I began collecting comics in the early 80's. I guess I was lucky that I had the time and means to be able to take advantage of the times. Comics were cheap, comic stores were plentiful, and if you were a friendly and regular customer, the comic store owners usually let you loose in the back room where you could hunt through hundreds of boxes and find all kinds of treasures.

I built my collection one comic at a time, (well, some days one or two hundred comics at a time, LOL ), and over the years I came to realize that I had something valuable on my hands, and I went to great lengths to maintain, and improve my comics. I selected the titles of new issues I was going have to get every month, I hunted for issues of comic runs that I was missing, and I slowly weeded out the copies of books that were less than desirable condition. I am proud to say that 99.9% of my books are Very Fine or better.

So that brings me to the reason why I am writing this guide. I read a few guides other people have put up on this subject, and I thought I would pass my thoughts on about comic condition, and how to buy what you want online.

The first thing you as a buyer of a comic have to ask yourself is: why am I wanting to buy this comic? Is it to read, or is it for a collection?

If you just want to read the book for whatever reason, then you should not care about the condition, you should only care that is cheap, and it is complete. No sense reading a comic with a page missing, the good stuff is on that page. So that is all you need to ask the person you are buying it from.

If you are buying the comic because you are a collector, then you need to educate yourself on a number of things, and know what to ask, and know what the answers mean. You need to learn about grading, pricing, and preservation, otherwise you are at the mercy of the seller.

Grading: the best tool you can have to learn about grading is a comic book grading guide - I refer to the Overstreet Grading Guide, because it shows you in pictures and clear statements how comics are graded, and how the value is determined because of grade. A seller can claim the grade is whatever he wants, but unless he is a skilled and certified comic grader, what makes his opinion right, and why should you accept that opinion carte blanc? For your collection, you have decided what grade of book you are satisfied with, and what you will not accept. I will not have a comic with spine roll, I dont care how valuable it may be, and how cheap I can get it for. That is my choice. You know what you want, and don't want. When you are standing in the store with book in hand, you can see the creases, the wrinkles, the color of the paper. You can grade it with your own standards, and decide if it is worth the asking price. When you are looking at a little picture of a comic on a monitor, it is good advice to take the time to ask a few questions, ask for a bigger picture, and decribe the condition issues that are important to you that you cannot see in the picture(s): does the comic have a back cover? torn pages, writing, stains, holes, does it smell? You do not want a moldy book !!

After you are satisfied with the condition/grade of the comic, you would be well advised to ask the seller how he packages the comic for shipment. Too many times I have received comics that were simply put in an envelope with an extra backing board, and it has been bent, creased, or had the corner mushed by the time it got to me. Insist on proper packaging: there is no reason why the seller would not place your books in a box for mailing.

Pricing: again, the best tool you can have is a comic book price guide. Overstreet is the industry leader on price guides, and for most people, a paperback price guide purchased every 3 or 4 years is adequate. They are available at most book stores. With a price guide you can see for yourself what the comic is worth based on grade. That tells you if the comic you are thinking of buying is priced properly, or if someone is hoping to make a huge profit because he THINKS that the comic should be worth that because it is OLD !! or that it should be worth that much because they think it is MINT !! Why would you want to pay more for anything than what it is worth? I think there should be price guides for everything, LOL

Preservation: now that you have a collection, you want to protect it with good quality storage materials, and conditions. Each comic should be bagged in a snug fitting acid free plastic sleeve, with an acid free backing board, and kept in an acid free cardboard box, in a humidity and termperature controlled room. Wow !! That's a pretty tall order. Cost is a HUGE factor. Genuine acid free bags, (Mylar), will cost you between 50 cents to a dollar each depending where you buy them, and how many you buy. It matters not what the manufacturer of other bags say, there are no acid free bags available on the market for $5.95 for a hundred bags. The same goes for the "acid free" backing boards: genuine acid free boards are 50 cents each +. The boards that are $11.95 for a hundred have a coating on them on one side only, that blocks the comic from contacting the acid in the cardboard. "Acid free" comic boxes again just have a coating on them, but they are well worth the investment, as they stack together nicely, keep the dust and light off the books, and the comics fit in the boxes perfectly.

A temperature and humidity controlled room? Well, that might be extreme, but that is the ideal condition: a cool and dry environment. Reality is: heat speeds up the decomposition process, and moisture will turn a collection into mush in no time.

Obviously not everyone is going to spend 50 cents for a bag, and 50 cents for a board, for every comic, especially it the comic is only worth a few dollars, but if you have a $800.00 Spider-Man, or a $3,000.00 Classics Illustrated, you may want to do just that. I think everyone uses the off-the-shelf bags and boards for the majority of their books, and spend a few extra dollars for the ones that are worth it.

Collecting comic books can be tremendously satisfying. Educate yourself so you dont get taken advantage of,  protect your collection/investment, and enjoy !!

"NUFF SAID !!