Million-Dollar Comics: Collector of Rare Comic Books in Chicago for C2E2


The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo – C2E2 – starts Friday at McCormick Place.

The event drew one of the top comic book dealers in the world to Chicago, and he’s brought in some million-dollar marvels.

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Vincent Zurzolo is a dealer of rare, vintage American comic books. He runs Metropolis Collectibles and the auction/consignment house ComicConnect in New York City.

  • Marvel Comics #1 CGC 9.0 Pay Copy $1,000,000.00 The Pay Copy Pedigree (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

    Marvel Comics #1 CGC 9.0 Pay Copy $1,000,000.00 The Pay Copy Pedigree (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

  • Detective Comics #27 CGC 6.0 Rockford Pedigree $1,000,000.00 (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

    Detective Comics #27 CGC 6.0 Rockford Pedigree $1,000,000.00 (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

  • Batman 1 CGC 8.0 $1,000,000.00 Larson Pedigree (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

    Batman 1 CGC 8.0 $1,000,000.00 Larson Pedigree (Courtesy Vincent Zurzolo)

Vincent Zurzolo shared his thoughts with WTTW News on his unusual career choice – and some favorite comic book movies:

What are your favorite comic book movies?

My all-time favorite comic book movie is “Blade” (1998). That was the beginning of Marvel becoming a viable movie franchise, and I think it’s cool that they’re bringing him back. “Captain America: Winter Soldier” – that’s also one of my all-time favorites. I think that’s a great movie, even if you took the superhero elements out of it. It’s a really fun movie. I also really enjoyed the Avenger movies.

Least favorite comic book movies?

I thought “Iron Man 2” was pretty awful. I thought “Iron Man 3” was not great. The third Batman movie [“The Dark Knight Rises”] with Bane was not great. I also thought “Suicide Squad” was pretty dreadful.

How long have you been collecting comics, and how did you get started?

Almost 35 years. I started in high school at 15 years old. And when I graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in marketing in 1993 and decided to pursue this full-time. I made the decision over the summer – do I send out my resume and get a job where I get a suit every day and take a two-hour roundtrip train ride to city and back and make peanuts? Or do I work in my boxers in my apartment and probably make double that amount of money in my first year? So I started out selling comic books on the streets of Manhattan the summer I graduated.

My father gave me a little grief. He’s like, “I sent you to four years of college, and you’re selling comic books?” I told him I’d use everything I’d learn in my schooling. He’s quite proud of me today and happy for my success.

I still love comic books. I still love reading them, grading, pricing, talking to customers and collectors. It still gets my juices flowing. I have fun with it and I don’t take it for granted in terms of how fortunate I’ve been to be able to pursue something like this. Thankfully, it’s been a flourishing collectible.

Tell us about your participation in C2E2 Chicago this weekend.

I’ll be in Booth 1419. We come here to buy and sell, and we have an incredible display of vintage comic books, original comic art and video games, and we also will be taking consignments for our next event auction. I not only own Metropolis Collectibles but also ComicConnect, which is our auction company.


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