So you’ve decided to dip your toes into collecting comic books. Or maybe you want to start encouraging your young children to enjoy becoming savvy comic book readers and collectors. Where to begin? What factors should you consider?
We’ll tackle all the basics here on how to begin collecting comic books!
In this article
Decide What Motivates You
Why are you beginning your journey into comic books? Some people do it for the potential financial gain as an investment opportunity. Some do it for the love of comic books. Some do it for the thrill of finding rare and valuable comic books in completely unexpected places. And it’s ok to have multiple goals and motivations here too! But it’s important to understand why you started to help guide you like a northern star when it comes to big decisions. Additionally, you should audit your own motivations every so often, because we’re human and motivations change, and that’s ok!
Determine Your Initial Financial Commitment
Regardless of if your adventure into comic book collecting is for the love of the comic books or for the potential financial gain, you should never spend more than you are willing to lose. In one scenario you can consider it an entertainment expense, and in the other scenario you can consider it a very illiquid investment that may not pan out. Either way, if you spend cash you’re fine with never seeing again, you should be safe. As always, this isn’t financial advice, and for investment advice please speak with a financial advisor.
Start Reading The Classics
In order to truly immerse yourself into the world of comic books, you should at least be familiar with the classics, such as Superman and Batman in the DC universe; and Spider-man, X-men and Captain America in the Marvel universe. From there, branch out into genres and storylines that interest you the most.
Collect Based On Your Goals & Motivations
Keeping your goals in mind, if you’re looking for comic book investments, you need to think about buying prices, exit selling prices, rarity, condition and so on. If you’re looking for entertainment value, you should buy comics that you enjoy and are proud of. If you’re collecting for both, you need to choose how to balance out those goals. But keeping your goals in mind can help guide many of your collecting decisions.
Store Your Comic Books Properly!
Regardless of how and why you’re collecting, it’s always worth it to store your comic books properly to help maintain their condition. If you’re collecting as an investment, storing your comic books properly will help them retain their value and strengthen your investment. If you’re collecting for enjoyment, storing them properly will help keep them organized and readable for much longer than if you simply left them out and exposed to the elements. Always store your comic books properly!
Join A Comic Book Collector Group
Collecting is a very personal endeavor, but for most people it’s fun to have a community to collaborate with, whether it’s sharing personal wins, rare finds, or buying, selling and trading with. That’s why so many comic book fans and investors alike join comic book collector groups. You can find some locally at comic book stores or virtually online via Facebook, Reddit and Instagram.
What’s Your Entry & Exit Strategy?
If you’re a comic book investor, entry and exit strategies may be something at the forefront of your mind for obvious reasons – you cannot realize a profit until you sell a comic book for profit. However, if you’re simply a collector, why worry about entry and exit strategies? Thinking about how you’re going to buy and sell comics helps guide your decisions on when and where to look for them, how much to spend, and also helps ground the prices of the comic books in reality since it’s easy to overpay when you’re buying or turning down fantastic offers when you’re selling when you’re emotionally attached to books. Having a strategy in mind helps guide you during these tough decisions. Even “never selling” is a strategy!
Sparkle City Comics, Your #1 Comic Book Resource For Buying & Selling Comics!
Think of Sparkle City Comics as your resource whenever you’re looking to buy comic books, sell comic books, or have questions about the market or appraisal values. We’ve been in business for a long time and are one of the largest buyers and sellers of comic books because we pride ourselves on customer service!
