Sorting comics - Daredevil
Oct. 10th, 2003 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkI have completed my inventory of the Daredevil collection, simultaneously putting them into bags and a spreadsheet. We have a nearly complete run from #1 (1964) - 279 (1990), for a total of 256 comics. Richard insists that he never missed an issue, and the other 23 are around here somewhere, but even if they don't turn up it's still a pretty good collection. The newer ones are in surprisingly good condition. Just a shame about the staple rot in issues #1-100! Other the rust stains, most of them look pretty sharp - flat bindings, square corners, and very few tears or creases. R says the staple rust probably happened when he was in 'Nam, and the comics were waiting patiently in Frank's attic. Well, at least the squirrels didn't get them.
After poring over the online grading standards and getting one opinion from a guy named Steve at Comic College, my preliminary assessment is that the Daredevils mostly range from VG- (Very Good -) to VG/F (Very Good/Fine), with just two or three that suffered some unhappy household catastrophe that lowers them to G (Good, which is to say, not good at all) and one absolutely pristine specimen that was accidentally purchased as a duplicate and looks like it has literally never been read. It looks mint to me, which probably means it is actually a VF (Very Fine), since nothing stays truly mint for 15 years without obsessive climate control. Unfortunately, the practically perfect issue is #244, not #1. The actual #1 is one of the VG- ones, with the staple rot and a slightly wrinkled cover. Too bad. If old #1 looked like #244 it would be worth... Oh, gosh, I don't know. I've found an online auction for a DD#1 in NM- condition that just sold for $5,600. *sigh* OTOH, here's a #3 in VG- condition that's up to $60 and still bidding. That's encouraging. I guess the next step is to browse the online listings and auctions for awhile to get a feeling for prices.
Sorting comics is really fun. Sorting anything is fun in a dorky kind of way, but comics are particularly pretty. And they immediately look 100% prettier when you slip them into one of those slithery glassine envelopes. The only problem is - you get kind of attached to them. I started with Daredevil because it's one of the few Marvel comics I ever read (briefly, during the dark dark dark period started by Frank Miller). That may have been a mistake - I keep stopping to read old issues, compare the styles of the different artists, pick out my favorite covers (Daredevil covers were always the best.) Now I don't want to sell them anymore. Maybe I'll move on to some other comic that doesn't have such great covers and tragic storylines....
After poring over the online grading standards and getting one opinion from a guy named Steve at Comic College, my preliminary assessment is that the Daredevils mostly range from VG- (Very Good -) to VG/F (Very Good/Fine), with just two or three that suffered some unhappy household catastrophe that lowers them to G (Good, which is to say, not good at all) and one absolutely pristine specimen that was accidentally purchased as a duplicate and looks like it has literally never been read. It looks mint to me, which probably means it is actually a VF (Very Fine), since nothing stays truly mint for 15 years without obsessive climate control. Unfortunately, the practically perfect issue is #244, not #1. The actual #1 is one of the VG- ones, with the staple rot and a slightly wrinkled cover. Too bad. If old #1 looked like #244 it would be worth... Oh, gosh, I don't know. I've found an online auction for a DD#1 in NM- condition that just sold for $5,600. *sigh* OTOH, here's a #3 in VG- condition that's up to $60 and still bidding. That's encouraging. I guess the next step is to browse the online listings and auctions for awhile to get a feeling for prices.
Sorting comics is really fun. Sorting anything is fun in a dorky kind of way, but comics are particularly pretty. And they immediately look 100% prettier when you slip them into one of those slithery glassine envelopes. The only problem is - you get kind of attached to them. I started with Daredevil because it's one of the few Marvel comics I ever read (briefly, during the dark dark dark period started by Frank Miller). That may have been a mistake - I keep stopping to read old issues, compare the styles of the different artists, pick out my favorite covers (Daredevil covers were always the best.) Now I don't want to sell them anymore. Maybe I'll move on to some other comic that doesn't have such great covers and tragic storylines....
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