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FutureFlash

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    Copper and Modern Books [Closed]

    in Copper / Modern Age Only

    Posted · Edited by FutureFlash

    Hello all, selling a few books over the next few days. Most of the books will be Marvel but a few DC and Miscellaneous as well.

    Returns: Are accepted within two weeks. Send them back for a full refund or maybe we can work something out.

    Payment: Paypal

    Shipping:

    One Book: $3 First Class in a cardboard mailer

    2-8 Books: $6 Priority Mail

    9+ Books: $9 Priority Mail

    I can also ship to Canada, but we will have to work out the shipping price.

    Most books I will just do a front scan, if you would like to see a back scan on a book(s) let me know.

    Other Rules:

    No Hall of Shame or probies.

    First :takeit:"Take It" by timestamp, gets the item(s).

    PMs are okay too, just be sure to post in the main thread that you will take the item after an agreement has been made.

    Marvel's Falling Sales

    in Comics General

    Posted

    3 hours ago, SquareChaos said:

    I feel very comfortable saying there is absolutely no way the collector numbers will be there - think of the number of comics printed in the 60s, 70s, and 80s for what was, at the time, a considerably larger reading audience. Comic readership and print numbers have steadily dwindled to where we are today. When the prized books from of our older collectors start to hit the market in larger numbers in the next decade or so - whether due to death or liquidation for retirement or what have you - many of those non-key books will have nowhere to go at their current prices. If you envision it as a cascade of older collector's comics being consumed by the tiers below them, and consider as already stated that readership has steadily dwindled for decades... it appears deductively obvious that there are too few collectors for the number of books in the collections a generation above them. 

     

    The relatively recent laser beam focus on key issues may be a sign that this is already happening... that cherry picking the best out of what is essentially a flood of too many books for the shrinking hobby to absorb is the new normal. This may be confirmation bias, but I know when I first started in the 80s there was much more focus on collecting storylines - today that seems like a relatively lost art... I don't even do it any more.

    I started in the 80s too and that is what you did back then collect runs. Kinda sad that it is all about the keys nowadays, people are really missing out on great story-lines of yesteryear...but for the most part it is just easier and cheaper to pick up the trade now. But I'm even getting to the point where I'm finishing the runs I'm working on and that is it and slowly reducing my monthly purchases. Ugh what a depressing thread. :frown:

    But yeah I tend to think there will not be enough new collectors to absorb everything other than keys and maybe certain small runs.

    Marvel's Falling Sales

    in Comics General

    Posted

    12 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

    Does anyone have a child, nephew or niece that is an avid comic book collector or buyer of actual comic books?  I've given my nephew a stack of comics for his 13th birthday a few years ago but I don't think he bought any other.  My daughter has no interest in comics.

    Out of 8 nieces and nephews, I have 2 nephews that are semi interested in comics...one is 8 and the other is 23. Neither collect or read trades but enjoy other media around comic characters. I don't think the older one will ever collect comics at this point but the younger one may.  But on the flip side I was in a comic shop this week and there was a young couple in their early 20s looking at old and new books. The girlfriend/wife was asking him all sorts of questions...like what is golden age and about various characters. She did end up getting a few Gotham Academy books saying she would give them a try.

    So there is interest but it is a minority with Millennials and younger...they just have to many other things to do and reading/collecting is not one of them. Question is are there enough to replace us Baby Boomers and GenXers.

    But it is also fair to point a lot of media is down compared to the good old days. TV viewership, Movies, Books, Magazines, Albums. I think Video Games are about the only media still growing sales year to year. Though RPGs (pen and paper) have also hit a bit of a renaissance as well.

    Marvel's Falling Sales

    in Comics General

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Bookery said:

    All print media is dying off... and even faster than I projected.  After 33 years, we are now closing out our used bookstore division.  With about 20,000 volumes in stock, we were lucky to sell 20-30 books per week.  Values on all but the most famous first editions are falling fast.  I predicted awhile back that one of the big 2 comic companies would actually cease producing paper comics (at least in pamphlet form) within 10 years.  I'm thinking now it might be more like 5.  90% of the generation coming up does not read anything they don't absolutely have to... and the other 10% get their stuff digitally.  Collectibles with very strong graphics are hanging in there, whether its comics, pulps, magazines, paperbacks... but value based on content (aside from 1st appearance, 1st book "keys" etc.), is definitely subsiding.

    Sorry to hear about your bookstore closing. In our area we had 7 Half Price Books stores now down to 6, after closing one location this Spring. I chalked it up to it was one of the smaller ones and located fairly close to two other stores, because the four that I normally go to are quite busy. Maybe it was more due to low sales than location?

    As for comics, I'm not sure we will see one of the Big 2 stop publishing floppies in the next 10, maybe in 20? I do think one of the smaller comic companies could be done within the next 10 or so. They don't have big mega corporations backing them up. Take D&D for example, now owned by Hasbro, the D&D line profits are so small they don't even show up on the annual report. Hasbro pretty much bought Wizards of the Coast for Magic The Gathering and got D&D as a bonus. Hasbro amazingly just lets the D&D line do its own thing for the most part, which most people thought it was the beginning of the end when Wizards of the Coast was purchased. I think D&D is just an IP farm for them. Much like comics are for Disney and WB, if they make a little money great, if they lose a bit, it doesn't really impact the corporate bottom line.

    Poll: Age of People Who Collect GA or want to collect GA

    in Comics General

    Posted · Edited by FutureFlash

    44 here, I would collect more GA but the prices are getting a bit on the high side. The only run GA run I have been pursuing is GA Superman. But I would also collect Action, Detective, Batman and other GA DC properties if the prices were a bit softer. I may also put a Captain Marvel Adventures (vs. Monster Society of Evil) run together at some point. Wish I had bought GA stuff back in the late 80s and 90s...but I just wasn't into that era back then. I do actually read my books as well.