c/comic-book-fans

How do you handle variant covers now versus 10 years ago?

Back in 2013 I chased every foil and incentive variant for my pull list and spent maybe $80 a month, but now I only grab variants from artists I already follow on social media, so what changed for you and when did you stop caring about completion?

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blair_martin•3d ago

A 9 year old at the comic shop made me rethink my pull list

Last Saturday I'm at my usual shop in Portland and this kid, maybe 9, is standing next to me flipping through some indie book I'd never heard of. He asks me what I'm getting and I start rattling off the same 5 superhero titles I've bought every month for like 6 years. He just looks at me and says "so you only like stories about guys in capes punching each other?" and walks away. It hit me way harder than it should've. I stood there for 10 minutes staring at the new release wall and realized I couldn't name a single character from the last 20 books I bought. Since then I've swapped half my pull list for stuff like murder mysteries set in space and a romance about a cryptid hunter. Has anyone else had a random kid or total newbie drop some simple truth that changed how they read comics?

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mason_webb54•3d ago

Bought a $150 omnibus at a con, found a printing error that killed its value

Picked up the new Absolute Sandman at MegaCon last weekend, paid full price thinking I was getting a steal. Got home and the last 20 pages were blank, just white paper where the epilogue should be. Emailed the publisher and they said it was a 'known batch issue' but wouldn't replace it since I bought third party. Has anyone else gotten a bad print from a convention vendor, or am I stuck eating this cost?

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smith.anna•3d ago

Found a bent page in a $50 graded comic, reseller refused to swap it

Picked up a graded issue at a convention in Portland last Saturday. Got it home, opened the case, and there was a crease on page 14 that the grader missed. The seller said no returns on graded books, even with photos. I ended up putting it on the wall anyway, but it bugs me every time I look at it. Has anyone else bought a graded comic with hidden damage like this? What did you do about it?

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alexk60•6d ago

Appreciation post: Why I stopped gatekeeping silver age comics at cons

I used to roll my eyes when new collectors called 1960s DC books 'boring' because the covers looked stiff. Then last month at Denver Fan Expo, this kid picked up an Action Comics #252 I was selling and asked why Supergirl's skirt was so short compared to modern art. Instead of shrugging him off, I walked him through the Cold War era influence on costume design, and he ended up buying a beat-up copy for $15. That moment made me realize I wasn't just moving books, I was the reason someone might stay in this hobby or quit it. Weird how a 20 minute chat changed my whole approach to talking about old comics, has anyone else had a con conversation flip their mindset like that?

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anthony129•12d ago

Dropped $45 on a short box organizer and now my pulls are actually findable

I used to just stack floppies in a milk crate, but after losing a key issue in the pile for 3 weeks I bought that divider system and now sorting new stuff takes 5 minutes, has anyone else wasted cash on storage that just makes clutter worse?

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young.kim•16d ago

Saturday's dollar bin dive turned into a 45-minute argument over a Silver Surfer issue

I grabbed a beat-up copy of Silver Surfer #4 for $2 at a flea market in Columbus, and the guy next to me swore it was a first printing while his buddy insisted it was a reprint, so we stood there flipping through it like it held the secrets to the universe. Has anyone else gotten sucked into a random stranger's comic debate that went nowhere but was weirdly fun?

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gavinb97•18d ago

The trick that got my longbox sorted after 14 years of chaos

I finally caved and used the alphabetical by series then issue method instead of my old grab bag system. Took about 3 hours with 4 pizza boxes full of floppies from the 90s, but now I can find any issue in under a minute. Has anyone else tried sorting by publisher first instead, or am I the only one who wasted a decade digging through stacks?

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olivia398•19d ago

Pro tip: Skip the #1 trending comic and read the second best seller for a week

Everyone keeps hyping the big event crossover at my shop in Austin, but I grabbed the runner-up on the rack instead. The story actually had a beginning, middle, and end without needing 4 tie-in issues. Has anyone else found more solid reads from the number 2 spot?

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alexk60•22d ago

Took me 6 months to realize I was reading issues backwards

I always flipped through comics from the last page to the first. A kid at the shop in Austin saw me do it and asked why I was spoiling it for myself. Anyone else had a dumb reading habit that took way too long to break?

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the_joseph•25d ago

The time a guy in a Deadpool cosplay ruined my entire pull list system

So I was at Megacon Orlando back in March and I keep my monthly comics organized by publisher, then by character, then by release date. This random Deadpool in line behind me at the food court starts talking about how he just sorts everything alphabetical and calls out creators instead. I laughed it off but now 4 months later I still find myself switching between both systems and missing issues. Is there a better way to sort a pull list when you do both Marvel and indie titles, or am I just overthinking this? Has anyone else had their whole comic organization routine flipped by a random conversation?

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wesley_adams•25d ago

Missed a comic convention panel because I got stuck in a photo op line for 45 minutes

Last Saturday at the Dallas Fan Expo, I was all set to catch the 1pm Silver Age panel with a couple of classic artists. But the line for a quick photo op with a minor TV actor snaked around three booths and the staff kept letting VIPs cut ahead. By the time I got my print signed, the panel room had a SOLD OUT sign on the door. I stood there for a second, then just hit the vendor floor and spent $60 on back issues I didn't need. Has anyone else lost out on a must-see panel because of a photo op scheduling mess?

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miles_young59•27d ago

That guy at the flea market who lectured me for 20 minutes about my Batman collection

Last month at the Rose Bowl Flea Market I was flipping through a dollar bin and this older dude saw my Absolute Batman trade and just started going off. He told me I was 'ruining the hobby' by buying reprints instead of hunting original runs, then pointed at a beat up Detective Comics #27 reprint and said real fans only chase first appearances. I stood there holding a $12 book while he listed every issue I 'needed' to sell my car for. It stuck with me cause he wasn't even mean, just dead serious like he was saving my soul. Anyone else run into gatekeepers who act like owning a floppy makes you a better fan than someone with trades?

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ellis.susan•27d ago

Doubted the longbox storage crowd, now I get it

Always thought bagging and boarding was overkill. Left a stack of 90s X-Men loose on my shelf for a year. The bottom issues got wavy and faded, looked terrible. Anyone else learn that one the hard way?

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the_amy•28d ago

Three years of buying key issues and I finally stopped chasing first appearances

Started collecting in 2021 when I picked up a beat up copy of New Mutants 98 at a garage sale in Akron for 3 bucks. After that I went hard on first appearances, spent way too much on CGC slabs and variants. Last month I was at a con in Cleveland and this guy had a table full of 90s junk. I picked up a Shadowhawk 1 for 50 cents and we got talking. He said he used to chase keys too until he realized he was just reading price guides, not comics. Something clicked. Now I'm grabbing runs of characters I actually like, even if they're dollar bin books. Has anyone else made the switch from investing to just reading for fun? How'd you get there?

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bell.felix•28d ago

The old guy at the flea market who quizzed me on my pull list

I ran into this retired collector at the Springfield flea market last June, and he saw my bag of new releases and asked to see them one by one. He flipped through my picks and said, 'You're buying for the art, not the story, kid,' which stung because he was totally right about half of those books. Anyone else ever get called out like that by a stranger who turned out to be a better judge of your habits than you were?

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the_christopher•29d ago

Picked the $3 back issue over the new #1 and it paid off weirdly

Was at my LCS in Austin last Saturday with like 12 bucks in my pocket. Had to choose between the shiny new relaunch of a big title or this beat up 1994 issue of a book I never heard of, some indie thing called Stray Bullets. Grabbed the old one on a whim. The art was scratchy and the story was about a kid stealing a bike, no capes at all. Now I can't stop thinking about it and I'm hunting down the whole run. Anyone else ever have a random dollar bin pick beat out their usual pull list?

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coleman.gray•29d ago

My long box digging style flipped after watching a 9 year old at a con

Last Saturday at the Austin Comic Con I noticed this kid at the $1 bins who wasn't even looking at covers. He was flipping to the last page first and reading the final panel before deciding. I always thought the cover art told you everything so I've been judging books that way for like 15 years. But after watching him grab a stack I'd skipped, I tried his method on a few bins and found three decent books with solid endings I would've walked past. Has anyone else changed how they sort or shop after seeing a stranger do it way differently?

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harperg76•29d ago

The old baggy boards vs new Mylar sleeves debate, I flipped

I used to think Mylar sleeves were a waste of cash for my floppies. A guy at Heroes Con in Baltimore showed me his 1980s Jim Lee books in Mylar, still glossy. I spent $35 on a pack of 50 last month. Now my 1991 X-Men #1 looks better than the one I kept in a paper bag. Anyone else swap their storage method after seeing a comparison like that?

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drew_reed62•29d ago

The shop owner who told me to stop bagging my comics was right

Back in March I hit 500 issues in my collection and I kept every single one in Mylar bags with backing boards. The owner of Comic Harbor in Austin told me I was wasting money on the cheap bags for shelf copies but I ignored him for like 6 months. Then I pulled a 2019 Batman that had a slight bend from the board being too tight and it hit me. Have any of you switched to top loaders for your favorites or just accepted the risk?

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wendy628•1mo ago

My LCS staffer stopped me from buying a $140 key issue, best thing that happened

Last Saturday at my local shop in Portland, I was about to grab a graded copy of a 90s X-Men first appearance everyone's been hyping. The guy at the counter just looked at it, then at me, and said "you're only buying that because FOMO, right?" He pulled a $3 reader copy from the back bin instead. Turned out the story was way better than the collectible value, and honestly I enjoyed it more without worrying about bagging it perfectly. Anyone else have a store employee talk you out of a pricey book and it worked out better?

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jamie770•1mo ago

A comic shop in Tulsa convinced me older fans aren't the problem

I dropped into this little shop called The Longbox on Route 66 last Saturday and noticed a table of guys in their 50s talking about the new Absolute line like they were teenagers. I used to think older fans were stuck in the 80s and just complaining about every reboot, but one of them handed me a copy of a 1982 issue and explained how the pacing influenced the modern stuff. Do other shops have crews like that, or did I just get lucky with the regulars?

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nora_park•1mo ago

Appreciation post: that old comic shop in St. Paul with the basement full of bins

Last Saturday I stopped by the shop off Grand Avenue, the one with the faded sign and the cat sleeping on the counter. I spent almost 2 hours digging through their basement long boxes, nothing organized by title or issue, just stacks of random stuff from the 80s and 90s. Found a beat-up copy of New Mutants 98 for 15 bucks, cover's got a crease but the pages are clean. It made me wonder how many other folks actually prefer the messy treasure hunt over those perfectly sorted stores with everything in plastic. Has anyone else found their best stuff in a place that looked like it hadn't been cleaned since 2003?

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rubysingh•1mo ago

My spineless Storm action figure almost ruined a birthday party

At my nephew's party in Austin last Saturday, I grabbed my old Storm figure to show off and her waist literally snapped clean off mid-float pose, sending her torso flying into the cake. I spent 20 minutes trying to superglue her back together at the kitchen table while three kids watched, and she still leans like she's dodging a lightning bolt. Has anyone else had a retro figure just crumble at the worst possible moment?

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hugo_robinson25•1mo ago

Just dropped $50 on a variant cover that was supposed to be rare and it's basically a common

Bought a 'limited print run' Spider-Man variant from a booth at my local con last weekend for fifty bucks only to find out the site I checked was wrong and it's worth like three dollars, anyone else ever get burned by trusting a seller's hype?

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