Written By Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner
Regie Collects‘ Guide to SMART Comic Collecting is like nerd scripture.
Seriously, that’s not hyperbole.
This book is intelligent and exhaustively researched.
Simultaneously, it’s a fun, breezy read.
Nonetheless, that’s not too surprising.
Regie Collects’ YouTube show balances humor and insight.
In fact, while reading Guide to SMART Comic Collecting, I could hear his smooth, joyful delivery.
Make no mistake: Regie Collects loves comics.
Alongside Doug Bratton, Regie Collects analyzes the psychology and profits of this hobby.
Guide to SMART Comic Collecting is the Chilton Car Care Manual for the Overstreet crowd.
Regie Collects and Bratton look under the hood and check the engine.
After all, the mechanics of comic-book collecting is not simple.
Nevertheless, Regie Collects and Bratton keep it simple and straightforward.
Image: Regie Collects Comics
Guide to SMART Comic Collecting is tightly organized. In addition, the graphs are clear and easily understood.
In other words, Guide to SMART Comic Collecting doesn’t feel like homework.
There’s actually a tremendous amount of useful advice.
I don’t remember anything from my math classes except for addition and subtraction.
On the contrary, this book’s lessons are embedded in my memory banks.
For both new and old collectors, Regie Collects and Bratton put on a clinic.
Comic-book collecting can be expensive.
For example, a new comic can cost you $5.00.
When I started buying comics in June 1978, they were “Still only 35 cents.”
Although we were at the poverty level, I could still buy stacks every week.
Not anymore.
Regie Collects has an Executive MBA.
Thus, he’s able to use those skills to break down the finances of comic-book investment.
Review: Regie Collects’ Guide To SMART Comic Collecting Is Fanboy Scripture
Image: Reggie Collects Comics
I’m both a collector and an investor.
Guide to SMART Comic Collecting would categorize me as Quadrant IV.
I appreciate that Regie Collects relates to both.
However, I don’t sell comic books myself.
I respect those who do; it’s not easy.
I tried selling comic books at a local comics convention in 1992.
Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld were the guests.
The place was a sardine can.
Imagine over a hundred overweight bodies (including my own) packed in an oven.
It was summer, and we were baked alive.
Through that purgatory I walked with a heavy suitcase filled with The Amazing Spider-Man No. 299 and 300.
Specifically, the first two appearances of Venom.
Multiple copies of both. All in NM condition.
Never read.
Image: Regie Collects Comics
Bagged and boarded.
A friend of mine asked me to sell them for him.
I’d get a percentage: 10%.
$50 each.
I went from dealer to dealer carrying what felt like Iron Man’s armor in luggage.
For three hours.
No takers. No interest.
“That’s not rare,” a dealer joked. “I wouldn’t pay $25 for those.”
Therefore, I dropped the price to $20 each.
No takers. No interest.
At the same time, I was laughed at a few times.
First appearance of Venom for $20. Again, no buyers.
Let that sink in.
Consequently, I never tried selling a comic book again.
Moreover, the trauma was so much I avoided comic-book conventions for 16 years.
I wish Regie Collects’ Guide to SMART Comic Collecting existed then.
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