Geoffrey's Comics 30th anniversary today
What were you doing in 1978? Geoffrey Patterson was opening a comic book store in Gardena for which he chose the extremely clever name of Geoffrey's Comics. It's one of the landmark shops here in Southern California and today it's celebrating its 30th anniversary with some special guests, some nifty giveaways, a 30%-off sale on pretty much everything in the store (the exception being new books). You can buy these there, for instance:
I got a nice note from Geoff the other day inviting me to swing by (which I'm planning to do this afternoon). Like I said, the store is in Gardena, the South Bay community that in 2006 changed its motto from "The Freeway City" to "The City of Opportunity." Why? Well, aside from the smog visuals conjured up by the old motto, maybe it's because there are no freeways within the city limits of Gardena. It is, however, located very close to the 405, the 110 and 91 freeways, which makes it fairly easy to get to Geoffrey's. The store address is 15900 Crenshaw Boulevard and the phone number is (310) 538-3198. The event today is noon to 6 p.m.
Some of the special guests coming in from the various sectors of the SoCal fanboy scene are Danny Miki, Norm Rapmund, Mark Waid, Marc Guggenheim, Josh Dysart, Phil Ortiz, Mike Wellman and Dave Wohl. I put a copy of the flyer after the jump. Sounds like a good time, maybe we'll see you out there.
-- Geoff Boucher
Fantastic Four as your 401(k)
Every month when the warehouse storage bill comes, I tell my wife that all those boxes of old comic books I'm keeping should be thought of as a great investment. And right on cue, she rolls her eyes and reminds me that all those boxes aren't worth anything unless I sell them.
Harrumph.
Well, now the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of investment culture, says I was actually ahead of the market curve all those years ago when I sealed my gorgeous copy of "Fantasic Four" No. 48 up inside a Mylar bag:
Mark Craddock, manager of Comic Book World, in Florence, Ky., says stock-market investors also are turning to superheroes. "There's kind of a buying frenzy" in vintage comic books, he says.
The "Silver Age Comic Book Pricing Index" of 32 frequently traded '60s comics, was up 14.2% in the 18 months ending in July, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was down 11% in the same period. Mark Haspel, president of Certified Guaranty Co. in Sarasota, Fla., which grades comic books, often for investors, says it's on track to handle 200,000 books this year, up from 150,000 in 2007.
"Spiderman is going to be here in 20 years -- he's not going away," Mr. Haspel says.
That's an excerpt from an article by Jennifer Levitz on all the quirky investments that are gaining traction amid these bruising seasons on Wall Street. All of you deep-pocket corporations looking for a place to put your money, I have a full run of "West Coast Avengers" taking up waaaay too much space, it's yours if the money is right.
-- Geoff Boucher
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Photo by Spencer Weiner/Los Angeles Times shows collectors buying up vintage books at Comic-Con International in San Diego in 2007.
