Josh Roberts has a biology degree from Drury University, but he says he’s not as smart as the scientists on the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory. However, the fictional characters, like Roberts, do share a love of comic books.
“I don’t feel like I act like Stewart at the comic book shop either,” Roberts says of the show’s comic store owner.
Roberts, owner of The Comic Cave in Springfield, also keeps up with comic character films, although he has not yet seen Marvel’s latest film Ant-Man. He says Ant-Man is an older character from the sixties—a time when there was a transition into writing comics geared toward adults rather than children.
“So they did more research on what would an ant really be like. Or the person with the strength of an ant, what would they be able to do and that kind of thing,” Roberts says. “They put a little more effort into, and it really shows in those early comics that they wrote.”
There is a positive correlation between a movie’s release and business at his nearly two-year-old store, Roberts says.
“What I normally see is when a movie franchise starts with a comic character, you’ll see a bump in value for the early issues, the first appearances and the key appearances of some of the characters that come up in the movies,” Roberts says. “Then either after a while it will calm down, or if the movies are great, it maintains that extra level and goes on from there.”
Roberts says with more famous characters, like Spider-Man or Batman, values spike slightly when one of their franchise movies hits theaters. However, their values are more consistent because of the amount of material in existence for these characters.
Michelle Liljedahl, of CollectOmaniacs in Ozark, says she also sees change in what customers want based on which film is in theaters or still currently popular.
“As soon as a movie comes out, that’s usually what everybody wants—items related to it,” Liljedahl says.
Liljedahl continues, “We go with that like peanut butter and jelly.”
CollectOmaniacs is run by Liljedahl and her daughters, and she does go with her children to see the movies when she can.
Both The Comic Cave and CollectOmaniacs sell and buy comics and toys. However, CollectOmaniacs also will buy used DVDs, fantasy playing cards, video games and their consoles.
“We don’t like to give quotes on the phone because we like to see the condition everything is in, especially with video games,” Liljedahl says. “We want to make sure they work.”
To price books, Roberts will consult The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, an annual publication.
“They do a year’s worth of market research, and then put out a guide that’s pretty accurate for older stuff, not necessarily as accurate for newer stuff,” Roberts says. “But then for the newer stuff, we use EBay. We use completed auctions on EBay to see what things have actually sold for.”
Roberts says they will also use online guides, and with all the resources and knowledge, try to reach an agreement with the seller.
John Oliver, a learning consultant for health insurance firms, is a regular customer at The Comic Cave.
“I might read a storyline and I’m like, ‘Oh, that was really good, but it’s not something I can see myself coming back to and reading again,’” Oliver says. “So those are the issues I may trade in or sell at his store.”
Oliver says he also likes the trade in individual issues for a collector’s edition paperback with all the stories because one book takes up less space than all the single comics.
Oliver, who has been reading comics since he was a kid, will also take his two children to The Comic Cave and says the store is a great place to hang out with like-minded people and receive recommendations.
“I hope there doesn’t come a day when you don’t see brick and mortar comic stores anymore,” Oliver says.
Roberts is set to celebrate his two-year anniversary of The Comic Cave Saturday, August 1 with special sales. For more information on his store and CollectOmaniacs, see their websites.