One part of this post is normal for this site. Once again I'm going to highlight some books coming to auction in the next few months. That's totally normal. What's not normal for this site is that the books coming to auction are my books. I know I occasionally share what I'm selling, but this is a whole new level.
After many years putting together a high grade, CGC graded Daredevil collection I've decided to sell (almost) the whole thing this year. Check out the set, Collection Without Fear, on the CGC registry for all the details. It stretches from #1 in 1964 through v2 #94 in 2007 and features over 300 high grade, CGC graded books.
I've got scans up for all the books as of this week. I wanted to capture the collection at its best before I started to break it up, so take a look while you've got the chance.
It was a lot of fun to put together and, in the process of breaking the collection up, it's going to be fun to share it with everyone one last time.
The Silver and Bronze age books (#1-#157) are going to be sold in the next ComicConnect Event Auction. The scans aren't up on the site yet, but they will be soon and they'll be open for bidding soon enough. It's going to be exciting. I drove the books down a couple of weeks ago. I'd never been to their offices before so it was great to take in the incredible art and movie posters on the walls and to see the Metropolis/ComicConnect operation behind the scenes.
In addition to that big sale, starting this Thursday the 10th (I think), I'll be selling my "Lowlife" Daredevil volume 2 set on eBay. That's the #2 registry set for volume 2, in case you're keeping track. I graded many of those myself, so it's been a lot of work putting that set together (more on that in a bit.) I'm sure there are going to be some happy Bendis/Brubaker collectors. Those books never come up for sale.
At some point after that, I'll also be selling all of my books from volume 1 between #192 and #284. I'm missing just 9 books from that run. That includes the underrated Nocenti/Romita Jr./Williamson run. I'll probably just sell those on eBay as well. Look for those in February, in all likelihood.
I'm going to keep the Frank Miller books. Those were the books that made me a Daredevil fan, so I'm going to hang onto them. I actually need three of those to finish that run. I guess I'll make one last run-finishing effort.
So, why?
This has been building for a while. Here are some reasons:
- I'm bored with putting together long runs. I've been doing it as a collecting focus for a while and, while I definitely enjoyed the challenge for many years, it's lost its appeal. So, at this point, I simply don't have the energy to finish the Daredevil volume 1 and 2 runs. I'm just a couple dozen books shy of having a solid run from 1-284 and then all of volume 2 to the end of the Bemdis run. The thing is, and trust me on this since I've done it multiple times with different runs from different eras, finishing off those runs might take two or three years. No one sells those books. No one grades those books. It would be down to me to source and grade them. I don't have any interest in doing that, so I feel less need to keep the run together in the hope of finishing the most epic version possible. I finished the run I really wanted (#1-#157, mostly 9.4+ with 55 pedigree books) a couple of years ago. It's an awesome run, but it's done and I don't get as much pleasure out of the books just sitting there as I did chasing them. That's the way it goes.
- Daredevil aside, at some point near the end of last year I had over 1100 CGC graded books. I've still got a storage space full of comics and have plenty in my office at home. I have so many books that, despite my best efforts, I can't even really keep track of what I have. I'm currently missing the Pacific Coast copy of Fantastic Four #97, for one current example. I'm tired of having that many books and want to get my collection down to something more manageable. Of what I have, I'd like to keep the Wildstorm books (The Authority, Planetary, Stormwatch and Wildcats runs) some of the Marvels (mostly keys) and then a few other random runs (All Star Superman, Tom King's Vision, etc.) Selling 330+ Daredevils goes a long way towards getting my collection down to something manageable.
- I was never going to be Doug or Tom Brulato with multiple high grade runs of all the Marvel titles. I might go ahead and do a short run of Tales of Suspense, Fantastic Four or Avengers, but I'm not spending another ten years chasing those books at this point in my life. Realizing that was liberating. I can collect random books, without a plan if I so choose. The Supeman Man 14 I bought last year (restored!) is more in line with what I'm going to be doing going forward.
- I think the ComicConnect sale will be fun. I'll have the catalog as a record of the run (more on that when it's live,) and I'll get to shamelessly pimp my collection for a few weeks. Then, when it's all over, I get a nice check. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.
So that's that for now. I'll be talking about this, as well as the other books in the ComicConnect auction and the upcoming Heritage Signature auction over the next few weeks. It's going to be a busy time.