Comics - Condition & Favorite Ages

[Den82]

I love most old comic-related toys, but I have not been a big comic reader since I was small. Every garage sale, flea market, estate sale, etc....I find them, they are everywhere.

I bought a few Marvel ones today. Before that I was only buying ones based on toylines from the 80s.

If I could buy them, I'd prefer Silver Age stuff. But I find Bronze Age stuff to be OK too.

What is everyone's favorite age and how important is condition to you? Often the comics I find aren't in the best shape, but i don't care really.

[thunderbolt]

Atomic and Silver Age for me, don't really care about conditions. In particular love DC and Charlton stuff along with EC, Gold Key/Dell and Marvel.

[Monsterama2000]

I'm mainly into Silver and Bronze Age Marvel. Condition isn't that important, as long as the book is complete.

[madmarva]

Buy what makes you happy. Unless you are dealing in vintage gold, silver and some bronze-age comics in excellent condition, you're not likely to make your money back off them, particularly in the short run.

When I was buying back issues as a kid and teenager in the 70s and 80s, I never cared about condition as long as the story was complete. I wanted to read the stories. I had coverless copies of JLA 1, Amazing Fantasy 15 and Showcase 4 because I knew I would never be able to afford better condition copies.
In the late 80s and early 1990s, DC and Marvel started reprinting key golden age and silver age material in their Archives and Masterwork lines. At that point, I basically sold off my collection and started buying those.
Of course 20 or so years later, I sometimes wish I had kept all that stuff, particularly the books I bought of the stands in the 70s that will never be reprinted, but you live and learn. Plus I have no idea what I would do with the 50 or so boxes of comics that I sold.

[Den82]

I like horror ones too. All the EC stuff is great. I buy some of the Marvel Silver Age horror stuff too, even though some of it is boring. I like DC Ghosts too.

I buy Verotik stuff sometimes too, but it seems only Danzig fans like it. Recently I came across Grimm Fairy Tales and those look cool too. That's it for modern stuff.

[Riffster]

always look for 70's DC stuff, along with Archie's

[BlackKnight]

Modern ... But I own Everything to date, that I want.

[Blue Meanie]

I love the Golden Age characters from the big 2...but collecting wise I love the Silver and Bronze ages stuff. Love All Star Squadron from the 80's. Would have loved the Invaders if it wasn't for the Frank Robbins art that plagued the book for the majority of the run.

Condition does matter to an extent. Fine + or better is my goal...but if need be I would go for a lesser condition book if it was something from the Golden Age.

[kingdom warrior]

Golden-Age reading condition.....love the era, any company

[Den82]

Can anyone recommend good books on Marvel and DC? One to learn about key issues from the silver and bronze age, etc?

[Bruce Banner]

My favourite comic book era is the Bronze Age.
I generally collect just from that period.
Loved the overall tone of the stories back then, and many of my favourite artists were still drawing lots of books during that age.

[enyawd72]

My favourite comic book era is the Bronze Age.
I generally collect just from that period.
Loved the overall tone of the stories back then, and many of my favourite artists were still drawing lots of books during that age.

Same here...aside from all the movies we have now, the 70's were THE decade for super-heroes. They were on everything.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

Interesting question. I think for myself I gotta break it down into territories though. (I read a LOT of comics.)

-DC: Silver age, 60's “GoGo Checks” period. Solid production, slick product, but they still had the insane zaniness of the 50's. Very lively, and you never knew what to expect from the story.

-Marvel: Bronze age, early 70's. Continuity was big for Marvel right from the beginning, and by this time they’d built up plenty of backstory to draw from. They also seemed more conscientious of their characters than most, and made attempts to flesh out their personalities. BUT: they still had far-out events, and were really experimenting with mixing genres and adding real world concepts to the books. The best of most worlds....

-Independents/Undergrounds: early 80's. The comic boom that saw N. American books actively searching out new readership, and presenting the new ideas that’d attract them. THIS is probably my favourite time, and my favourite books. Grimjack, Albedo, American Flagg, and Tales From the Beanworld; all in one store....

-European comics: the 60's. Magazine-style slickness with high production values, great range of styles and themes, and something for durned near everyone. One thing I always liked was how European cartoonists (especially from France and Italy) had no problem using more cartoony designs with their art, regardless of the style of story. It allowed for a lot more expression than more realistic designs. AND a lot more variety. Tragically there are a lot of comics I”ve only ever seen sniglets from; works by Grazia Nidasio and Marten Toonder especially. (Which is strange, considering Toonder isn’t exactly an obscure guy for half the planet....)

-British comics: the late 70's/early 80's: British comics had a tendency to be wordy and stiff; which I suspect was the result of their picto-story heritage. (Them weird, pseudo-comics that had four pics per page, with a running narrative beneath them.) But during the 70's it seemed like someone clicked onto the more cinematic style of comic bookery, and the Brits went INSANE with it! So much action and mayhem. (Culminating, of course, with stuff like 2000AD and Warrior.... the latter of which I’ve had WAY too little exposure to.)

-Japanese comics: the early 80's. During the 70's there was a number of jumps in the level of draftsmanship for the average Japanese book, which led up to the “new wave” of comic in the 80's; very cinematic, often excruciatingly fussy for detail, and a resurgence of the seinen style book. (What we’d call “dark and gritty;” although in Japan those concepts were often taken to a whole other level....) Like the Europeans they also held on to a lot of cartoony aspects, which makes for some strange comics.

-Hong Kong comics: the 70's. I have a real soft spot for the old martial arts comics, even though I can’t actually READ them. Sorta what you’d get if Disney had produced Bruce Lee films.

Don C.

[VintageMike]

Have to go Bronze age as I've accumulated for more that period than anything else that past two years. I like Silver Age stuff but it doesn't have the one-two punch of being cool to read AND bringing back childhood memories/feelings. My interest in back issues pretty much ends all together after the mid 80's.

[Adam West]

Best thing to do in my opinion is buy the best condition in your budget without thoughts of investment or reselling. The only "serious" collection I have is Amazing Spider-Man. I have a complete run from about issue 37 up to 200 and also most from 200-400 with a few missing issues. Also have a smattering of issues prior to 37 and had to go with lesser quality issues due to money constraints. If it is just reading material, it is easy to find all of the issues fairly inexpensively, and the stories are great. I like them for the artwork (especially the cover art work). I would love to set up a display of some of my favorite issues at some point but have not had a chance to do it yet. They truly are great pieces of art.