Need some help from an expert on this Batman giant collection of comics

[DarkKnight00]

First post please be gentle LOL


So me and my son got into comic books about 2 years ago, Batman and Justice League are our favs by far!


We Batman, Detective, etc from New 52 and after and treasure them dearly. Well we want to collect some older Batman and saw that it is pretty extensive and can be costly.


Well recently a fellow co worker told me he and his wife collected comics for years and he had almost all DC comics from the early 80's into the mid 00's



I might buy a GIANT Batman collection from him, they are all near perfect condition, they are in plastic bags with the boards in big white boxes, below is what he wants for them and the numbers



Collection is Batman numbers 325-713, Detective Comics 495-881, Legends of Dark Knight 1-214

It is a straight run, every Batman and Detective from around 1980 up to 2011!!



He is wanting $3200 for them all, 1100+ comics total, he also has tons of tie ins, all the no man lands extras as well as Knightquest tie ins

The money is no issue really, I worry I may never see a complete run like this again

[PurpleGlovez]

I'm not an expert on market value but honestly that sounds like a very good price for that many comics. Having a straight run of Batman from 325 to 713 would be pretty impressive in and of itself, and depending on how many extras, tie-ins and specials he has it could be a really good deal.

[DarkKnight00]

Yeah the guy at our LCS said the Batman alone may approach the 2500 mark. He said that does not mean you could sell for that but they are worth that he thought

[JBatmanFan05]

Hypothetically, he's essentially charging you $2.90 per comic, so that would seem to be a good fair deal (assuming you have the requisite space for such a voluminous collection and all).

[DarkKnight00]

Hypothetically, he's essentially charging you $2.90 per comic, so that would seem to be a good fair deal (assuming you have the requisite space for such a voluminous collection and all).

Yeah have the space. Made room in an extra bedroom that already has 4 long boxes lol

I saw pictures, wow these things are all like new right off the rack! Some older ones are nice, like VF+ and VF/NM but nonetheless nice!!



It is hard for me in a way becasue digital reading is so "cheap" nowadays if you know where to look but just owning floppies is so cool and nostalgic to me


Maybe a dumb question but I am a 47 year old fuddy duddy lol, do you think a collection like this would hold it's value well? I mean not for resale but this is not a collection that overnight would end up being worth a buck an issue or something right? All assuming Batman remains popular with the next generation

[JBatmanFan05]

do you think a collection like this would hold it's value well? I mean not for resale but this is not a collection that overnight would end up being worth a buck an issue or something right? All assuming Batman remains popular with the next generation

I'm reluctant to opine on this question. I think Batman will long, long remain popular, and so you'd think that will carryover some to his comics. I think the value will hold enough, but everything is always a matter of how much time (how many years or decades are we thinking about) ?...and (in X year in the future) is their a big enough market of interested humans in the physical comics still? Tough questions that few or none can provide the answer to.

[thwhtGuardian]

Yeah have the space. Made room in an extra bedroom that already has 4 long boxes lol

I saw pictures, wow these things are all like new right off the rack! Some older ones are nice, like VF+ and VF/NM but nonetheless nice!!



It is hard for me in a way becasue digital reading is so "cheap" nowadays if you know where to look but just owning floppies is so cool and nostalgic to me


Maybe a dumb question but I am a 47 year old fuddy duddy lol, do you think a collection like this would hold it's value well? I mean not for resale but this is not a collection that overnight would end up being worth a buck an issue or something right? All assuming Batman remains popular with the next generation

Comics aren't a great investment so I wouldn't include, "would this hold its value?" into your consideration. It's purely an entertainment purchase, so all you have to ask is, "would I enjoy reading this?" or "could I get more entertainment value if I used this money elsewhere?"

Also, where are all you guys seeing these collections go up for sale? This is the second thread in like a month about this.

[DarkKnight00]

Comics aren't a great investment so I wouldn't include, "would this hold its value?" into your consideration. It's purely an entertainment purchase, so all you have to ask is, "would I enjoy reading this?" or "could I get more entertainment value if I used this money elsewhere?"

Also, where are all you guys seeing these collections go up for sale? This is the second thread in like a month about this.

Someone else had this question? Same comic issues?

I just got lucky and had a co worker wanting to sell, I never really looked around for these. I mean I saw smaller runs on eBay but to put this type of thing together with all issues was mind boggling so I kinda gave up at the end of 2021



Also he emailed me and he does have EVERY SINGLE tie in issue form ALL Batman story lines throughout the entire run and is also tossing in the Gotham Knights run of 1-74 and a bunch of mini series for me

[Phoenixx9]

Sounds good deal. Buy it before someone else gets all dem good issues.

[DarkKnight00]

I'm reluctant to opine on this question. I think Batman will long, long remain popular, and so you'd think that will carryover some to his comics. I think the value will hold enough, but everything is always a matter of how much time (how many years or decades are we thinking about) ?...and (in X year in the future) is their a big enough market of interested humans in the physical comics still? Tough questions that few or none can provide the answer to.

Picking up the collection tonight!! He also has over 200 mini series and one shots he threw in for $300, it really is unbelievable!



So is there a definite list for reading all of these in chronological order vs release date? Below is the collection again I would GREATLY appreciate any help on reading list for year one and up. Pre 1986 I can just read when I want


Batman 325-713
Detective 495-881
LODK 0-214
Gotham Knights 1-74
Shadow of The Bat 0-84


Also I already have Dark Victory, Long Halloween, Mad Monk, etc and other complete sets

[JBatmanFan05]

So is there a definite list for reading all of these in chronological order vs release date?

All I can point to is this: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/

There's no definite anything really for most Post-Crisis Batman comics. The newsstand and chronology functions on Mike's Amazing are THE BEST resources on the net as to the chronological/publication order for these comics (the default often is going by publication date, and using the first or last issue (of an arc) to order issues/arcs via publication order...I myself usually go by the first issue of an arc, for example, I will deem that Batman XX5-XX8 occurs before Detective Comics XX1-XX8 if Batman XX5 (the first issue of the arc) was published before Detective Comics XX1 (the first issue of that arc).

Now, Legends of the Dark Knight ("LOTDK") (where most of the stories take place earlier in Batman's career) is a different beast, and its chronology is not clear and will forever be debated. No matter what order on the net you may find, don't think that order represents some consensus or clear answer, it will always be quite unsettled. My personal order for "early Batman," his main/best stories from that period is:
Year One (not LOTDK)
LOTDK Shaman
Batman and the Monster Men (not LOTDK)
Batman and the Mad Monk (not LOTDK)
Batman: The Man Who Laughs (not LOTDK)
LOTDK Prey
LOTDK Gothic
LOTDK Blades
The Long Halloween (not LOTDK)
LOTDK Faces

(note: There's a site out there called RealBatmanChronology (RBC is my shorthand acronym for it) that's a super deep dive into attempting to craft a chronological order for Batman comics, especially Post-Crisis, but I really don't agree with a lot of its extreme and petty methodology, but it's good to use when certain stories do have certain in-story events/references that call for deviating from publication order....for example, say Shadow of the Bat #X5 has a scene of Robin visiting Azrael, RBC might be the place where it points out that Azrael refers to this moment in Batman #XX9 so you know then that Shadow #X5 (published 1 week after Batman #XX9, yes things like this happen) actually should be read before Batman #XX9)

[SixSpeedSamurai]

I think it's too much. He'd never get that trying to sell the whole thing. The best bet for the seller is to sell the keys separate. I'd offer like $2500 to $2750 at most. There are only a handful of books in there that are really worth anything, Year One, Year Two, First Jason Todd, Death in the Family, Batman 423, First Damian, Jock's Joker Detective cover.

You'd be doing him a favor, the amount of time and work he'd have to do to make any money off them himself is a lot. A dealer wouldn't give him anymore than $2000 for that.

[JBatmanFan05]

I think it's too much. He'd never get that trying to sell the whole thing. ...I'd offer like $2500 to $2750 at most. ..A dealer wouldn't give him anymore than $2000 for that...You'd be doing him a favor, the amount of time and work he'd have to do to make any money off them himself is a lot.

As of today in 2022, you definitely have somewhat of a fair point, looking at it from that particular perspective. OP said this however: "The money is no issue really, I worry I may never see a complete run like this again." So if I read that to mean he's more concerned about getting a big complete enough chunk in one easy fell swoop, and money is less of a concern, then I can say that's not some totally unjustified asking price by the seller. Not like the seller is really tricking this guy by asking for say $5-$10 for each comic (if you just do asking total price divided by number of comics).

Considering the original sale price of each comic, considering the gas possibly expended by the seller to purchase each comic, seller's desire for return/break even/not total loss, etc....all can fairly be considered when interrogating or thinking about this total asking price of $3200 or $3500.