I sold off some of my comic collection today...and a little piece of me died

I started this blog so that I had a place to share my geekness...and it all started with me...with comic books. As a kid they were my escape and the stories seemed so fantastical. They provided a little runt kid like me with the sense of being a "good guy"  and helping out the weak (or in my case, the weaker. I was a scrawny kid) was what you should strive for.  Well, in the years that followed I've amassed quite a collection. From things I truly love to read to things every "real collector" must have, to tons of extra stuff I picked up while buying collections to get the former. My goal was always to sell or trade the stuff I didn't really want in order to amass a small fortune or uses them for trade bait to get those key comics I've always wanted.

Well, I never got around to doing that. I just kept filling boxes with more and more comics. Now I know I'll be downsizing in house soon (very soon I hope) and all the comics aren't doing anyone any good just sitting in a box. While I love having a collection, boxed up there's no enjoyment. Comics aren't just about the story for me, they're also about the art. Some covers are just so awesome! So, I've been taking the stuff I really like and having them "slabbed" (professionally graded and "cased") and framing them on my wall. Speaking of, I should do a post about some of my favorite covers and why...but I digress. The comic book hobby can be an expensive one...and all those books in boxes have worth...so I finally decided to take a few boxes to my local comic book shop to sell them. Not a decision done lightly either. First off it meant I had to go through boxes to decide even what I would consider getting rid of. What's crazy is that I know where I got each and everyone of the books in my collection. Why? I can't tell you. If I used that brain power effectively I probably could've cured cancer by now. So, trying to put attachment aside I grabbed a couple boxes to separate part of the collection into the "now way", "maybe", and "it can go" stacks. Phew.

Then I went to see John at Hall of Comics, who is a part owner of the shop and just sold off big chunks of his collection as well (and much to my happiness found out he indeed did have some sellers remorse and wished he'd kept some stuff...) to see what kind of value we were looking at. And I went with store credit instead of cash because I knew I'd get more bang for my buck and because I want to support a great comic shop. John couldn't have been more understanding about going through a collection and I couldn't be more appreciative to hear him say "I understand", "I want to make sure we agree on value", "you have my word" AND in his putting up with my questions about individual books and my nervous pacing back and forth while he's going through boxes. At the end of the evening, having run past closing (and I can't thank John enough for letting me cut into his evening) we came to an agreement and part of my collection is gone (to include an Avengers #6). Now...to find books and have those guys find the books I must have in order to spend all that store credit...