[Andrew999]

We all love comic books, right?

We would all love to have the perfect comic book collection. In my life, I have in fact had three (well, not perfect - but certainly substantial) all of which were given away / sold under pressure from other people in the household in order to create so-called living space (but what's life without comic books?)

Anyway, what advice would you give to a newbie wanting to build a comic book collection? Can you think of FIVE golden rules?

Mine would be:

- Don't ever ever let anyone persuade you to get rid of them - it's a lifetime commitment - and don't forget to share with friends. A pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled.
- If necessary, buy a bigger home, or a shed, caravan whatever to store the collection so (a) they don't bother the people you live with and (b) you can sneak off to read them in privacy.
- Don't get neurotic about plastic covers (think of the environment) but do store the collection in a dry space. Shift them occasionally as mould (at least in the UK) is bound to invade stagnant space
- Don't try to collect everything at once. Start with the most important (the Phantom obviously) and stick to that at first. Expand into other areas with time
- Enjoy what you have, don't yearn for what you can't have. Nobody ever is going to own every desirable comic book in the world (well, nobody except the members of CB+  :>>

[narfstar]

1. Collect the comics from your youth. They will bring the biggest smiles.
2. Don't obsess over condition a complete comic with a cover in poor condition is OK.
3. Quantity get the most comics for your money.
4. Buy in the wild when possible the finding is so much fun.
5. Give away comics that mean nothing to you to keep space and make others happy

[The Australian Panther]

what advice would you give to a newbie wanting to build a comic book collection?

I'm very analytical in my thinking, at least I like to think so. [See what I did there?]
So I would start by asking 'Why do I want to start a collection?'
and
'What do I want to collect?'
I didn't think 'I'm going to start a comic collection' I just wanted not to throw them away after I bought them so I could read them again.
So what I wanted to collect were things I enjoyed and wanted to read. As my horizons expanded my collection got bigger.   

Don't ever ever let anyone persuade you to get rid of them - it's a lifetime commitment - and don't forget to share with friends. 

2 problems there.
I did get rid of my collection, I did a life change thing back in the 80's where I got rid of most of my Records, books, and Comics and went into a community where they would have been of no use to me. I would have stored them if I could, but that option was not available to me. Didn't regret that at the time, don't regret it now. Life is what it is. So since retiring I have rebuilt my collection - mostly virtually. And that's a fun thing to do, you get to reaccess and re-evaluate things you never looked at closely before.   
I would love to share, but over decades the one constant is that anything I lend I never get back. Ever!
But internet sharing is wonderful because you never lose anything.
If necessary, buy a bigger home, or a shed, caravan whatever to store the collection so (a) they don't bother the people you live with and (b) you can sneak off to read them in privacy.   
And there we have the biggest problem with physical collecting. My house is floor to ceiling with Books and CD's primarily. My ex-wife was not impressed. And now, I collect paintings and prints. When I find something worthwhile and right-priced to hang, you run out of wall space very quickly, 

Don't get neurotic about plastic covers (think of the environment) but do store the collection in a dry space. 

I collect to read, not to make money, so yes! 

Buy in the wild when possible the finding is so much fun.

   
Absolutely! The delight in going out and finding unexpected gems is most of the fun.
Cons are good, not that I've been to many - you can find rare things and meet dealers and fans of like mind.
Cheers!   

[Robb_K]

The only way I know how to start a comic book collection is (1940s-style): Ask your parents and grandparents to buy your favourite for you, after you learn how to talk, and you're still not allowed to walk to the newsstand, druggist, or 5 and dime store, and buy one.  Then when you get older, you save your allowance for when the new books show up at those places, and also check out the 5 cent racks, where other non-serious comics readers sell back their comic books after they tire of them. You also regularly check out the local used book shops that carry second-hand comic books, and has them scattered randomly in boxes for 5 cents each, wait until the owner goes to lunch, and you fill up a whole big box with a hundred or so comics, and when the lazy young clerk doesn't want to count them, you tell him you'll give him $2.50 for the whole box, and he says okay! Soon, you're so addicted, that you need to take on a lawn-mowing job in summer, walkway snow-shoveling job in winter and/or a bicycle paper route to get more spending money. 

I have no idea how you start one now.  I would just download all the books I like from CB+, and just keep digital files.  I don't have room to store lots of paper comic books (despite having 5 domiciles)    Besides, buying a lot of old 1940s and early 1950s comic books at collectors' prices would be something I couldn't afford, in any case.