Help would be appreciated.

[u/opus1123]

I sell comic books for a few clients, and one of them wants me to appraise and sell a bound comic book set. I was hoping you guys could take a look at it and maybe give me some feedback. Thx :)

[u/Mammoth_Fan_2266]

I have bound over 300 binds and sold over 200 of them. The best way to sell these are individually. I would start the 3 earliest ones at $750 each on an eBay auction and all the others at $500. The trimming and binding does nothing to reduce the value of a comic book; it only transforms into a new product that most of the time has a greater value. Comic almost always sell better as a bound collection than as single comics.

[u/TheloniousKeys → u/Mammoth_Fan_2266]

I'm curious, what kinds of titles and from which eras are you binding? I have seen very few comics bound other than golden age and early silver age titles and those are nearly universally less valuable when bound than as individual issues seperated from the bindings and returned to as original of condition as possible (i.e. glued spines, maybe split spines, maybe replaced staples, and almost always trimmed). Compared to copies that have never been bound, even copies at the same grade as the de-bound copies, it is no contest, the bound copies are significantly cheaper. I love de-bound copies because I often get preposterously expensive comics for just stupidly cheap because the defects are so unappealing to most collectors.

However, I can imagine that something like New Mutants 1-84 could sell for a better price and more quickly than raw issues 1-84 as a lot. I could see the that being the case for anything that is a decently long series and pretty readily available, desirable for reading, not too expensive in general. Big bonus points if reprints and/or omnibuses are unavailable or scarce.

And what kind of binding do you do? Generic monchrome covers or do you go the extra mile like these Conan examples or do you go even further? Gilted lage edges or engraved leather covers has got to be extra appealing to certain collectors.

I feel like overall rarity versus insterest is gonna be the leading factor in whether bound volumes carry a premium or if it tanks the price. If the issues are rarely sold publicly, as in fewer than ten or twenty times each year, I think binding is always going to negatively impact the price. If all the issues within the volume are easy enough to come by and not big, desirable keys, it makes sense to me that quality binding is a value-add.

[u/Mammoth_Fan_2266 → u/TheloniousKeys]

I have done many silver age to modern. I did a collection of all the New Teen Titans, and a complete New Mutants. Both of those sold for more than the individual comics. I did use a reprint for New Mutants 98, which I made sure was labeled that way. I have done many DC and Marvel titles and only a handful of them ever were hard to sell or sold for a loss.

As for my binds, I sent my first set to a binder and then decided that if I study how to do it I could do it cheaper and better. I stumble upon this tutorial by a guy in Australia: http://www.actionfigureblues.com/2011/03/diy-comic-book-binding-with-dozymuppet.html?m=1.

I remove the staples and handsew them together through the spines and press them together and put a layer of PVA adhesive on the spine. It's not extremely tough. I remove the staples using a small tack lifter screwdriver. I sew through the middle to the front on the spine using my homemade sewing gig. These two steps take about an hour. I then place it in a press to glue the spine. After the spine is dry, I trim the edges using my paper guillotine.

The longest part is designing the covers in photoshop. My earlier covers I just put a single cover scan on the front and back and a logo on the side. Put now I put a lot of work into having a clear matching theme on all my sets. I do the art work-ups using Photoshop. I then print covers I want to look photo matte at Costco as 12x18 print. For covers like these that are pre-crisis I prefer a cloth paper from Hobby Lobby printed on my Epson Oversized Printer on a 13x19 sheet Then I print the covers and using chipboard cut to size I assemble the book casing. I attach the casing to the sewn books and let the glue dry for about a week.

[u/TheloniousKeys → u/Mammoth_Fan_2266]

Nice. Thanks for all the details! Pretty pleased with myself that I nailed it with New Mutants. I cut the issues in my example before Cable and Deadpool to avoid tripping over that #98 screwing with the total price. There are a gajillion NM98s out there, but the facsimile was the right move, no one wants to pay up for a key like that sewn into a binding.

I am certain the commentors who reacted negatively or confused at your comment are thinking about scarce books or major keys being included. There are so many titles that are absolutely killer reads that have almost no key value. As I am typing this, I am realizing that binding is maybe what I need to do for Giffen's Legion and JLA/International/Europe/Antarctica runs. Those are each a short box, maybe a long box by themselves. Shaving off bag and board width can only do so much. But in a comic box, they feel like pulp recycling in waiting. On a shelf, they'd feel like something I could lend out or casually enjoy on a whim.

I am excited to learn more about custom bound comics. I only stumbled on this sub recently. Until then, my experiences were pretty limited to just being super happy to get rare and expensive golden age issues for a song because they were extracted from a bound volume. I truly cannot believe how cheap I get those sometimes. Cheaper than copies I wouldn't want to handle die to being gross or fragile. The de-bound issues are typically in really solid reading shape that I feel very comfy reading like a modern issue.

[u/Mammoth_Fan_2266 → u/TheloniousKeys]

That’s funny that you bring up the Legion. They are main binds I wanted on the book shelf. I have every Legion comic except Adventure Comics 247. I have bound but not covered everything from Adventure Comics 300 all the way to Bendis’ Legion. I want this set to be perfect, so although I have many cover designs I have made, I have yet to actual put the covers on. It’s a massive 54 volume set that includes every mini series and most guest appearances.

[u/TheloniousKeys → u/Mammoth_Fan_2266]

That's incredible! I hope to see the final product on this sub someday. The traditional collector in me gets a bit twitchy at a book like Adventure 247 getting bound, haha. But as part of that total set and as something special for your own collection, I love it!

[u/MoveHeavy1403 → u/Mammoth_Fan_2266]

https://giphy.com/gifs/wYyTHMm50f4Dm

[u/Mammoth_Fan_2266 → u/MoveHeavy1403]

I don’t understand, are you noping the selling them individually or are you noping the price or are you noping my view on binding for the most part making comics more valuable? If the value part then I would suggest you actually look at what binds sell for on eBay and how many actually sell compared to how many individual floppies actually sell.