CBS MarketWatch: Collectibles Are "The Stupid Investment Of The Week"

[Illiterati-migration]

I just got back into SSX Tricky, still a very good game.

I have just about every PS2 sports game even Rugby :\

 

Brian

 

I'm really tempted to pick up SSX3... but not if they're going to turn around and put out a "remix" in a couple months!

 

SSX2 is really fun though... soooo tempted....

[Illiterati-migration]

I only own a few games....

 

THPS 1-4, SPIDER-MAN & Bass Fishing.....

 

BASS FISHING?!?!

 

 

Okay, I won't laugh... I own Fantavision.

[THE_BEYONDER]

[COI]

I love SOCOM, and I haven't even played it online yet.

 

Don't you have to pay a monthly fee to play online?

[Bronty]

 

Best fishing game ever = Super Black Bass!

[murph0]

Not that I have found yet. And I've played over a dozen games online.

SOCOM is definately much better online.

 

Brian

[MMMarvel-migration]

just saying that sometimes the message boards can over inflate or skew our thoughts in ways that are not realistic when discussing the MARKET implications of the industry.

 

That's exactly it. We all laugh at the other markets that have crashed (like Beanies and Sportcards) but refuse to see what's coming down our particular road.

 

Big difference. Beanies and Sportscards are like one trick ponies. Meaning people collect them because they like a particular beanie(s) or sports person. Comics are much different. People collect comics for a multitude of reasons like the character, the artist, and the writer to name a few.

[joe_collector]

That's exactly it. We all laugh at the other markets that have crashed (like Beanies and Sportcards) but refuse to see what's coming down our particular road.

 

Big difference. Beanies and Sportscards are like one trick ponies. Meaning people collect them because they like a particular beanie(s) or sports person. Comics are much different. People collect comics for a multitude of reasons like the character, the artist, and the writer to name a few.

 

Exactly my point.

 

We refuse to see that any collectible is intrinsically worthless, and somehow put our own faves up on a pedestal.

[MMMarvel-migration]

Is that why circulation levels are down 80% since a decade ago? Only a handful of titles sell more than 100,000 copies, a figure which used to be considered a cancellation cut-off.

 

How does the total volume of comics sold across all titles sold compare to a decade, or two decades, ago? I've never heard from anyone who had those statistics. Using the maximum number of copies the hottest titles sell as evidence that the collector base is shrinking is as valid as pointing out how the Nielson ratings of ABC, NBC, and CBS going down BIG time over the last twenty years is evidence that people aren't watching TV anymore. Not true--there are just a lot more channels to divide people's attention, and in a similar way, there are a lot more comic book titles to divide people's attention also.

 

Not that I think the grand totals are higher now than in the past...I figure they're less just like you do, I just haven't ever heard from anywhere how much less they are these days.

 

Very good point!

 

Even if younger people are coming in at a lower percentage than a couple of decades ago I still believe the number of people actually collecting comics (especially silver age and up) are still growing over all. Just for arguments sake lets say only 5,000 new readers came into the comic collecting market last year. Do you honestly think the that same number of collectors died or just stopped collecting? I don't. I have no factual proof to back any of this up. It is just based on my beliefs.

[Bronty]

SOLD to a forum member. PM me for more gems. I bought the contents of a store inventory a while back and can hook people up with certain titles or at least give them leads on others.

 

[joe_collector]

Although higher availability and online sales may make the numbers tough to compare, I'd like to see a break-down on the Overstreet Guide sales from say, 1989 to 2003.

 

Even though the "Amazon Factor" may come into play by bumping up sales of the newer editions (my local brick and mortar bookstores rarely carried it in the 90's), it would still be interesting to see exactly how many copies sold this year and in 1995-2000, compared to something like 1990-93 or so, and where the trends are heading.

[MMMarvel-migration]

That's exactly it. We all laugh at the other markets that have crashed (like Beanies and Sportcards) but refuse to see what's coming down our particular road.

 

Big difference. Beanies and Sportscards are like one trick ponies. Meaning people collect them because they like a particular beanie(s) or sports person. Comics are much different. People collect comics for a multitude of reasons like the character, the artist, and the writer to name a few.

 

Exactly my point.

 

We refuse to see that any collectible is intrinsically worthless, and somehow put our own faves up on a pedestal.

 

Please explain how the collectors base of comic books is equal to the collectors base of beanies or sportscards? This should be interesting.

[Bronty]

 

Even if younger people are coming in at a lower percentage than a couple of decades ago I still believe the number of people actually collecting comics (especially silver age and up) are still growing over all. Just for arguments sake lets say only 5,000 new readers came into the comic collecting market last year. Do you honestly think the that same number of collectors died or just stopped collecting?

 

I would bet 100,000 people "just stopped collecting" and/or reading in the early 90s. No doubt that readership has grown a little in the last couple of years with a few of those people coming back due to better stories and art, cgc, ebay, higher prices, etc. But over the past ten years I'm sure there's been a drop overall - it's just that the nature of it was a huge drop off 10 years ago followed by flat or marginally improved readership since. You can't just look at the last couple of years.

[Bonds25]

SOLD to a forum member. PM me for more gems. I bought the contents of a store inventory a while back and can hook people up with certain titles or at least give them leads on others.

 

 

[fantastic_four]

I would bet 100,000 people "just stopped collecting" and/or reading in the early 90s.

 

I'm sure many of us here are included in that statistic; I know I am. I stayed out for years, and when my girlfriend wanted to go to the shops I would hem and haw and say how I didn't wanna go because I was sick of Marvel extorting an extra buck or two out of me by tacking that holofoil junk on all the titles I collect.

 

The X-Men movie in 2000 re-opened my mind to comics, and once I saw Marvel had stop doing the gimmicky shiny stuff, I stayed.

[fantastic_four]

No cheats whatsoever. Some people are just really that good. If you play it 24/7 (which it appears some of these ppl do) you'd be able to do that too

 

Some people have also been playing so many video games for so long that their dexterity and reaction times transfer over from game to game. I've been playing Doom 2 and Quake since the early 90s online, back when people dialed into to bulletin board systems and used those as networks...I don't play any more than 4-5 hours a week, but after playing online for a decade, it's common for new online players to think you're cheating.

[Freiherr]

There was a big boom in collectors in the early 90s (I was one of them), but I think more left than stayed.

 

Before the boom, my city had 4 comic shops. When the craze hit, we were up to at least 12 different shops. After the crash, only 2 of the originals remain and I am unsure if one of those still exists.

 

I survived the gimmicks, but I didn’t last long against characters having 10 titles a piece, cover prices doubling/tripling and confusing plots that changed every 2 issues (mainly a Marvel problem).

[MMMarvel-migration]

 

Even if younger people are coming in at a lower percentage than a couple of decades ago I still believe the number of people actually collecting comics (especially silver age and up) are still growing over all. Just for arguments sake lets say only 5,000 new readers came into the comic collecting market last year. Do you honestly think the that same number of collectors died or just stopped collecting?

 

I would bet 100,000 people "just stopped collecting" and/or reading in the early 90s. No doubt that readership has grown a little in the last couple of years with a few of those people coming back due to better stories and art, cgc, ebay, higher prices, etc. But over the past ten years I'm sure there's been a drop overall - it's just that the nature of it was a huge drop off 10 years ago followed by flat or marginally improved readership since. You can't just look at the last couple of years.

 

I was one of those people that got out in the early 90s because of all the multiple covers, foil covers etc... I bet if there were 100k people that got out the majority of them were the speculators. I also bet a large percentage of the collectors that got out because they were tired of the gimmicks got back in once Marvel changed their ways.

[joe_collector]

I also bet a large percentage of the collectors that got out because they were tired of the gimmicks got back in once Marvel changed their ways.

 

I bet they didn't.

[OldSchoolTerry]

That's when I got out too, when Marvel was really pulling that funny business with the multiple covers, etc. I believe the last new book I bought then was X-Men #1 (I only bought one cover version, the one with Cyclops and Wolverine I believe, not all of them like I'm sure most people did).