Latest / Behind The Village Podcast / 40 Years of Hunting Rare Comic Books and Collectibles | Carmine De Santo

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40 Years of Hunting Rare Comic Books and Collectibles | Carmine De Santo · Behind The Village Podcast

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  You're listening to the Behind the Village podcast,
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  where we invite you to join us on a journey to
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  understand how to live a life worth living. Comic
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  books and collectibles have been around for decades.
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  It's a world we hadn't explored until recently
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  when we sat down with Carmen DeSanto from Dr.
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  Comics. It all started like 1978 was probably
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  my first comic book. It was a Fantastic Four
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  comic book. So I even remember the issue number,
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  I think like 289. I just loved that cover because
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  I think the thing was fighting the Hulk on that
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  cover. And I always liked the Hulk because when
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  I grew up as a kid in the 70s, the Hulk TV show
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  was one of the coolest things to watch. So I
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  loved Lou Frigno and I loved the Hulk. And I
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  saw that Hulk on that comic book cover. And it's
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  been a niche and it's been stuck with me ever
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  since. The whole comic book world. I think that's
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  my first book and that's the first time. And
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  I actually went downtown Toronto, woke up early
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  on a Saturday morning, got on a bus, took a subway
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  all the way down to Silver Snail because that
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  was the hangout for everybody to buy comic books
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  on Queen Street West. You get off at Osgoode
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  and you walk there and you get your comic books.
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  And it became like a weekly habit. So we'd always
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  go downtown, me and my good buddy, and hit like
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  four or five shops and buy comic books. I was
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  16 years old and my mom owned a mattress business
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  like at Weston Road in Finch in North York. And
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  she had a front office that she never used. And
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  then one day she saw me reading all these books
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  and I went to her and I said, hey mom, you're
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  not using your front office. I want to open up
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  a comic shop. Hey, have fun. Go nuts. I'm like,
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  okay. So I opened up a comic book store. I was
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  16. It was called Dr. Comics because me and my
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  friend opened it. And the story behind it is
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  my last name is DeSanto. His last name was Richie.
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  So we said, you know what? Let's do Dr. Comics.
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  And we did. So it was DR Comics. And then we
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  always came up with that little slogan. We've
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  got the cure for all your comic book needs. And
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  it was a small little shop with weekly releases.
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  there's a lot of history in that first store
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  because we saw a lot of uh a lot of nice books
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  that came through that front door and that's
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  something that i still enjoy to this day that's
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  why i love my shop i love people bringing in
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  the books and i love appraising them and i love
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  looking at i love smelling the mildew when you
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  open up the book that's a big passion of mine
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  i love it so when we opened up that store in
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  93 Uh, it was great. It did very well. And, uh,
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  like I said, we had a lot of people bringing
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  us books and, uh, you know, we got robbed many
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  times at nighttime. There was no security people
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  coming in. I know one week alone, we were like
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  broken into three times, but there's a lot of
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  history in the book. I mean, in that store, a
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  lot of famous books were in there back then.
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  Amazing fantasy 15, which is a famous comic book.
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  First Prince of Spider -Man. Now it's worth like
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  a hundred to 200 grand, even a million. It depends
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  on the grade. I had, I have a famous picture
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  at my mom's house and me and my front counter
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  with eight of those in the back of my wall in
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  a row. And back then they're only $400. All right.
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  So we had, I had eight of them. I wish I had,
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  I have one now, but I wish I had all eight of
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  those, but that's the kind of books that would
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  come through the door. And then my biggest purchases
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  when I was 18 years old, a guy came in with a
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  Batman number one, 1939. We bought it for 30
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  grand, me and my friend, and we sold it a week
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  later for 90 ,000. I regret it. Now it's worth
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  3 .5 million. Wow. But you learn. That's the
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  kind of fun it is in comic books. And I always
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  laugh at my bankers and everybody, all these
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  investment guys. Yeah, I invest in money and
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  you're gold and silver and stocks. I'm like,
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  nah, I make more money in comic books. That's
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  how we do it. It's a collector's market right
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  now. And that's why. I'm in the show business.
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  That's my bread and butter is the shows. I do
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  actually Comic -Cons all over North America.
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  We do 150 a year. We do Poke -Cons, Anime Fests,
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  and Comic -Cons. And that's why I'm always on
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  a plane. Never ends. Yeah. Why do you think,
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  you know, that collectible culture, like what
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  is it that kind of keeps people so passionate
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  about it and so involved in it? Yeah, so what
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  it is, it all started during COVID because we
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  didn't have nothing to do at home, right? So
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  everybody was home and they wanted to get into
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  a whole new market and they got into collectibles
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  because the stock market died and they wanted
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  to try something new. Like a month ago, the famous
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  Shark Tank guy, Mr. Wonderful Kevin O 'Leary,
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  he bought a double logo NBA card signed by Kobe
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  Bryant and Michael Jordan. He bought it for $15
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  million at COVID. Now it's worth $26 million.
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  And he would tell people, you know, These cards
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  are like Andy Warhol, like one -off pieces, or
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  Picasso, because there's only one of them. And
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  that's what's keeping people engaged in this
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  card market or comic book market, because there
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  is some one -offs. So right now, you can open
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  up a pack of Pokemon cards and find yourself
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  a $25 ,000 Charizard. It's going to be there.
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  And that's what's keeping people passionate into
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  this business because of all these new surprises
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  of these one of ones or one of fifties or one
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  of hundreds. And now you can get a piece of a
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  hockey player jersey signed by like Sidney Crosby
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  and it's $50 ,000 and it's stuck in that pack.
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  You have to buy a box. So people are looking
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  for packs. People are looking for those gems
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  and it's out there. And nowadays they're still
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  undiscovered ones. So that's why people are very
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  passionate to get into these same things with
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  the comic books where, you know, a year ago.
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  Batman number one came out, but it's an evil
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  Batman. It's a Batman that kills people and no
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  one expected it. But that book now is like $800
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  because they did a little print run because they
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  didn't know it was going to be so successful.
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  So there's a lot of these risks that people are
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  taking in the collectible world that are making
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  overnight money. Like there's a YouTube videos
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  of kids opening up packs and go, mom, look, I
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  got a $10 ,000 card, right? It's, it's another
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  world when it comes to collectibles. So how did
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  Carmen end up here in Orillia, in that iconic
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  downtown location? And how did he fare after
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  the fire that destroyed the entire building?
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  I was in North York from 93 to 2003. Then I moved
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  to downtown Toronto, Kensington Market. So I'll
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  give you a little secret. I'm a foodie. I love
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  food. And Kensington Market was good food. I
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  moved my shop on Kensington Avenue because I
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  want to eat like a champion every day. It was
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  good. And it did very well. I didn't want to
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  be. It was nice because that was the mecca of
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  comic book world was the whole west side of Yonge
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  Street. So like Queen Street, Kensington Market.
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  And there was a few shops in there. And we were
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  one of them. We were on the second floor. It
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  was amazing. And then I think in 2013, I had
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  a home here already on the lake up here in Aurelia.
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  And I said to myself, I'm not driving back and
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  forward. And I drove downtown one day and I saw
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  that perfect corner spot. And I fell in love
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  with that store. It was a perfect location. And
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  I love it because it was very retro. It was a
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  building from the 1700s right at Mississauga
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  and Peter Street. And I fell in love with that
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  location. And I drove by and I saw a full rent
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  sign on the window. I'm like, OK, Dr. Comics
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  new home right there. Yeah, meant to be. I wanted
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  to ask about that, too, because you mentioned
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  everyone local remembers that the building. went
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  up in flames and so what happened is collectibles
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  like we've just talked about the value and like
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  you did you lose everything yeah i lost uh eight
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  hundred and fifty thousand dollars of collectibles
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  there now i did take out some of my gems i left
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  one gem there and i regret it which is a famous
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  uh famous funnies number one which is a rare
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  book to get but i just wanted to showcase that
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  because we love educating people too because
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  that was the first comic book ever made uh 1934
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  and That went in flames and it was gone. And
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  the chief is a good friend of mine, Chris. And
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  I was trying to bug Chris if I can get in there
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  just to grab that one book. They wouldn't let
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  me. I was in Florida. And a neighbor of mine
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  in Florida told me my building was on fire. When
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  I say my neighbor in Florida, not a neighbor
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  in Orillia, a neighbor in Florida was listening
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  to the news and saying, oh, Peter Street in Mississauga,
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  fire coming out of the roof, emergencies on site.
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  And my friends are all calling me like, guys,
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  leave me alone. Whatever. It's probably pizza,
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  pizza or something. And then one of her friends
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  called me, goes, it's your building. And I said,
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  baloney. And I checked my cameras. And I had
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  no power. And I'm like, oh, boy. And then my
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  landlord called me three seconds later saying,
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  we're done. We lost the building. And I'm like,
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  and I was going to get on a plane. I was going
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  to come up here. And they said, there's no point.
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  They made it a crime investigation scene. And
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  we couldn't get in. We couldn't do nothing. So
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  everything fell apart. And everything happened
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  all in one day there. In five hours, the whole
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  building was down. So everything, like nice Pokemon
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  cards I had. The rarest stuff is not collectibles.
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  The stuff that I had rare in the store was I
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  had famous signatures from comic artists from
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  my whole life, like Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, all
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  legends, the creators of Simpsons, Mike. I had
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  all the artworks on the walls that are priceless.
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  That's what kills me because I can never get
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  that again. It's the one loss, right? So it's
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  those pieces of history. I actually have a picture
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  of me and Jack Kirby having a cigar together.
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  in um in new york city back in the 90s that's
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  the kind of stuff you'll never you can never
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  replace devastating yeah that's yeah yeah so
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  that's terrible that's uh i lost a lot there
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  and i learned a lot there so uh but it was you
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  know i always tell people no rest for the wicked
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  and uh we opened up in the mall and i love where
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  i am right now no complaint yeah did you did
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  you debate whether you would Yeah, I didn't want
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  to do it. I really didn't want to do it. My wife
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  gave me an idea because she's like, okay, Carmen,
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  you know, she knows my passion's hunting. I love
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  hunting. I don't care about value. I don't care
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  about what I find. I just like to hunt. And I
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  think everyone does that. When you go to a garage
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  or you leave your house five in the morning,
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  you love hunting. When you go to all these flea
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  markets, you love hunting. And my wife's like,
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  you're not going to hunt anymore? And I'm like,
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  yeah, good point. So that's what triggered it.
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  So she's like, you know, you're not going to
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  stay home and not hunt. You love what you do.
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  So I'm a little bit blessed because I knew everyone.
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  I've been doing it for over 40 years. So I had
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  a lot of collectors I talked to. So the first
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  thing I did when I came back from Florida was
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  in the first week, I bought like a 96 long box
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  collection. Guys, what shocks me is even locals
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  were calling me donating stuff. And I'm like,
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  guys, I want nothing for free. That blew me away
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  too. And I'm like, wow. There was a lot of people
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  locally that wanted us back. And we had a lot
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  of people just leave comic books and toys in
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  the mall in front of my shop for Carmen. Free.
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  And I'm like, guys. That's so sweet. It was.
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  It was very sweet. That's why I knew it was time
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  to come back. Carmen is so passionate about everything
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  retro and everything comic books. What's one
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  of his most memorable finds? I found a pretty
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  rare collection. I still have it. I found a pretty
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  rare collection in the 90s when a lady called
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  me and I was 17 years old. A lady called me in
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  the middle of the night and I was at the store
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  because I was talking for the next day. It was
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  a Tuesday night because Wednesday's comic book
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  days. And a lady called me. She says, I have
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  an estate for sale. And I didn't know what the
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  hell she was talking about. I go, estate? I can't
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  afford a house. What are you talking about? She
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  goes, no, my brother passed away and he left
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  a basement full of comic books. And that phone
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  didn't close fast enough how fast I got to her
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  house because she said there was like rare stuff
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  there. I went the next morning and I did buy
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  it. The person I bought it, the collection from,
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  it was a guy named T .M. Maple. And T .M. Maple
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  is very famous in the comic book industry world,
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  in the world, because he would write to Stan
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  Lee every time in the back of the book. So back
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  in the comic books in the 70s and 80s, there
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  was a Stan Lee section in the back of each book
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  that he would write back to people. Like it was
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  like fan letters. And he would write back. He
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  actually did it in every single book. But this
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  T .M. Maple guy probably did. 100 ,000 comic
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  books that he would write to Stanley. And Stanley
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  always wrote back to him. And Stanley called
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  him T .M. Maple because of maple syrup. That
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  was his nickname. And then he went to school
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  with the creator of The Simpsons, this T .M.
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  Maple guy. And on the show, the comic book shop
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  owner was named after T .M. Maple. Wow. And I
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  have his collection. I still have it to this
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  day. He has stuff that no one's ever seen. So
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  that, to me, is a piece of history. that i'll
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  never give up and luckily that wasn't in my shop
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  that's one thing i have and that's my pride and
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  joy that i've had since 1994 i think don't get
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  me wrong batman number one was beautiful i would
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  have been three million dollars richer but this
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  is a piece of history that you'll never find
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  as someone looking to get into this world of
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  collecting training cards or comic books how
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  do you get started I think starting the journey
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  is going, go to the partners, small little shops
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  like mine and the rest of the five in Aurelia,
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  right? Go to them. The other, there's two other
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  stores, I think, or three that do Pokemon tournaments.
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  I don't, I just, there's enough just with comic
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  books. So it's good to get in, to go into these
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  tournaments and educate yourself to see what
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  kind of cards are being traded and what's going
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  on. And like at my shop or these other shops,
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  start getting the packs because the packs in
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  a month from now, whatever you bought it for,
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  it's going to double. Easy. And then the biggest
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  thing I recommend is going to the shows. The
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  closest shows to us are probably Vaughn in Toronto.
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  And or you have to wait for my show in the fall.
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  We have a Pokemon show. We have an anime fest
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  show. And I get all the dealers that come up.
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  And we sell them. And that's how you educate
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  yourself. You get into. And at our shows, we
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  have panels. So I'll tell you a success story.
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  Talking about getting into this world. One of
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  my good friends. Private buyer of mine. I can't
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  mention his name. But I'll just tell you his
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  story. What happened. He owned one of the biggest
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  bread companies in Canada. Okay. Big. He shut
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  it down in January this year. He's making more
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  money doing comic book conventions on the weekends
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  than in his bread business. Ooh. Wow. And he's
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  like shocked. He goes, I don't know why I didn't
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  do this 10 years ago. So there's a success story
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  and there's something to think about. I know.
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  Maybe I should be switching careers here. Jeez.
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  He does a killing on, you know. Just like last
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  week, he makes $186 ,000 on six comic books.
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  Wow. That's the kind of money he's making on
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  books. But he's buying rare gems from the 40s.
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  Yeah, of course. And that's his investment. He
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  knows they don't last because the serious buyer
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  is always looking for those 40s tent centers.
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  That's what I do. I'm a golden age guy. I love
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  the old stuff. The new stuff's great. I'm old
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  school. I like anything up to 1956. After that,
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  who cares? Yeah. I think who cares? The big money's
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  34 to 56. Those are the years that makes a pretty
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  serious money on comic books. Yeah. But even
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  like you think about it, and you mentioned the
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  Batman one that came out even just a year ago,
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  you give that time, right? Yeah, because that
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  was a great writer and they only printed so many.
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  Yeah. And they changed the story around. They
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  made him psycho, psychotic, and he carries a
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  gun now and he shoots people. You know, Batman's
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  supposed to keep wondering, you know. doesn't
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  kill people just throws them in jail well not
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  this new bruce wayne this new bruce wayne is
• 15:49
  you get a line i shoot you in the head i don't
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  care and the community loves it they love this
• 15:57
  absolute it's called absolute madman actually
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  so oh that's how we get the trade -ins i think
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  the two hardest things right now in comic books
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  is the absolute madman and the tv series invincible
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  the guy i've heard a lot about it yeah so the
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  guy did walking dead Robert Kirk, whatever, and
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  he does Invincible, and we can't keep that comic
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  book. Again, that's not a, yeah, the early issues
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  are big money, but people are loving that for
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  the story. They love the Invincible story. It's
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  a great story. It's a great superhero. It is
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  fun, and that's why I enjoy doing the shows.
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  My shop, like I said, my shop here in Aurelian
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  Mall, and I have billboards on the highways because
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  I want to get comic books through that front
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  door. I'm looking for collections. I love my
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  store. But my shows, I love doing them because
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  I love seeing families coming in and out, educating
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  themselves and coming out with a big smile saying,
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  you know what? We're getting into Pokemon right
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  now or we're getting into Dragon Ball or we're
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  getting into One Piece. It's amazing. And it
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  is an anime world. Don't kid yourself. Everything's
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  anime now. Everything. These kids are finally,
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  the North American culture is adapting to this
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  Japanese culture. I got people not coming to
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  my shows looking for Japanese Kit Kat. because
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  they got the watermelon flavor or the cappuccino
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  flavor, right? They love it. Or they're coming
• 17:13
  to understand about where can I get a good ramen?
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  Yeah. I encourage people to come out. So we have
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  panel sessions, you know, how to cosplay, right?
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  That's one of the sessions. Cosplay is big. I
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  forgot to mention cosplay. That's a big part
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  of our show. We love cosplay. We support the
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  whole cosplay community. So how to get into cosplay,
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  how to get into... You know, Pokemon trading
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  or One Piece trading or Dragon Ball trading.
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  They call it TCG. How to get into TCG. How to
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  get into comic books, right? So we have panels.
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  We have sessions. And then we have the VAs. You
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  can talk to the VAs, the voice actors. And then
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  we have vendors selling different types of merchandise.
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  People selling jewelry, apparel, comic books,
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  posters, anything you can think of. The other
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  big part of the show is the local artists. We
• 17:56
  love supporting the local artists. Right. People
• 17:58
  want to come and see like we have a few in Aurelia.
• 18:01
  We love to have them at the show, showcase their
• 18:04
  art. We love that. And that's why we encourage
• 18:07
  people to come out to these shows. It's not a
• 18:09
  geek hangout anymore. It's more about education
• 18:11
  and getting the family out. It's nice to see
• 18:14
  everything you're seeing on TV with Akira and
• 18:18
  Yo -Yo Hacker Show and One Piece. It's nice to
• 18:20
  come and see to get that merchandise now because
• 18:22
  it's not easy merchandise you can find, you know,
• 18:24
  day to day. And don't get me wrong, this is the
• 18:26
  big shows downtown Toronto, you know, like the
• 18:27
  Fan Expos. Those are four days and they're great.
• 18:31
  They're great to go to. And they got all those
• 18:32
  panels. I'm just a one day small show, budget
• 18:36
  friendly, family focused, free parking, $20 to
• 18:40
  get in. None of this, you know, you need a mortgage
• 18:42
  that goes to some of these shows are very expensive.
• 18:45
  We don't do that. We're just small. And we're
• 18:47
  like a little tiny piece of the pie of these
• 18:49
  big shows. And like I said, my angle is totally
• 18:52
  different. I keep it simple and I keep it. Budget
• 18:54
  friendly. We did our first show there last year,
• 18:58
  our first anime fest show, and we got 4 ,700
• 19:00
  people to come out. I still have the record for
• 19:03
  one day attendance for a show. When I did my
• 19:05
  first Aurelia Comic Con, we had 7 ,900 people.
• 19:10
  Ooh, that's a lot. And it was a May 2, 4 weekend.
• 19:14
  It was raining outside and everybody came to
• 19:16
  our show. It was at the curling club. It took
• 19:18
  four hours to get into the show. If you came
• 19:21
  at 10 o 'clock. Got in at 2 o 'clock, 3 o 'clock
• 19:23
  in the afternoon. That's how long the lineup
• 19:26
  was. And I brought a lot of good names. I brought
• 19:29
  the creator of Deadpool, the creator of Thanos.
• 19:32
  Iron Man was hot then, so I brought the famous
• 19:34
  Iron Man artist, the artist of Venom, the creator
• 19:38
  of Venom. It was good. That was a good show.
• 19:43
  Come by the store, please. We'll educate you.
• 19:45
  Now, I probably won't be there, but I got an
• 19:48
  amazing team. I've got a really good team. I'm
• 19:50
  blessed with my team. I've got great people that
• 19:52
  work for me, so it's good. And they're bigger
• 19:55
  than me. I have to go to them for anime knowledge
• 19:58
  because there's always so much I can do. I'm
• 20:01
  the old school comic book guy. The new stuff,
• 20:04
  talk to my staff. They know all the new stuff.
• 20:06
  They know, yeah. Oh, yeah, they know. They're
• 20:08
  making more money than me like I was making at
• 20:10
  their age. My goodness. Thank you, Carmen, for
• 20:18
  sharing your knowledge and infectious enthusiasm
• 20:20
  with us. We've definitely been convinced to start
• 20:23
  our collectible journey and can't wait to chat
• 20:25
  with everyone over at Dr. Comics. Thank you for
• 20:29
  listening to the entire episode. All the links
• 20:31
  and info you heard in this conversation will
• 20:33
  be featured in the show notes on our website.
• 20:35
  If you'd like to know more about anything we
• 20:37
  mentioned in this episode, make sure to check
• 20:39
  villagermagazine .ca slash podcast. If you enjoyed
• 20:43
  this episode, please leave us a review on Apple
• 20:45
  Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you're listening
• 20:47
  from. If you'd like to help this podcast grow,
• 20:50
  consider subscribing to our podcast channels
• 20:52
  like YouTube or Spotify so you never miss an
• 20:54
  episode. Thanks again and I'll see you next time.