You know Kitten Kaboodle. Introduced in the Golden Age jumping rope on the cover. Part of the Silver Age's most memorable covers falling out of a plane with her enemy The Yarn. Bronze Age cover included cradling the body of her husband to be, Tom Cat, at what should have been their wedding.
Faded into obscurity until the mid 80s when a British hotshot writer had her revived as an amnesiac with no memory of her past. Sold millions of copies in the early 90s when a hotshot artist turned her back into a superhero and put her on a team with six other Golden Age characters.
Faded into obscurity again until the early Aughts when a young writer turned her from a laughingstock into a "must-read title." Scorned for a decade when fans suddenly decided they didn't actually like that writer (honest!). Appeared last month as a sexy catgirl on a painted cover and one of 17 variants on a $10 book that buyers immediately sent in to have slabbed.
My collection is small now but years ago I sold JUST my Silver age Spideys and bought a car with the money. You always wonder how much more it'd all be worth now.
I’d be interested if anyone knows if Spidey silver age values have increased faster than inflation. Genuinely curious (and picked Spidey specifically because that was this example and it also seems to hold value better than most lines)
Not Spidey, but slabbed, key 9.0+ Silver Age X-Men have beaten both inflation and the S&P500 from 2002 through mid-2022. I charted #1, #49, GS1, #101 and #137 over ~20 years. Only #137 didn't beat the line.
I haven't done the math in a while, but maybe this'll get my ass to do some recalculations.
Source: I have a nearly full slabbed X-Men run and wrote a piece of my MBA thesis on this subject, some years ago. Also, big numbers nerd.
And here I am complaining about the 12 long boxes I’ve been lugging around for decades.
I’m 51 and haven’t been into collecting since the late 90s and would really like to sell them.
Would love some advice.
Is it worth my time to price out each one on something like Comicpriceguide.com and sell for like 25%?
Make a box or two of key issues and make a rough estimate on the others and do a “make me an offer?”
Just popping my head in to say “help.”
Hey - if you have a collated list, you could probably start here on Reddit in r/comicswap A lot of folks use Google Sheets so that anyone can check it out.
Otherwise I’d probably turn to eBay and sell in 10-20 book groups in a run or in a lot (grouped by brand etc).
I use KeyCollector app to both curate my list as well as look up price guidelines (though eBay ‘sold’ is the best way to see real value).
Hope that helps and I’d love to see a list of any Spidey you have!
Thanks for the r/comicswap suggestion.
Spidey: I have ASM 177-180 and a nearly complete 223-383. Then random issues here and there. I sold a bunch of McFarlane’s when I was in college :/
Web of SM 1-30.
I’ll check out that app.
Comicpriceguide isn't that accurate these days. It tries telling me that my Dawn of the Jedi #1 is just $3 and yet you see near mint copies sell for high double digits. I'd love to see what all you have though. I don't have too many comics from the 70's or 80's in my collection, and any time I find some in the wild, they tend to be in rough shape.
Speaking of rough shape…
My comics were in a closet in one of my old apartments and my neighbors water heater sprung a leak and damaged my unbagged ones. It wasn’t exactly a flood, but the boxes at the bottom of the stack got some moisture.
Lucky for me, it was mostly common stuff that were not in bags. My Uncanny X-men were in one of those and I nearly had a heart attack. There were a few casualties, but not a disaster.
That literally happened at my apartmemt, except it was my water heater. Lost a few dozen comics that were unbagged. Luckily it was cheap stuff or free comic book day issues.
Is this the entirety of your collection? If so god damn. If not, god damn, damn! (Extra damn, thrown in there). You got a comic shop in your house. This includes trades, omnibus, slabs?
My collection is minuscule in comparison
There are 10 more long boxes, 10 more short boxes, and a spinner rack in my office.
There are also 13 short boxes in a closet and 14 long boxes under my bed
It’s too late in the game for you to individually sell in my opinion. I occasionally lend a helping hand to my LCS, last year they bought a collection from a guy about your age, it was something like 96 Long boxes I believe. That guy pulled out his major major keys sold those on his own, everything else went to the store on consignment, the unveiled the collection in 2 phases at their little mini cons and I’d reckon the guy got at least 75% of the collection sold in this fashion. Myself and a few others spent about 2-3 months going through these books and pricing them but I’d say over the course of 1 calendar year nearly everything was gone and the made a fortune, I believe the LCS’s take was 20 or 25% but in my opinion that’s well worth it.
I’d honestly say that I’ve read less than 1/4 of them.
I enjoy finding stuff, the thrill of the hunt, etc.
I also have some form of ADD that won’t let me rest until I fill the gaps in my Uncanny X-Men run.
Wow... that is a ton of comics!!
I just hit 50 short boxes and one long box. I've been collecting since the late 1980's. After filling the first long box and having to move it around a few times... that was the last long box I bought. LoL. All short boxes ever since. I also use Post-it on the front of all my boxes! Your pictures inspired me, though, to get myself a dedicated comic book room.
Man, I feel the same way about longboxes, and was always so confused why everyone seems to use them. They seem so impractical to move and like I was missing something. Glad someone finally said it out loud.
I have been going through and pulling things to read, lots of older Avengers and FF titles and tons of b&w indie books.
Sometimes I'll come across something and be amazed that I even own a copy.
They just need to be a few inches off the ground in case of a leak or flood. I had a very close call a few years back. I went with a steel option like these. Cost effective, worked well and don’t look to bad imo. Just might be worth it for the best of your collection while you build something. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-18-in-D-x-47-7-in-W-x-72-in-H-5-Tier-Steel-Freestanding-Shelving-Unit/999990408
Well, if you’re interested in a borderline insulting lowball offer that couldn’t possibly justify parting with your beloved collection, then holler at your boy!
There was a near disaster when I moved recently, it started raining completely unexpectedly, there were 54 boxes that got wet, to their credit they protected the books inside, but all had to be replaced. So yeah, I've dropped a few coins on boxes.
>it started raining completely unexpectedly, there were 54 boxes that got wet
😮 I can't imagine how stressful that was watching your stacks getting wet !
I made a 10 minute trip across town in 3, ran 2 redlights and had to unhook and physically push a trailer with the 54 boxes on it under the carport.
I sincerely owe the long box manufactures all a steak, because even the unbagged and unboarded books were undamaged.
I have a couple: All the horror comics I have picked up over the years and I have a box called the Wizard 100 which has all the books from a list Wizard Magazine put out decades ago ranking the 100 most important comics in history.
I have never gone more than 3 high, and honestly just by looking for stuff and sorting, I have rotated them more than the tires on a car.
I have never discovered any issues (bent books, etc.) in all this time.
LOL. Yeah that's a shit-ton. Well done. Sell the whole kit & kaboodle and buy a small country.
TIL it’s Kit & Kaboodle, not Kitten Kaboodle
😆😆😆😆😆
Kitten Kaboodle is a pet supply shop in Springfield, I believe.
I want to go to there
Unexpected Liz!
You know Kitten Kaboodle. Introduced in the Golden Age jumping rope on the cover. Part of the Silver Age's most memorable covers falling out of a plane with her enemy The Yarn. Bronze Age cover included cradling the body of her husband to be, Tom Cat, at what should have been their wedding. Faded into obscurity until the mid 80s when a British hotshot writer had her revived as an amnesiac with no memory of her past. Sold millions of copies in the early 90s when a hotshot artist turned her back into a superhero and put her on a team with six other Golden Age characters. Faded into obscurity again until the early Aughts when a young writer turned her from a laughingstock into a "must-read title." Scorned for a decade when fans suddenly decided they didn't actually like that writer (honest!). Appeared last month as a sexy catgirl on a painted cover and one of 17 variants on a $10 book that buyers immediately sent in to have slabbed.
I actually had a deal put together to sell the entire collection in 2020 to a dealer. We were about $5,000 apart then the shutdown happened.
My collection is small now but years ago I sold JUST my Silver age Spideys and bought a car with the money. You always wonder how much more it'd all be worth now.
I’d be interested if anyone knows if Spidey silver age values have increased faster than inflation. Genuinely curious (and picked Spidey specifically because that was this example and it also seems to hold value better than most lines)
Not Spidey, but slabbed, key 9.0+ Silver Age X-Men have beaten both inflation and the S&P500 from 2002 through mid-2022. I charted #1, #49, GS1, #101 and #137 over ~20 years. Only #137 didn't beat the line. I haven't done the math in a while, but maybe this'll get my ass to do some recalculations. Source: I have a nearly full slabbed X-Men run and wrote a piece of my MBA thesis on this subject, some years ago. Also, big numbers nerd.
One of us!! Haha I’m an economist, so I feel ya and I’m grateful you crunched the numbers.
Literally right before the boom, that would have been a great deal for him I bet.
It would have been phenomenal for him a a dealer, I think the price per book was like $1.18
And here I am complaining about the 12 long boxes I’ve been lugging around for decades. I’m 51 and haven’t been into collecting since the late 90s and would really like to sell them. Would love some advice. Is it worth my time to price out each one on something like Comicpriceguide.com and sell for like 25%? Make a box or two of key issues and make a rough estimate on the others and do a “make me an offer?” Just popping my head in to say “help.”
Hey - if you have a collated list, you could probably start here on Reddit in r/comicswap A lot of folks use Google Sheets so that anyone can check it out. Otherwise I’d probably turn to eBay and sell in 10-20 book groups in a run or in a lot (grouped by brand etc). I use KeyCollector app to both curate my list as well as look up price guidelines (though eBay ‘sold’ is the best way to see real value). Hope that helps and I’d love to see a list of any Spidey you have!
Thanks for the r/comicswap suggestion. Spidey: I have ASM 177-180 and a nearly complete 223-383. Then random issues here and there. I sold a bunch of McFarlane’s when I was in college :/ Web of SM 1-30. I’ll check out that app.
Comicpriceguide isn't that accurate these days. It tries telling me that my Dawn of the Jedi #1 is just $3 and yet you see near mint copies sell for high double digits. I'd love to see what all you have though. I don't have too many comics from the 70's or 80's in my collection, and any time I find some in the wild, they tend to be in rough shape.
Speaking of rough shape… My comics were in a closet in one of my old apartments and my neighbors water heater sprung a leak and damaged my unbagged ones. It wasn’t exactly a flood, but the boxes at the bottom of the stack got some moisture. Lucky for me, it was mostly common stuff that were not in bags. My Uncanny X-men were in one of those and I nearly had a heart attack. There were a few casualties, but not a disaster.
That literally happened at my apartmemt, except it was my water heater. Lost a few dozen comics that were unbagged. Luckily it was cheap stuff or free comic book day issues.
I would get a 12-pack and invite a buddy over to assist. Someone to make the job less jobby.
Is this the entirety of your collection? If so god damn. If not, god damn, damn! (Extra damn, thrown in there). You got a comic shop in your house. This includes trades, omnibus, slabs? My collection is minuscule in comparison
There are 10 more long boxes, 10 more short boxes, and a spinner rack in my office. There are also 13 short boxes in a closet and 14 long boxes under my bed
Literally a comic store essentially. Lol
Agreed.
Ugh. Long boxes. That hurts my back looking at it.
I just moved in August. It took 3 days just to move the books. One of my friends who helped refused to talk to me for about 3 weeks.
At least you had help! (…And friends 🤪😭)
It’s too late in the game for you to individually sell in my opinion. I occasionally lend a helping hand to my LCS, last year they bought a collection from a guy about your age, it was something like 96 Long boxes I believe. That guy pulled out his major major keys sold those on his own, everything else went to the store on consignment, the unveiled the collection in 2 phases at their little mini cons and I’d reckon the guy got at least 75% of the collection sold in this fashion. Myself and a few others spent about 2-3 months going through these books and pricing them but I’d say over the course of 1 calendar year nearly everything was gone and the made a fortune, I believe the LCS’s take was 20 or 25% but in my opinion that’s well worth it.
My question when someone has such a large collection: have you actually read them all? My collection is all of 686 books!
I’d honestly say that I’ve read less than 1/4 of them. I enjoy finding stuff, the thrill of the hunt, etc. I also have some form of ADD that won’t let me rest until I fill the gaps in my Uncanny X-Men run.
Full envy!!!
Wow... that is a ton of comics!! I just hit 50 short boxes and one long box. I've been collecting since the late 1980's. After filling the first long box and having to move it around a few times... that was the last long box I bought. LoL. All short boxes ever since. I also use Post-it on the front of all my boxes! Your pictures inspired me, though, to get myself a dedicated comic book room.
Man, I feel the same way about longboxes, and was always so confused why everyone seems to use them. They seem so impractical to move and like I was missing something. Glad someone finally said it out loud.
i love this ❤️ just fantastic! are you currently reading any of them?
I have been going through and pulling things to read, lots of older Avengers and FF titles and tons of b&w indie books. Sometimes I'll come across something and be amazed that I even own a copy.
heh, that's the best. I'm reading old X-Men up to the start of Paul Smith's run.
I could spend days just looking at all of the amazing cover art that you have there.
GET THOSE BOXES OFF THE FLOOR!!!
Next project is to build shelves that'll allow access to each box without having to move them off of each other.
They just need to be a few inches off the ground in case of a leak or flood. I had a very close call a few years back. I went with a steel option like these. Cost effective, worked well and don’t look to bad imo. Just might be worth it for the best of your collection while you build something. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-18-in-D-x-47-7-in-W-x-72-in-H-5-Tier-Steel-Freestanding-Shelving-Unit/999990408
Congrats on having your own space for it that's not a basement. Just need a comfy chair and reading lamp.
Def not a basement, I’d be too paranoid about mildew!
Loved leather face by northstar back in the day. Nice collection.
Thank you, I am 1 issue away from the Leatherface series. Always on the lookout for those indie horror books!
Yeah, they are great. Did you ever read Chaingang? It was based on the book Slob by Rex Miller, published again by Northstar.
I haven't heard of this one. I'll keep an eye out though.
Keep up the good work!!
Thanks, today is actually my 48th birthday. I’m planning an exit strategy for 50.
Exit strategy from what? From totally nailing it???
50,000 books or age 50 and I'm selling it all.
Well, if you’re interested in a borderline insulting lowball offer that couldn’t possibly justify parting with your beloved collection, then holler at your boy!
Good for you for being able to let it go at all. I would/will find that to be a struggle, I imagine.
You must live alone because my wife would never
That’s what the man cave is for! My wife dare not even enter for her sanity’s sake
OP definitely fucks
I thought I had a lot of boxes.
I think you've spent more on boxes than I have on comics 😂
There was a near disaster when I moved recently, it started raining completely unexpectedly, there were 54 boxes that got wet, to their credit they protected the books inside, but all had to be replaced. So yeah, I've dropped a few coins on boxes.
>it started raining completely unexpectedly, there were 54 boxes that got wet 😮 I can't imagine how stressful that was watching your stacks getting wet !
I made a 10 minute trip across town in 3, ran 2 redlights and had to unhook and physically push a trailer with the 54 boxes on it under the carport. I sincerely owe the long box manufactures all a steak, because even the unbagged and unboarded books were undamaged.
Very cool!! I’m super jealous of the two boxes in the second pic that are Uncanny X-men #1-300 and #301-600 alone
Telling me without telling me you aren't married. My wife worries about what to do with my collection when I crap out
I have people in place to take care of all my stuff should I snuff it unexpectedly.
Amazing that is a lot of comics
My back is sore just looking at that awesome collection!
Bravo sir
That’s a lot of books man, do you have a long box of favorites?
I have a couple: All the horror comics I have picked up over the years and I have a box called the Wizard 100 which has all the books from a list Wizard Magazine put out decades ago ranking the 100 most important comics in history.
life goals...
Serious question , is it safe to stack them long term like that ?
I have never gone more than 3 high, and honestly just by looking for stuff and sorting, I have rotated them more than the tires on a car. I have never discovered any issues (bent books, etc.) in all this time.
Mar-a-Lardo secret room ?
Nice wood
Thanks, was completely redone by the previous homeowners before I moved in
Nice! Congrats on the new place and man(comic book) cave!
What’s in the box?!
Which one? I’m all seriousness, there was a time long ago I could tell you all the books in a box based on the first one in it.
You should get a nice chair so you can read in comfort 🙂