everything looks perfect from far away

I used to collect comics.  The Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, The Amazing Spiderman, Spawn, X-Men Unlimited, and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.  I was back home over the holidays and my Mom made me take this stuff back, along with other things I’ve forgotten, such as year books and my high school diploma.  (She still has my baseball cards in her storage unit).

I gave most of my comics away to my younger cousins.  But I kept the ones that were most valuable.  Frank Miller’s Batman graphic novel, first issues of X-Men Unlimited and X-Men, issue 300 of The Uncanny X-Men, and issues one through four of Spawn (with posters and coupons intact).  I remember my Dad had a large envelope full of baseball cards he collected when he was a kid back in the ’40s and ’50s.  He said I could have them.  At the time, baseball cards were high entertainment, and I was a religious reader of each months Beckett (which listed card prices).  I saw them once, and then he lost them during a move.

I was hoping he’d have some baseball greats.  Mantle and DiMaggio were becoming very popular at the time my father would have been prime to collect baseball cards.  Some of those now are worth tens of thousands.

I remember talking to the comic book guy when the first issue of Spawn was released.  He’d just finished reading it and said it may start a new era.  I bought the first four issues at regular price ($1.95) and I remember seeing them on sale in the store
for much more.  In fact, issue four, which came with a coupon, was selling for $40 soon after it was released.

Using the same logic, I was sure that was a good buy.  And thus, I didn’t give these few, rare, and exclusive comics to my younger cousins.  Well, as it turns out, they were all worth much more then than now.  I don’t want any of them (except for the Batman graphic novel, because it is superb entertainment).  I was hoping to get some money out, but eBay has proved me wrong.  Each one sells for under $5.  Boo hiss.
Oh well, maybe my baseball cards will fare better when I get closer to retirement.