Classic Comic Exchange

[Jezebel Bond]

Unlike a lot of people here, as is pretty well known, I don't much care about condition, since my main interest in comics is to read the stories & admire the art, rather than install them in some shrine that I can bow & scrape to at prayer-time. (I have at least as many odd psychological quirks as the obsessive-compulsives* to whom anything below VF- or whatever is fodder for the trash bin or the cat's litter box, I daresay, but mine take a different form, for better or worse. Besides, I have no room to install a shrine in the house.)

I read the stories and admire the art too (except Rob Liefeld's, who makes me want to spit on the book)...but somehow, just somehow, a pretty looking copy makes the collecting aspect of it more fun.

These ordinary VFs didn't make my shrine, only 9.4s and above get that privilege.



When is the next full moon? I'll be sure to be dancing skyclad in a field of roses at midnight, with a tamborine, exalting the greatness of the slabbed copies. Will burn a few VGs as a sacrifice....

Not Aspergers, just my scheduled prozac moment....

[dan bailey]

You realize, of course, that the fact that we agree 100 percent on Rob Liefeld implies that one of us is wrong.

Though ... hmmm ... I guess that's impossible, come to think of it.

Must be one of those broken-clocks-being-right-twice-in-one-day instances -- though I'm sure we differ on which of us is the broken clock.

[shaxper]

I think Rob Liefeld is the broken clock...and his time was right in 1992.

[zryson]

I can't speak for Scott, but judging from what he sent & what I sent, we pretty much stuck to "reader's copies" -- no better than G+, if that -- for Silver Age stuff & solid-ish copies (somewhere around F, I suppose) for Bronze Age.

Unlike a lot of people here, as is pretty well known, I don't much care about condition, since my main interest in comics is to read the stories & admire the art, rather than install them in some shrine that I can bow & scrape to at prayer-time. (I have at least as many odd psychological quirks as the obsessive-compulsives* to whom anything below VF- or whatever is fodder for the trash bin or the cat's litter box, I daresay, but mine take a different form, for better or worse. Besides, I have no room to install a shrine in the house.)

That said, I definitely wouldn't want to step on someone else's toes by sending them something completely out of line with the condition of what they're sending.


*Not meant as an insult, btw. From what I've gathered, it seems to be generally accepted that fan communities in general consist of a high percentage of OCD types &/or people with varying levels of Asperger's syndrome; that very much includes me.

i understand youre view/point. and obsessive-compulsive? oh definitely! i dont really have a shrine though. i just like pretty looking comics. i mean some comics i have are only in vg condition. i dont think i have any in good or below condition or if i do (its hard to remember everything?) its usually because of the rarity and only because i couldnt get/afford a better quality issue.

[zryson]

I read the stories and admire the art too (except Rob Liefeld's, who makes me want to spit on the book)...but somehow, just somehow, a pretty looking copy makes the collecting aspect of it more fun.

These ordinary VFs didn't make my shrine, only 9.4s and above get that privilege.



When is the next full moon? I'll be sure to be dancing skyclad in a field of roses at midnight, with a tamborine, exalting the greatness of the slabbed copies. Will burn a few VGs as a sacrifice....

Not Aspergers, just my scheduled prozac moment....

beautiful! is it just me or do other people get an electric jolt when they see beautiful comics in nice condition?

[benday-dot]

beautiful! is it just me or do other people get an electric jolt when they see beautiful comics in nice condition?

Yes, it's impressive, but with a humble well worn copy you can dive into it fearlessly. Such "commoners" are, shall I say, much more inviting... old friends rather than rarefied specimens. A 9.4 is condemned to a sad and lonely retirement, a totem in box, a frigid virgin in its closet. A 2.0-4.0 you can share a beer with around the kitchen table, show it all the love it wants... and there's the jolt.

[zryson]

Yes, it's impressive, but with a humble well worn copy you can dive into it fearlessly. Such "commoners" are, shall I say, much more inviting... old friends rather than rarefied specimens. A 9.4 is condemned to a sad and lonely retirement, a totem in box, a frigid virgin in its closet. A 2.0-4.0 you can share a beer with around the kitchen table, show it all the love it wants... and there's the jolt.

lol. thats funny i look at it somewhat differently. prized beautiful comics are like the emerald. shiny, everlasting, timeless. and they are far from lonely as many people gaze upon them affectionately dreaming and wishing of a brighter tomorrow

[CromagnonMan]

Yes, it's impressive, but with a humble well worn copy you can dive into it fearlessly. Such "commoners" are, shall I say, much more inviting... old friends rather than rarefied specimens. A 9.4 is condemned to a sad and lonely retirement, a totem in box, a frigid virgin in its closet. A 2.0-4.0 you can share a beer with around the kitchen table, show it all the love it wants... and there's the jolt.

Agreed

I hate putting my sweaty fingers on nice comics

[dan bailey]

beautiful! is it just me or do other people get an electric jolt when they see beautiful comics in nice condition?

Not surprisingly, it's no big deal for me. (I of course have thousands of comics in great shape, but they tend not to be vaulable &/or Silver Age.)

I can see "beautiful comics in nice condition" any time I want to, assuming I have access to the internet &/or the relevant books or mags.

The fact that they're not necessarily stowed in the short boxes in my bedroom doesn't matter to me anymore than does the fact that, say, the Mona Lisa -- which I can also see nice pictures of any time I want -- isn't hanging on any of my walls, or for that matter that the Hyundai Accent in my driveway wasn't going to be on the cover of Car & Driver even when it was brand new 14 years ago, or that my house won't ever be the subject of a spread in Southern Living ... all of which (the comics included) I'm 99.999999+ percent certain would pretty much be the case even if I did have the money to throw away on such ephemera, which happens not to be the case.

(We all have different priorities, of course, stemming from just about every imaginable contributing factor.)

[shaxper]

Yes, it's impressive, but with a humble well worn copy you can dive into it fearlessly. Such "commoners" are, shall I say, much more inviting... old friends rather than rarefied specimens. A 9.4 is condemned to a sad and lonely retirement, a totem in box, a frigid virgin in its closet. A 2.0-4.0 you can share a beer with around the kitchen table, show it all the love it wants... and there's the jolt.

Well said. It took a bad ebay deal to teach me that lesson. A few years back, my Fantastic Four #48 arrived in a carelessly packed, bashed in box. I went upstairs, wrote to the seller asking for a partial refund that I never got, walked downstairs, and realized I could just curl up on the couch with a piece of history, no need to worry. It was still beautiful, readable, and an amazingly exciting piece of comic history, but nothing I was going to do to it was going to degrade its condition.

One of the best reading experiences I ever had :)

[Jezebel Bond]

A 9.4 is condemned to a sad and lonely retirement, a totem in box, a frigid virgin in its closet. A 2.0-4.0 you can share a beer with around the kitchen table, show it all the love it wants... and there's the jolt.

My jolt is knowing I have a reading copy or reprint as well as a pristine higher-grade copy that can be kept safely away from doritos-stained fingers.

50 years from now, those frigid virgins will still be in demand...and far more rarer too.

[benday-dot]

My jolt is knowing I have a reading copy or reprint as well as a pristine higher-grade copy that can be kept safely away from doritos-stained fingers.

50 years from now, those frigid virgins will still be in demand...and far more rarer too.

Ah, if only I had your "silver", and I could afford a wife and a mistress as well.

[zryson]

Well said. It took a bad ebay deal to teach me that lesson. A few years back, my Fantastic Four #48 arrived in a carelessly packed, bashed in box. I went upstairs, wrote to the seller asking for a partial refund that I never got, walked downstairs, and realized I could just curl up on the couch with a piece of history, no need to worry. It was still beautiful, readable, and an amazingly exciting piece of comic history, but nothing I was going to do to it was going to degrade its condition.

One of the best reading experiences I ever had :)

i have similar experiences with comics i gave away like some old superman comics from the 1940s and 1950s along with some old justice league and amazing spiderman no.8 or no.9. when its battered, or staples have popped or its just looking rather sorry for itself it makes it so much easier to handle the comics and not worry about the condition. and sometimes i will read it over and over again before finally giving it to charity or one of the local hospitals

[zryson]

Not surprisingly, it's no big deal for me. (I of course have thousands of comics in great shape, but they tend not to be vaulable &/or Silver Age.)

I can see "beautiful comics in nice condition" any time I want to, assuming I have access to the internet &/or the relevant books or mags.

The fact that they're not necessarily stowed in the short boxes in my bedroom doesn't matter to me anymore than does the fact that, say, the Mona Lisa -- which I can also see nice pictures of any time I want -- isn't hanging on any of my walls, or for that matter that the Hyundai Accent in my driveway wasn't going to be on the cover of Car & Driver even when it was brand new 14 years ago, or that my house won't ever be the subject of a spread in Southern Living ... all of which (the comics included) I'm 99.999999+ percent certain would pretty much be the case even if I did have the money to throw away on such ephemera, which happens not to be the case.

(We all have different priorities, of course, stemming from just about every imaginable contributing factor.)

hi dan, i like reading your posts

[dan bailey]

Thanks, zryson -- I appreciate that. These days, my entire (anti)social life pretty much consists of posting here &, usually to a much lesser extent, at Baseball Think Factory. Sad, isn't it?