Anyone know anything about Comics?
 

Hello,

My Uncle Roger Slifer was a long-time player in the comic book world. His biggest accomplishment was co-creating the character Lobo with Keith Giffon several years ago. Lobo was introduced in Omega Man #3. He also worked with Sun Bow productions and was the story editor for My Little Pony, the movie. He had other major roles - normally as a story editor or illustrator.

Sadly, he was hit by a hit and run driver in 2012. He died in 2014. Recently, my grandfather died. All of Uncle Roger's collection was at Grandpa's house. I spent the last week helping my mom clear out his barn. Uncle Roger's personal collection was stored there. We had 9 tubs of comics - with each tub containing 500-700 books on average. We sorted them by the price on the cover. He had about 35 $0.10 copies, somewhere around 250 $0.12 copies, 150 or so $0.15 copies. He also had about 300 $0.12 copies. We did not get a count on the $0.25 copies but that was the most prevalent price. We filled an entire tub. Mom is looking now for the Hulk with Wolverine, but we believe that we saw at least one copy.

He also had several copies of different Star Wars issues. He had 9 of the 1977 Special Edition Kiss issue (Made with Real Kiss Blood!). He had probably 200 copies of Omega Man #1 and we found about 60 copies of Omega Man #3 - the one where Lobo premieres.

Additionally, we found original artwork from Omega Man #2. We found the original script that was pitched for Omega Man #3 and several other unique items like that.

It is a bit overwhelming.

If it were cards, I could be a big help. We sorted by price point and now we are trying to catalogue. We are trying to clean out Grandpa's Barn/Workshop which as a 4 day affair in and of itself and now we are trying to figure out what we have with the comics. I am sure there a lot of kindling that is akin to late '80's baseball cards, but I don't know if there is the market like there is for cards. It is going to be a huge undertaking cataloging and finding a market. If it is 5000 comics at $3 a comic it is still a nice sum - but there has to be someone willing to pay a price. I think that there is more to that - especially the original artwork and storyboard stuff.

I have been in contact with Heritage. It has been a tad frustrating because I am trying to figure out if there is anything there and he is trying to get an inventory of what we have. It will take quite some time to inventory it all and if it only has a small value, that will end up being time wasted. On top of it all, mom is 6 hours away and I spent last week helping her but I am now back home and trying to give her guidance from a distance.

Let me know if anyone knows anything or knows an expert. Even if someone told me that I had a pile of the equivalent of 5000 Rick Mahler cards, I could at least know what we had and allow us to move on to other parts of the estate.

Thanks
Kevin

You need to contact Pam Brandle or Chuck Rozanski at Mile High Comics in Denver. I believe Chuck's planning a buying trip to your area in the next few weeks.

His website is www.milehighcomics.com

Steve

Thanks!

Can't vouch for or criticize / accuse any particular comix dealers, but several come through our region
a few times a year buying up valuable comix from naive sellers for pennies on the true market-value dollar,
so educate yourself on what you have and be wary of anyone offering to buy your stash. Look for
Overstreet's Comics Price Guide at your library, a bookstore, or on-line.

Do you know the brand / publisher of your older (10-, 12-, 15-, 20-, 25-cent) comix? Those are pre-1970s issues,
and if they're Marvel Comics, that was that company's golden age, and they're worth some decent-to-excellent money
unless they're in awful condition. Some of the dime comix might be pre-1960s, and anything put out by EC
would be in demand and have value (again providing they're not in miserable shape).

It's kind of impossible to give any specific advice without knowing exactly what you have. Good luck with it!

Butch,
Thanks for the feedback. That is my fear.

Most of the <$0.10-$.25 books are Marvel & DC. I looked and saw publishing dates of anywhere from 1959 to 1966. There are Action Comics, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Super Boy, Lois Lane, Hulk, Fantastic 4, X-Men, the Flash and others.

Of the 34 $0.10 books, probably half do not have a cover as those were the ones that he had when we was still very young. Nearly all of the others are in very good shape and several I would classify as Ex to Mint. All told, there are probably 1000-1200 books with $0.25 or less on the cover.

He has several Star Wars comics, however, I don't remember seeing issue #1 that brings such a premium. I believe that is a $0.35 book.

I spoke to mom last night and she is going to begin the arduous task of cataloging one by one. I think that I did her a favor by sorting by book price. Now she can start from the cheapest and prioritize. The story boards and pre-published art work are probably the biggest wild card. I am still trying to get a handle on their potential value - if any at all.

I do appreciate the help and advice. I am hoping to hear back from my Heritage connection soon. However, I think that we still have some work to do before we figure out if there is anything there.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned as I just skimmed through the posts, but are there not comic book forums around that might possibly help?
In this day and age where there seems to be a forum for practically anything, I'd find it hard to believe some didn't exist for comic books?

I am sure that there are and thank you for pointing that out. I was very deliberate in posting in the other topics forum. I trust a lot of people here and have been here for some time. Since collectors span many different genres, I figured that I would ask some long time friends and hopefully get some feedback. That has happened just as I had hoped. I am not sure what the issue is posting the question in this forum as it is not on the main page.

:confused:

I have zero issue where you posted it, Kevin, if the bold is directed at me?
And truthfully, and not saying you did that, but my post was only a suggestion as it didn't look like you were getting much help, nothing more.
It was not a negative, derogatory put down down post at all. Like I said, just a suggestion to further help you in case you somehow didn't think of possible comic book forums?

I'd be very hesitant to just hand them over to someone for a check. This sounds like really cool stuff. The auction world is so insane right now I'd much rather get them in a reputable auction house and let the chips fall where they may. I know Hakkes has a ton of comic stuff in every auction. I agree, and while I am not commenting on anyone and have little knowledge of the comic world, I've always assumed the point of these scouting trips is to get stuff at a price that someone else can make a killing on. And Hertage of course is a top notch AH and totally above board.

Kevin,

Sorry with a late response here, but I'd be willing to help if I could. I've been collecting comics (off and on) longer than I've been collecting cards. In fact I should be getting some books back today that I sent off to be graded (unlike cards, turnaround was about 1 month on these).

If you are putting a list together of what is there, I'd be willing to review it and provide some guidance on the best way to liquidate what you have. I'm not a dealer and except for a couple issues, I doubt I would be interested in buying any myself since I'm trying to pare down what I have, so there wouldn't be a conflict of interest on my part. Just looking to help.

When making the list, usually the titles and numbering are fairly obvious on the cover, but sometimes the titles can be confusing. What might look to be a Silver Surfer comic might actually be a Fantasy Masterpieces starring the Silver Surfer. You can always check in the box at the bottom of the first page for the actual title and issue number. Some older ones from the '50s and earlier sometimes had this on the inside cover.

In any case, I'd be willing to look over your list or help with any other questions you might have. Just let me know.

Taylor

Taylor,
I’m just getting back to this post so apologies for the late response. I really appreciate the offer. Mom has been in the process of doing inventory so I am hoping to have something soon. I will definitely take you up on the offer for assistance.

Grandpa died in early December. Uncle Roger’s comics had been there for years and he died from a hit and run incident in 2014. I went out a couple of weeks ago to help clean out his barn (he hadn’t been out there in at least 10 years) and we came across everything. I was hoping that he was a 30’s gum card collector since he was born in 1926, but alas, we only found the comics.

It was still really cool to go through - especially the stuff that he created. We got to read the original pitch and transcript for Omega Man 3 and see the origination of Lobo. It is very overwhelming. I thought that Heritage would want more, but they are really only looking at the high end stuff. So, we are doing a lot of homework and trying to understand what is in there. Since Grandpa built his house in 1957, there a lot to get through to get ready for the estate sale. So, the comics tend to be something that we know that we have to get to but it is lower priority as we are cleaning out closets, and barns, and garages (and I don’t think he ever threw anything away). She is targeting the end of April for an estate sale (not including the comics) so she is spending a lot of time at his house now getting it ready.

Very long winded way of saying - I appreciate the offer to help and I will take you up on it, but it could be another month to 6 weeks before I have good information to share.

Thanks!
Kevin