So now that I've got a bunch of comics to deal, what do I do with them? I did what any child of the Information Age does: I started at my computer...
Nowadays when computers make these noises it means that they're broken
Panel taken from page 21 of Superman Volume 2 Issue 2
PHASE 1: Sell!
value [val-yoo] noun
Definition 3: monetary or material worth, as in commerce or trade
I started my quest as any man about to get married would...with the thought of "How much can I sell these comics for?" I wanted to sell them at a fair price, but more than that I wanted to make sure they would go somewhere where someone else would really enjoy them. I spent a solid week categorizing the comics relative to market value, researching trends and previous people's experience. For the first time I knew what my collection consisted of: 313 comics related to the Superman family and 73 other comics with no real theme. The comic books range from 1972 to the mid-90's. By weeks end I felt knowledgeable enough to discuss my prospects with a comic book shop owner. While I knew that I would never expect face value if I sold in bulk, I thought nearly 400 comics with some almost 40 years old would pull in enough to strike my fancy. That's when my plans for a quick turnaround where shattered. I found out that to a dealer, Bronze Age comics are like Baltic Ave. I had property on the board, but it was of little value. There was so much Bronze Age Superman in distribution that it was of little value in bulk. I could still sell them for dirty cheap, but I didn't really want to have them stored in some store's back room gathering dust. After some careful consideration, it was time for my next move...
PHASE 2: Buy!
value
Definition 2: the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange
I don't have the time or care to sell each comic individually, because that is a full-time job in itself with limited returns, but I could trade what I had for what I didn't have. After some re-checking into Uncle Larry's collection, I found his largest collection set could also be his best: Action Comics. I narrowed down this set by finding a nice starting and stopping point for a collection. As an added bonus, the run exactly coincides with Julius Schwartz's run as editor of the line. Now I could sell the 321 other comics and use the earnings to complete the set of Action Comics. And where else is a person to go to buy and trade but ebay?
My prospects started great! Within a week I had successfully won four separate bids for 28 comics totaling at 79₵ an issue. This was going to be easier than I thought. This all occurred within a month of my wedding so I decided to put off any dealing with the comics to finish the final planning push. A week later my future-wife and I started receiving wedding gifts. About that time I remembered I should be getting my ebay winnings any day now! I looked into the tracked packages and found...dun dun dun...they had already been delivered. How could this be? I had been receiving packages everyday for a solid week, but none of them had been my comics. I called the post office and found out indeed that the comics had been delivered and yet I never saw them. They had simply disappeared. Had someone stolen my comics and left all the far more expensive gifts for wedding untouched? We may never know...
As a spiritual man, experiences that seem down right peculiar make me stop and think. Was I doing something inappropriate focusing so much on these comic books? I mean the Bible says in Matthew 6:19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." But I still had this strong pull that I was supposed to do something appropriate with these comic books in honor of my Uncle Larry. God has done amazing things with much stranger things in the past. Perhaps this comic collection had a much higher calling than the cold financial calculations I had been making. From that point on I prayed earnestly desiring to do whatever God had planned for these comics. I've considered many things. I would throw them away right now if that's what He wanted. I also looked into donating them for a noble cause, perhaps related to education in honor Uncle Larry the college professor. I considered a online interactive trading adventure. None of which really panned out, but honestly I still have no idea what I'm doing with them. I still enjoy collecting them though so that leaves me here...
PHASE 3: Experience!
value
Definition 1: relative worth, merit, or importance
I'm taking it one day at a time with an ultimate question on my mind: Does God like comics? No? Many scriptures come to mind immediate about materialism as I mentioned above. Yes? Romans 8:28 says "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." God can use anything for his work and, as in the first line of the poem by William Cowper, "God works in mysterious ways." Maybe I'm wrong in what I doing with these comics, but I believe that God won't be upset with the mistakes I make when I'm truly seeking after Him.
So I guess we'll find out... Does God like comics?