Hello all and welcome back to the Quest, this week I’m totally going to scramble as I’ve done absolutely nothing to prepare for whatever I’m about to write. Welcome to my life and my creative process.
A few things up front: my second set of comics that are up for auction will end today. I have somewhat mixed feelings about this batch specifically because it contains a comic which has one of dad’s favorite characters, Usagi Yojimbo, and a couple other comics which are just cool to look at. Thankfully I do have backup copies of most of these, thanks dad, so I’m not overly sad. Also on that note, there’s a pretty valuable comic up right now that’s way undervalued so fingers crossed that it raises exponentially in the next 10 hours.
Other things: I swapped comic collections with my sister earlier this week and I’m getting to dig through a whole new batch of comics, which is revealing a lot about the person who collected them while also raising a load of new questions about what it was that they actually cared about. It’s been fun in a nerdy way to see new artwork, even if it is crappy early 90’s comic art. A lot of times it’s mostly something mindless to do which is fun in its own way.
I’ve had a lot of people ask me a question about what I think might be valuable 30 years from now in the way that these comics are, and honestly I have no clue. There’s certain factors which you can bet pretty well on: a finite supply, strong nostalgia, a rabid fanbase, etc. But one thing that strikes me is that these items all came from a different time, back when things were actually made and tangible, things you could touch and hold. Maybe NFTs will be that way 40 years from now, but I have a hard time believing they’re going to be as hugely valuable as some of the classic things from our youth. I’ll probably write about this more in a later post.
For the rest of our time this week I’d like to talk about a movie I’m excited to see. It’s called Selling Superman and I found out about it from a blurb on the comic book grader’s website. What caught my eye is that it’s a story that is remarkably similar to mine, but vastly different in volume and value. It’s the true story of a son who inherits his father’s vast comic book collection after his father dies. Here’s where our story lines differ, this man’s father had immaculate copies of some of the most valuable comics in history. He now owns the highest graded Superman #1, the highest graded Batman #1, the collection spans every age from the early golden age all the way to modern comics. It’s absolutely ludicrous.
What got me though, and why I’m excited to see the film, is that the son has some very mixed feelings about it all. He says that he’s quite torn about selling the collection because his father’s obsession with it was what caused a rift between him and everyone he loved. His obsession with collecting led to his divorce and eventual estrangement with his son. Which just hit me right in the gut when I read it.
In his case, the son will stand to make millions of dollars, just from the sale of a couple of the items. My sister and I might clear several thousand, at best. But I completely empathize with the son in this movie because I’d willingly sell off every comic my dad ever owned if it would’ve helped him live a more comfortable life closer to my family so that he could know my children and they know him. But now that he’s gone the only thing he can give them anymore is this collection. So the things I sell I have to make sure I’m ok with never seeing again. Honestly there’s a few that I’m not willing to part with, and I’m never selling my pokemon cards. Some because they’re valuable and I’m viewing them as assets like fine art, others because my kids have taken an interest in the stories or characters themselves.
Ultimately I’m interested to see how the Selling Superman story plays out, but mostly I want to see how someone else navigated the loss of their father while also inheriting a valuable collection. Maybe I’ll make it a movie night, invite over some other nerds, order pizza, and have a few beers.
That’s about all I’ve got for this week. If you’re interested in the stuff I’ve got for sale the links are below. Thanks so much for reading, and invite some other friends along, it’s dangerous to go alone.