OT: Will generation that grew up with everything still want to collect stuff?

[skybolt]

I personally don't understand the constant comparisons between comic books and video games. Even when I was growing up in the 80's video games were way more popular than comic books. Heck, practically 1 out of every 3 guys in my class either owned or played Atari / Colleco Vision, etc. on a daily basis. On the otherhand, there were only a handful of kids in my entire school that admitted to collecting comic books. If there was ever a time where I was sure comic collecting would fizzle out, it was back in the 80's.

 

Unlike video games, comic books don't require 25 to 30% of the kids, teenagers and young adults to keep the market thriving. If only 1 out of every 3,000 people in the US (100,000 total) decides to become a back-issue collector, then comic books will still have a future. With all the recent comic book themed hollywood movies, a larger foreign audience, and taking into factor female collectors, you mean to tell me that 1 out of 3,000 people being a collector doesn't seem feasible?!

 

Sure, at one point there were a couple of million kids that read comic books back in 30's and 40's. However, only a few thousand of those became avid collectors as an adult (at least according the Gerber Photo Journal data compiled). What this tells me is that if these kids had other options at the time such as video games (at reasonable prices), then only a small number of them would've been reading comic books to begin with. At the same time, if a kid today decides to become a comic book collector over everything else around him/her, then they must certainly love the genre, and have a much higher probability of being a back-issue collector as an adult. Sorry for the

[Bronty]

I think the constant comparisons are pretty easy to understand. Millions of kids used to read comics. Millions of kids are playing games now. To use your own logic if 1 kid out of every 3,000 decides to collect vintage games, there will be a market.

 

Or look at it this way. I sold a game for $8500 recently. No joke. Only made a few hundred on it, and there will be tax on that, but hey I only owned it for a day or two.

[*paull*]

I believe that interest in GA books will drop and second tier GA will likely stagnate in value.

 

really? why?

 

 

I think lesser genres are really going to suffer in the coming decades. Look at westerns.... that stuff can barely be given away these days. Romance? Good luck with that. I think that as the number of collectors drops (which I think is inevitable due to the dreadful condition of the current comic book market), collectors will be going for the same key issues while demand for 2nd / 3rd tier publishers, characters and creators will decline significantly. I think the collecting of paper goods is a hobby (overall... i'm not talking about key comics here) that won't stand the test of time.

 

I collect pre-code horror books. But you won't hear me saying that the market for these books is healthy. If it isn't a super key cover or in high-grade, it's basically filler. I honestly don't think the pre-code horror market will bounce back. It had a huge push during the post-Gerber era, but has been relatively flat since then, except as I said, for key issues/covers.

 

I don't think that the future is all that bright for non-key superhero issues/publishers/characters, either.

[The Black Hand ®]

Im buying my wife a DEtective # 9.At least I gotta figure a way to make it sound like a gift for here.I know, ill say its an investment for her future.

 

Wives have been known to get pretty angry at husbands who buy presents like that. Make sure it's encapsulated, so that it's not easily torn in two.

[Bronty]

I agree totally and have had the same thought for years. The only thing that will keep the prices on that stuff from going much lower is that they are dirt cheap already. In fact, GA drek in vg is already at a market price about equal to a new comic. But yeah, any value left in books like that will be going, going, gone if it isn't already.

 

[Ares]

Dam some nice thoughts here.

Im going to use some of these ideas in an article if thats ok

[*paull*]

I agree totally and have had the same thought for years. The only thing that will keep the prices on that stuff from going much lower is that they are dirt cheap already. In fact, GA drek in vg is already at a market price about equal to a new comic. But yeah, any value left in books like that will be going, going, gone if it isn't already.

 

I agree. Run-of-the-mill VG Golden Age is a dime a dozen. If a collector is buying anything but key issues, classic (not just good.... classic.) covers, top creators, or high-grade books, he/she better love what they are buying because I don't think the future is bright.

 

I could wallpaper my apartment with VG pre-code horror these days. In fact, it might be cheaper than a roll of wallpaper.

[CAP Freak]

I think most kids will want a) continue looking to the future and collecting new things, basically just buying new electronics (IPOD Touch, Xbox 360) and junking there older stuff in a never ending cycle. While others will B) Look for Hand Held FM radios, Golden/Silver/Bronze Age comics they never had before and experience the history.

[delekkerste]

There will always be people who collect, but their numbers I believe will be diminishing. We live in a disposable, interactive age that offers so many more hobby & entertainment options than we used to have. When I was growing up, what was there to do...ride bikes, D&D, collect baseball cards, comic books or action figures, play arcade games. Now, the possibilities are limitless, from taking cheap flights all over the world on a budget airline to social networking on the Internet to watching/participating in extreme sports to playing multiple home gaming consoles, etc. etc. If I was a kid today, I think it would be highly unlikely that I would be into collecting comic books or anything else in a serious way.

 

I also think economics will play a factor - this generation will likely be one whose standard of living declines from the previous one...today's kids will have to get used to less money, less space and yet higher prices in the future, none of which will be beneficial towards collecting trends. And with some of the other problems I foresee happening going forward, I think collecting and other pastimes that we take for granted nowadays will not be foremost among people's minds.

 

I am skeptical about the video game collecting craze; sure it's hot now among a small niche, but 20 years from now I totally agree that the nostalgia is in playing the old games, not collecting encapsulated, shrink-wrapped cartridges. I suspect it will be about as popular then as record collecting is today (not to say that some prices won't still be high for the small number of people who still care about it). Just my opinion.

[*paull*]

I think kids today have a lot less patience than kids did from a decade, two or three ago. I doubt that comic books have the pull with kids that they used to have. And collecting paper goods must seem archaic to them.

 

Many people that are 40 - 60 years old who are banking on big returns from their collections are going to want to sell in 10 - 20 years. Who will be buying?

[SuperBird]

I agree totally and have had the same thought for years. The only thing that will keep the prices on that stuff from going much lower is that they are dirt cheap already. In fact, GA drek in vg is already at a market price about equal to a new comic. But yeah, any value left in books like that will be going, going, gone if it isn't already.

 

while I agree with most everything in this thread, the comments aabout GA books in VG condition strike me as unsubstantiated.

 

market price equal to a new comic? for a GA book? What books are we talking about here? even the 'third tier' of stuff I look at- fiction house stuff, EC war books- go for a minimum of $25+ a book in VG.

 

For the 'top tier' stuff, like WW2 GA Actions, most of the stuff I look to buy in VG I have to massively compete for, and regularly have to pay 150% guide on.

 

If anybody wants to sell me any VG GA horror, sci fi, or superhero book for $3 each, I will buy them all. Please mail them to me immediatey.

 

Or are you *just* referring to romance and western?

[1Cool]

I personally don't understand the constant comparisons between comic books and video games. Even when I was growing up in the 80's video games were way more popular than comic books. Heck, practically 1 out of every 3 guys in my class either owned or played Atari / Colleco Vision, etc. on a daily basis. On the otherhand, there were only a handful of kids in my entire school that admitted to collecting comic books. If there was ever a time where I was sure comic collecting would fizzle out, it was back in the 80's.

 

Unlike video games, comic books don't require 25 to 30% of the kids, teenagers and young adults to keep the market thriving. If only 1 out of every 3,000 people in the US (100,000 total) decides to become a back-issue collector, then comic books will still have a future. With all the recent comic book themed hollywood movies, a larger foreign audience, and taking into factor female collectors, you mean to tell me that 1 out of 3,000 people being a collector doesn't seem feasible?!

 

Sure, at one point there were a couple of million kids that read comic books back in 30's and 40's. However, only a few thousand of those became avid collectors as an adult (at least according the Gerber Photo Journal data compiled). What this tells me is that if these kids had other options at the time such as video games (at reasonable prices), then only a small number of them would've been reading comic books to begin with. At the same time, if a kid today decides to become a comic book collector over everything else around him/her, then they must certainly love the genre, and have a much higher probability of being a back-issue collector as an adult. Sorry for the

 

The point stated above has a couple holes. When I was growing up in the 80's - everyone had at least a few comics stored away. The Death of Superman issue sold like 2 million copies and it sold out. Comic shops were making money and people read/collected comics in droves. Hard to debate this was the gravy age of collecting comics (everyone seemed to making money). This has died off over the last 20 years and I would guess that most kids under 20 have never purchased a comic and in fact probably never even read a comic book. They are not easily available and not affordable compared to other outlets.

 

And to make matters 100 times worse - most comics from 1980 and up are not worth the paper they are printed on. Why collect or save something that is not going to be worth anything?? Something to fill the bottom of a closet?? What is there to entice young readers to pick up a comic for the first time? A burning desire to drive to a comic store and shell out $10 for 3 comics and finish reading them on the drive home (of course the reading of the books has now made the comic unsellable since it isn't a 9.8).

 

Everything isn't all bad. Foreign buyers are hungry for comic books of all periods and the onlything that appears to be holding them back is the high shipping prices. Money is being made in the comic market everyday and it doesn't appear to have an end in sight but is it that far fetched to speculate that an end is coming since new buyers are not filling in the bottom of the piramid?

[Bronty]

I agree totally and have had the same thought for years. The only thing that will keep the prices on that stuff from going much lower is that they are dirt cheap already. In fact, GA drek in vg is already at a market price about equal to a new comic. But yeah, any value left in books like that will be going, going, gone if it isn't already.

 

while I agree with most everything in this thread, the comments aabout GA books in VG condition strike me as unsubstantiated.

 

market price equal to a new comic? for a GA book? What books are we talking about here? even the 'third tier' of stuff I look at- fiction house stuff, EC war books- go for a minimum of $25+ a book in VG.

 

For the 'top tier' stuff, like WW2 GA Actions, most of the stuff I look to buy in VG I have to massively compete for, and regularly have to pay 150% guide on.

 

If anybody wants to sell me any VG GA horror, sci fi, or superhero book for $3 each, I will buy them all. Please mail them to me immediatey.

 

Or are you *just* referring to romance and western?

 

come on man - ECs as third tier. Gimme a break.

 

No, I'm talking about a random True Comics, or non-first edition Classic comics, or Super Rabbit books, or any of an endless amount of books that aren't fondly remembered or really collected by anyone. As I said earlier, drek.

 

The best way to look at it is to take an anthology title. Let's use Four Color. Let's say you had a complete run in vg and wanted to sell the issues individually or on ebay. Besides the early issues, the Barks issues, and a few other notables, how much are you going to get for them? I'd be willing to bet you'd have a tough time getting anything for some of the middle and later parts of the run.

[shiverbones]

I agree totally and have had the same thought for years. The only thing that will keep the prices on that stuff from going much lower is that they are dirt cheap already. In fact, GA drek in vg is already at a market price about equal to a new comic. But yeah, any value left in books like that will be going, going, gone if it isn't already.

 

while I agree with most everything in this thread, the comments aabout GA books in VG condition strike me as unsubstantiated.

 

market price equal to a new comic? for a GA book? What books are we talking about here? even the 'third tier' of stuff I look at- fiction house stuff, EC war books- go for a minimum of $25+ a book in VG.

 

For the 'top tier' stuff, like WW2 GA Actions, most of the stuff I look to buy in VG I have to massively compete for, and regularly have to pay 150% guide on.

 

If anybody wants to sell me any VG GA horror, sci fi, or superhero book for $3 each, I will buy them all. Please mail them to me immediatey.

 

Or are you *just* referring to romance and western?

 

Yeah, I thought that was a bit blanketed as well. Even precode horror, which I agree about 2/3rds of is weak right now, weak still means $25ish in VG for "bottom barrel" stuff like ACE & ACG, but I have sold a good amount of low-midgrade horror in the last few months for over guide. Not killer books, just solid middle of the road horror. Even LB Cole covers after a period of stagnancy are starting to sell for $80 in VG again.

 

There have even been some DC Westerns I've tried to win because I like the covers & I am always outbid. Same with GA DC in general. I have won some decent late 50's stuff, that is certainly weak right now. I just think it's more complex then was stated. I think there will always be a segment of readers of that material which will keep it alive to some degree.

[shiverbones]

well that stuff has always been "Drek" I have never seen a copy of true comics change hands!

[Bronty]

I sold a True Comics 25 in vg on ebay for $4. See my point? Its a WW2 era book.

 

Sure, its never been a hotly contested book but the point is prices for primo stuff keep climbing and prices for sad sack stuff keeps dropping and I fully expect the trend to continue.

[shiverbones]

of course, I agree with that too. My point was the spread of what is good & what is junk was a bit to disparate a few posts up.

[Bronty]

OK. I think space is the issue behind it - none of us wants another short box of so-so books. The collector pool is aging and the average collector doesn't know where the heck to store everything already. Several posts on this thread already about the thousands of books we'd like to dump but can't. So nothing really makes it into people's collections anymore unless its "special." And despite what some people might say there aren't new collectors (in any numbers) wanting to come along and buy this . And meantime millions more books to get stored somewhere (the dump?) get printed every year.

[*paull*]

I still think the LB Cole market is weak right now. I'm amazed at some of the low prices I've seen on key Cole covers at Heritage and on eBay.

 

I don't think we need to dig as deep as True Comics, Classics, and other weak GA titles. That stuff doesn't sell now and probably never did. I'm saying that it's going to spread into Fawcetts, Fiction House, and other 2nd/3rd tier publishers.

[shiverbones]

Maybe so on the key covers. Like The startling terror #11 cgc 5.5 that goldust just won. I think that is the exact same copy I sold raw for $650 5 years ago. I would have expected higher on that.

 

I have been seeing a lot of VG run covers of Blue Bolt, sppok & the like hitting higher then the $40 average they were ending at a year ago.