The Comic Book Collector's Blog

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Practical guides, expert advice and resources to manage, value and grow your comic book collection.

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Collector's Guide

Loki: when half the results are not comics

Decorative plaque, lot which cites without containing, foreign pocket reissue: three families of intruders who can be identified by a word in the title.

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Collector's Guide

A character that cannot be visually identified

Without a stable appearance, neither the cover nor the costume locates an apparition.

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Collector's Guide

Restoring old numbering creates the mess it purports to fix

The same series then has two numberings depending on the period.

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Collector's Guide

Lex Luthor: Why “choose your number” ads screw up all the math

A “choice” ad has no price, it has a call price: that of the cheapest number in stock, never the one you are looking for.

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Collector's Guide

The powerless adversary is the most durable of all

He cannot win by force, so each confrontation must be written differently.

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Collector's Guide

A transferred antagonist is better than a created antagonist

He arrives with a past that no new creation can simulate, but his first appearance is elsewhere.

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Collector's Guide

Jim Valentino: where to start with the founder we don't read

Medians at $7.00 and $7.99, entries at $1.22. Why start with his 1980s parody rather than his Image series, and what the August 29, 2026 reading shows.

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Collector's Guide

Jeff Smith: Where to Start, and Why a $2 Copy Is No Deal

The draw rank decides everything. Median $9.99 for series, $525.00 certified for first issue. Statement of August 29, 2026.

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Collector's Guide

Bone: where not to stop, rather than where to stop

The dip in the first third is a settling in, not a running out of steam. The actual exit points and what exactly is lost at each step.

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Collector's Guide

Three traditions that nothing meant to meet

Daily adventure strip, folk tale, character comedy. Methods borrowed and applied, identifiable in specific locations.

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Collector's Guide

A drawing that comes from the cartoon, and it can be seen in each box

Simple volumes, constant line, legible pose in silhouette. What the rules of animation bring to a printed page, and what they prohibit.

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Collector's Guide

Self-publishing thirteen years: the part that success stories leave out

Advance printing, obtain distribution, collect late. Why self-published series almost never stop due to lack of readers.

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