Would you still collect comics if. . .

[cd4ever]

I probably wouldn't. I don't collect to make money. Nor do I expect anything I buy today to be worth any more in 30 years than it is today. But if I knew they would be completely worthless in a few years.....no I wouldn't be paying 40, 50, 60, over a hundred bucks for a single book. That would be foolish.

[ashrael]

I would probably download comics to read, but not buy copies. I don't think I will make mounds of money on my comics, but I would like to get around the price I paid for them when I sell.

[That Ron Dude]

Allow me to answer this in a round about way.

 

If selling my collection now meant buying a better car or a new sofa I wouldn't. Those things will dissolve soon and be worthless. My comics, on the other hand will be dear to me until I die.

 

If selling them now could buy my son a year or two at a good school I would do it in a minute.

 

The comics I read as a kid changed my life and made me what I am today, for whatever that is worth. It is hard to put a dollar value on that. They are the most important material possession I have except for my house, which I have laboured over like a work of art.

[precodekeith]

Does the promise of future gains keep collectors going or is the joy of the collecting?

 

The collecting.

[1Cool]

It's kind of refreshing to hear so many die-hard collectors voicing their points of view. I knew that "collectors" were concentrated on the boards but you would think that CGC would attract people who want to encapsulate their comics to lock in a grade for ease in selling at maximum prices. But it looks like either collectors have been drawn to these boards or CGC users tend to be collectors locking in a treasure. I'm sure its a mix of the two but its great to hear a different point of view (one that I would have expressed as a 15 year old boy and have strangely lost).

[djpinkpanther67]

I would still collect, as I enjoy reading them, and they are one of the few good memories of childhood that I have. At least the SA/BA's. I only buy the moderns to try to keep current with the series. I don't even read them , except to read the TPBs at Hastings or Barnes & Noble

[kidcolt]

I might be more interested in buying TP or reprints rather then dropping major coin on a key issue or key 1st app. I buy for the love of the stories and art work but I still feel I am better off buying a first print rahter then a reprint, that would probably change on high end books if I knew they would all be worthless.

[COI]

I probably wouldn't. I don't collect to make money. Nor do I expect anything I buy today to be worth any more in 30 years than it is today. But if I knew they would be completely worthless in a few years.....no I wouldn't be paying 40, 50, 60, over a hundred bucks for a single book. That would be foolish.

 

(thumbs u

 

For those of you who claim you'd still be buying high grade books for multiples of guide, knowing they'd be totally worthless in a few years, I think you're fooling yourselves.

 

I don't buy for profit and I spend money that I don't expect to ever need back. But if you spent time, effort and money putting together a collection that suddenly becomes readily available for 10 cents on the dollar, it would pi$$ you off. I wouldn't have the stomach to lay out 25K+ for an ASM #1 in 9.0 if I knew for a fact that it would be completely worthless, and I suspect none of you would either. I'd just buy a low grade copy to fill the run and use the rest of the money for a car/renovations/vacations, etc...If I'm going to pisss money away, I might as well get some utility out of it. It isn't about the "love of the hobby", it's about not being a complete insufficiently_thoughtful_person.

 

EDIT: that last word is more-on. I didn't realize that was a naughty word.

[CAP Freak]

Would you buy a VF- copy of Fantastic Four 1 if you knew right after you read it one time you were going to accidently drop it in a shredder

[bergdoll]

I collect to read, so I would still buy the books I wanted/needed to read. One of the reasons I don't collect Silver Age Marvel is that I have all the Masterworks - so the stories are right there waiting for me!

 

As for the books I spend real money on? I'd still buy them even if they would be worthless - which is why they will never be worthless! My Golden Age and key collection is really all about having books that mean something more to me than the money I spent to get them.

 

I rarely sell any books, so future value is not a consideration.

 

What I wouldn't do is look for deals to flip on eBay (because there would be no value, right?)

[innocuous]

I'm not sure how to answer this. I'm probably going to drop about $2k on a comic before the end of the year, and, knowing that it would be worthless six months later, I wouldn't do it. But, if there was a slow decline in the market, and 10 years from now, it is worthless, I'm making the purchase. I love my comics.