Local collector strikes comic book gold
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – In recent years, ‘blind bags’ have become popular in comic book circles.
‘It is like baseball cards, or comic cards, we may have a box down here, and it has a $1,000 card in it, you just don’t know, when you bust the pack,” said Rush Holcomb, owner of Brat Comics in Tupelo.
Joseph Royce has been collecting comic books for years, and is a huge fan of artist Mark Spears and his ‘Monster’ series. Royce purchased two cases of ‘blind bags’ through Brat Comics. Each case has 140 covers in a bag.
One of the cases Royce purchased had a 1 in 14,000 work of art; the next case had the crown jewel.
‘They put a blue ticket in the books, and each blue ticket was for a one-of-one signed sketch, graded book, and I wound up pulling it, got the book in, Mark Spears signed the book, bag, and ticket, it turned into a three one-of-one pieces,” Royce said
Brat Comic Books owner Rush Holcomb says he is honored to have played a role in Royce’s unique treasures.
‘It is extremely rare for a one in 14 thousand and one of one to come through the same shop, and you know, we have done the same thing, we sold through other cases to other customers, these cases were just for him,” Holcomb said.
Royce says he has been offered a substantial sum of money for his $1,200 investment.
“I turned down thirty, a guy reached out on Facebook, said, ‘I will pay 30’. I said, no I will keep it,” Royce said.
Joseph isn’t sure if or when he will buy another blind grab bag, but one thing is for certain, if he does, he will go through his trusted, local comic book dealer.
Royce says anyone thinking about getting into comic book collecting should start with a series they are familiar with and they like.
