What Exactly is a Comic Book "Warehouse Find" and How Does it Impact Prices? | ft. Golden Age Guru

[@CaptainSauce]

Earlier this year 2 sealed boxes of Spider-Woman #1 (1978) sold for $20k each on ebay. They estimated all 600 issues were 9.6 or 9.8. Over half the CGC census is now 9.6+ and they're everywhere.

[@morgant5160]

Great stories , love to learn about the behind the scenes events that shape the comic industry. Great stuff you should make it part of your podcast.

[@nickvalueguycomics3984]

I bought a collection from someone who had 40 unopened diamond distribution boxes from the early 90's, it was the most exciting comic experience.

[@goldenageguru]

It’s a crazy sight to see all those books in boxes like that.

[@bobjohnson1096]

And what did you find...

[@nickvalueguycomics3984]

@@bobjohnson1096 Batman adventure 12's, GI Joe 155's, Evil Ernie 1's, Spect Spidey 118 around 50 of them, a ton more! sad part was I got rid of all the previews books never thought that would be worth anything

[@nickvalueguycomics3984]

90's get a bad rap, but there are many valuable books in that era

[@RockandrollNegro]

In 2000, I attended a warehouse auction for a local convenience/grocery store distributor that went bankrupt. There were pallets full of mid-nineties newsstand copies of Marvel, DC and Image. I bid $100 and got outbid by someone who put in a $500 bid. They walked away with probably 10,000 uncirculated comics, which to be blunt, were practically worthless at the time. A newsstand copy of Spawn # 1 for example was going for $5 in 9.6ish condition, so I thought the guy was crazy for putting $500 down on a bunch of nineties comics. But little did I know that twenty years later, people would be paying outrageous prices for New Mutants #98 and Infinity Gauntlet #1, so if that guy still has those books, he probably would be sitting on a small fortune now.

[@goldenageguru]

Thanks for sharing this story, it was a really fun read.

[@anthonyobituary1394]

First appearance of punisher cases found in chicago warehouse and the guy tanked the value at the time sending stacks to cgc

[@hoknes]

Thor #132 from the 1960s is ridiculously common and must have been in a warehouse find years ago that did not get attention but check out the census - thats one example. I helped clear out a backissue inventory of a store in 1998 on ebay and at that time was huge massive stacks of Spider-Woman #1-5, Ms Marvel 16-18 etc when those books were not really worth anything.

[@silveragesurfer_COMICS]

FF48 for sure. The 'drama' of the Watcher makes it for me 🤓 Who better to announce the arrival of Galactus!? Great information Guru and 101...thx for the video

[@goldenageguru]

Thanks for taking the time to watch the vid.

[@jacobgifford894]

#49 is my favorite hands down

[@jeremytulloch9553]

More will be found. Who knows how much of the 90's overprinted comics are still in cases that have not been opened yet.

[@robertt9342]

They have to be getting thrown out or burned at some point.

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

Very good point. I think some of it is turning up at Swap-a-rama meets. I sometimes see guys there selling long boxes of titles, and from what I've gleened, they're 90s books... Cable, Milestone titles, Legion of Superheroes, STEEL, Image titles.

[@thomasgray9824]

I don’t believe it when even today they claim “low print run”.ive been in printing for years and all the money is in the make ready ,plates and setup.its cheaper to run massive quantities.why go to all the hassle to print say 15k when 100k isn’t much more?this industry is a giant shell con game...

[@robertt9342]

@Thomas Gray . Simple an answer, cost and profitability. There are a few different reasons for having low print runs, but mainly we are talking about regular titles. While it might be more economical for printing to just have massive print runs, it's not the only considerations. Much like standard manufacturing, Publishers must buy space/time at the printer, buying more of this is not very economical. If you are only going to sell 50,000 individual comics of a particular title then why pay the cost to produce 300,000 or a 1,000,000? That's just throwing money away even though the cost per book decreases. You have to then consider storage costs. Warehouse space costs money and you are producing more books then you need so those extra books only eat into your profits by sitting there. There is a reason why books either get sold or once warehouse space fills up, they get pulped. This is all pretty much the same reason why poplar books have multiple print runs instead of producing millions of them to just sit there and cost the publishers money. The low print runs of 2nd/3rd/4th/5th/etc . print runs. These really harken back to the first couple of points where demand outstripped sales expectations and their original allotted print runs couldn't be increased to fit the need as they only paid to get a certain amount printed. The following print runs are usually so small as to just cover what they think they might need, or its just an issue of where they can buy the time to get the issue printed in between other runs. Some books might have a cap on them for low print runs because of marketing. There is probably some overage to account for errors and damage, but overall would be close to the claimed print run. This requirement would be a legal one. Sure it would be nice to print in excess and slide them out the door later, but that's not good business as you run the risk of being sued. In cases where the print run is designated to be very small, then they might produce whatever the lowest print run the printer would allow and pulp the rest. I am sure for some specialty books there might be some contractual obligations where it will limit print runs or it will incur further costs. Now if we are talking about variant covers, that's just artificial and they do it to create interest in a title. These are likely just small yields married to a regular print book.

[@_C_Squared_]

Because it's about controlling the narrative. A greedy buyer will harp on a low print run but go out and buy a dozen copies, one from each store. With all these low print runs a lot of the speculation buyers seem to have every single issue. Low print run also means people have hoarded.

[@RockandrollNegro]

"Low print run" is also relative. Every comic produced today is "low print run" compared to 30 years ago, and comics in 1985 were low print run compared to comics in 1945.

[@immortalweb2580]

I'm on Tom's side with FF 49.

[@hotram1]

I've stumbled across a few wharehouse box sales on Ebay for comics and I recently saw one for 50 Black Widow statues.

[@ericpark7877]

I love the little Bone figurine in the background! My favorite comic! Keep up the great work guys! Appreciate all the energy and effort on your part!

[@chrishackett8872]

OMG normally don't care about art prints but that BatGirl is on fire !! Not sure if its possible but they need to do a comics cover for you. Its got that Michelle Pfeiffer Catwoman look.

[@latch78]

Hearing about the guy selling batches of Hulk 181's and then going back to his guy to re-up made me think of a crack dealer for some reason. 🤔

[@robertt9342]

Technically, wouldn't it be more like a cartel, selling to a local dealer.

[@tonymiles273]

I've heard of FF 48 and Spider woman 1. Boy I'd love to find a case of Hilk 181! Great video guys!

[@itzXdavid247]

Thank you for all you do ^_^ your information really does ring in my head while I go comic hunting

[@goldenageguru]

Thanks Dave, hope we help you find a killer book in the wild you wouldn’t have otherwise have noticed.

[@catherinekarl8811]

Thanks for all you do ^_^ I hear y’all a voices in my head when I go comic hunting

[@goldenageguru]

Thank you so much for the kind words. Good luck on the hunt and hopefully those voices guide into some great books.

[@TheEricHines]

I have a shipping container full of Ultimate Fallout 4

[@demp6025]

That's why you don't tell people about your find and just sell one at a time over a period of time.

[@Gordypow]

That would be my strat. Have an hidden room with my stash and leak it out lolol

[@ionstorm01]

My LCS owner has 2 boxes full of NYX 4, and laments that he didn’t make a big order of the previous issue.

[@AwesomeSauceRadio]

It’s great to see you just back on the bike. These stories are amazing and inspiring. And is Tom channeling glasses for the Greek corner? Keep your pet pet strong use the force I love you guys

[@FreeKeyLoowee]

FF 49 ALL DAY Tom😂 Great vid guyz. Tom you have a super human hunger for comics man 🙏

[@Ready4Wednesday]

LOVE these stories. Need more vids like this

[@jesusdejesusjr.6991]

Great show Grab some food comic Tom lol!! Awesome still hungry!!🙌🏽👍🏽

[@garybthecasualcomicguy5136]

That was a great episode. Love this kind of info. I think in a previous video you guys were talking about a warehouse find of Spider-woman #1's.

[@ericcampbell9553]

Wish I could find a case of sweet books like that!

[@hoknes]

Major Inapak from 1951 must have had a gigantic unsold lot or warehouse find - thousands of high grade copies exist for example.

[@goldenageguru]

That’s definitely true, same with Heroes Inc Presents Cannon 1 and many others.

[@HydraCollectables]

Fantastic Video. Warehouse finds are such an interesting (and scary) part of the Hobby.

[@goldenageguru]

True.

[@barbariankungfu]

I met a guy at the flea market that found a case( 150 copies) of space ace. A late 50's give away comic. It had a cool jet pack cover and looked cool. Picked 4 copies up from him for 7$, lol total!

[@Deephouse_Gent66]

Holy crap! This is a concept I never knew existed, and it takes speculation buying to a whole new level! Would love to spend just a month on the "inside" of the industry and see what treasures I could come across!

[@chriscarter3023]

That Mile High II story was a great read.

[@Belowone]

I wish you guys talked about underground comics and the market place on that, that would be interesting. But then again there underground, some rare some don’t care lol

[@goldenageguru]

The underground market is definitely an interesting conversation. Will have to script something at some point.

[@wolves1fan830]

Love this story it'd be like winning the Powerball finding those wolverines to a comic collector

[@goldenageguru]

Yup.

[@ohitsallama]

Love this type of content! Love the comic collector stories/mythos

[@battlerager]

Loved the history, keep it coming!

[@safcollectibles8423]

I could sit and listen to these stories all the time

[@Sal_comics]

Great video. I love FF 48 a bit more, has more drama and mystery to it. That's a grail for me in high grade :)

[@bradforddillman7671]

That True Life Secrets 23 is fairly common, but what most collectors don’t know it’s actually a swipe/reprint of an earlier Fox comic that you never see.

[@michaelirizarry4860]

With the paper drives during the war period, surprising ware houses had those golden age books. FF 48, must keep to the classics...

[@jacobgifford894]

A case of 181 whattttttt that's my top #1 comic on my list

[@toddkvamme]

Missed this video 9 months ago...but i saw a case of Hulk 181 at a con in Oakland/San Francisco in the mid to late 1990's. At the time it was ~$200 each or something, I don't remember. But it had value...which is why it was so memorable. The books literally still had the twine wrapped around them. And any Mile High 2 book stands out clearly in the CGC census. Just look at Thor 132.

[@lostcomicjunkie2724]

Seen a box of Spider-Man Unlimited #1 and most of Maximum Carnage runs. Picked up 10 and still some to grade. Newsstand. Got ASM #361 9.2 on my wall from that seller. Got some better copies of each.

[@bscomicsandcollectables4353]

I LOVE being Canadian!......EXCEPT when it comes to MISSING OUT on the Comic Tom mail call🙄 Great looking books!!! Great Video

[@miguelh4750]

Wow great stories ! That explains why FF49 is so valuable in 9.8

[@kennethmichael5404]

Unknown Comics has had a couple of recent "warehouse finds", always key books, always with the prices jacked way up. "VENOM" #3, "Immortal HULK #2", "SOMETHING is Killing The CHILDREN" #1 (Frison Variant), to name a few. I call BS. Any comic shop KNOWS how many books they ordered. You don't just find a bunch of books that just happen to be jumping in price. Period. I know this example may not necessarily fit your description of a warehouse find, but they literally sell them described as exactly that.

[@lostcomicjunkie2724]

@thehb2k There are a few LCS in each area that pull 💩 like that. I spend a lot $$$ weekly. I had a corporate store pull the same stunt on me. $200 a week at that shop. I called them up and canceled my pull list and told them why. They called me back 3 times trying to explain. From my understanding it was massive debt. I told them that's poor business practices on your behalf. You pass that along to the consumer. Also not good business. I have a beautiful LCS that I now spend $900-$1200 a month in. The owner calls me when he has stuff coming in. Exclusive, ratios, rare copies, low print copies and everything else under the sun. he even put stuff in my box he knows I'm going to love but either have not seen or mist missed. Not once has he overcharged me. As a matter of fact, he's under charged me at times!!! When he does this I automatically past the Good karma along to a customer in the store. Usually the younger generations, or those that serve our country. This gentleman has very very little debt. He does not do the Diamond shuffle. He will wheel and deal with other lcss to get what he needs for his box pulls. Everyone is always happy. The man does his job! Every tidbit of information I gather from talking to writers and artists I will divulge that information to him, because of the way he treats his customers. Via KZbin, I have mentioned his shop and comic junkies have ordered from him. When Batman Damned came out... Every book besides the one that he sent to cgc for the shop went out cover price. Just this week a customer found to Thor god of thunder #6. He let them go for $4.25 as priced. Those books are going for $200. Gotham City Comics Mesa, AZ.

[@victorcreed3320]

Agree with thehb2k,Order my order My batman dammed 1, then I noticed the prices were rising fast,then I was told they didn't received the right amount soon after they were selling it for high price 🤦‍♂️

[@lostcomicjunkie2724]

@@victorcreed3320 That sucks bro. Now I have been in my LCS when the Diamond shipment comes in. It has been a good six weeks since a full order has come in correctly. A vast majority of the employees packing boxes, are not even employees. They are convicts from the jails and prisons, working for way less than minimum wage. They don't give two chicks and a duck. My LCS was missing all of its IT EATS WHAT FEEDS IT #2 and THOR #6. Diamond really does not care about you or me. They don't have to deal with us. The greatest thing to happen in such a long time is DC pulling out from Diamond. 30% drop for them. If they don't fix the issues, more companies that can afford it, will drop them like a bad habit. DC and Marvel created the monster known as Diamond. Now, LCS will use that as an excuse, unless the owner is altruistic, like Kevin at Gotham City Comics in Mesa, AZ. Box holders will always get cover price a good week after a book hits the self. If he is out and can special order it, and still in stock,...cover price. Ash Ave comics will certainly work with box holders and regulars. I've called the owner out on some of his practice. He has lamented to an extent. If a book shoots up and he has copies on the shelf...he will jack them up. I spoke to him about how wrong it was to do that. I also reminded him the power of social media and the media itself. I work in sports medicine and have contact at local news stations. I gave the owner a link to me being interviewed. That's all it took. I'm not sure how he treats others, but if there's a book he has and I couldn't get at my LCS, he will give it for fair market value to me. Corporate comic shops are a whole other beast. I have one in my area, and unfortunately, I have to visit there on Monday. I really dislike going to this shop, but they order mass quantities of books. One of the recent Venom errors... They asked box holders if they wanted the error or a new book coming a week later. I know for a fact they got 30 issues of the error. They sold them for $$200 a pop. If a box holder hadn't come before the new ones came in, they replace them. Unfortunately capitalism and greed has overtaken the world. We made that possible. Some of the shops will dig their own graves and I'm playing the smallest violin for them. I was spreading my money around to five different shops. I'm down to 2. One I get my exclusive variants at. The other I spend $900-$1200 a month in. I get pretty good deals from an online store as well, The Comic Mint. Again, unfortunately $$$ talks and having good communicationwith them certainly helps in prices shipping and getting good deals. Those that have it, $$$, can usually get what they want. You can certainly make more money by helping a great many consumers with small quantities of money and orders, versus a few that that have more money, but a lot of places don't see it that way. I would certainly rather have 500k people spend $5, then one person spend $1M. It may take time for 500k to spend that $5. Somos will go for that one person and $1M and leave 500k people and $2.5M on the table.

[@marcusevans6234]

I’ve got all 3 48, 49 and 50 in excellent condition

[@goldenageguru]

A great trifecta.

[@jr_nerdlife]

I'm a Watcher fan so FF48 is the book.

[@derekwilkinson6920]

Where is the link to the Mile High II article?

[@ComicTom101]

www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg66.html

[@derekwilkinson6920]

@@ComicTom101 Thank you for letting me know that I'm not going crazy. Stay safe, man.

[@NerdOutForWhat]

Funny how I listened to this a day before I witnessed it! Went to a local comic shop and there was a guy selling a stack of maybe several dozen unread of Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back magazine sized comic that predates the comes and features cool things like a gifs that was drawn before anyone saw the final yoda so he’s different. I imagine there are people sitting on stacks of ASM300.

[@capitalj1414]

I am familiar with two of these. Love this content. Great to learn more. Love it. Thanks

[@collectingexpensivepaperan2384]

Awesome content. Awesome creators. Love this show.

[@goldenageguru]

🙏

[@BoxCatKeys]

Great story/coverage thank you!

[@TnRinVegas]

49 is a sicker cover !

[@michaelswanson4641]

I like FF 48 more than FF 49! Both amazing Kirby covers though.

[@josephbarbera9220]

I love both covers and I could have purchased both books back in the 70s for cheap but didn’t because I had the reprints! At that time I was buying back issue books I didn’t have in original or reprint format. Oh well who could have known! Lol

[@magazinekitchen]

I haven't checked out all the comments: Has anyone mentioned "Major Inapak" yet? LOL!

[@goldenageguru]

We started putting together a list of the warehouse finds and realized we need to trim it down. Major Inapak was definitely on the list, as well Heroes Inc Presents Cannon 1.

[@magazinekitchen]

@@goldenageguru Yes, I recall how cool it was to find such a nice copy of a Wally Wood comic from the 1960s ("Cannon") only to discover it's financial value was almost nil due to a warehouse find. Sigh. Still, it looks great!

[@johnmichael7641]

I love the Mystique of warehouse finds but not what it can potentially due to the comic market. I have bought what I love for over 45 years so I'm not all that big into the "Spec" game. Although you have to respect the "Spec" game!! Great vid guys! It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! Now that's how you do a COMIC(TOM) Report!

[@nickvalueguycomics3984]

Great job guys! Very interesting...

[@Omnomax]

I like both 48 and 49 of ff. YOU CANT MAKE ME PICK ONE.

[@goldenageguru]

🤣

[@stevenschaller1672]

They both mean nothing without number 50!😜

[@AwesomeSauceRadio]

The color of the fantastic 448 is amazing. Testify

[@wolves1fan830]

FF 48 I always though dude looked like a baby on the cover lol I remember back in 1993 I could have bought that for like 75 bucks at the shop and it was nice condition

[@donaldmiller9648]

I saw some of those books being sold at an Atlanta comic show in 1988 , mint Marvel Spidermans 30-40s, FF etc being sold for $15@.... Probably because they bought for $5! I only boughtba couple of the Spidermans in 30s but later sold for $300+ in late 1990s on Ebay...definitely fantastic shape looking like new books.

[@oliverortiz8507]

I love them both but F.F. #49 is the ultimate classic image.

[@G9_Productions]

FF #48 rules! Great show guys!

[@69chopshop]

Tom hungers for a planet.

[@goldenageguru]

He sounded that hungry. 😅

[@ElevatedTVAdventure]

FF 48 for sure is my fav

[@MK356BC]

How much for a long box of Turok 1...the chromium cover?

[@Gordypow]

Once you admitted you have it, it actually decreased in value by at least 5% :/

[@RockandrollNegro]

I'm pretty sure if you pay someone $30, they'll take your box of Turok #1s.

[@The_GeekLeak]

I want that police comics so bad 😭😭

[@theretrosavage]

Great information

[@scottlukianchuk7282]

FF 48 To me is better. Thanks for the video and the stories.

[@graviton9993]

Super interesting topic!!

[@ck3comics]

FF #49 is my favorite

[@jperez9296]

Love these stories

[@bobjohnson1096]

There is more of this than we will ever know. I can't wait to find a warehouse full of Action Comics 1! (If they aren't in a bunker somewhere at DC comics!)

[@jacobgifford894]

Are yall planning on a x of swords mail call like yall did with Thor ?

[@ComicTom101]

YAS

[@jacobgifford894]

That will be my first mystery mail call so hyped now you rock Tom hope you got some food

[@johnjenkins8918]

It makes sense that the CGC Census could help dictate the value of a book at a certain grade. But now that the CBCS Population Report is alive and active, couldn't that in theory drop the value of some books now that we have confirmation that some have double the number of books graded and might not be as rare as first believed? That kind of ties in somewhat to your conversation on this video of number of graded books doesn't it? Thanks in advance if you guys pipe in on that thought. I love your stuff!

[@russellbaxley3574]

Great show this week 🤙🏼

[@goldenageguru]

Thanks Russell. Really appreciate you taking a second to watch the video.

[@daryldaigle2373]

If you made such a find, wouldn’t you keep it a secret so prices don’t plummet?

[@ericwilliams1845]

Love the Gibbon T!

[@goldenageguru]

Shout out to Reggie collects with the start of the Gibbon craze.

[@emceedonald4933]

I have 15 boxes of Ultimate Fallout #4's I'm posting on election day

[@robertt9342]

Why Election Day?

[@dkravens3]

49 is my favorite

[@wolves1fan830]

Tom got me Starving now lol

[@miguelh4750]

Golden Age Guru, is that how you got so many Hulk 181s ???

[@goldenageguru]

Unfortunately I didn’t know Ron at that time. 😢. Took many years to get all of my copies, but it was a far less valuable book at the time then it is now.

[@miguelh4750]

@@goldenageguru Not sure how many you have, I heard you talk about it in another video last year. If you sell some of them you can probably buy a house haha. Great investment so praise to you. Keep up the great videos. Love it when you show up on Tom's show !

[@wolverado1322]

Grab a sandwich before the video, Tom! Great video. Thanks for all you do!

[@theandrpa]

Love that kind of videos

[@thomascapps7557]

49 for sure

[@Talus2k]

Hmm, I'll go with FF #49

[@SociallyTriggered]

FF48 is still an expensive book..I wish I could have gotten it for $5.

[@robertt9342]

Think how nice it would have been to get them at cover.

[@keyngdomcomicscontent]

Great content

[@michaelstrong5811]

49, because it has all the characters

[@davidgoldsworthy1640]

I really enjoyed the content in this video

[@johanarguelles8399]

Great stuff as always

[@whitetiger_ccc]

Cowabunga fam 🤙

[@constipatedinsincity4424]

9:45 That's Gene Kelly!

[@leeniren3706]

I CGC agreed to take the books back as a mechanical error. I would’ve sent all of them even though that you fixed.

[@billwilson32474]

49 is my favorite also.

[@albertdale5101]

Crazy how the term 'old comic books' gets thrown around...

[@vampeilo]

How do I make my collection a pedigree? Do I have to have a million books?

[@goldenageguru]

No you don’t but CGC’s web site has the details of what constitutes a Pedigree for them. It’s pretty stringent. You definitely don’t need anywhere near that amount of books though.

[@vampeilo]

Ok thx

[@jimchurchsr2860]

FF 48 -for sure, Love it