Back in the good old days, if a kid had a quarter in his pocket he would jump on his skateboard or Schwinn Stingray bicycle and head as fast as he could to the five-and-dime and pick up the newest copy of Spiderman or my favorite, Journey into Mystery featuring the Mighty Thor. These great Marvel Silver Age comics are now worth thousands of dollars and it all started with some kid and his quarter. Now if you want to buy comic books you need to either find an actual comic book store, which are becoming more and more rare every passing month, or you can buy comic books online.
When you buy comic books online you definitely will save some time but you lose the ability to actually hold the comic book in your hands like when you go to the actual store. Personally I like to be able to saunter into a comic book store and walk around, check out the expensive mags on the wall displays, and delve deeply into their back issue files.
About fifteen years ago I started going to comic book stores with my son and we would buy his favorite titles, usually Superman, and while he was looking at the newer titles I would search in the back issue files and find rare gems. After a couple of years of doing this I ended up with quite the collection of Silver Age Marvel comics. I bought a lot of Thor comics, but others also, including lots of X-men and Fantastic Four. Some of these comics were not in very good condition, but I bought them anyway with the reasoning that they were not making these anymore and someday they would be worth something just for being rare. I now have a pretty nice collection that is worth quite a bit of moolah.
If you want to buy comic books online there are several good websites you can go on. Ebay has an extensive ongoing rotation of great comics for sale, including many that have received the CGC (comic guarantee company) certification and are enclosed in hard plastic. You can search through their extensive database and find rare comics and graphic novels as well as newer titles. You can bid on any comics you find there and sometimes you can pick up some pretty good bargains or rare gems. Most of the time though you end up paying more than you intended or someone else beats you in the final auction bidding.
One of the best places to buy comic books online is at www.midtowncomics.com. Here you will find all of the best titles available from Silver Age to todays mangas. Another great site is www.atomicavenue.com and you can search their extensive database. You can also sell comics as well as buy comic books online there.
With the massive worldwide popularity of comic book and movie superheroes such as Spiderman, Iron Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and of course, the X-men, comic book prices will continue to rise, especially older, harder to find titles.