Original 62's

It finally happened. We wondered if it would, even laughed about it, but this week it finally happened.

You have probably heard about, or even received, the reprinted copies of Amazing Spider-Man comic books that many larger local newspapers across the country have been inserting into the Sunday editions. It's a nice idea and has brought a few people into the comic book store looking for more Spider-Man comics. Every once in a while someone will ask if they should save them - will they be worth any money. I always tell them to just read and enjoy them and then if they want to save them they can, but I wouldn't expect them to have any future value.

Well the other day a guy comes into the store and asks if we buy and sell old comics. In his hands is a small stack of comics that he's bending at the spine by clutching them firmly in one hand. Craig glances at them, looks at the man and says that yes, we do. The man tosses his stack of comics upon the counter, saying something like, "How much for these original 62's?" Yep, that's what he called them. Not "Spider-Man comics" not "old comics," they were "original 62's."

Craig could see from the covers alone that they looked pretty new for "original 62's" but he opened the top one and saw a modern day advertisement inside and also noticed that they had newer pages and had a much lower total page count than the REAL "original 62's" would have. Craig informs the guy that they'd be worth a bundle - if they WERE "original 62's" but unfortunately they were reprinted copies that the newspapers were giving away for free.

The guy shrugged, grabbed the stack of comics, bending them up again, and leaves, probably disappointed that he wasn't able to fool us.

Now while we have only been doing this for about 3.5 years, we didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I think my mom, who knows virtually nothing about comics, would have known that these weren't "original 62's." Did this guy really think he could go into a comic book store - a business that lives and dies by knowing about comics and their value - and fool us into giving him hundreds of dollars for comics he got for free over the last few months from the local Sunday newspaper? Maybe he could fool someone at a rummage sale or something, but at a comic book store?? Not only did the comics not look or smell like old comics on the outside, they have a few new ads in there, not the old ads for the Red Rider gun or X-Ray Specs. That's not to mention that I'm sure somewhere in the indicia it would show that it was a reprint and have a modern copyright of some kind. H-E-L-L-O!! Seriously, if you were thinking of trying this move on your local comic book store, don't waste your time unless it's an April Fool's joke - and since April 1st has gone by you technically missed your chance until next year.