Rebellion acquire Egmont's archive of strips and characters

[Phoenix]

fat cat collectors in my mind are those that buy multiple copies of a comic to sell for profit later om ,and people on ebay like hannahzoe who charge ridiculous money for even common items.

Asking silly money and getting it are two different things, Bri, as I suggested recently with regard to an issue of The Skipper that they are still trying to get three figures for. Hannah and Zoe are the couple's two daughters by the way.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I think 'fat cat collectors' are those who collect, then sell on old comics and would have no qualms about extracting hundreds of pounds from a keen comics enthusiast, no matter what the buyers' financial situation........ I am certain that some fans have parted with small fortunes to such people.

I myself would not encourage excessive greed like this, I would rather do without and I couldn't afford hundreds of pounds on a single comic, anyway---I have other priorities and interests in life .

But if others are able and willing to fund their habit to the cats themselves , that is their choice--I will not tell others how to spend their money.



Most comics buffs are decent in the main and will send on second copies for free to like-minded fans [this has certainly, happily happened to me on this forum]


Fat Cat Collectors are the unacceptable face of capitalism, in my view: just greed for the sake of it.

[alanultron5]

Very much agree! I have some 2nd copies of my collection but I keep them to read! Yep!

[Adam Eterno]

There are definitely those who buy a brand new comic and seal it and store it in mint condition----without even turning a single page----- in the lame hope of cleaning up financially a lot later on.

30th Century Comics have recently been offering for sale at quite high prices a number of what they refer to as slabbed issues of American comics. Unless I am completely misunderstanding what the word slabbed means, this process will only allow the purchaser to see the front cover, and be forced to take on trust the existence of the rest of the comic below it, although I don't doubt that the pages are there. I like Fine condition copies of my story papers as much as the next guy but all mine are for reading, and if one gets a bit torn it does not lead to great wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Slabbing is the sealing of the comic as you quite rightly say and therefore supposedly guaranteeing it's quality forever. CGC are the biggest company to do it but there is another player called PGX or something similar. If you have a comic slabbed it increases it's value on the open market. It costs around £40-£50 to get it done by CGC in the US.

I know someone who works there as he bought a ton of UK comics (duplicates) from me a while back and they have started getting more UK comics recently which were rare as we don't have such a value driven market for UK comics as the US does. The most popular UK comics to get slabbed are Star Wars #1 and Captain Britain #8 currently. A CGC 9.6 Captain Britain #8 has recently sold for £400 which shows the market for them in the US: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Captain-Brita ... Sw9NdXvlyl

and here's an amazing price paid for a more modern Captain Britain comic: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Captain-Brita ... OSwEK9TvV3~

I personally would only have a slabbed comic as an investment, why have a comic that you can't read!? I'd have to have a reading copy as well as I'd permanently be tempted to un-slab it to read which would cost me a fortune!

I may come under some people's fat cat heading as I buy and sell comics to finance the massive amounts I spend on my own collection. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to afford all those lovely comics that call to me saying "buy me, buy me!". I regularly buy a bundle of comics to get the one I want and re-sell the others for the same or more than I paid initially. If that makes me a fat cat then all I can do is purr and drink the cream off the top!

[starscape]

I can see the point of having certain comics slabbed and not necessarily as an investment. There are some that mean a lot more to me than others. Ones that I've read and read. Getting a perfect specimen of those and keeping them forever pristine, I could understand.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Adam: the idea of making making big profits on selling rare comics only to plough it back into buying more comics for reading pleasure makes sense; it's the profiteering just for it's own sake that turns me off.

[Adam Eterno]

Adam: the idea of making making big profits on selling rare comics only to plough it back into buying more comics for reading pleasure makes sense; it's the profiteering just for it's own sake that turns me off.

Damn. I've been purring to myself all afternoon.

It's my way of justifying to myself when I look at what I've spent in a month, especially in the last year or so when quite a bit has come on the market that I've wanted so I've spent shed loads. I was trying to work it out the other day and I reckon I've spent well north of £4k this year on comics but sold over £3.5k so when I looked at what I'd bought for £500 ish, I was really happy!

[Lew Stringer]

Hiya Lew: the 'fat cat collectors' I sometimes mention is not aimed at yourself personally or anyone else in particular: it is aimed at those elitists who sell for gross financial profit, something absurd like hundreds of pounds for the first issue of a 1960s UK humour comic. To me this is simply artificially high sums, the same sort of madness that has polluted the housing market [a much more serious problem, actually, but the idea is much the same].

Ah, I see your point. Although people won't buy them if they don't have that amount of disposable income.

Re: that dealer who always charges high prices for standard 1970s comics.... I see them relisting the same stock over and over and most of it doesn't sell at those prices so I don't think they're getting that fat on the profits. Having said that, I did pay them £15 for one issue of Tiger and Jag I wanted to complete my run of 1969 issues. Perhaps that's how that seller benefits; from people buying odds and sods to fill their gaps? I won't buy from them again though, as the comic was a bit too yellowed and musty and below the condition I usually consider acceptable for a 1960s comic (most of which should still look almost new if they've been looked after properly).

[koollectablz]

Dealers will always charge the very most amount they can get for any one item.

If they could find someone to pay £1k for a single 1978 copy of Buster, then they would.

I deal in comics, I charge the most I can possibly get. If you dont want to pay that amount, then don't, simple really.

[Adam Eterno]

Dealers will always charge the very most amount they can get for any one item.

If they could find someone to pay £1k for a single 1978 copy of Buster, then they would.

I deal in comics, I charge the most I can possibly get. If you dont want to pay that amount, then don't, simple really.

I'm going to call my very chubby tabby cat Koollectablz! I can hear your purring all the way to Angel Islington where I happen to be today!

[big bad bri]

there is no where to buy comics in islington is there there was a comic shops years ago called heroes though.

[Adam Eterno]

there is no where to buy comics in islington is there there was a comic shops years ago called heroes though.

One market stall Bri with very expensive comics and annuals which I check every couple of weeks for no longer than a minute or two and have never bought anything. I've had an office here for 20 odd years and sadly never seen a comic shop! My local mate Charlie is a book boy so I've asked him to take me around his haunts one day to see if they have anything to offer the comic enthusiast!

[paw broon]

Didn't Alan Austin have a shop near Highbury and Islington station? Or is that a completely different part of London?. At different times, yonks ago, I visited 2 of his places, one in Hackney? and then the one I mentioned. But I could be havering
I was at a local car boot sale on Sunday and there was a bloke there with a pile of Fleetway comics, mainly 2000AD and bits and bobs of other titles. Relatively cheap but for sale at more than the cover price. But then I thought to myself, if I buy them, there's a fair chance he's not going to declare the takings on his tax return and would I want to break the law by being an accessory and encouraging tax evasion. I'm sure that would have been the case had I bought some of his comics, believing that that he might evade tax, but I can run it by an acquaintance who's an advocate solicitor, just to be sure. Part of the black economy is to be found at car boot sales, comic marts, the Barras etc. where as many of us know, some of the dealers at these places don't register sales and don't declare them to HMRC, making the buyer complicit if he/she believes evasion might take place. Only a small, unimportant thing I'm sure. But feel free to criticise me for bringing such a small matter up.
Louis mentions the case of DC and Marvel and their volumes of Archives and Masterworks. I have some of these books and they look good on the shelf, but I wonder if a part of the reason for them not doing well and no new ones being released is to do with the criticism from fans and pros of the re-colouring in the books. Also, many fans and the occasional pro gave voice to the criticism of reprinting on glossier paper, which they felt took away from the feel of the original. I happen to agree with both those opinions, much preferring the recent hardback reprints of the horror comics - sorry, but I forget the publisher - which were done on what seemed to me to be rougher paper. The leather bound Frank Miller Batman book was printed on much less glossy paper and was all the better for it.
It's probably my age that influences me thinking that comics were perfectly matched to newsprint, not glossy paper. Oddly though, I always enjoyed Eagle, with all it's gloss, but at the time the standard of reproduction on Eagle was amazing.

[Phoenix]

there is no where to buy comics in islington is there there was a comic shops years ago called heroes though.

There certainly used to be an excellent secondhand bookshop in Archway. I once went there after discovering its existence in a guide to secondhand bookshops in Great Britain, region by region. The book was pocket-sized, definitely smaller than A5. I've still got the book but although it is concealing its whereabouts, the name of the author is on the tip of my tongue!! The last time I went there I'm sure I walked up from, or through, Islington. I know that my elder son Andrew was with me because we kept having to stop to look in antique shops. He was living at that time in a nice flat near Canary Wharf.

[Phoenix]

But then I thought to myself, if I buy them, there's a fair chance he's not going to declare the takings on his tax return and would I want to break the law by being an accessory and encouraging tax evasion. I'm sure that would have been the case had I bought some of his comics, believing that that he might evade tax, but I can run it by an acquaintance who's an advocate solicitor, just to be sure. Part of the black economy is to be found at car boot sales, comic marts, the Barras etc. where as many of us know, some of the dealers at these places don't register sales and don't declare them to HMRC, making the buyer complicit if he/she believes evasion might take place. Only a small, unimportant thing I'm sure. But feel free to criticise me for bringing such a small matter up.

Paw, as John McEnroe was famous for saying to line judges and referees, You cannot be serious. These are car boot sales you are talking about. I can't imagine any seller giving even a passing thought to declaring their income that day to HMRC. They are by and large trying to sell a few of their own items from a stall they have brought with them in order to make a few bob from items they no longer want. If the sun is shining their experience will be that much more pleasant. I grant you that sometimes there are stallholders selling specific items such as LPs or CDs, and there is the occasional dealer who turns up in a big lorry, but these are definitely exceptions. The vast majority of buyers are simply looking for a few items that take their fancy. It's a morning out, a burger, an ice cream, a chat with someone you haven't seen for ages, and if the sellers go home with fewer items and more money than they brought out with them, it will have been a successful outing.