New to the comic world, few questions?

[Dr. Gonzo]

On the advice of a friend i recently got intreested in Preacher, until then i had never even thought about picking up a comic automatically assming that they werent for me because im not really into the whole superhero thing. I invested in and read every tpb one by one and loved every moment. Upon finishing it (and being the idiot with money that i am) i decided to try and track down the the original comic series on the internet, I know everyones saying to themselves at this point that i didnt really collect them if im buying them as one which is fair but i just knew that i would love to have them all so i looked and found and bought. Now heres the question how much in everyones educated opinions should this have cost me (including all the specials) cause as i said already im new and ignorant and i hope i wasnt ripped off or anything, like for example is there any reason why the might be cheap versions? Are comics like books, they're expensive as first editions or are comics comics regardless of when they were printed.

Any help you can give would be excellent cause i cant seem to find an estimate for price anywhere, thanks in advance

Gonzo.

ps. Hello to everyone on the boards, i think ive just started an interesting journey into the world of comic books and graphic novels so i hope to post here a long time yet.

[Ryan Day]

I found on complete set of Preacher (1-66, plus 3 specials) on eBay that went for $152 (US); another's got a buy-it-now price of $159. One almost-complete set went for $42. So, I guess anywhere in that range. Generally speaking, eBay is a good indicator of what comics are worth, because unlike price guides, eBay actually tells you what people were willing to pay for them. (just click the box to search for "completed items")

Generally speaking, comics aren't worth a lot of money - they probably start to slip in price as soon as they come out. There are a few exceptions for very rare books, but comic stores usually won't sell newer issues (ie. last 10 years or so) for much more than cover, and they'll go for quite a bit less when people want to cut out the middle man and sell them on eBay in bunches.