Comics / Cult Favorite

Back Issue Blues

By Philip Schweier
November 1, 2004 - 10:58

Back Issue Blues

This autumn marks 32 years I’ve been reading comics. I can’t begin to offer a number of comics owned, or how much money I’ve spent, sometimes re-buying the same back issue 2 or 3 times. Most recently I’ve started to re-build my collection of early Wolverines and New Teen Titans from the 1980s. The Wolfman/Perez run was a great era, and I really wish I’d thought to re-read them before the Great Liquidation of 1990.



I often stumble across something in a comics shop I used to have, and marvel at how much they want for it. I never think to myself, “If only I’d known,” because there’s no way I could have.



The back issue market is built on speculation, as people try to project what will remain popular, what will become a classic. Good luck trying to second guess. I’m not prone to financial advice, but if you’re looking for a lucrative investment, put your cash into money markets, or t-bills. If you think your collection of comics will finance your college education or your retirement, all I can say is, be prepared to be disappointed.




So many pre-1980s comics got thrown out, because they were toys, meant to be traded, read, and traded again. Old comics have value because they weren’t meant to survive this long.



There’s a dealer I know who will buy comics regardless of condition. He puts the worst ones in a box near the counter for free. FREE COMICS! Are they valuable? No. Do they have mutants? Probably not. Are they good? Well, read one and find out. Maybe you might not buy that 25 year old issue of The Defenders. But if you read a few for free, maybe you’ll like it enough to come back and actually pay for a few back issues from his stock. That’s his investment in back issues. Otherwise they’re taking up valuable space.



That's one thing that can be done with extra copies of comics in less-than-good condition. There's also the shredder, but I wouldn't recommend it. You run the risk of turning into your mother. Selling or trading the extras seems wisest, if you can find an aggreeable deal.



That right there is a challenge unto itself. Selling to dealers is quick and easy, but it’s pretty near impossible to find someone willing to pay what the “Overpriced Street Guide” suggests. Finding another collector would help, but unless there is some sort of comic book network where you live, you may be out of luck.



My personal choice is to hang onto the old ones. They come in handy if I need something to read while eating my Wheaties, and don’t mind spilling milk on the comic. Because that’s what comics are for: you read them, enjoy them, be entertained by them, regardless of their condition or value.



But I am nostalgic for favorites. Compared to the likes of Spider-Man or the X-Men, Lois Lane comics came cheap at my local flea market. They featured Superman, and that was enough for me. The Legion of Super-Heroes has had a lot of incarnations, and if you give me a 1970s issue number, I canvery likely describe the cover.




I told you last time about ending up with multiple copies of Superboy & the Legion #208. One had a printing error that gave me the latter half of a Wonder Woman comic. Recently while looking for a particular issue of Action Comics which featured a specific Atom story, I remembered it wrong. I got the cover I was looking for, but not the story.



Such are the pitfalls of buying back issues, and this is why it pays to open a bag up and take a look through the issue in question. I would never recommend doing so indiscriminately, as many dealers would rather you ask. But if that’s an option, by all means, use it.



Online purchasing may give you access to back issues you can’t find anywhere else, but little opportunity to ensure it’s the book you’re looking for. Maybe you’ll end up with only part of the overall story, as I did recently with Our Army at War # XXX.I got one half of a Sgt. Rock story illustrated by Doug Wildey at the top of his game, and now must track down part two.



Or perhaps you’re looking for a specific artist, and it says “features the art of ________” in the item description. But alas, all he did was the cover. That’s the risk you take. Sometimes you’re misinformed, sometimes you know it’s iffy, but you buy it anyway.



Once in a while, flipping thru a potential purchase, you may find a little something special. Maybe it’s signed. I’ve had that happen (well, it LOOKED like Stan Lee’s signature). David Roland, owner of Comics Plus in Macon, Ga, is unique among dealers in that unless he can authenticate a signature, an autographed comic is priced no higher than one not. I’ve also stumbled across comics with two covers, which is rather handy when trying to keep it in mint condition.




My local comics dealer has couple of issues of the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow displayed on his wall. Great stuff, and somewhat valuable as comics go, but it’s been reprinted quite a bit. First in the early 1980s, in a seven-issue run. Then again in the 1990s in a single hardback volume. Then again this past summer in a two-volume trade papeback format. What makes it different this third time around – besides being more affordable – is the inclusion of a Green Lantern story illustrated by Adams from Flash # 226. It was probably the last Green Lantern story illustrated by Adams, and I’ve often wondered why it was overlooked for inclusion in the earlier Neal Adams/Green Lantern reprints. Maybe it’s because GL sleeps in full costume and mask. But I remembered it well enough that in 2003 I bought Flash #226, paying almost as much for that single issue as one of the GL/GA trade paperback volumes.



If only I had known.•

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Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12