Expert: Justin Case - 1/20/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi deran
Its derek here. I am now the proud owner of       
  
AMAZING SPIDERMAN #583 firts print.

Can you tell me if there is a place where you can find out how many prints has been made.
thanks
derek

ANSWER: Hi Derek -

Good to hear from you again!  Here is a link below that indicates that there have been two printings, check out Marvel.com as they generally have the best info regarding the newer titles published by their company.

Congrats on getting that, I can't find one anywhere!

D. -

Here is that link:

http://www.marvel.com/news/comicstories.6546.Spidey_Meets_the_President!

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QUESTION: Thanks for that. i will have a look.i dont know how much you willing to pay for it but there is a few going on ebay at the moment and the cheapest one is for $77 dollars and there is 44 min left.
Derek

ANSWER: Thanks Derek!

I have a family member who loves Obama and is really wanting me to get one so I think I'll check it out!  Have you read the story yet?  What did you think?

D. -

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QUESTION: No I have not. It’s still in the post. Can’t wait to get it. They predict it will be a comic of great significant in the feature. Don't thing I should open it even. Will just send it off to cgc for grading and lock it up for a few years. Deran do you have a website. Are you just a collector or investor or selling. I’m sorry if I ask this. I’m just so curious on knowing more and more about this new world. There is so much to learn and find out. I don’t have inside information like you guys. You know what it’s like when you started off. I read somewhere that one comic is hot and will do well for investing and then I read somewhere ells that it’s not. It’s so hard to get to the bottom of everything and to understand what makes the comic world tick. What makes a good sell and what don’t? For me starting only a few days ago is a nightmare to recall all stories and info. It’s just so much. Any way I have board you too much already. Talk later.

Answer
Hi Derek -

Congratulations!  Early reports are that it is going to be very valuable and something that will be the prize of your collection.

I don't have a website!  Maybe I should look into that?  

I started collecting comics in 1979 at the urging of my parents so I guess that means I've been doing it for 30 years!! (My how time flies).  Lucky for me I had an older cousin who was a comic book artist in the late 60's and 70's and he had a collection that was awesome and got me 'brought up to speed' on a lot of the titles DC and Marvel were doing at the time.  So I guess I've been doing it before there were even personal computers in homes!

I also had an uncle who had been collecting since World War II, and go to read most of the comics in his collection and get some real perspective.  

Comic collecting is like anything, the more you do it, the better you will get at it.  Once you identify the characters you really like you will get to know those 'worlds' and you will be able to spot pretty easily the issues that will someday be valuable.

Feel free to talk to me all you like, I LOVE comics and encourage others to look into this relatively inexpensive hobby that can yield great returns (if you play your cards right), and which can provide you with hours and hours of entertainment while teaching you about science, the universe, human nature and allowing you to develop a really killer vocabulary and high level of reading skills.

All through school I struggled with math related subjects, but was generally two grades above my peers in my reading abilities, which I attribute directly to reading too many comics!

Feel free to shoot me a question or e-mail anytime and I'd be happy to help.  The comic industry has gotten very tricky since I started three decades ago, and can be very hard to navigate sometimes.

Back in 1979 Marvel only had twenty or so titles and I could read all of them and keep up pretty easily.  Now, today something like Spiderman or the X-men can have 10 to 15 titles just by themselves and it can be hard to keep up.

Remember to get the issues you like with the characters and artists you like, today's comics cost too much to just spend money willy nilly on art or characters you don't love.

Also, try and get as many first issues as you can as those provide a good intro to the series and can signal you if the series is something you want to continue to pick up.  I generally get the first three issues of any new series before I decide whether or not to put it in my monthly stack!

One other cheap avenue you can look at in order to catch up on characters and story lines is the trade paperbacks that are available at most bookstores.  

Most of the time the trades contain anywhere from six to twelve issues bound in a paperback edition that is roughly the same size as a comic book.  A great deal of them still have pages with the covers intact.

The advantage is that you can read several issues at one sitting, with all the art intact and not have to rifle through adds.

For example, I wanted to pick up a series of Incredible Hulk issues entitled Planet Hulk, but the cover price for each of the six or seven issues was $30.00.  Instead I went to Barnes & Noble and found the trade paperback for $14.99.

Now, of course I don't have the issues in my collection, but was able to read the story and figure out if I wanted to start collecting Incredible Hulk.  I did, and managed to pick up the next few issues after the Planet Hulk story (entitled World War Hulk), and those have now risen in value.

So, in that instance I got a great return on my investment (I paid cover price for the WWH issues and they are now worth more), got to read a great story, and had some fun all because I liked the story and the art presented in the trade.

Hope that helps, I'm always here for any questions!

Deran