I finally leaned over the edge a bit too much and jumped in.

It has been a long time now and I have to admit. When The Walking Dead first came out, I had missed it. It was at a time I was not into comics, and by the time I got into comics this was a comic that had a resell value in the triple digits, And since I had just gotten back into comics, I was not going to spend that much on a modern comic. Boy, I should have learned more quicker. I also have to admit my collecting mentality was not as broad as it is now, compared to when I got back into collecting.

Well lets have a bit of a flashback moment. About three weeks ago I was home and bored. I was surfing the internet and saw that Netflix had a free months trial, So I decided to join to see what I could get to watch for free. Turns out it wasn't a whole lot, but it also turned out, they had The Walking Dead season one and two. Been a fan of horror, zombies, vampires and the such I decided to check it out. Man was I hooked, first it was ok one more episode and I'm going to sleep. Then it was well its only one in the morning and I don't have to wake up until late for work.

The next thing I knew I was finished with season one. Albeit it was a short season I jumped right into season two. When I was done with what Netflix offered I quickly searched for season three online. It turned out there are many online sites just offering TWD for free. I knew quickly I was in trouble, I blasted through the entire season three in one week.

So you may be asking, what does this have to do with the comic version of TWD? Well, now that I'm completely addicted to TWD and season four does not begin until later this fall. I decided to start reading the comics.

I also found out I am really late to this series. As of right now TWD comics is up to issue 109 with some earlier numbers been fairly valuable. So in order for me to catch up all the way from number one, I will either have to shell out lots of money or buy the collected versions. Knowing me, one day I'm going to sell a kidney to get the first thirty issues... well not really. But as for now I have turned into a complete TWD addict, and will be foraging into the herd to find out the story of the comic book version.

Market report on comic books

We have all heard of collectors complaining about the hobby burst in the 90's. And we still hear about the old time collector complaining about how comic books aren't good like they were back in the days. There are many more doomsayers in the comic book collecting industry. But before I get further into comic books let me say a few things.
"Misery loves company." And when one person complains to another, the other person eats it up.
"Its easier to see the glass as half empty than half full" We are bought up in a pessimistic world. Why? simple, its much easier. And when things don't go the way we want to we simply blame the next person.
"Negativity will always overrule positivity" Its a simple human trait, most people tend to focus on what went wrong rather than what went well. The value of ten comics can go up but if one comic book drops in value the collector would rather focus on that one.
Okay back to comics, it seems that the market on comics have steadied itself. Over the years many modern comic books have gained or maintained a healthy value. The Walking Dead, Morning Glories, Thief of Thieves and some other comics have all maintained a steady market. Though sometimes we see a price drop, early issues are constantly in demand.
Next comes the movie comic book tie-ins. When the Avengers movie was announced many silver age Avengers comics got a small bump in price. When certain characters were announced in new movies, the first appearance of that character usually went up in value.
Want more examples? Batman Adventures #12, NYX #3, Vengeance of Bane #1 have all increased in value over the years. So to the people that says the comic book hobby is going down the drain, perhaps we should tell them to stick their head in the drain first.
I also want to point out. Many people that collect other things tend to think that comic books are a bad market. While its not the best, its certainly pretty healthy and when you buy comics to read and enjoy it outweighs the investment part. I also want to add, been a collector of many other things I have noticed that comic books have been outperforming many other collectibles in the secondary market.

A mini report on the new 52s from DC comics

Well I have to say that some of the new 52s from DC are starting to bore me. I have always thought that 52 new titles were too much of a starting point for DC. My first initial thought was why don't they start off small and work into more titles. Of course there is a business strategy of wanting to sell as many comics as possible. But I think this strategy is hurting the quality of the comics as the talent is stretched out too thin.

Many titles are starting to get dull and boring. The art in some of the comics are not the greatest to say the least. Titles I though that was going to be good only became so-so or unbearable. Lets start off with some of the titles I initially began with.

Supergirl - Right of the back, the comic was boring. What, who, where and why were the main story line. Reading about a confused character was not fun, a story is supposed to show focus. If they wanted to make this work at least foreshadow some of the future and tell us what may happen. They can always change the future to give the story a twist but instead they threw two characters into battle. A very confused Supergirl and a Superboy that won't tell whats going on lead me to drop this title starting with issue #3.

Wonder Woman - What can I say? again with the confusing story arc. Something happened in the past, something happens in the future. Wonder Woman time travels... wait, what? How the hell did that happen? Oh wait the character from the past time travels too, are we reading a science fiction comic? Issue #1 was uneventful, issue #2 was uneventful and so was issue #3. I'm giving this one more try and if it doesn't improve, I'm dropping this title.

Some other titles thats not even worth my time typing about. Superman, Action, Red Hood and the Outlaws. Surprisingly I was very impressed with Aquaman and Voodoo and am also still reading titles like Teen Titans, Batgirl, Catwoman, Batwoman, Batman, Batman The Dark Knight and Detective. Though I have to say I dropped Batman and Robin. It did nothing for me and felt like I was reading a babysitting story gone horribly wrong.

Does Marvel hate women and female super-heroines?

So recently I've been thinking, why are all the female lead comic books been cancelled? It's not they are not selling well as a matter of fact they are outselling a lot of the other titles. But yet they're been cancelled, X-23 and Ghost Rider are just a few. Most of the female characters are been pushed back or have disappeared. But these are just comics...

And then I looked back at Marvel and the products they make. Have you heard of X-Men Evolution? It was a cartoon but they also made action figures and statues. Look at the list of characters they have made. Cyclops, Wolverine, Toad, Nightcrawler and who? Spyke? With the exception of Storm the most popular female characters were never made. Where is Rogue and Shadowcat? These are the staple characters of the X-Men team who have risen to popularity from the 1980's. This is just one example but thinking about the negligence Marvel has given to these characters I'm really starting to think that Marvel hates women.

In a comic book industry predominantly populated with men you would think that Marvel would learn something. Maybe they should take a look at DC and learn something from them, really. Batgirl, Catwoman, Harley Quinn are just a few of the most popular female characters in the comic book history. Marvel has who, that they have been pushing? nobody. Take a cue Marvel and straighten up, and while you're at it maybe its time Psylocke gets a costume change. We are no longer in the 1980s.

1st appearance of a character, and they're not on the cover?

Ok, so what gives. Most of the time when a character makes a 1st appearance in a comic its a big deal. I mean when Marvel or DC makes a #1 of a title they make it a big deal right? They have Collectors Edition printed in huge fonts on the cover. Sometimes the character is taking up the entire page. I mean that looks so cool, until you look at the value of the book.

Most of these books makes you wonder WTH? (ok so I substituted the F with a H to keep it clean) But if you look back on 1st appearances of major characters you begin to notice a trend. Tales of Suspense 39 has Iron Man staring right at you. He is the biggest object on the cover. Incredible Hulk 181 has Wolverine jumping out at Hulk ready to fight. Strange Tales 110 has... who? Who is that on the cover? I mean for gods sake its the 1st appearance of Dr. Strange. Avengers Annual 10... where's Rogue? Lame? Yes. Good marketing? No.

I mean if they can put Tarantula on Amazing Spider-Man 134 why can't they put Galactus on the cover of Fantastic Four 48? Or Black Widow on Tales of Suspense 52, ok so she's not a major character but still.

I just think its odd that these character are not featured on the covers but still turned out to be huge in comic books. I see at least now that they have changed things up and are learning... but wait where is Daken on Wolverine Origins 10? Unless he was meant to be disliked right from the beginning... just kidding, just kidding.

Why do people shun oversized comics?

I often see larger oversized comics in comic stores untouched. And recently when I went to the Comic Con I've noticed that nobody gave them a second look. These magazines and sometimes treasury sized comics are often left on the side, untouched. But I for one really like them and plus they seemed so lonely just sitting there...

Usually magazines have a lot more content than comics. They also have better artwork whether is black & white or colored. And plus if they're more expensive the extra contents usually makes up for it. So ok, now you're probably thinking how do I store those huge buggers? They do make bags & boards and boxes for magazines. And if you want to they make a great display when framed.

And now we are going to talk about treasury sized comics. Some of the beginning collectors are probably thinking what is that? Well treasury comics are huge, much bigger than magazines. Think large size Life Magazines, yup they're about that size. These usually have about four different stories in them. Some of them are reprints but boy are they nicely done. You see old comics are printed on newsprint paper and over time the color fades and the paper changes color. The paper thats used in treasury comics are much better, and they make the color glow. But these are much, much harder to store. There are no boxes that will hold these and trying to find the bag & boards can be a pain. But that shouldn't stop you from at least getting one to check out.

Buying modern comic books as an investment?

I'm pretty sure you've all heard of people telling you that modern comic books are not worth anything. They all say that if you want to invest in comic books, buy high grade Silver Age comics. And I'm pretty sure you have seen tons and tons of modern comic books in bargain bins at your local comic shop. Well I'm here to tell you, stop listening to those people.

You see there is a reason why comic stores dump tons of modern comic books into their bargain bins. It's not that they're not good, although I have to say some are horrible, but thats not the point. They dump those books in there because...

1. Those are the damaged comics that they can't sell

2. The comics are overstocks, they ordered too many and need to free up space

3. The book is horribly written and/ or drawn and thus are sitting in their store for too long

4. The owner don't know what they are doing

However, these are not reasons why you should think modern comics are worthless. I can't tell you how many times a comic book was selling for only a few bucks only to have it turn out to be a huge moneymaker.

A few examples would be Walking Dead #1, Chew #1 and even though comics like Morning Glories #1 are not worth as much, keep this in mind. When Morning Glories #1 first came out it was selling for $20 on ebay. If you had bought five copies for cover price you could have made a nice tidy profit of around $70. And at one point it went up to $50, if you had five copies... well you can do the math.

Another example would be Severed which was recently published by Image. When the book first came out it was selling for $10 on the bay. It has settled down now, but if you had bought several copies for cover price, a quick flip could have made you a quick profit as well. I have rummaged through bargain bins and found stacks of books selling from $5 to $10 on the internet. But don't take my word for it, look into some of the books for yourself.

And yeah sure you can argue that its not that easy to find a comic that will be worth. But as it is with everything in life, you have to work to find out which ones. If you go around blindly buying comics, thinking you're going to retire on them you're in for a rough ride. As is the same as it goes with life.