I Put the “Needy” in "New Release Wednesday"

If I look at myself honestly, I can say that I’m not a real special guy by any stretch of the imagination.

I don’t put the “fun” in “funeral”

or

the “laughter” in “manslaughter”

or

even the “riot” in “Iron Patriot”

but I DO put the “needy” in “New Release Wednesday”  (OK, it’s a stretch but what can I say?  I’m needy.)

You and I probably have one thing in common, it’s that our week is filled with the following recipe:

           -Wake Up
           -Go to Work
           -Come Home
           -Go to Sleep
           -Repeat 

So, I literally NEED Wednesdays and the new releases that come on that day.

But, as a comic collector/lover/reader how do you maximize your Wednesdays with the local comic book emporium?  Here’s how I do it:

Start by making a list of all the comics you simply must have.  Your list can be as small or as big as your wallet can afford.  My list is big enough that I am trying to work out some way for the comic store to just do payroll deduction so my bill comes straight from my paycheck.  (Just kidding, although the idea has merit.)

Then go to your favorite website that advertises the new releases for the coming week(s).  My personal favorite is www.comiclist.com.  Tell them The Comic Whisperer sent you.  It won’t get you any type of discount or special treatment but it’ll sure make me feel good.

Check the list(s) which are sorted by publisher and see which comics on your list are coming out this week.  Make a shopping list for yourself or a “pull” list for your local comic shoppe.  (As you are probably aware, a “pull” list is a list of comics which you would like the store to set aside for you weekly.  Some stores even offer a discount if you have them pull for you weekly and pay for them weekly.  What they don’t offer is a “pull them weekly, never pay for them” plan.)

If you don’t want every issue offer to send the list of your weekly picks to the local comic store  proprietor and ask them to put the specific comics you wish to purchase aside.

Then, when Wednesday shows its beautiful face, go to the store and pick up your books! (don’t forget to pay for them, many stores frown on stealing)

If you are a collector there is a pretty good chance that if someone even touches your new comics or, God forbid, bends them, you blow a gasket.  That’s why, with my Marvel comics, I just enter the digital comic redemption code and read it on my iPad.  I then do my weekly chuckle at DC for their thought that I will purchase both a physical AND digital version (another of the many dumb decisions by the DC bean counters.)

But I digress...

Last, if you don’t do so already, you can keep track of your collection as it grows.  I highly recommend doing so on a site such as www.comicbookrealm.com if you don’t mind having it just online.  If you want to use an app to keep track, my personal favorite is a comic inventory app put out by CLZ at www.clz.com.  It’s available on the iOS platform, I’m not sure about Android.

One last thing, keep a list of the specific comics you miss, or don’t get that week, so you can shop for them at the next ComicCon!

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Apathetic? Who Cares?

I remember going to flea markets as a kid.  It seemed to me that people haggled more back then.

"That comic there is $.25" (Yes, I am old enough to remember $.25 comics)

"Will you take $.10?  It's all I have. (Little liar that I was, I had around $1.50 but still had other stands to visit)

"I don't know, how much is it worth actually? (I was known at the flea markets as "The kid with the pricing guide".  Word spread quick and far)

"I'm not sure, I haven't looked it up."  (Liar...Liar...Liar)

"I'm going to stick with $.25 on that."

"I only have $.10. (LIAR!)

"OK, kid.  I'll give it to you for $.10"

"Thank you so much!"  (I still had $1.40 and 10 more stands to go!)

"Now that you own it, what's it really worth?"

"I really don't know.  I just liked the cover." (It's a wonder anyone trusted me...Hey, I was a kid.  Tell me you didn't fib a little now and then.)

That comic is today one of the most controversial titles in many different media.  It was Uncle Tom's Cabin and that particular comic, in the condition it was in, appraised for around $700 at that point in time.  I still have it today...bagged and boarded.

The flea markets of today, however, don't haggle as much.  It seems like they don't care.  Has the medium saturated the market so bad that people take them for granted or is it still a type of antique that still holds little value for people?

On Sunday I walked up to a booth and looked in a box where dozens of old Archie Comics lay strewn all over.  Many were in decent condition, 5 were approaching VG and then there were others that were coverless.

"How much are your comics?"

"$2.00 apiece."

They weren't worth haggling over, honestly.  $2 for a possible VG and also for a coverless?  Pure apathy on the sellers part.  He barely even looked my way when I flipped through them.

I went to another stand.

"How much are your comics?"

"I have them sorted out.  That pile is $20 for all of them, but I'll take $10."

Am I the world's best silent haggler or did he just cut his price in half without a word?  I looked through the stacks.  Wow.  Old Action Comics in rough condition, a run of 20 Teen Titans comics all looking like they had been previously bagged and boarded, and then there were the other sets that had comics like Checkmate (which I like but are worth little).  I spent $35 on 60 comics valued at over $300.  It's a deal for me, but it was caused by apathy on the part of the buyer.

What happened between my childhood and now?  How did people go from haggling to cutting the price before I even ask?   It has to be apathy.  Please understand, I'm not criticizing the seller, I just struggle to understand how in a world soaked with superheroes in movies, magazines, cartoons, and whatnot, that people don't mind searching the web for a price for fine china but not a comic book.  (Please don't criticize my run-on sentences, I get excited about this kind of thing and punctuation goes out the window.)

You see, what I didn't tell you is that the same person selling old Archie Comics for $2 apiece was haggling with a woman over a lamp he had for sale.  It had a high price tag and he wasn't budging. (It could have been worth $1,000, I had no clue.  I'm apathetic towards lamps, I guess)  I guess he really wasn't haggling then, was he?  But why stick to your guns on a high priced lamp and leave old comics out in a box in the sun?  I'm convinced it's apathy.  It can't be lack of knowledge.

There are dozens of books, websites, magazines, blogs, you name it, that can give you prices on comics.  You can't walk into a book store without tripping over a pricing guide of some kind.  So, it can't be knowledge.  My bet is that he looked up the price of that lamp and that's why he was sticking to it.  To me it's like opening up a retail store and marking some things at the suggested retail price and just guessing on other items.  (That chair is $250, that desk though...I don't know...maybe $50?)

The other person, come to find out, bought comics to flip them (no pun intended) and, as long as he made a profit, he was happy.  If he can do that marking things down, all the better.  It works for me and for him.  Strange as it may seem, however, I feel bad taking advantage of people when I have a good idea of the value.  But it can't go two ways, right?  If they mark them as the price they should go for I pay more.  If they mark it well below the price it should go for, I pay less.  It's an odd conundrum.  I would never cheat a client who brought me a box of books to sell by paying them far below market value, but at the flea market I do it every weekend.  (I guess I'm two-faced AND a liar.  Mom would be disappointed.)

In both cases I offered to help by giving them an idea as to what they may sell for if I could just look them over.  I'd do it for nothing.  Neither took me up on my offer.  I guess I should just leave it at the fact that they're happy with the pricing and I should be happy too.  I'll try to behave more appropriately.

The bottom line is this:  As a seller and buyer know what your comics are worth.  Know how to price them, know when to buy, when to sell, and when to walk away.  Research is just a click away at our personal favorite www. comicbookrealm.com.  Tell them The Comic Whisperer sent you.

Did You Tell Me To Go To Shell?

It's an interesting argument that is going on nowadays.  What appraiser should be used for accurate grading and do you want your appraised comic in a Shell that, if opened, voids the appraisal?  I have heard, and read, both sides of the argument and needed to take a stand on the shell, the large appraisal companies, and what those same companies are doing to the comic industry.

First, I have to praise Metropolis Comics and Collectibles.  When I do a search on "comic appraising" or "comic appraisals",  Metropolis Comics and Collectibles is the first to come up.  That is either incredible search engine optimization (SEO) management or it's just that so many searches are made on them it puts them near the top.  My vote is that they do some incredible SEO management.  Either way, my hat is off to Metropolis Comics and Collectibles.  I'd like to go there just to tip my hat in person.

The funny thing is that the big appraisal houses aren't even on the first page of the search.  Neither is the Comic Whisperer, mind you, but we don't even have a site up yet.

Now, let's talk numbers really quick, they will be used to prove a point:

In order for CGC to do their "Modern" service they estimate turnaround time at 20 business days.  BUT their current turnaround time, according to their website, is 55 business days.

Cost?  $18 per book, with the book only being allowed to have an estimated value of $200.

For the "Modern Fast Track" service the estimated turnaround time is 10 business days.  BUT their current turnaround time, according to their website, is 25 business days.

Cost?  $28 per book, again with the maximum value of $200.

So, let me see if I get this right, their current turnaround time for the "Fast Track" is LONGER than their estimated turnaround time for the "Modern" service of 20 business days, but you are paying $10 more per book.

Don't forget the $5 "handling fee" per invoice that applies to all grading tiers.

Let's do some more math.  CGC claims to have over 100,000 comics submitted to them per year.

If we make the assumption that they don't work on weekends (which you can bet on) we can estimate that they work approximately 22 business days per month.  22 x 12 is 264 working days per year.  BUT WAIT!  Don't forget holidays.  Companies offer between 10 and 17 holidays per year.  Let's go with 10.  264-10=254 working days per year.  Check my math.

So, we take 100,000 comics divided by 254 days per year and we get...um...394 (actually 393.7) comics going through their door per business day.

Assuming an 8 hour work day you have 394 divided by 8 and we get...hmmm...49 (49.25 actually) comics being graded per hour.  Keep in mind that each comic goes through 3 different people looking at it before being graded.  So, let's say your comic gets some incredible levels of attention and you have 3 people taking a total of 1 hour to look at it.  That's 147 people looking at 1 comic per hour (49 comics per hour times 3 people doing the grading).  How do they pay for all that?  Wait, they don't...you do.

Although I could go into the other big house, it's a lot of the same, just different prices.

So, after they're done, they put your comic is a custom designed shell with all sorts of gadgets and doohickeys that keep it from being opened.  You pay for that too.  But should you do a shell at all?  Here are the two side of the argument:

TO SHELL:  If you are submitting a comic that you intend to sell there is no better way to confirm value than to have it appraised and have it in a shell with the grading right on it.  To make it even better, as long as the seal isn't broken the appraisal will always be considered accurate.  If I then look in a pricing guide I can make the grade to a price and put it up for sale.  Another advantage is preservation.  If I have a $5,000 comic and I don't want anything to happen to it, the shell is an excellent way to preserve your comic.  There is no doubt that for the person selling the comic or preserving a comic, this may be a good choice.

NOT TO SHELL:  If you're a comic collector like me, you read your comics.  You enjoy them.  It's why you bought it in the first place.  You may even go so far as to bag and board them in a quality bag with a quality board.  You then keep them in a box in a dry cool place.  I can pull out a comic from 20 years ago that I bagged and boarded and it will be in the same shape it was when I got it and without a shell.  The key part?  I can read it, put it back in, and not have to pay to get it reappraised.  I know I didn't damage it, and I know the value didn't change, so why all the fuss?  If I really want to sell them, non-shelled books take top dollar all the time on buyer boards, eBay, etc.

The choice is yours and there are advantages either way, but there is a catch that not many are aware of...so let me fill you in.

The big comic appraising houses can sway the marketplace.  In one of my previous posts I talked about my own test with the two big houses where the same comic was was graded different and the grades were 1.0 full point apart (see my previous post Comic Book Appraising...Why People Need To Think Twice About Who Does The Appraising).

So, let's use the example from that blog...the same comic came back from one appraisal house at a 7.2,  the same comic came back from the second appraisal house at a grade of 8.4.  A difference of 1.2 points.  That is over a 10% difference on the 10 point grading scale.

But how could that effect the industry?  By swaying the prices garnered by those comics and possibly devaluating them.

Let's look at Captain America #100.  According to Comic Book Realm, our favorite pricing site, that comic at an 8.4 (or VF+) is valued at $900.  But if you go by the grading of 7.2 (or F/VF) you get a value of $550.  That's a difference of $350 that's a remarkable 38% difference!  And, take my word for this, if we are talking Action Comics #1, the price difference is closer to $1,100,000.  Ouch!

So, when these comics are let go into the marketplace they can swing pricing dramatically and overvalue or undervalue comics.  Think of it this way.  If you and one other person showed up for auction, and the same comic (but two copies) went up for sale would you rather buy the 8.4 or the 7.2?  Would you rather be the seller for the 8.4 or the 7.2?

Will it make a sweeping change that will destroy the industry?  No. Is the pricing and turnaround time for 2 different ratings on the same comic out of hand?  Sure it is.  Metropolis Comics and Collectibles offers to give your comic the once over and give an estimated appraisal for FREE.  How far off would it be from the big houses, not much.

But the fault for all of this lies with the sellers and buyers.  Yes, those of you who INSIST on a shelled, big appraisal house, grading.  I was in a pawn shop recently and I asked if he carried comic books.  He said that he didn't and, if he did, he would insist on grading from CGC.  It's a shame really.

Am I saying the big houses are not worth it or they should step aside for your hometown appraisers?  No, there are needs that are met thoroughly and easily by them.  Should they be the only grades worth working with?  Not when they can be separated by 1.2 they're not.

Why Comic Book Realm is our 'go-to' site!

If you haven't visited the site www.comicbookrealm.com you are truly missing out.  This site has more comic book information and pricing than anyone can possibly digest in a lifetime.  The real value?  This site knows what it's talking about...they get it.  In a world full of high priced pricing guides (sorry about the redundancy) Comic Book Realm is a breath of fresh air.

Current stats as of today's date?

44,109 members
12,074,186 comics owned by members
940,536 comics wanted by members
170,588 comics for sale
300,689 covers
2,724 publishers
38,857 titles
320,749 comics listed
$33,162,731.00 tracked value

These are incredible numbers.  I thought I had alot of comic books.

Let's take a brief, and certainly not all encompassing view, of Comic Book Realm (it's here I should note that I am not being compensated by the site, nor do I know anyone connected to the site...but I'd like to!)

First, it's a free online comic book community that features one of the most impressive, and accurate, pricing guides I have ever seen.

I remember when I was younger (that was a long time ago) I could not wait for the new pricing guides to come out.  They were a little bit high priced for my budget, but I made it work.  I would sit for hours looking through my collection and finding out what things were worth.  Remember, this was the days before computers, spreadsheets, and other easy ways to keep track of things.  Anyway, enough about me.

I have a comic book collection verging on 10,000 comics and I have yet to find one that is not on Comic Book Realm.  It's really simple to find the comics; you just punch in the title of the comic, hit return, and PRESTO there are dozens of titles and volumes to choose from.  The cool thing about this is that next to each title they include the years the title ran and the publisher.  So, if a title changes publisher you can clearly see which one you are looking for.

Once you click on the title, all of the issue numbers line up in a nice column for you to see.  In the upper right hand corner you see the cover of the first issue along with all of the relevant information associated with the comic.  For instance, you may be looking for issue #700 of the Amazing Spider-Man.

For this particular issue there were dozens of variant covers.  So, in the list of comics you see before you all you have to do is click on each one and see the different variant covers pop up for you to see.  Check the box next to the comic you have and it's added to your collection or 'Realm'.  Further, as you click on separate issues you see the information on the right change as well as the cover.  So, if you are looking for a particular artist or variant, it clearly states it in a text box under the cover.  Have the regular cover?  It's listed there.  Have the foil cover,?  It's shown in the text box that it's the foil cover.  You literally can't choose the wrong edition to put in your collection.

So, what if you want to see the cover close-up, let's say there's a couple of variants that look remarkably similar,  just click on the picture icon and you get a blown up version of the cover.

My favorite part, however, is the pricing.  If you click on the value next to the comic you choose you get a list of prices that correspond to the rating assigned to the comic.  So, if you have The Amazing Spider-Man #700 and you had it professionally appraised, you know the rating.  Let's say it's a 9.2.  You look next to 9.2 and VIOLA you have an estimate of the current value.  But it doesn't stop there. Comic Book Realm has reports you can run that show the comics in your collection that are increasing in value and decreasing in value.  For instance, you might find that if you collect Civil War, that they are rising in price due to the impending movie.  I love when my comic values are on the rise.

Second, I have my own realm!  I am the King!  In my realm I can see all of my comics and a total value of what they are worth.  Now, when I say I can see all my comics what I mean is that I can create different categories in which to keep my comics and see the respective value. 

Here's an example.  I have all of the Civil War comics in one category labeled, of all things, Civil War.  This means that all of the comics that are related to Civil War, including variants and spin-offs, etc. I can assign to the Civil War category I set up and keep them all in one spot.  Comic Book Realm then shows me how much all the comics in that category are worth.

In my Realm I can not only see my comics but I can run reports like I addressed earlier.  One of my favorite reports appeals to me as a collector.  I was trying very hard to collect every comic related to Fear Itself.  I desperately wanted them all.  After putting in all the volumes that I had already Comic Book Realm let me run a report that showed all the issues I have, all the issues that are missing from the collection (including variants) and told me the approximate price of the missing issues.  Cool!

Oh, did I say missing issues?  I forgot to tell you one more thing about the initial listing of issues in a volume that I talked about you earlier.  If a particular issue has eBay next to it,  I can click on the eBay icon and it will take me to a list of sellers that are selling the copy I need on eBay.  Could it be more convenient?

Third, it has an app...sort of.  I can have the Comic Book Realm (CBR) icon on my iPhone and iPad but it is a limited version of the website.  Don't get me wrong, it is an awesome app, I can look up prices on volumes while I am in a comic store, or even see if I have the volume, with a simple internet connection.  However, I can't add to my collection if I am on the app.  Please understand, part of this is due to my laziness.  I could just log into the website instead of using the app and do whatever I want.  So, App or no app, CBR is my go-to site.

Fourth, is the home page.  It has more comic information, headlines, and ads to the coolest of comic related websites than you can shake a stick at (if you're into that kind of thing).  I can go to Sideshow Collectibles or check on the latest comic book deals that are being offered or see the newest covers coming out.  I could spend all day just following links on their home page.

I honestly don't know how many people they have working on the site nor how long it takes to update it every day.  Frankly, I would love to know how many connections they have to keep everything so up to date.

What I can tell you is that the site is a blessing to me and comic collectors everywhere.  Thanks Comic Book Realm, I'll be on the site in a couple of minutes.

A Story of Solid Appraisals and Humanity

My wife was watching a TV show the other night that was mildly amusing.  It's about a group of 3 guys that offer to clean out storage spaces (such as houses, garages, etc.) for free as long as they can keep the contents.  Frankly, I'm amazed at what people let them clean out for free because they were PACKED with valuable items.  It's called Garage Brothers.

The mildly amusing part is the guy who is in charge, his name is Kraig.  Although he is the brains behind the whole thing, and this concept is incredible on his part, he doesn't give off a strong visual impression.  He certainly doesn't have a comb.  His hair looks like it just came out of a blender, his glasses look they were run over by a bus then put back on, and he looks like he just rolled out of bed.  All that being said, the guy is a genius.  This concept he came up with is pure gold.  So he looks like that, with a big smile, all the way to the bank.  I admire that.

The reason I bring it up is because on one of the episodes he traversed into my arena...comic book stuff.  In one of the garages they found a statue of the Silver Surfer which was a limited edition.  There were approximately 350 made in celebration of the Fantastic Four movie, Rise of the Silver Surfer.  The movie was mediocre at best, but the statue was pristine.  No scratches, no breakage, nothing.  It was, as we say, Near Mint.

That wasn't the only thing they found, though.  They also found a drawing of the Ghost Rider done by Joe and Andy Kubert, legends in the comic book arena.  Unfortunately, Joe passed away in 2012.

So, Kraig said he was calling in a "Comic Book Expert" to value the Silver Surfer statue and the drawing of Ghost Rider by Joe and Andy Kubert.

Just to be on the same page I researched them both myself.  Not that I'm trying to prove anybody right or anybody wrong, I just like to stay in practice so I can be on top of my game.

Researching the Silver Surfer statue the prices ranged from $1,600 to $6,500.  The comic guy came in at the low end at $1,600.  It's a safe call on his part, but it's also the price it was going for on eBay at the time.  With it being a limited edition and not having a single thing wrong with it, the estimate seemed low.  That being said, he was giving market value as to what he felt it could sell for and that appraisal seemed reasonable.  So, although it may be appraised for $6,500 on the high end, the appraiser made a safe call with what he felt it would sell for.  Frankly, there's probably not much of a market for a 4' tall and 6' long Silver Surfer statues even if it was limited edition.  Also, I can't imagine that an appraiser with that much knowledge would go strictly by the eBay pricing.  The statue might draw a high price tag, but it would take awhile to sell, and it wouldn't be cheap to ship.  Good call on the statue.

The drawing, however, is another story.  I was first surprised that an established comic book person would not recognize the picture as the actual cover of a Ghost Rider comic.  After first looking at it he made some guesses as to what it could be, made some comments that were irrelevant about the front and back, and then said he had to go back and research it.  I appreciated the research part, the worst thing we can do as appraisers it take a wild guess as to what the value is.  It's a disservice to our clients. I didn't appreciate his comments about what should and should not be on the front and back, they didn't make much sense. That's a story for another blog.

As an aside,the creation of a comic book is an amazing and under-appreciated process that has changed over the years.  There are various stages such as pencilling and inking and there are a number of marks that can be made on the pages.  Many are artist notes or specific things to focus on during the process.  See below for some drawings and sketches that illustrate part of the process.

Anyway, he came back and valued the picture at a reasonable price between $4,000 and $6,000.  I believe he was dead-on based on the incredible standing the Kubert's have in the comic industry, the fact that Joe Kubert is no longer with us, and the fact that sketches like that can appraise very high, but sell for about half of the real value.  Good call on the sketch, but I am hoping some the the random comments were made for TV and inserted to sound impressive.

I give high marks to the appraiser's pricing but low marks to the comments he made and the inability to recognize a cover from Ghost Rider given the prominence of the title.  He should stick with the appraising and less with the pontificating.  I would say that by his vast knowledge (and I mean that sincerely) that he was coaxed by the TV crew to keep talking to fill space.  I applaud him for even getting in front of cameras where he can be critiqued by comic lovers everywhere.  It can't be easy.

The most impressive thing, however, was the ending of the show.  Remember, Garage Brothers is a show about emptying out storage spaces, houses, garages, etc. for free, but they get to keep what's in the space.  Kraig could have walked away with both the Silver Surfer and the incredible Ghost Rider drawing and netted a possible $6,000 - $8,000, but he did the thing I thought I would never see on TV.  He did the right thing.  He took the drawing back to the owner of the space, told him the value, and gave it back to him.  It turns out that the drawing had special significance to the owner.  It had an emotional tie because it was given to him by a loved one and it held some strong memories.  The owner said it was the hardest thing he would have had to part with and it was difficult for him to let it go.

Yes, you read it right.  Someone had the humanity to let the money go and give a high value item back to the owner even though, by contract, it was property of the Garage Brothers.  I was humbled.  I was taken aback.  In this day and age where shows like Pawn Stars offer excessively low values on items they buy, and then sell them for ungodly prices, we see a show with humanity?  Wow!

My hat is off to Kraig and all the members of the cast of Garage Brothers.  Some cynics may say that the network reimbursed Kraig for the drawing so it was no loss for him to give it back, but I prefer to think otherwise.  I prefer to think that this was a blatant demonstration of humanity in lieu of the almighty dollar.  Although I may not continue to watch Garage Brothers because it's not my cup of tea, I have to say it restored my belief in humanity.