Wedding Blog: BD**2 - 147
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:58 am
Got my autographs on the artwork this morning. The comic show was much the same as last week's, only larger. Same geeky guys, same semi-nude artwork, just more of them. Those women present who weren't obviously part of a husband and wife team were ... interesting. One was dressed in attire that would not have been inappropriate for a Victorian-era harlot. I tried hard not to stare, but kinda wanted to memorize it for the amusement of GW when I described it. GW did get a chuckle out of it. And had I been single and/or younger, I probably would have stared, anyway.
I don't think collecting is my thing, anymore, unless it's something to display. I could have spent lots of time, and money, in search of just the hole-fillers that I need from the era in which I collected, let alone trying for anything from the last 20 years. There were quite a few of my era of comics where I did not recognize the cover, meaning I don't have them. But why bother anymore? I'll never reread them. It would be only for resale on eBay (which isn't all that bad an idea in itself to become my hobby). I did buy the artist's book and got his autograph on it, plus a few books collecting the comics which recently redefined the DC Universe yet again ("Infinite Crisis"). The latter were so I can catch up a bit on the latest doings. But buying comics for reading and artwork appreciation is, I think, now a part of my past.
One thing I can't figure out is how these guys do their taxes. These aren't hobbyists such as myself, they're legitimate businesses. They have rows and rows of boxes filled with comics, all of which are in bags and marked with price stickers. You fish through them, then hand the ones you want to the guy behind the table. He totals up the listed prices, and more often than not offers you a discount from the total. You hand him your money. But he never writes anything down! He doesn't record the identities of the comics, he doesn't record how much money you gave him, he does nothing else. How does he keep track of inventory? How does he know how much he made or lost on the sale? How does he know whether he's even making a profit or not? What does he tell the IRS? There are no records at all, as far as I can see.
I don't think collecting is my thing, anymore, unless it's something to display. I could have spent lots of time, and money, in search of just the hole-fillers that I need from the era in which I collected, let alone trying for anything from the last 20 years. There were quite a few of my era of comics where I did not recognize the cover, meaning I don't have them. But why bother anymore? I'll never reread them. It would be only for resale on eBay (which isn't all that bad an idea in itself to become my hobby). I did buy the artist's book and got his autograph on it, plus a few books collecting the comics which recently redefined the DC Universe yet again ("Infinite Crisis"). The latter were so I can catch up a bit on the latest doings. But buying comics for reading and artwork appreciation is, I think, now a part of my past.
One thing I can't figure out is how these guys do their taxes. These aren't hobbyists such as myself, they're legitimate businesses. They have rows and rows of boxes filled with comics, all of which are in bags and marked with price stickers. You fish through them, then hand the ones you want to the guy behind the table. He totals up the listed prices, and more often than not offers you a discount from the total. You hand him your money. But he never writes anything down! He doesn't record the identities of the comics, he doesn't record how much money you gave him, he does nothing else. How does he keep track of inventory? How does he know how much he made or lost on the sale? How does he know whether he's even making a profit or not? What does he tell the IRS? There are no records at all, as far as I can see.