« Home | Danny Fingeroth's new biography of Stan Lee » | How successful or not was darkness in comics and f... » | British comics at risk of being lost without archives » | Even if Flash Forward rewrites Heroes in Crisis, i... » | Las Vegas comics scene is reportedly doing well » | Superman being turned evil is a decidedly bad, ove... » | Tony Isabella feels Batman ruined the DCU » | Bone's being adapted to animation » | Aster was the first Filipino comic published in th... » | A sex-positive space adventure suffers from having... » 

Tuesday, November 05, 2019 

Chicago specialty store says old pamphlets may not be worth much at all

A columnist for the Chicago Daily Herald had a chat with the owner of Graham Crackers Comics in the city, who revealed something I figured was the case already for years: back issues not having the value stated by some price guides, no matter the age:
For the longest time, I wondered if the comic books from my youth would be worth anything to collectors today. They have been tucked away in a box in my various basements the past 60 years or so. That means if they continue to stay there, then they are probably worth less than what I paid for them in late 1950s -- 15 cents each.

A visit to Graham Crackers Comics in St. Charles was in order. I stopped in with a handful of my oldest and dearest comics. They were called "Classics Illustrated," comics that tackled the great novels in a way that a youngster could understand. Yes, they did come in handy to help pad the occasional book report, but that's another story.

Turns out, my "Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Iliad," and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" comics could have delivered a nice return -- if they were among the first edition printed and in mint condition.

A "Hunchback of Notre Dame" meeting those standards is worth $1,500, according to the Overstreet guide for comics.

Mine? It was a much later 18th edition in fair to good condition. That would bring me a whopping $5.

So, my comics will simply remain a nostalgic memory. [...]
I have an old copy of Classics Illustrated's take on Robinson Crusoe somewhere in my collection that belonged to my father, but it's pretty worn (and wrapped in plastic as a result), and I'm sure that would only get me 15 lousy cents too. But seriously, buying the art form shouldn't be for money alone, as I've argued a few times before.
The clerk at Graham Crackers told me a new series of X-Men comics has been a popular choice for customers the past three months.

And he told me that Sgt. Rock still turns up on occasion in DC comics, but he doesn't have his own series any longer. A lot of the war comics that were so popular in the 1950s and '60s wouldn't garner much attention these days, he said.
That's partly because of political correctness wrecking havoc upon many once famous creations in modern times, to the point where stories about the war on Islamic terrorism would not be accepted by the mainstream publishers, if at all. That comics about WW2 wouldn't make it big in today's medium is beside the point. Sgt. Rock's ongoing series came to an end at least 30 years ago (Nick Fury and SHIELD may not have had a successful ongoing for many years either, and a 2005 book called Nick Fury's Howling Commandos by Keith Giffen was short-lived), though there may have been a few miniseries in the years following, and I wish the clerk had at least made that part clear, that there's a difference between ongoings and miniseries.

I think this is one more reason why a point has to be made why speculator collecting shouldn't be encouraged as it is anymore, because in the 90s, it ruined the market, and today, the error is still being made. Seriously, the nostalgia and reading value is what should count. If we let money write everything, there won't be any entertainment value. Is it any wonder the medium's been floundering in the past 2 decades?

Labels: , , ,

Its easy to understand why the publishers would be reluctant to write about the war against Islamic terrorists. It is not just that the American government, with the spur-of-the-moment military pull-out, seems to have given up on fighting it. An obvious additional reason is capitalism - it would hurt sales in Arabic and Farsi translation - but an equally important one is fear. The publishers' nightmare would be that the next mosque shooter is captured with a copy of a comic book about the war on Islamic terrorists in his back pocket. In this political climate, they don’t want to encourage hate.

"Its easy to understand why the publishers would be reluctant to write about the war against Islamic terrorists. It is not just that the American government, with the spur-of-the-moment military pull-out, seems to have given up on fighting it. An obvious additional reason is capitalism - it would hurt sales in Arabic and Farsi translation - but an equally important one is fear. The publishers' nightmare would be that the next mosque shooter is captured with a copy of a comic book about the war on Islamic terrorists in his back pocket. In this political climate, they don’t want to encourage hate."

That's one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. The real reason they won't do it is because they're afraid of having fatwas placed on their lives, plain and simple.

Post a Comment

About me

  • I'm Avi Green
  • From Jerusalem, Israel
  • I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.
My profile

Archives

Links

  • avigreen2002@yahoo.com
  • Fansites I Created

  • Hawkfan
  • The Greatest Thing on Earth!
  • The Outer Observatory
  • Earth's Mightiest Heroines
  • The Co-Stars Primer
  • Realtime Website Traffic

    Comic book websites (open menu)

    Comic book weblogs (open menu)

    Writers and Artists (open menu)

    Video commentators (open menu)

    Miscellanous links (open menu)

  • W3 Counter stats
  • Bio Link page
  • blog directory Bloggeries Blog Directory View My Stats Blog Directory & Search engine eXTReMe Tracker Locations of visitors to this page  
    Flag Counter Free Hit Counters
    Free Web Counter

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    make money online blogger templates

Older Posts Newer Posts

The Four Color Media Monitor is powered by Blogspot and Gecko & Fly.
No part of the content or the blog may be reproduced without prior written permission.
Join the Google Adsense program and learn how to make money online.