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Post by Rags on Sept 5, 2024 13:06:55 GMT -5
IDW has some fantastic Hardcovers but damn, the OOP ones can be pricey....including Archie.
I guess I shouldn't complain when I get 90% of my other HCs way below RRP.
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rich
Full Member
Posts: 334
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Post by rich on Sept 7, 2024 8:11:03 GMT -5
Slabbed comics suck. I would not buy a comic just to sit in a box and never be read. What's the point?!?
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 7, 2024 11:56:33 GMT -5
Slabbed comics suck. I would not buy a comic just to sit in a box and never be read. What's the point?!? How else can you be taunted by the lingering thought that the pages behind the cover are actually blank?
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Post by Batflunkie on Sept 7, 2024 13:26:53 GMT -5
Slabbed comics suck. I would not buy a comic just to sit in a box and never be read. What's the point?!? How else can you be taunted by the lingering thought that the pages behind the cover are actually blank? There's a panel towards the end of Bartman #1 that greatly emphasizes this point. A new issue of Radioactive Man is completely dipped in a form of ink to the point where it can never be read, hence increasing it's collectability and value I don't mind people doing whatever they want with their money, it's theirs. If it means something to you personally, go ahead and slab it! I don't judge.
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 7, 2024 15:35:57 GMT -5
I don't mind people doing whatever they want with their money, it's theirs. If it means something to you personally, go ahead and slab it! I don't judge. Agreed. When it comes to my rare Golden Age titles, yes, they are slabbed for preservation, but I have more than enough reprints as floppies, Treasury Editions, HBs, TPBs, etc., that I'm not depriving myself of the point of owning / enjoying the content--the reason I collected in the first place. There's a balance in the interest in reading/collecting comics, but for those who do not have reprint for reading, its up to you if you read the very old titles.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Sept 7, 2024 18:02:00 GMT -5
Meh. They can do what they want with their money, but I’ll absolutely judge them.
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Post by Rags on Sept 7, 2024 18:17:10 GMT -5
Slabbed comics suck. I would not buy a comic just to sit in a box and never be read. What's the point?!?
Who knows? Maybe I just have a fetish. I own almost 285 of them.
Does it suck to me? Nope. I don't tell others what to do with their comics, and really couldn't care less what they think of me or mine.
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Post by Icctrombone on Sept 7, 2024 19:00:50 GMT -5
No judgement. Slabs are not for reading, they are either for investment purposes or just to have as an artifact. I buy toys every few years and never open them up. It's kind of the same thing.
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Post by supercat on Sept 7, 2024 19:28:15 GMT -5
I'll preface that I too believe people are free to spend their money how it makes them happy with comics.
However, I do not look favorably upon slabbing myself. One reason is that I think it has encouraged an enormous surge in a speculative market that is founded in "numeric wins" with slabbing services versus a collector community that enjoys the hobby as more, well, a hobby in the traditional sense including learning how to grade comics to make informed purchases for themselves.
I frequently read people gleefully post how they were able to keep resubmitting say a "9.2" book until they got a "9.6" and oh the money they will make out of it. But it feels like that's less caring about the book itself or what someone buying it down the road is really getting, and more about getting your number and working the market. I remember when slabbing was becoming a big deal in coin collecting 30 years ago, we had the cautionary phrase "buy the coin, not the number", and the same I think applies to comic books. If you don't assess the grading yourself, then all you have are "bragging rights" on the number you bought, but not necessarily an informed purchase. And again, if that brings you enjoyment (and I think it really does for many people), I'm not "judging it" in that I think people are wrong to do so despite what I said above, but it's not something I can relate to either.
The other issue I have is as a collector of older comics, I want to read them. And the disproportionate number of harder to find back issues that are now slabbed have made the supply a fraction of what it used to be for prospective buyers like me. The Golden Age material is downright heartbreaking for me, these scarce books that can't be read in their original form. I want the original coloring, no restoration in a reprint, I want to savor history in my hands and see the ads and someone's name scribbled on the inside of the cover and all that jazz. Heck, I even want to smell the darn things. If you've already decided the book should be slabbed, you've taken that decision away from me.
Also, I find a lot of the attempts to "improve books" like the horrible pressing jobs people keep doing are ruining the originality. Again, I'm not into the money side of this personally, I just buy books to read them. But that's me, I know others really do enjoy the wheeling and dealing. I just wish they would leave the books more original.
I'm sure it's a topic that will continue to have very divided opinions!
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Sept 7, 2024 19:34:54 GMT -5
Every couple of years this topic rears up its ugly head here, every couple of years there are those who like it and those who don't. Every couple of years hundreds if not thousands of words of verbiage is thrown around about the topic without one person rethinking or changing their mind about the issue. Every couple of years the discourse of this eventually becomes filled with rancor on one side or the other and we end up losing someone from our community because they're tired of that kind rancor in these types of endlessly futile discussions. It's a topic we just need to retire because nothing good ever comes of discussing it here. No one is going to change their mind, nothing is added to our community by it, and more often than not something (or someone) is subtracted from our community because of it.
There are endless possibilities of topics for discussion about comics, let's move on form this one please before the cycle perpetuates itself.
-M
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Post by supercat on Sept 7, 2024 19:46:05 GMT -5
Every couple of years this topic rears up its ugly head here, every couple of years there are those who like it and those who don't. Every couple of years hundreds if not thousands of words of verbiage is thrown around about the topic without one person rethinking or changing their mind about the issue. Every couple of years the discourse of this eventually becomes filled with rancor on one side or the other and we end up losing someone from our community because they're tired of that kind rancor in these types of endlessly futile discussions. It's a topic we just need to retire because nothing good ever comes of discussing it here. No one is going to change their mind, nothing is added to our community by it, and more often than not something (or someone) is subtracted from our community because of it. There are endless possibilities of topics for discussion about comics, let's move on form this one please before the cycle perpetuates itself. -M I would hope we can talk about it respectfully and have differing opinions without seeking to offend others' personal tastes. This topic is a major aspect of the modern marketplace and will likely continue to be so for a long time to come, and with the many newer members that have joined over the years, it is likely of interest to some who were not here for those prior conversations. I do fully understand your point that regressing into dialogue that is offensive is a strong caution based on the prior history you mention, but personally (and I'm sure a mod may have an opinion here) I think having a respectful conversation on a somewhat divisive topic that stays in bounds could be a positive here. Like it or not, slabbing has a big impact on the collector marketplace, maybe we can all agree to disagree at the end of the day (again, politely) but at least get those opinions out there. I don't state my opinions to change someone's mind (I don't expect that at all actually), but more to share how my experience in buying comics has gotten more complex. At no point do I begrudge someone still purchasing what they do, and if they are excited and post a new slabbed comic in the new purchases thread, I am genuinely very happy for them and will always give that like because we can still support each other even if we don't have the same purchasing tastes.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 7, 2024 19:46:51 GMT -5
I personally have no interest in a slabbed comic.. I buy comics because I want to read them,.. and slabbed comics are extra expensive and can't be read.
That said, if you're buying slabbed variant covers as a poster more or less, I can see it (I still wouldn't pay the extra myself, but if you care about condition...) Or if you're trying to make money, more power to you.
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Post by Rags on Sept 7, 2024 19:47:23 GMT -5
I'm sure it's a topic that will continue to have very divided opinions!
Yep. There's also quite a lot I can roll my eyes about in the slabbed world as well.
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Post by rberman on Sept 7, 2024 20:05:29 GMT -5
I buy reprint collections because I am more interested in the story and art than the physicality of a fragile individual 22 page comic, a format originally designed for single-use reading followed by discard and destruction. When I want a related collectible, I buy and preserve original art pages.
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Post by Rags on Sept 7, 2024 20:15:08 GMT -5
I personally have no interest in a slabbed comic.. I buy comics because I want to read them,.. and slabbed comics are extra expensive and can't be read.
Yes they can, the slab can be opened for that purpose. The only thing that gets voided is the grade.
I know people who buy slabbed books graded 4.0 - 4.5 (VG grades) just to ensure the book wasn't tampered with (colour touch and trimming being the main points of contention). And then, they open the slab, bag and board the book and put it in the longbox. Slabs aren't a finality.
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