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Post by DE Sinclair on Mar 22, 2016 10:41:09 GMT -5
I remember my early days of buying comics. Sometimes you got Robert Bell bags. More than once, I bought books that were in bags from the produce section of a supermarket. I took my son to a comic show when he was 9 or so and he picked up a white bag rebirth of Superman. We were sitting in the panel room between sessions and he started to tear the bag open when some guy says, "You're not opening that, are you?" Soon the whole room had divided into open/don't open factions. I hope they didn't get too pushy with your son. After all, to a 9 year old, he was doing the only thing that made sense, opening it so he could read it. People can get way too into forcing their collecting mania onto others. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 22, 2016 11:20:10 GMT -5
I remember my early days of buying comics. Sometimes you got Robert Bell bags. More than once, I bought books that were in bags from the produce section of a supermarket. I took my son to a comic show when he was 9 or so and he picked up a white bag rebirth of Superman. We were sitting in the panel room between sessions and he started to tear the bag open when some guy says, "You're not opening that, are you?" Soon the whole room had divided into open/don't open factions. I hope they didn't get too pushy with your son. After all, to a 9 year old, he was doing the only thing that made sense, opening it so he could read it. People can get way too into forcing their collecting mania onto others. How do you know what's in it if you don't open it? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2016 11:27:47 GMT -5
I hate polybags and when any collectible comics hit the rack/stand - I buy two of them and I used the old standby clear plastic bags and board to protect my investment and they immediately gets boxed and leave it alone. I keep them in alphabetical order. I never, ever buy comics in polybags!!! I just buy two comics in regular format and soon I get home ... you know the rest of the story! Wow, you have money to throw away on doubles? 99 % of comics are worth almost nothing a year later. I have a 22 inch Apple PC that is being used to read Comics Online. For every 10 Comics that I've purchased ... 8 of 10 are read online and the rest are in print. Out of 2 in print ... I rarely buy a 2nd copy knowing that they don't do too well in resell and that's what I do. I spend about $16 to $22.00 a month on Comics and sometimes I spend about $30 to $50 a month (very rarely) on Marvel Masterworks and/or DC Comics Archives Editions. |
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Post by DE Sinclair on Mar 22, 2016 11:31:44 GMT -5
I hope they didn't get too pushy with your son. After all, to a 9 year old, he was doing the only thing that made sense, opening it so he could read it. People can get way too into forcing their collecting mania onto others. How do you know what's in it if you don't open it? Exactly right. I would've done the same thing he did. Why buy it if not to read it?
{Disclaimer: These statements were not intended to re-start the slabbing/not slabbing debate. I neither know, nor care, what other people do with their comics and the last thing we need is to open that can of worms again}
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Post by Rob Allen on Mar 22, 2016 11:37:53 GMT -5
Most of my comics are not even in bags. They're stacked in ordinary cardboard boxes, not comic boxes. I plan to change that situation one of these days, probably after I retire (currently scheduled for 2027).
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Post by Bronze Age Brian on Mar 22, 2016 11:42:21 GMT -5
As a kid, these were my favorite kind of polybags:  Three issues for 99 cents, what a deal! Never much cared for the 90's fad though. Weren't they specifically made just to hold the trading card in? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2016 14:30:47 GMT -5
The polybag thing really depends. For collectors of high grade comics the polybag will hide minute spine defects and make it difficult to grade, and it has to come out of the bag to be slabbed anyway. So a particularly high grade example with large clear scans should theoretically fetch more than one in the bag still. And this is especially true of Superman 75, which could be completely destroyed along the spine and nobody would know until they opened the bag.
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Post by MDG on Mar 22, 2016 14:37:42 GMT -5
The polybag thing really depends. For collectors of high grade comics the polybag will hide minute spine defects and make it difficult to grade, and it has to come out of the bag to be slabbed anyway. So a particularly high grade example with large clear scans should theoretically fetch more than one in the bag still. And this is especially true of Superman 75, which could be completely destroyed along the spine and nobody would know until they opened the bag. So it's like Schrödinger's cat: it's in mint condition, but if you try to check, it's not anymore. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 22, 2016 14:44:53 GMT -5
Most of my comics are not even in bags. They're stacked in ordinary cardboard boxes, not comic boxes. I plan to change that situation one of these days, probably after I retire (currently scheduled for 2027). I never actually bought bags. At most I unbagged lousy comics and used their bag and board for more valuable issues, but overall most of my stuff is just filed in long boxes in a dark and dry place. No degradation to report yet, although re-re-re-reading does tend to bring them all to a VG level. Not that I'm complaining! |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Mar 22, 2016 15:15:53 GMT -5
I still have Ren & Stimpy #1 polybagged. I love those two (yeah, I bought multiple copies. Sue me.  )
It included a free "Air Fouler," but the best part was the blurb enticing you to open the bag to read the "secret message."
SPOILER: The message was, "You eediot! You opened the bag! Now the comic is worthless!" Heh. Inspired. |
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Mar 22, 2016 16:44:35 GMT -5
I have the White Death of Superman still in its bag. I also think I have an X-Force #1 and some Amazing Spider-Man annual still in the bag (number #26 maybe?....villain called Annex?)
I haven't opened them mainly because I just have no strong desire to read the books within. That, and the fact that the bags have survived is kind of neat to think. I really like the older bags they did, where you got three comics for a buck...that sorta thing. Those I would keep bagged, regardless of whether there is the possibility that it could damage the comics.
I have a question. What is the rarest or perhaps most valuable comic to ever come in a polybag?
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Mar 22, 2016 17:39:22 GMT -5
As a kid, these were my favorite kind of polybags: Three issues for 99 cents, what a deal! Never much cared for the 90's fad though. Weren't they specifically made just to hold the trading card in? Last year, I was in a Dollar General and saw that a company is still doing these! Unfortunately, the bags consisted of over printed '90s books so, excited as I was, I just couldn't bring myself to buy any of them. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Mar 22, 2016 17:44:49 GMT -5
I hope they didn't get too pushy with your son. After all, to a 9 year old, he was doing the only thing that made sense, opening it so he could read it. People can get way too into forcing their collecting mania onto others. How do you know what's in it if you don't open it? Faith. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Mar 23, 2016 20:59:04 GMT -5
I'll be 100% honest with you guys, I had no idea polybags were meant to be collectible. I though they were either to a) hold a card or some other extra collectible (which I guess, if it's there, would make the book worth a bit more), or b) to keep people from flipping through it and/or hiding the cover so they don't get spoilers before they were supposed to.
I guess the recent DC ones were meant to make the comic a lottery ticket (open it to see if you get a rare variant!) but that's not a 'classic' thing.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,872
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Post by shaxper on Mar 24, 2016 4:51:05 GMT -5
I'll be 100% honest with you guys, I had no idea polybags were meant to be collectible. I though they were either to a) hold a card or some other extra collectible (which I guess, if it's there, would make the book worth a bit more), or b) to keep people from flipping through it and/or hiding the cover so they don't get spoilers before they were supposed to. I guess the recent DC ones were meant to make the comic a lottery ticket (open it to see if you get a rare variant!) but that's not a 'classic' thing. The McFarlane Spidey #1 was, to my knowledge, the first polybgagged comic to really draw attention to itself for coming in a polybag. It didn't come with anything -- no collectible trading card or poster or anything -- it was just in a sealed bag. And, for some reason, people were immediately selling them (practically off the stands) for $20 a pop as compared to the non-bagged versions selling for cover price. I still don't understand what happened.  |
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