Had to pick between a $5 bin and a $50 slab at a convention in Portland

Last month at the Portland Comic Book Show, I had exactly $55 left in my pocket. I could grab a stack of 11 random issues from the $5 bin or one graded copy of X-Men 137. I went with the bin haul because I like the gamble of finding something weird. Ended up pulling a first appearance of a minor New Mutants character and a beat-up copy of Marvel Two-in-One 52. The slab would have been cleaner but the bin stuff gave me way more reading time on the bus ride home. Anyone else skip the shiny stuff to dig through the cheap boxes at shows?

2 comments

2 Comments

carter.casey1mo ago

Yeah, but did you check the quarter boxes too? Those are where the real weird stuff hides. A buddy of mine pulled a full run of Power Pack 1-10 from a 50 cent bin last year. The covers were trashed but the interiors were fine. That Marvel Two-in-One 52 is a solid grab by the way. The Thing fighting alongside a giant-sized Spider-Man? That issue is pure 70s chaos and I love it.

harperg761mo ago

My friend Stacey found a full set of the original Secret Wars II in a box marked "Free" at a garage sale last summer. She said the guy just wanted them gone because his kid drew mustaches on half the covers with a Sharpie. The interiors were completely untouched though, so she snagged every single issue. She still jokes that the mustaches make the comics 10 times better for the absurdity. That Power Pack run sounds like a DREAM find, especially for 50 cents a pop.