Well I managed to get this article out under the gun. Phew, big month for me! But that didn’t stop me from reading comic books or saving money. There’s this beautiful thing at my comic shop. It’s called the dollar bin. Hundreds of comic books priced at one dollar. Just
one dollar! One one side you have Marvel selling books at four dollars, on the other you have DC “holding the line a $2.99” and image is in the middle at $3.50. But who wants to pay all that money when you can pay one single dollar for a comic book. Not just that, most comic books in dollar bins are older and therefore have more pages. Bang for buck as they say.
Here’s a few excellent things I found in the dollar bin.
#1: The entire run of 52!
in 2006 DC published this epic weekly series which lasted a year. Consider that buying this in collected edition would cost you at least 60 dollars, probably more. But in the dollar bin I paid fifty-two dollars!
#2: First story arc of Peter David’s Aquaman:
Love it or hate it, this Aquaman story published in the early nineties left a lasting mark on this under-appreciated character. In this story Aquaman gets his hand chopped off and replaced with a hook. A very important story for the character. These key issues are valued at around six dollars each by Overstreet. But I paid one dollar. I win!
#3: I like to collect covers with striking artwork on them. In the picture below, you can see my display of my favorite covers. Many of these I got for one dollar.
If your shop has a dollar bin or better yet a fifty or twenty-five cent bin, roll up your sleeves and dig in! If they don’t have one, suggest it to them. Then go to our forums and tell us all the cool stuff you found at a bargain. It’s fun and saves you money. Come back at the end of march for more inexpensive activity ideas you can partake in at your local comic shop.
Stashmycomics.com is a 100% free no catch no gimmick online collection cataloging and database service.
If you haven’t already, setup an account by going to the home page and clicking “sign up”.
Jason Newcomb is a frugal Canadian geek. He can be found at his local comic book shop diving in dollar bins and playing other people’s board games. He would like it if you shared this article on facebook or twitter.
The dollar bin is king, I have made many great finds in one. Its a great way to preview recent titles you normally don’t read or get to know older titles, before you go dropping any significant amount on them.
Love that cover wall. Keep up the great column.
I’ve lived in TX almost all my life and have never seen a dollar bin at any of my local comic shops—only when the cons come to town do I see them.
I also try finding dealers online that combine shipping real cheap, rather than stores that tack on .50 for every comic you buy.
Gee, Hardy. Sounds like the shops in your area are not particularly proactive. Perhaps you should point them to this article and request a dollar bin. You never know, the squeaky gets the grease as they say.
