Curious to know what people find in the wild…what they’re looking for. Emphasis on back issues (not new releases or eBay).
And don’t give up the location of your honey hole. As it may cease to become YOUR honey hole…
Let’s hear what you got!
I’ll kick this off…
Last week I found a Naomi #1A in a box labeled “damaged comics - $1”…Turns out the bottom staple is missing (production error - no holes). Otherwise NM+!! Gotta be worth something…more than $1
Today found a Star Wars Tales 23 (Photo variant cover) for cover price.
Half Price Books is not that great for getting much money for selling stuff, but is wonderful for finding little treasures dirt cheap. I found that Marvel Graphic Novel first appearance of the New Mutants in a clearance pile for 50 cents once, wonderful condition. I sold it for $25 to a chum. That is one example of various fun finds I’ve gotten for a stellar price.
I found a copy of the Maximum Carnage #1 book that came with the video game back in the 90s, for $5 a while ago. Ive always enjoyed that find.
I also came across an Albedo #2 that came into a shop via a collection. It was in the unpriced back bins. The shop wouldn’t bother pricing the massive collection they bought (15-20 long boxes). They would let you pick out what you wanted then they would price it at the counter using comic book realm prices. I really ■■■■■■ up though, as I didnt have the funds on me when I saw it, went back the next week, with cash in hand, and it was gone. It is my biggest regret in comics. 
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I’ve scored a few hits at Half Price myself. My best find was Batman New 52 issues 2 - 6 at it’s peak value. I’d imagine if there was a #1 someone had already nabbed it and left the others but I was able to sell the 2 - 6 set for around $130. I think I paid $5 total.
I also found two NM copies of X-Force #11 (first Domino) for $2 each. When I pulled them out I was expecting issues with them but they were in better shape than what one finds in the back bins at a comic shop.
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The $1 bin is the first place I check whenever I go to the LCS. Black Hammer #1, $.50, Ice cream Man #1,$1. My best one was a couple months ago a comic shop in Buena Vista , CO was moving a few towns over so everything was 50% off the 50% they had already taken off and got Avengers #196 for $8. Newsstand edition. It still makes me smile. Good topic by the way.
Actually had the best find of my comic collecting years a week ago. I happened upon an add for a garage sale that stated “thousands of modern comics in nm condition”. Sparked my interest & I made sure I got there at open. I would say no less than 30 long boxes of bagged/boarded books all in absolutely perfect condition. I know…I know…“yeah right”…but I’m not exaggerating. It was the coolest experience I’ve ever had. Apparently, the fellow (who was super nice) is more of a golden/silver age type collector and this was simply “making space”, these modern books were not important to him in the grand scheme of his collecting. Every book was a $1…
It took me all of one minute to realize this wasn’t a typical offering. Again, this was all books from about 1992 upwards…there were a few older books mixed in here and there, but primarily modern. There were variants mixed in and even some promo stuff associated with many of the books. There were so many books and the pressure of worrying about getting through them before others showed up (I hope that doesn’t sound horrible/too greedy, but…I guess it just is the fact of life and early bird gets the worm).
I ended up buying $142 worth of books. This is a sampling of the books I found.
I honestly would like to thank this site and members here…when you approach that sort of offering, there simply isn’t time to go looking up books, checking for keys, etc. I felt like it was a game as I tried to recall the varied key issues I am aware of or have heard about. Even now, I know for a fact I missed some things that I’m sure were likely there but that I either wasn’t aware or, or simply didn’t have time to go through. I’m not super well versed on DC keys and Independent keys. For example, there was a whole box of Star Wars (again, modern) that I imagine would have had the Sons of Dathomir, Bink books, etc that I simply didn’t think of at the time. I also likely missed looking for the Artgerm Batgirl issues, Batman Beyond stuff, etc…it was just too much at the time. I’m pretty happy with how I did and the issues I did recall.
Here is a brief sampling of books (again, every single book was dead mint)
Hellboy Seeds of Destruction #1
Sentry #1
Annihilation Conquest #6
All New marvel point 1
New xmen 128
Black Panther #2
Spawn 9
Hit Monkey Special #1
52 #11 x2
New Avengers #8
Xmen 510 Campbell Store incentive variant-just an amazing ook
Ms Marvel #1 (Khan), Captain Marvel 1, Ms Marvel 1 (Danvers)
Infinity series, Annihilation series, Ultimate 1 (variant)
Angela series
Invincible Iron man 7, 8
Inhuman 1-12 with dynamic forces #1 and perfect #5
Dark Avengers 1-5
Cap america 25
Avengers 12
Greg Horn Ms Marvels
Campbells Black Panther issues
Longshot 1-6
The old Contest of Champions 1-3 from the eighties
Secret Avengers 23
Xmen 450, 451
Again, this was just a few of the books.
I was very thankful and am still excited. I’m somewhat of a newer collector and this filled a massive amount of holes in my “wants”.
While I certainly wanted to get “keys”, I had even more fun getting beautiful runs of books I simply hadn’t read or thought the artwork was cool for such an amazing prices.
Some examples of this were all the Avengers vs Xmen books, The Doctor Voodoo series, Complete x-23 target x series, X force Sex and violence series, short filler runs of wolverine and xmen, etc.
I thanked the guy profusely as I left! I’m not a dealer,reseller and am just so happy to have all these books! Just a once in a lifetime experience for me.
That is awesome, @Devildog. Great find. A few years ago I came across an ASM collection that had just arrived into an older shop. The owner was pricing the collection from his Overstreet price guide. I was able to grab a bunch of books from that collection for $4/$5, that were worth much more than that. Eg. The JSC cover run in the early 600s.
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