CGC Comics - Comics Under Glass?

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but real world has been overwhelming lately with work, school, and a week-long survival training camp (just for fun). Anyway, I'm back and let's talk.

What's so fun about a comic book? Why, reading it, of course! When I was a kid, I couldn't wait to get to the car and start reading that new book. Most of the time I had already read several in the supermarket (these were the days before comic shops) and clutched my colorful treasure carefully all the way to my room, where I would study each action-packed panel with joy. I had no idea of the value that comic might one day fetch if I kept it in pristine condition. My concern was mostly just enjoying the book at that moment.

Flash forward to today, and I still look with glee as I open the mailbox to pull out my latest comic acquisition. They may have boards and bags, but I can still pull them out and read them.

Then along comes the CGC...

After saying I would never own a CGC comic, I broke down and purchased one on Ebay a couple of months ago just so I could say I had one. I have to admit it was cool because it seemed like I had a museum piece or something, even though it was just an old Batman comic. Here was this treasure forever captured in time. It had a grade, and it would stay this perfect forever.

Then I realized I had never read this particular issue before, so I had no idea what the story was about. This prompted another trip to Ebay to find a used copy of the book as a reader copy so I could find out if the story lived up to the cover (it did).

And this brings me to my argument: Are CGC comics really worth it? Is a serious comic book collector one who spends hundreds of dollars on a comic he can never read, or is he the person who is fine with a bag-and-board dented copy of a book he can lovingly recall from memory?

This is where it gets sticky. I can see the point of having CGC comics, and have about a dozen now for various reasons. They might be an issue of a hero I really liked, or they might be a particular issue that was special to me (my very first comic book, graded and on the bookshelf in my bedroom). But at the same time I realize I'll never be able to read these books. For all I know, it's just the covers and some other comic is inside!

Baseball cards don't have this problem. They are slabbed, but you can still read both sides with no problem. Only comic books and magazines have this problem. Does this make us seem really dumb to people who aren't collectors?


So what do you think? Are you willing to pay inflated prices for a book just so you can have it "under glass" and never be able to read it? Or is it all just a big scam to you?