SCC's Comics Talk

I've been collecting comics for twenty years now. I love the hobby and would go to the local comics store regularly picking up weekly/monthly issues from my pull list. As I progressed further in the hobby, I started to make more friends that started collecting “key” comic issues.
What we mean by the term “key” is that the issue is significantly important in that it might contain an event that can shock a storyline prompting collectors to collect those comics. Events such as Secret Wars, Civil War, The Infinity Gauntlet, Death of Superman and more recently the death of Wolverine are some examples. These are key events and collectors will scramble to get the best copies, variants and also aim for the best possible “condition” of the book available.

The concept of slabbing collectibles (coins, trading cards, comics, toys, video games) has had its share of (common) problems and controversies over the years. If you are starting or have pondered starting to collect slabbed / third-party graded comics, do be aware of the three concerns below and make a considered decision before slabbing your comics or purchasing slabbed ones. 1) You Can't Read the Book Anymore! This is the one thing that amuses me the most when I discuss slabbed comics. Let’s first be clear on what I mean—I really mean that if you remove the book from the (not-unbreakable) slab, you are essentially undoing the grade given by the grading company. That is why people do not remove the book from the slab. Of course, the flipside of this is that you lose one very key reason why the book was to enjoyed and owned in the first...

Rarity - a foremost quality to hobbyists. A comic book with a print run of 100,000 is spawned from a single canvas - an original piece that was inked, coloured and then mass-produced. In the quest for exclusivity, novelty and investment value, original comic art is becoming more attractive to collectors. This article seeks to briefly address a few basic aspects of the hobby.

To those who have yet to make the voyage to San Diego Comic Con, you might have the idea that it is a Mecca for all-things ‘geek’. You would be half right as those who have gone in the last few years will tell you its actually more like Mecca at the top of Mt. Everest. And like the real Everest, you need to prepare yourself mentally and physically even if you have a lot of money to throw at the prospective expedition. Trying to get a pass now is basically the digital version of the Hunger Games. You pray for the odds to be in your favor. For my first visit to SDCC, all i had to do was send a fax and mail a cheque. If you are lucky enough to buy a pass for yourself, here is how to prepare for your first foray into what is...

Ever since the comics boom in the early 1990s, the local comics market has gone through its ups and downs (e.g. shops opening and closing, the effects of the Asian Financial Crisis, changes in story / art quality, emergence of the trade paperback market.) Regardless, I believe that the key factor that drives the market is (and will always largely be) interest in the medium as a form of leisure. On an important related note, how comics compare against other forms of leisure (e.g. video games) will matter too. Comics are meant to entertain. Accordingly, questions like who they entertain and how they entertain matter. In this light, here are three opinions that I have on the near future of the comics market here in Singapore: (i) Serious collectors will run solo and turn to the inter-net much more for the collecting needs Some would say that this has already...