Anyone know anything about Comics?

[kailes2872]

Hello,

My Uncle Roger Slifer was a long-time player in the comic book world. His biggest accomplishment was co-creating the character Lobo with Keith Giffon several years ago. Lobo was introduced in Omega Man #3. He also worked with Sun Bow productions and was the story editor for My Little Pony, the movie. He had other major roles - normally as a story editor or illustrator.

Sadly, he was hit by a hit and run driver in 2012. He died in 2014. Recently, my grandfather died. All of Uncle Roger's collection was at Grandpa's house. I spent the last week helping my mom clear out his barn. Uncle Roger's personal collection was stored there. We had 9 tubs of comics - with each tub containing 500-700 books on average. We sorted them by the price on the cover. He had about 35 $0.10 copies, somewhere around 250 $0.12 copies, 150 or so $0.15 copies. He also had about 300 $0.12 copies. We did not get a count on the $0.25 copies but that was the most prevalent price. We filled an entire tub. Mom is looking now for the Hulk with Wolverine, but we believe that we saw at least one copy.

He also had several copies of different Star Wars issues. He had 9 of the 1977 Special Edition Kiss issue (Made with Real Kiss Blood!). He had probably 200 copies of Omega Man #1 and we found about 60 copies of Omega Man #3 - the one where Lobo premieres.

Additionally, we found original artwork from Omega Man #2. We found the original script that was pitched for Omega Man #3 and several other unique items like that.

It is a bit overwhelming.

If it were cards, I could be a big help. We sorted by price point and now we are trying to catalogue. We are trying to clean out Grandpa's Barn/Workshop which as a 4 day affair in and of itself and now we are trying to figure out what we have with the comics. I am sure there a lot of kindling that is akin to late '80's baseball cards, but I don't know if there is the market like there is for cards. It is going to be a huge undertaking cataloging and finding a market. If it is 5000 comics at $3 a comic it is still a nice sum - but there has to be someone willing to pay a price. I think that there is more to that - especially the original artwork and storyboard stuff.

I have been in contact with Heritage. It has been a tad frustrating because I am trying to figure out if there is anything there and he is trying to get an inventory of what we have. It will take quite some time to inventory it all and if it only has a small value, that will end up being time wasted. On top of it all, mom is 6 hours away and I spent last week helping her but I am now back home and trying to give her guidance from a distance.

Let me know if anyone knows anything or knows an expert. Even if someone told me that I had a pile of the equivalent of 5000 Rick Mahler cards, I could at least know what we had and allow us to move on to other parts of the estate.

Thanks
Kevin

[Steve D]

You need to contact Pam Brandle or Chuck Rozanski at Mile High Comics in Denver. I believe Chuck's planning a buying trip to your area in the next few weeks.

His website is www.milehighcomics.com

Steve

[kailes2872]

Thanks!

[Butch7999]

Can't vouch for or criticize / accuse any particular comix dealers, but several come through our region
a few times a year buying up valuable comix from naive sellers for pennies on the true market-value dollar,
so educate yourself on what you have and be wary of anyone offering to buy your stash. Look for
Overstreet's Comics Price Guide at your library, a bookstore, or on-line.

Do you know the brand / publisher of your older (10-, 12-, 15-, 20-, 25-cent) comix? Those are pre-1970s issues,
and if they're Marvel Comics, that was that company's golden age, and they're worth some decent-to-excellent money
unless they're in awful condition. Some of the dime comix might be pre-1960s, and anything put out by EC
would be in demand and have value (again providing they're not in miserable shape).

It's kind of impossible to give any specific advice without knowing exactly what you have. Good luck with it!

[kailes2872]

Butch,
Thanks for the feedback. That is my fear.

Most of the <$0.10-$.25 books are Marvel & DC. I looked and saw publishing dates of anywhere from 1959 to 1966. There are Action Comics, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Super Boy, Lois Lane, Hulk, Fantastic 4, X-Men, the Flash and others.

Of the 34 $0.10 books, probably half do not have a cover as those were the ones that he had when we was still very young. Nearly all of the others are in very good shape and several I would classify as Ex to Mint. All told, there are probably 1000-1200 books with $0.25 or less on the cover.

He has several Star Wars comics, however, I don't remember seeing issue #1 that brings such a premium. I believe that is a $0.35 book.

I spoke to mom last night and she is going to begin the arduous task of cataloging one by one. I think that I did her a favor by sorting by book price. Now she can start from the cheapest and prioritize. The story boards and pre-published art work are probably the biggest wild card. I am still trying to get a handle on their potential value - if any at all.

I do appreciate the help and advice. I am hoping to hear back from my Heritage connection soon. However, I think that we still have some work to do before we figure out if there is anything there.

[irv]

Originally Posted by kailes2872

Butch,
Thanks for the feedback. That is my fear.

Most of the <$0.10-$.25 books are Marvel & DC. I looked and saw publishing dates of anywhere from 1959 to 1966. There are Action Comics, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Super Boy, Lois Lane, Hulk, Fantastic 4, X-Men, the Flash and others.

Of the 34 $0.10 books, probably half do not have a cover as those were the ones that he had when we was still very young. Nearly all of the others are in very good shape and several I would classify as Ex to Mint. All told, there are probably 1000-1200 books with $0.25 or less on the cover.

He has several Star Wars comics, however, I don't remember seeing issue #1 that brings such a premium. I believe that is a $0.35 book.

I spoke to mom last night and she is going to begin the arduous task of cataloging one by one. I think that I did her a favor by sorting by book price. Now she can start from the cheapest and prioritize. The story boards and pre-published art work are probably the biggest wild card. I am still trying to get a handle on their potential value - if any at all.

I do appreciate the help and advice. I am hoping to hear back from my Heritage connection soon. However, I think that we still have some work to do before we figure out if there is anything there.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned as I just skimmed through the posts, but are there not comic book forums around that might possibly help?
In this day and age where there seems to be a forum for practically anything, I'd find it hard to believe some didn't exist for comic books?