The bard

On 1/25/2022 at 9:07 AM, Mr. Zipper said:

I agree with much of this.

Another factor in my opinion is the lack of travel, vacations, eating out, etc. left a lot of discretionary money in people's pockets. This money was then spent on fun tangibles like comic books, cards, guitars, etc.

This also means that with what is happening in the markets and likely to happen should omicron be the last COVID wave that prices likely will dip/fall from here. The sports card market rolled over last year and comics likely follow suit at some point (again, everything is still higher than 1/1/20, but far lower than peak). Money to buy collectibles has to come from somewhere and without stimulus or higher markets/crypto, coupled with more spending options as COVID wanes and drop is likely. 

On 1/16/2022 at 2:49 PM, topcat54 said:

Maybe this would explain it 

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/first-appearance-of-black-krrsantan-sells-raw-unslabbed-for-225/

Am I missing something?  It looks like you can buy these for $30-50 buy it now on eBay with tons of supply. 

I’ll check our Moon Knight. I’m also a huge Lovecraft fan, so some horror (at least of the cosmic nature) is appealing. 

Looking for 1 or 2 titles to fill out a pull list at midtown. I prefer Marvel/DC (but am not opposed to DH or IDW). Looking for a title outside the obviously popular/well know (maybe a new title that just started or what not). Thanks in advance. 

While not comics, pretty sure my magic cards would have paid for at least a few years of college now. Can’t believe I sold them for beer money in the late 90s. 

I wouldn’t say don’t “invest” in comic books (or other collectibles), but I would say keep it to no more than 2% of your portfolio and understand how transaction cost and taxes will effect any “profit” should you sell. 
 

Also, check with your homeowners insurance to see how (if) they cover collectibles before getting anything even remotely expensive. 

First, thank you all for the input on my poorly worded original question. 
 

After looking through my graded baseball card spreadsheet (which includes when I bought, what I paid, but also my wants list and their price when added to my list), I realized I was about to make the same “mistake” I made on comics that I did with baseball:  that of prioritizing things I had nostalgia for over the rarer/more expensive wants further down my list (because while I can still afford say a ASM 361 if it doubles, I couldn’t afford say a 9.6 ASM 121 if it does too).  Thus, I have done some reordering and am now trying to decide between ASM 121 or 122 in 9.6 or a 238 in 9.8 as my “first” pickup (I will likely only get one of these 3 at least for a while) and then will target the lower pop stuff before larger pop cheaper modern stuff  (learning from some of my baseball regrets). 

On 1/9/2022 at 12:05 PM, William-James88 said:

Never inferred that. Just meant that right now you are not buying it at an all time high. So you might get burnt less than the rest.

This is kind of what I am looking for. I am not speculating and the chances of me selling anything in the next 5 years or so is near zero. What I don’t have (unlike is baseball) is historical knowledge of pricing. I know that all collectibles peaked early last year and have come down a ton since, but what I don’t know is which books may have jumped up recently from their (post 21) lows for some reason and are likely to pull back again. 
 

Quote

 

Your first slab buy might not be the best idea to go for profit but for a book you always sought after!or a signature series of an artist you like even if not key books

I guess I wasn’t clear with my request. I am not looking to make a buck, but don’t have a good history on comic pricing and don’t want to buy something that’s had a huge recent run up (obviously everything is up since COVID, but you know what I mean) and has a good chance of being substantially cheaper in a few months. The comics I referenced were covers I think look good from series I like (also considered Avengers 223, Batman 428(although not a great cover IMO), and a few others). It just happened that some of the books I like most were expensive (technically my first purchase was Advanced Dungeons and Dragons #1 9.8, a book I loved as a kid and my second will be Hawkeye (the 1983 series) 1, which I assume ran up due to D+).  I am just trying to avoid buying something that ran up more than the general run up since COVID or that hasn’t fallen back from its early 21 highs yet. 
 

So, I am relatively new to comic collecting (been on and off for a long time, but never serious since he late 80s) and am contemplating purchasing a CGC of an iconic cover/issue to display in my office/geek cave.  I am not new to collecting or grading overall (I have a good sized graded baseball card collection).  I typically value the look of a 9.8 over an older lesser condition book, but could be convinced otherwise (although nostalgia plays a role here over investment potential, so think 80s+). 

What I am looking for is advice on which of the following to buy (or other ideas in the same price range) that is least likely to lose a lot of value (I am not looking for an investment, but don’t want to buy something that might be 30% less in 6 months). 
The list (all 9.8):

ASM 361

ASM 316

Incredible Hulk 340

Avengers 196