more, so watch out, Mango. The release of a TPB causes the respective single issues’ values to PLUMMET. If you’ve got a current, hot run of singles and you want to sell them to buy the TPB, sell them ASAP, while there is still hype, long before the company even announces a TPB. If you’re going to play the speculation game (which is stupid), you’ve got to read Wizard: The Guide To Comics (a publication I personally despise), and see what their hot books are, and what the fanboys are really crazy about at the moment, and what people are having trouble finding. Some examples:

I sold my Daredevil #1-8 (written by Kevin Smith) on eBay, the weekend the Daredevil movie opened last year. I made a ton of money because there was Daredevil hype, and the fanboys love Kevin Smith too.

I sold my League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1-6 last year, also the weekend the movie opened. I did very well because there was some hype about the movie, and writer Alan Moore is already well-known as the best writer in comics.

I had Green Arrow #1-11 (written by Kevin Smith) and sold them earlier this year. I didn’t do nearly as well because they had been out for a while, the “Quiver” TPB reprinting those issues was already widely available, and there was no current buzz about Green Arrow to help hype my auction. Had I sold them while Smith was still on Green Arrow, or at least before DC announced the “Quiver” TPB, I would have made a lot more money.

The Batman: Hush issues with Jim Lee art were super-hot when they were still out, but I think a hardcover reprinting the first part of the storyline is already out, and that killed a lot of the demand for the singles. This happens ALL THE TIME, with Marvel moreso than DC, since Marvel is much quicker to come out with TPBs (although all the early Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men issues are still hot, despite the multiple TPBs).

The popularity of the creators have a lot to do with it, as do the titles themselves. You said you like Batman and Green Arrow, and I don’t think either of those are going to be burning up the sales charts or setting records for a while (unless Jim Lee comes back). DC will probably get around to collecting the stories you want eventually, but don’t expect to even break even selling your runs of singles on eBay. Again, I must warn everyone (since I have boxes of crappy comics I was suckered into buying in the early '90s): SPECULATION SUCKS. You will lose money every time, unless you time things perfectly, and actually have stuff people will want.

10

With things like Batman and Green Arrow, you may have to wait a while, but eventually you should get your trade paperbacks. When you get into lower-selling comics (like Sleeper, the best book on the market right now), there is always the fear that the singles won’t sell well enough for a TPB to be released. But many comics (particularly Vertigo books and other “mature readers” titles like Sandman and Preacher) end up selling much better as TPBs than as singles, as there is a new trend among readers to want the nicer, thickly-bound volumes on bookshelves, as opposed to ad-filled singles taking up space in comic book boxes.

Aside: a “trade paperback” is a collection of previously-published material, usually a multi-issue storyline, in a bound volume. A “graphic novel” is an original story that was not collected from monthly singles, but a completely new work in a bound volume.

11

While I’m sure this can happen, my observation has been different. Walking Dead, Invincible, and Y: The Last Man all have TPB published quite quickly at the end of each story arc, yet the early issues still tend to go at quite a premium. I have no doubt that the TPB publication has inhibited further growth in value of those issues, but the values have not gone down at all.

Those are from less mainstream books. I’ve seen the same thing happening with more popular comics. Ulitmate Spider-Man has a very quick turnaround on the TPB publication, yet early singles still go for quite a nice price. There’s even a very nice hardback reprint of the first 30-40 issues with a lot of nice extras, yet prices stay steady on those issues.

Superman/Batman is the best selling comic on the market. The value of the early issues hasn’t been greatly affected by the hardback reprints that have come out.

On the other hand, Legion Lost 1-12 is a set whose value is based solely on its rarity. They routinely go for upwards of $50 on E-bay. It was undersold, and fans of the current run on Legion want to read it. If DC were to issue a TPB, people wanting to read it would have an inexpensive place to get the story, and the value of the set would dive.

The resale value of big-selling mainstream books like Batman tends to be quite low in the first place, unless you keep them in excellent condition and hold them for a very long time. You’re unlikely to recover cover price for them regardless of whether a trade has been released.

Green Arrow you can probably count on getting a steady stream of trades; it’s a stand alone title. Batman is part of an interconnected family of titles, which means you’ll likely get trades for certain storylines, but not necessarily every story being reprinted, especially if it’s from Gotham Knights or Legends. The upcoming gang war crossover, which will run through 25 issues of all of the Gotham city books, will certainly be reprinted in trades, and will be more accessible that way, as they’ll have the story in the correct order.

I don’t doubt that trades can hurt resale values, but that hasn’t generally been what I’ve observed.