Went to a comic shop in Cleveland and the owner had a whole display case just for variant cover flippers.

It was a weirdly quiet corner of the store, just these pristine books in plastic with price tags that looked like misprints, and it made me miss when the back-issue bins felt like a treasure hunt anyone could afford.

3 comments

3 Comments

wood.john1mo ago

It turns the whole hobby into a stock market. Takes the fun right out of it.

bettyk5327d ago

Wait till you see people wrestling over a slightly bent corner of a trading card like it's a Picasso. I half expect someone to start grading their fast food toys next with a little plastic case and a number on it. "Yeah this Happy Meal toy is a 9.0, very clean paint application, slight wear on the left arm." You can't even enjoy finding something cool at a garage sale without someone asking if you've checked the resale value. Pretty soon we'll have stock tickers for Beanie Babies and Tamagotchis.

iris_adams1mo ago

Remember when people just collected things because they liked them? My uncle had a whole wall of old beer cans, not because they were worth money, but because he thought the designs were neat. That kind of simple joy feels pretty rare now. Everything has to be graded, flipped, and treated like an investment. Makes you wonder what the point of a hobby even is anymore if it's just about the money, right?

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