Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Departing with comics

I know this is almost sacreligious to say, but I've got too many comics. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that I have too little space to store them.

Any suggestions for departing with mass amounts? I've haven't got the time nor patience for eBay. (I've also done some searching and found that other people are having trouble selling some of the same titles I would.) But I would like to make some money off of them.

I know I'll get shafted if I try to sell the collection to a dealer en masse. I've also thought about donating them for a tax deduction -- an indirect way of making some money, and I know they'd go to a good home if I chose right. (I know one person who donated his to a children's hospital.)

Anyone ever get a table at a con and try that?

Any other ideas? Thanks!

eBay can do better for you than you might think. Selling either individual issues (unless CGC graded and slabbed) or hundreds at once rarely works -- singles are indeed too much work, and boxfulls are expected to go at deep discounts.

Runs of 10 to 50, though, grouped logically by story arcs, have sold readily -- at least for Legion titles, and a few others I have followed. They're also more digestible if you offer them in this way to a dealer.

If none of this appeals to you, the advantage of a tax deduction is that you can get away with a valuation that's higher than what a dealer would pay in bulk. If you stick to a set percentage of what's in the Overstreet guide, you have an independent reference if you are challenged by the tax enforcers.

What comics do you have Seymor? I might be interested in buying some 70's stuff of either Marvel or DC (60's DC too!).

Right now my father and I need three Iron Man, three Cap, two Avengers and six Daredevils, and we'll have almost every Marvel comic EVER made since the silver age (with the exceptions of about forty hulks, Marvel Team-Up, Two-in-One and Defenders)!

I admit when recently trying to get rid of some comics I sperated out the few things I figured I could sell and gave away the rest of it to people who I knew would read them (or who had kids that would, depending on the comic). But I really needed the space...

Thanks, Grey. I hadn't thought of doing it that way. I might be able to spend a weekend going through stuff for that way.

Cobie, I've been mostly a DCer all my collecting days. I started in the late '70s, so it's stuff from then on. I won't part with some things (Legion!), but there are many I won't miss. Anyone need Care Bears? I've got Ewoks, too. Wally the Wizard. (Marvel did those three -- got those, Cobie? You're collection isn't complete ...) I'm ready to drop my DC Star Treks and V. Booster Gold could probably go, along with Dark Horses' Comics Greatest World stuff. I've got some 80s Disney (Duck Tales, Roger Rabbit). I'm willing to part with my Marvel New Universe (DP7 and a couple others I can't remember offhand).

Stuff like that.

eBay has worked really well for me, and I've really culled my collection but still have hundreds upon hundreds more books to sell.

For the most part, I've got all the books I want to keep forever home with me. The rest remain at my Mom's awaiting to be listed for auction.

Some things I'm on the fence about-- such as the Wolfman/Perez run of Teen Titans.

Grey's right, usually a nice solid set of 20 or so books (for a long-running series like AVENGERS or X-MEN) will sell. I like to list books with shorter runs as 1 set and get rid of the entire thing.

Super-hot now on eBay: anything written by GRANT MORRISON & large sets of SIMPSONS comics from Bongo. I've made some nice scratch off both recently.

Seymour, when I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about comics you want to be buried with...

"Friends, we gather here today to bid a fond farewell to a wonderful comics collection... Oh, yeah, and that Seymour fellow..."

Yep - selling on Ebay by sets is the way to go. I was at a mart today and it was pitiful. Loads of the shops/dealers just have too much 80s/90s stock - and all of that seems to be going at 50p per issue. I saw New Teen Titans 1 going for ££1 which a few years ago wouldn't have happened.

Set-wise though I saw most of Aztek (issues 1-10, not including 7 - pah!) going for £12 (Morrison though, obviously) plus the entire run of Booster Gold for £25 and loads of Batman story arcs being sold as individual sets.

So I bought nothing! Except for Lois Lane 110. How could I resist? The cover dialogue went thus:

Superman: "Lois - you must give up that Indian papoose now - for YOUR OWN SAFETY"

Lois: (In Native American costume, being pelted with stones by an outraged mob) "Never! He's my baby!"

What ones are you missing?

I have a bunch of older Marvel stuff...Defenders, a couple Daredevils, some Marvel TU etc.

Let me know.

The DC's I'd have to look up. But for Marvel, we need these to complete our collection:

Avengers #80, #133
Captain America #138, #156, #235
Iron Man #226, #28, #35
Daredevil #63, #69, #90, #95, #99, #100
And then a bunch of Hulks from the 120's, 130's, 150's and 160's.

Thanks for asking Dev!

Lemme take a looksie.

Let me know if you need any Defenders or Marvel 2-in-1.

Actually Dev, I need almost the whole run of Marvel Two in One. How many issues do you own? Once I get a little money together (depending on how many casino trips I make this summer ), I might be interested in buying a bunch of you! Defenders too, although I'd like to go for the 2 in 1's first!

Hey, hey, HEY! These are MY comics we're supposed to be getting rid of!!

Just PM'd ya Cobie.

Some things I'm on the fence about-- such as the Wolfman/Perez run of Teen Titans.


I used to have that run and have always been a very big perez fan, unlike the hack byrnes.

Hey, Dev. I hope you didn't take me seriously. You can unload all you want. Maybe this can just turn into the Legion World Classifieds thread.

Nope. Not at all...I knew you were joking.

I just figured I'd PM him about actual issue #'s.

OK, so I think I'll do the story arc idea for selling my books on ebay. What's a good rule of thumb for shipping? Since the averege person doesn't have a mail scale at home and I'm not carting a jillion books to the post office to weigh them, anyone have a good general idea? I suppose I could just take a stack of 12 and weigh those progressively. I just don't want to over- or undercharge.