Valuing British Comics....

...Don't think of value -read and ENJOY them!

Apparently I am "ridiculously prolific" as a writer/poster.  Meh. You only live once.

However, rather than contacting me to ask me to explain an apparent contradiction in something I wrote (in 2015) the person decided to not bother just comment on the subject.

What I wrote hundreds of posts ago was that there was no real shortage or rarity in Silver Age UK comics.  I then pointed out that someone trying to sell comics to a store owner was offered £10 and I pointed out to the owner the value of the books was more than that.

I was trying to be clever.

The store owner involved had a habit of telling everyone who offered to sell him UK SA comics that they were not worth much. His standard offer was always £10-even if a couple hundred comics were being offered. I had seen him pull this stunt before and then select the various "high value" comics and mark them up to "collectors prices" and he often bragged about a person who brought in some Hulk comics including Hulk #181 (second appearance of Wolverine but first full full story) and he got them for £8: "I sold 181 for £90 to a collector and it wasn't the best of comics!"

There are certain UK SA comics that are rarities but I pick up a lot at very cheap prices and mainly in bundles (never been asked or paid more than £6 -once for a bundle of 20 1970s Fleetway comics). I was once fooled by the claims of rarity and the late Denis Gifford once told me that there were plenty of old comics out there it was just that they were tucked away in boxes in attics and cellars and no one thought people might be interested in buying them.

Here is a story I like and hate. It's a moral tale in a way.

A fella who owned a comic book store was talking to an elderly neighbour one day and his interest perked up when the old fella told him "I still have the box full of comics I had during the war in my attic". Despite the neighbour needing money when the comic guy got into the shop next day he told his co-workers how he had hit the jackpot and placed a very sturdy cardboard box on a table. He had gone through the top three comics and he wanted to grab them quickly before the neighbour changed his mind. He did the whole "sadly comics are not worth much these days...if you really need the cash I can offer you £5"  The neighbour responded with "£5 is better than nothing".

Looking at the titles of the comics and issue numbers scrawled onto a grease proof bag covering the comics the comic guy, going by the condition of the top three comics, told everyone that there was at least £2000 worth "I can flog them off quickly to collectors".

He got a Stanley knife and carefully cut open the sides of the box rather than risk tearing a comic by taking them out the top.  "Smells like mice" his co-worker said.  Comic guy lifted the top comic.  Then the second. Then the third...after that he apparently went pale and started sweating. There was a hole.....

Eventually he removed about ten holed comics to find a huge bowl shape interior where mice had used the comics as nesting material over the decades. Comic guy got very angry as he had paid £5 and his friend told him at least he had three Golden Age comics for £5 -that was no compensation.

I have seen a lot of comic lovers get ripped off over the years so when I said that there was no real rarity with most SA comics I meant it but my pointing out that there were some good quality SA books being offered to the store owner was me trying to get the seller more than £10. I only ever once sold a comic to a shop -what used to be Forever People on Park Street, Bristol, when I really hit financial bottom. Owner only wanted one comic and gave me £3. A week later I walked in to find the comic on the shop wall with a £30 price tag (and that was a lot in the 1980s).  I pointed out he had only offered me £5 and was told "It's a buyers market"....and the bastard gave a big grin.

Hopefully, that explains things.

Rocky Mountain King no. 43 which cost me just over £3.00 because I needed a reference. Published between 1957/1958 (anyone with a more accurate date please let me know!)