Do we want the prices (values) to excalate?

[joe_collector]

There aren't less GA comics because of that reason but there are more SA, BA,etc comics because of that reason.

 

Now there is an apt observation.

 

I do agree that the day the OS Guide hit the mass market (mid-70's? - the first one was a low-print), that hoarding of new books hit new heights.

[joe_collector]

Homerwanabee's point that GA scarcity is due to comics not being worth much is indisputable.

 

Jeus H Christ, you two should fire up his $8 scanner and start a think tank.

[FlyingDonut]

[/img]

 

1960

[bronze_rules]

This statement is inaccurate. Comic books have been "collected" as we know "collecting" since the beginning of the hobby.

 

Really?

 

In the 30s, typical comic buyers took comics from the newstand and slide them into mylar sleeves with backing boards and gently placed them into acid-free longboxes. (The one in a million OCD like Edgar Church and Larsen doesn't count!)

 

 

It seems like everyone is trying to pick this guy apart, but he is not completely incorrect.

 

In the 30s and 40s, comic books were a disposible medium. They were read and passed on to another kid, traded for baseball cards and most likely thrown out when the cover fell off from reading. Or they were bundled with newspapers and placed on the curb for the paper drive.

 

They were not generally seen as a "collectible" or an item that would someday have some increased value. And, this in large part is why so few copies exist from the hundreds of thousands that were originally printed.

 

Certainly some copies were lost due to Wertham book burnings... but this has got to be a drop in the bucket compared to those that were lost simply because they were tossed out just like any other old magazine would be tossed out.

 

How can people assert otherwise?

 

I've been following this thread and I tend to agree with some of his points as well. Irregardless of the magnitude that were lost due to WWX, wertham burnings, etc.. there is truth in the argument that as the perceived monetary value of collectibles go up, collectors tend to hold and maintain collectibles more so than they would if they perceived the values of the collectibles as monetarily worthless. This doesn't necessarily imply that it was the dominant contributing factor to the remaining supply of vintage collectibles today (the weight is debatable), rather, it implies that the result of this phenomenon is a contributing factor to the overall dynamics of what contributed to the existing supply of vintage comics (or any collectibles for that matter). I would further argue that the same argument would hold for future supply of any type of collectibles.

 

The upshot being that I agree with him in that high prices does in some magnitude benefit future collectors, as per the above argument, it contributes to the remaining supply and condition of collectibles over time. To think that the far majority of any type of collectible Ephemera is solely kept, maintained, and passed down for the love of the hobby (sans monetary influence) is fantasy.

 

Sorry to jump in on the Hatfield-McCoy feud; just adding .

[chromium]

[/img]

 

1960

 

 

[joe_collector]

I've been following this thread and I tend to agree with some of his points.

 

You guys need to sit back and think a bit. A "reason" for something not happening cannot be time machine, Twilight Zone episodes, or alternate reality "because something else never happened" scenarios.

 

GA comics are rare because:

 

They didn't invent Mylar in the 20's

There was no Direct Market

Jim Shooter wasn't born

We can't make time machines yet

Aliens didn't come down and seal them in 100-year timed safes.

The assassin missed Hitler

No one stopped Pearl Harbor

There were no dinosaurs to control the population

[bronze_rules]

I've been following this thread and I tend to agree with some of his points.

 

You guys need to sit back and think a bit. A "reason" for something not happening cannot be time machine, Twilight Zone episodes, or alternate reality "because something else never happened" scenarios.

 

GA comics are rare because:

 

They didn't invent Mylar in the 20's

There was no Direct Market

Jim Shooter wasn't born

We can't make time machines yet

Aliens didn't come down and seal them in 100-year timed safes.

The assassin missed Hitler

No one stopped Pearl Harbor

There were no dinosaurs to control the population

 

Some one must be in the twilight zone, since I don't see how any one of those statements relates to my post/argument.

[joe_collector]

Some one must be in the twilight zone, since I don't see how any one of those statements relates to my post.

 

Think harder.

 

These are all things that did not, and never will, happen. Same with some mysterious "collector base" starting up a week after the first comic book hit the shelf.

 

About as probable as dinosaurs in 1939.

[gaz973]

It's always been my dream to invent a time machine so that I could snap up some brand new GA, SA & BA comics before the next person invents a time machine and does it first.

[chromium]

It's always been my dream to invent a time machine so that I could snap up some brand new GA, SA & BA comics before the next person invents a time machine and does it first.

 

If you were the first to invent a time machine, you wouldn't have to worry anymore about the next person inventing it as well...

[bhhooks22]

[JohnT]

Homerwanabee's point that GA scarcity is due to comics not being worth much is indisputable.

 

Jeus H Christ, you two should fire up his $8 scanner and start a think tank.

 

You can always tell when you are losing an argument...

[JohnT]

[/img]

 

1960

 

So what's the story behind this? I presume it's an early "issue" of Alter Ego?

 

 

 

 

[Aman619]

This statement is inaccurate. Comic books have been "collected" as we know "collecting" since the beginning of the hobby.

 

Really?

 

In the 30s, typical comic buyers took comics from the newstand and slide them into mylar sleeves with backing boards and gently placed them into acid-free longboxes. (The one in a million OCD like Edgar Church and Larsen doesn't count!)

 

 

It seems like everyone is trying to pick this guy apart, but he is not completely incorrect.

 

In the 30s and 40s, comic books were a disposible medium. They were read and passed on to another kid, traded for baseball cards and most likely thrown out when the cover fell off from reading. Or they were bundled with newspapers and placed on the curb for the paper drive.

 

They were not generally seen as a "collectible" or an item that would someday have some increased value. And, this in large part is why so few copies exist from the hundreds of thousands that were originally printed.

 

Certainly some copies were lost due to Wertham book burnings... but this has got to be a drop in the bucket compared to those that were lost simply because they were tossed out just like any other old magazine would be tossed out.

 

How can people assert otherwise?

 

I've been following this thread and I tend to agree with some of his points as well. Irregardless of the magnitude that were lost due to WWX, wertham burnings, etc.. there is truth in the argument that as the perceived monetary value of collectibles go up, collectors tend to hold and maintain collectibles more so than they would if they perceived the values of the collectibles as monetarily worthless. This doesn't necessarily imply that it was the dominant contributing factor to the remaining supply of vintage collectibles today (the weight is debatable), rather, it implies that the result of this phenomenon is a contributing factor to the overall dynamics of what contributed to the existing supply of vintage comics (or any collectibles for that matter). I would further argue that the same argument would hold for future supply of any type of collectibles.

 

The upshot being that I agree with him in that high prices does in some magnitude benefit future collectors, as per the above argument, it contributes to the remaining supply and condition of collectibles over time. To think that the far majority of any type of collectible Ephemera is solely kept, maintained, and passed down for the love of the hobby (sans monetary influence) is fantasy.

 

Sorry to jump in on the Hatfield-McCoy feud; just adding .

 

I agree with this side of the argument too. Worthless things get thrown away primarily, while a very few value them enough to hold on to them. There were zero outside influences that would give anyone the idea that the disposable kids comics all around had any value greater to the daily newspapers. They were thrown out. And later on, during the war years, they were collected... but to the consumer, thrown out and turned in both meant they were worth more gotten rid of than kept.

[MR.COMICBOOK]

This statement is inaccurate. Comic books have been "collected" as we know "collecting" since the beginning of the hobby.

 

Really?

 

In the 30s, typical comic buyers took comics from the newstand and slide them into mylar sleeves with backing boards and gently placed them into acid-free longboxes. (The one in a million OCD like Edgar Church and Larsen doesn't count!)

 

 

It seems like everyone is trying to pick this guy apart, but he is not completely incorrect.

 

In the 30s and 40s, comic books were a disposible medium. They were read and passed on to another kid, traded for baseball cards and most likely thrown out when the cover fell off from reading. Or they were bundled with newspapers and placed on the curb for the paper drive.

 

They were not generally seen as a "collectible" or an item that would someday have some increased value. And, this in large part is why so few copies exist from the hundreds of thousands that were originally printed.

 

Certainly some copies were lost due to Wertham book burnings... but this has got to be a drop in the bucket compared to those that were lost simply because they were tossed out just like any other old magazine would be tossed out.

 

How can people assert otherwise?

 

I've been following this thread and I tend to agree with some of his points as well. Irregardless of the magnitude that were lost due to WWX, wertham burnings, etc.. there is truth in the argument that as the perceived monetary value of collectibles go up, collectors tend to hold and maintain collectibles more so than they would if they perceived the values of the collectibles as monetarily worthless. This doesn't necessarily imply that it was the dominant contributing factor to the remaining supply of vintage collectibles today (the weight is debatable), rather, it implies that the result of this phenomenon is a contributing factor to the overall dynamics of what contributed to the existing supply of vintage comics (or any collectibles for that matter). I would further argue that the same argument would hold for future supply of any type of collectibles.

 

The upshot being that I agree with him in that high prices does in some magnitude benefit future collectors, as per the above argument, it contributes to the remaining supply and condition of collectibles over time. To think that the far majority of any type of collectible Ephemera is solely kept, maintained, and passed down for the love of the hobby (sans monetary influence) is fantasy.

 

Sorry to jump in on the Hatfield-McCoy feud; just adding .

 

I agree with this side of the argument too. Worthless things get thrown away primarily, while a very few value them enough to hold on to them. There were zero outside influences that would give anyone the idea that the disposable kids comics all around had any value greater to the daily newspapers. They were thrown out. And later on, during the war years, they were collected... but to the consumer, thrown out and turned in both meant they were worth more gotten rid of than kept.

I would say 80 percent of all comics are worthless or little value. its Superman,Batman DC keys,Spiderman,X-men Marvel keys.after 1964 the percentage of worthless comics goes up even higher. I wonder what the comic industry would be like without Superman,Batman,X-Men and Spider-Man? those 4 and a few keys here or there are the comics industry. the rest are all fluff. Thank God the big budget movies from Hollywood came along to keep life into this industry.The future is trade paperbacks not 2.99 COVER that ends up in the quarter bin.

[Aman619]

well, the trade paperback revolution is based on reprints. I dont disagree wth the advatages of reading an entire 6 issue story arc all at once. But, it will be a huge change to the reading habits of 90% of the remaining pamphlet collectors to have to wait six months for each new story/comic.

[joe_collector]

Homerwanabee's point that GA scarcity is due to comics not being worth much is indisputable.

 

Jeus H Christ, you two should fire up his $8 scanner and start a think tank.

 

You can always tell when you are losing an argument...

 

Yeah, I'm losing a mental war to you and the $8 scanner guy/Mr Invincible.

 

The homer guy's some kind of joker/mental incompetent from way back, and I wouldn't exactly be pleased about jumping into his shallow end of the gene pool.

[joe_collector]

I agree with this side of the argument too. Worthless things get thrown away primarily

 

So why are comics from any era kept? Virtually none of them are worth anything when printed, and it's only years after that GA, SA, BA or CA books started to appreciate.

 

I kept mine because I liked them, and I guarantee you many kids from the 30's, 40's and 50's would have kept theirs had the environment been the same. I didn't have to put up with witch hunts, book burnings, paper drives, world wars, etc.

 

I've asked one of my uncles about what it was like during the war, as he was the oldest in his family, and he said that it was just crazy patriotic, people were collecting old aluminum like their lives depended on it, and the same with paper and virtually any metal. Nobody was going to keep a stack of old comics at a time like that, and off they went to the war effort.

 

No war, no Wertham and we might not even have a viable hobby right now due to the glut of GA material.

[FlyingDonut]

 

So what's the story behind this? I presume it's an early "issue" of Alter Ego?

 

 

 

Its the first issue of Alter Ego, from 1960. There were fanzines prior to this, but this is as early as I go.

[PLOD-migration]

This statement is inaccurate. Comic books have been "collected" as we know "collecting" since the beginning of the hobby. Organized fandom as we know it today sprang up in the late 50s/early 60s. There were comic conventions AND price guides of some sort in the early 60s (and probably earlier).

 

I agree, and I know the EC collectors were "organized" in the sense that they were creating chapters of The EC Fan-Addicts in the early 1950's. Also, many people were asking the EC editors where to buy back issues, since they had already asked to buy them directly from EC, and the editors couldn't help them.

 

And don't forget about Pop Hollinger!