How to get rid of old Fantagraphic comics & books

November 26, 2004 5:24 PM

[comixfilter] I stumbled across some old Fantagraphics comics & books and want to get rid of them...[MI]

Visiting home for the holidays, I found a stack (~25) of comics & books that I had picked up about 10 years ago when I lived in Seattle and a roommate worked at Fantagraphics: Peter Bagge comics and books; Duplex Planet; some Dan Clowes; Snake Eyes; Pictopia; and a few Love & Rockets books. The local comic stores (DC) don't buy them. Question #1: Are they worth going to the trouble of selling? Question #2: How do I find out how much they are worth? Question #3: Where do I sell them? I am a comix neophyte, so I don't even know where to start. Googling brings up an overwhelming array of information, and checking ebay hasn't been much help either...

posted by googly to computers & internet (9 comments total)

er...that's DC as in Washington DC, not DC comics...
posted by googly at 5:29 PM on November 26, 2004

If you don't find a good enough answer, I'd be interested in buying them to read.

Having said that, check prices on ebay or amazon.
posted by drezdn at 5:30 PM on November 26, 2004

The only way to find the true monetary value of something is to sell it.

Since it sounds like you don't want them anymore, why not divide them up into a few logical lots (as you outlined them above), and put them on eBay with a starting price of $.99 or lower and let the market decide what they are worth? If you describe them well enough so that a potential buyer can find them with a keyword search (e.g. "Clowes Eightball Fantagraphics lot of 8 comics") I don't think you need to worry that you won't get a fair price.

The worst thing that would happen is that they won't sell, and you'll be out a buck or two in listing fees--but then you can feel fine about giving the comics away somewhere.
posted by bevedog at 7:12 PM on November 26, 2004

If only there were a site on the Web where you could offer up goods for sale, and people could offer to pay you what htey think those goods are worth.
posted by jjg at 8:07 PM on November 26, 2004

googly, for the books try putting the ISBNs into the search box on www.amazon.com/books and see what comes up. Some Fantagraphics books are out-of-print and go for a decent price now.

What comics do you have? Some should come up on ebay - make certain you search completed listings - not just current ones.

If you'd like to see the stuff come full circle and come back to Seattle, feel free to donate them to the Zine Archive and Publishing Project. ZAPP currently has over 1000 indie comics and your stuff would probably be welcome. And shipping a box of comics via media mail is pretty cheap. Check with me if you want more info.
posted by gluechunk at 8:32 PM on November 26, 2004

Unfortunately, comics make a poor investment. It's rare that a shop will buy books back for any measurable amount of money - it's probably more trouble than it's worth to try to sell them on eBay, but you might have some luck.

Why not give them to a thrift store or a local library?
posted by aladfar at 9:17 PM on November 26, 2004

People will buy them -- especially if they're out of print. I imagine your local store was focused more on the latex-clad superheroes, but if you find a good indie comic shop/bookstore that knows what Love & Rockets is, they'll eat them up like nothin' else.

There's always eBay, of course...

(although I'd love to know what Love & Rockets you have, because I'd probably buy them off of you...)
posted by Katemonkey at 1:24 AM on November 27, 2004

Thanks for the tips everyone! Apparently my ebay-fu was not up to the task. Somehow, when I searched, I came up with hardly anything...
posted by googly at 7:35 AM on November 27, 2004

Whatever you do, don't bother taking them to a comic book shop. I had about 50 Silver Age books from my grandfather that I decided to sell.

Unless you've got super-rare titles in MINT condition, they're not worth a thing. There are Price Guides out there that will tell you the relative "value" of your book, but that is NOT what you can sell it for--or at least not what a comic shop will buy it for. I tend to think of those as prices that a super-desperate individual will pay if you happen to have a comic that completes their collection and is in like-new condition.

Most comic shops these days either won't buy them (especially if they already have it, or aren't positive they can sell it quickly), or will offer the seemingly-insulting offer to purchase your books by the pound, regardless of their perceived worth.

Best bet is to either put them in an acid-free plastic case with archival backing and stick them in a closet for 75-100 years (as a gift for you great-grandkids) or to try to go directly to the buyers by posting on eBay or craigslist, but don't expect to get much more than the cover price for any of them.
posted by robbie01 at 10:17 AM on November 27, 2004