I finished my first series. I have a couple questions. If you notice issue number one it’s gold foil and I don’t have the original series line. If you notice number four it doesn’t have direct edition on the barcode. Can someone help me out with that? What is the significance of those things and if you noticed number three has a crease I probably won’t fix it but if I were to what would I do?

What’s the future of the comic community or comic market would you think will be like? To me, I believe the younger generations will change everything about what a first appearance is or is not because it’s more confusing to younger collectors than you think. Just trying to explain everything from first appearance to first cameo appearance to first cameo cameo cameo appearance to someone is more confusing than you think. 😂 But what do you think the comic book community or market will be like in the far future? 🤔

First off, you guys have been keeping a smile on my face all weekend. My whole situation is a lot but I’m finding my way back to a passion even in the midst of this all, and because of this sub.

This one was really cool to find even not being the biggest Sub-Mariner fan, this was such an awesome find. I have many more

Some of these have seen better days but I’m hoping they’ll still be of some sort of value once I sell them. Any tips appreciated!

I think a lot of people here who speculate or sell comics on a small level are interested in moving up a little. And why wouldn't they? Selling comics is really fun especially at conventions! You get to talk comics, chat up other collectors, and make a little money for your effort.

While I would never tell anyone not to do this, I will say this about selling comics on a larger scale: it's not as easy as you think it is. I mean, it's not rocket science or anything that hard, but it is challenging.

I've been doing this for almost 30 years as a side business. I set up at around 20 area shows every year as well as a few larger multi-day cons (the photo above is from last year's Terrificon in Connecticut). If you're looking to do the same, here are some of my suggestions as well as the most difficult part about doing this.

Advice for the set-up:

Your stock should be neat and clean and well organized. Try to alphabetize as much as possible (I don't for my $2 and $1 bins because it's just too time consuming), and price EVERYTHING. I use stickers for $2 and $5 books and I use a pricing gun for the rest. I rebag everything, because it just looks nicer.

You should accept as many different payment options as possible. You can use your phone for credit cards, you should have a PayPal and Venmo account, and I've even had people pay me with Zelle. Cash is king, of course, because of the fees, but it's 2026: you need to take plastic.

Find a way to make a display. I am about the least handy person alive, but I was able to jury rig a few displays. It's crucial that you are able to show off some of your more desirable stock.

Make signage of some kind so people know what they're looking at.

Advice for pricing:

You have to take into consideration all costs when deciding if you want to do this. You can walk away from a day selling with $700 in your pocket, but that's not profit. You have to take into consideration the cost of the table/booth, the cost of gas/tolls, the cost of your supplies, and especially the cost of the stock.

My general rule of thumb is that I need to make at least 7 times the cost of my table/booth to have a good day. That's an estimate, obviously, but if I pay $250 for tables, I had better be close to $2k for the day. The set-up for Terrificon (2 endcap booths) is almost $2k on its own, so I need to do $14k or more for the weekend.

My equation for pricing is that I want to get the most money I can but also sell it quickly. So that's not the most MOST I could get, but the most so that I'm not dragging that to show after show after show. If I think I could sell something for $20 within the year but I know I could sell it for $15 within the month, I'm pricing it at $15.

Learn to grade and price accordingly. Fine comics at Near Mint prices mean you're not getting repeat customers.

Learn as much as you can about what you're selling. If you really want to get into graded books or signed books or variants, learn about them. Look for trends. Look to see what is selling now that may not sell in the future. Underpricing something because you don't know enough about it means you can lose a lot of money; overpricing because a book that was hot 2 years ago is dead now means you're not going to make any money.

Do not ignore your time and take into consideration what that is worth. For a one day show, it's usually around an 8-hour day. But then how much time does it take bagging and pricing. How much time does it take driving around finding collections. How much time does it take posting on social media updating your website. Your time should not be free. Now I'm not saying you need to make $100 an hour or anything, but you shouldn't be doing this for free, regardless of how much fun it is.

The most difficult part about selling comics at conventions:

By far -- and it isn't even close -- the hardest thing to do is getting and replenishing stock. Nearly everyone who has ever set up at a con for the first time does pretty well. Why? Well, it's brand new stock for everyone to come and see, and you'll usually sell plenty. The next show, however, is another story. I've had so many people say to me, "My first show I did amazing! Three grand and I barely sold a long box worth! But today, I barely did $300." You know why? Because all the good stuff was gone.

You constantly have to buy more inventory. Price more inventory. Bring different things. Keep up the variety. Think about the cons you go to with any regularity. There are one or two dealers there that when you pass their tables have the same 25 comics on their display time after time. Nothing has changed. And you pass those guys right by. Maybe it's because their prices are too high or maybe it's because they haven't been out there getting new books.

Getting the new inventory is challenging. It's a mix between building up relationships with people, finding collections, buying from customers who are getting out of the hobby, going to sales and stores, etc. I can't count how many different ways there are to find inventory, but you have to always be buying.

And you're not alone. There are many other people who are trying to find the next big buy as well. So not only are you trying to get new stuff, you have to get there before the next guy.

The second picture up there is my convention stock in my storage locker. I also have dozens of boxes at home of comics I'm processing or selling on Ebay or whatever. You need to have a lot of comics to sell regularly at shows.

Well, that's a lot of typing. If you want to start doing this, I highly recommend it. It's amazing fun and only a little bit exhausting (physically and mentally).

So i will admit i caught the eBay bug. I’ve scored so wins but have taken my lumps also by getting caught up in the heat of an auction. Invincible 10. This went for $355. I stopped at $325 and kinda glad I lost. Win, lose or a push do you guys think?

In the mid-90s there was a speculation boom. And when it finally crashed, it had tremendously bad affects on the comic book business, as well as collecting.

Now with all the rank speculation, and the fall of the comic book movies that are fueling so much of the speculation, can we expect a similar crash? And will that end the comics business, or bring people back to buying and collecting because they enjoy it??

Every week I go through the full FOC list to see what the upcoming order week actually looks like before cutoff closes. Here is the shape of this one.

The week runs 618 total SKUs across 290 unique books, with 41 new #1s in the count. The volume race at the top is tight enough to be worth noting: DC leads at 67 titles, Dynamite matches it at 67, Image runs 66, and Marvel sits at 65. Four publishers inside two titles of each other.

Where the week concentrates is the incentive structure. 78 ratios and 96 variants across the docket, and Dynamite carries the most of any publisher at 25 ratio covers. Angel #1 from Dynamite runs the highest single-title cover count of the week at 22 variants, an extra-sized premiere anchoring the Buffyverse relaunch. Nine books carry a 1:50 tier, Angel #1 and Archie #1 from Oni among them.

Publisher by publisher, the composition splits cleanly. Marvel's slate carries zero ratios and leans on its Star Wars pipeline, with Star Wars: The Book Of Boba Fett #1 launching the adaptation and Amazing Spider-Man #35 sitting as the setup beat before its #1000. DC's count spreads across the core line and the Absolute Universe, with Superman Unlimited #16 continuing as the flagship ongoing and New Titans #38 folding Static into the roster. Image concentrates its 16 ratios on launches and Top Cow continuations, with Last Driver #1 from Sean Murphy landing as a new ongoing alongside a fresh Darkness arc and Redcoat #19.

The sharpest structural read for me is the split personality of the top four. DC and Dynamite tie on raw volume, but Dynamite gets there on variant and ratio depth while Marvel posts a comparable count with no ratios at all. Same shelf space, completely different build.

Anyone know?

A lot of books of course blow up after being offered as exclusives at the big cons.

For anyone looking to track which comic book exclusives are being promoted as available through the 2026 San Diego Comic-Con, CovrPrice just released their annual SDCC exclusives list, which of course includes all known exclusives, including those given away for free at the panels.

Free access to this list.

Where applicable, it shows who it's being sold through, including the booth number.

The database is searchable and it's also dynamic, meaning new entries will be added from now through the show dates.

If you're a retailer and have an SDCC-exclusive book you don't see on this list, add a comment or shoot me a DM with its details and I'll pass it along to get added!

https://covrprice.com/descriptor/sdcc-2026/

I track FOC intel through the week and grade every call against what actually happens after release. Here is what I've been able to verify on the July 20 slate before the cutoff. Priority list runs 13 books, publisher spread across Image, Marvel, Dark Horse, Boom, DC, and Dynamite.

Clayface: Celebrity Dirt #2 (DC, $3.99, Doyle/Galan). The read that checks out here is timing: this issue releases ahead of the character's announced DCU film debut. Body-horror direction on the interiors, and the movie tie is doing the work.

The Trillion Dollar Kid #2 (Image, $3.99, Johns/Tomasi). Solicits and PR confirm this finale introduces a new character roster to set up the line-wide Ghost Machine crossover, so the potential firsts are the spec. The 1:20 is an Ivan Reis cover.

Absolute Batman #23 (DC, $5.99, Snyder/Dragotta). The solicit confirms multiple character deaths in the "Batman vs Batman" showdown, plus the design reveal of Absolute Clayface's new look. Note the character debuted around #21, so this is the look reveal, not the first. Death-count language is the hook. The 1:25 is a Damion Scott cover.

Adventure Comics #247 (DC, $4.99) is the confirmed potential first of the Legion of Super-Heroes done as a facsimile of the 1958 original. This is a reprint, not new content, so weigh it on that basis.

What I'm holding off on: What If...? Runaways #1 (rumor-based).  The Rainbow Rowell premise is fine, but the anniversary one-shot framing driving the spec is unconfirmed. Watching, not ordering. Same with the reported ThunderHawks and Chromium firsts on Thundercats x Silverhawks #5, which are not specifically confirmed for that issue.

This year I have been using whatnot a bit more often. Previously I just used Ebay when I wanted to buy online.

I have noticed that people will overpay for books quite often, sometimes by 20-50% especially in shows that have a larger viewership.

Why are people willing to pay 20-50% over recent ebay sales? It doesn't make sense to me. I have now taken to only viewing shows with smaller view counts since it feels like a waste of time otherwise.

I scanned ~500 comics on the app PriceCharting and I am not sure what to do to sell these. Any tips or ideas? To be fully clear I am NOT selling these here but I want to know what i should do

Found these in my dad's basement - they'd been sitting in boxes untouched for about 40 years. No sleeves, but they're intact and honestly brighter than I expected. I cataloged everything in CLZ, which puts the whole lot around $3,800.

It's about 80% Marvel, mostly 1975-1992. Big runs: Thor Vol. 1 (61 issues, #195-#393), Avengers Vol. 1 (30 issues), Conan the Barbarian + Savage Sword of Conan (40 combined), Master of Kung Fu (22 issues).

Top of the CLZ list:

• Vampirella (Warren) #6 - FN $55
• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1 - VF $44
• Astonishing Tales #13 - FN $39
• Sub-Mariner #67 - FN $37
• Vampirella #14 - VG $28
• Avengers #232 Canadian Price Variant - NM $28
• Secret Six #1 (1968) - VG $28
• Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1 Canadian Price Variant - VF $28
• Infinity Gauntlet #1 - NM $25
• Nightmare (Skywald) #9 - FN $25
• Secret Wars II #9 Canadian Price Variant - NM+ $25
• Sub-Mariner-era stuff, WCA #45 (1st White Vision), Avengers #267, Batman #442, Wonder Woman #1 (1987), Flash #200, Hulk #169, Iron Man #52, Ghost Rider #19, Marvel Premiere #4, plus a Funny Stuff #72 from 1953

Grades are CLZ's estimates, not mine - I haven't had anything professionally graded.

Plan is to pull the top 20 or so and sell the rest as one lot. Before I do - anything in here you'd pull that I might be sleeping on? I know CLZ prices aren't gospel and I've heard the CPV stuff can be underpriced in databases. Also curious if that Funny Stuff from '53 is worth a closer look, it seems like an oddball in the collection.

Photo of everything laid out attached plus link here of full collection: https://cloud.clz.com/1064827/comics

THANK YOU SO MUCH! APOLOGIES IF THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT PLACE FOR THIS.