Ghost Town has been dethroned!!

[Aman619]

Joe'

 

I have never in my life invested any money in the stock market. Metropolis asked me if I would appear on the newslink and fudge it a bit, which I did. It was for the purpose of drawing increased attention and interest in the comic book collectibles market. Now you know.

 

Captain Tripps

 

this is quite an amazing statement... you mean you and Steve cooked up this backstory for the newsmen's benefit to fit nicely into their pre-conceived stoyline that comics (and collectibles) can and in some cases already have replaced stocks for some investors?

 

I like to think that the newspeople sometimes get their stories straight and can be believed. But we know they make lots of mistakes rushing out their stories...but to have you guys in collusion to help their story pan out, and worse, sell even MORE books to whomever actually believes this "news report"

 

actually its shocking. Steve suggested this was what you should say on camera?

 

[joe_collector]

this is quite an amazing statement... you mean you and Steve cooked up this backstory for the newsmen's benefit to fit nicely into their pre-conceived stoyline that comics (and collectibles) can and in some cases already have replaced stocks for some investors?

 

That's not a news story, it's an infomercial with actors.

[PUNYHUMAN]

!!! !!!

[PUNYHUMAN]

On a serious note:Doug that is one awsome collection. And Steve & Vince,you guys are still two of the "best" dealers out there. I'm always happy with the books I purchase from you.

[fantastic_four]

That's not a news story, it's an infomercial with actors.

 

[Illiterati-migration]

That's not a news story, it's an infomercial with actors.

 

 

Stop your mocking laughter! CGC is the best service available currently! What would we do without the invaluable restoration check?!?!

[Aman619]

defending CGC....hmmmn....

Hama? Is that you?

 

oh wait, Im not going near any Larry Hama threads any more for a while!!!

[fantastic_four]

Stop your mocking laughter!

 

It wasn't mocking, it was laughter of amusement and agreement...

[garthgantu]

As a public relations flak for the past ~17 years, I'm not surprised by anything that appears in print on on the airwaves anymore. I've arranged (orchestrated?) interviews with CNN, ABC World News, Good Morning America, PBS, and many others, and depending on the subject matter, they often aren't terribly concerned with 'getting the facts straight'. If it's an update on the war in Iraq, then sure, they want to be as accurate as possible. But if it's a feelgood piece about how funnybooks have a "serious investment side," they're far more interested in the visual elements and a good soundbite or two.

 

Meanwhile, I'm writing a pitch letter to that Reuters reporter...seems like a good target to me

[Captain Tripps]

aman:

 

Aren't you being a little too harsh on both Metropolis and me. Ther was no collusion, etc., I simply exaggerated how much money I had in the stock market. I have dumped million(s) into the comic market because I love to collect comics and because of CGC I will realize a better profit or return (if I ever sell my collection) than if I had the money in the stock market. Don't you agree??

 

Best,

 

Doug

[joe_collector]

Ther was no collusion, etc., I simply exaggerated how much money I had in the stock market.

 

[Aman619]

aman:

Aren't you being a little too harsh on both Metropolis and me. Ther was no collusion, etc., I simply exaggerated how much money I had in the stock market. I have dumped million(s) into the comic market because I love to collect comics and because of CGC I will realize a better profit or return (if I ever sell my collection) than if I had the money in the stock market. Don't you agree??

Best,

Doug

 

You said they TOLD you what to say, and what they suggested was not actually the truth. I just made my comment based on what you told us here.

 

Do I agree that you will make more money with these books than in the stock market? Let me answer this way: It always depends on how much you are into them for.... and how long you will wait before selling. The more you paid and the shorter you hold them will adversely affect your profit, right? Then there are the selling costs, whether you sell them back to Metro, consign them for a %, or pay Heritage fees - - all of which take a bite out of retail prices, which YOU have paid for them.

 

anyway, who knows? Im in the same boat too with my expensive collection. But If you just finished spending a million-plus dollars on this Spidey run, however, I think its safe to say youve got a looong wait to, lets say, double your money. Maybe the stock market would do better, especially if you bought these book sstarting last November. Market's UP 30% in a year. Spidey's aren't.

 

But again, nobody has EVER gone wrong yet buying the best books at top market prices. And youve put together an awesome run!!!

[Aman619]

Tripps ---- I just added up your Registry using the scores/prices CGC uses. #1 - 25 including annuals comes to $400K. SO if you are into them for roughly those prices, the only quibble I'd make is that I'd feel more comfortable owning just the keys, on the theory that if prices get soft, it will affect the other books in the run first and hardest. What do you think?

 

But gain, theres nothing like having the best! They have to come to you!

[Illiterati-migration]

aman:

Aren't you being a little too harsh on both Metropolis and me. Ther was no collusion, etc., I simply exaggerated how much money I had in the stock market. I have dumped million(s) into the comic market because I love to collect comics and because of CGC I will realize a better profit or return (if I ever sell my collection) than if I had the money in the stock market. Don't you agree??

Best,

Doug

 

You said they TOLD you what to say, and what they suggested was not actually the truth. I just made my comment based on what you told us here.

 

Do I agree that you will make more money with these books than in the stock market? Let me answer this way: It always depends on how much you are into them for.... and how long you will wait before selling. The more you paid and the shorter you hold them will adversely affect your profit, right? Then there are the selling costs, whether you sell them back to Metro, consign them for a %, or pay Heritage fees - - all of which take a bite out of retail prices, which YOU have paid for them.

 

anyway, who knows? Im in the same boat too with my expensive collection. But If you just finished spending a million-plus dollars on this Spidey run, however, I think its safe to say youve got a looong wait to, lets say, double your money. Maybe the stock market would do better, especially if you bought these book sstarting last November. Market's UP 30% in a year. Spidey's aren't.

 

But again, nobody has EVER gone wrong yet buying the best books at top market prices. And youve put together an awesome run!!!

 

Gee, someone should link THIS thread to that OTHER thread in the General forum...

[delekkerste]

First off, Doug, my hat's off to you for assembling such a great collection (though I admit that I would have been more impressed if it had been purchased on the cheap rather than by the brute force of throwing 7 figures of cash at the market). Still, it is an impressive accomplishment that can't be discounted.

 

As for the video itself, I found it to be far from hilarious. Downright frightening, actually. Scarier than even "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake and that was pretty terrifying. Hearing how easy it is to make big, safe profits in comics sent chills down my spine. Hearing you going off on how comic prices can never go down in value because they aren't making any more books from the '60s and '70s made my hair stand up.

 

I recognize that the stock market can be a very dangerous place. I am no proponent of buying and holding stock at today's overpriced levels. However, given enough time, the earnings power of the underlying businesses in the stocks you buy, dividend payments, etc. usually covers up mistakes over the long-run, earning the investor a respectable rate of return even if the initial purchase was mistimed. If (when) comic values finally take a serious tumble, there is no safety net. No earnings being generated, no excess cash repurchasing supply, no dividends or interest being paid. Past declines have rebounded to new heights, true, but we haven't had a major decline in the kind of environment we're seeing, where we have unprecedentedly huge appreciated assets on one side and a steadily shrinking collector base that is earning less and more indebted than ever on the other.

 

To scare people into avoiding stocks with talk of corporate scandals and fictional big losses, and then suggest investing in comics as a no/low-risk, moderate-to-high return alternative, is simply disingenuous and dangerous advice for most people. In effect, investors would be repeating their mistakes - they bought stock in 1999 and 2000, after the market had appreciated to ridiculous heights due in part to corporate and Wall Street corruption and then sold out in 2002 and 2003, just before the market surged a huge amount this year and much of the corruption was weeded out. Now, you're telling them to invest in comics after a book like AF #15 in true NM has appreciated 20,000% already over the past 13 years. That, to me, is just not sound financial advice.

 

Doug, I have nothing against you and from your posts and your video, I have no reason to believe you are anything but a nice guy. I believe that you mean everything you say and that you are a passionate fan. However, my advice (yes, it's free, but it's worth something) to you would be that having the bulk of your assets in comics is probably not the best investment strategy out there. Now, you can listen to your inner fanboy as well as dealers and other collectors who will assure you that you're doing the right thing, that the keys you own can and will never decline in value, but let me offer you a different opinion:

 

Why Everything You Know About The Future Of Comic Book Prices Is Wrong

 

I have no vested interest in seeing the market fall and don't know you from Adam, so what you do with the advice is up to you. Be sure to read to the end of the article to know where I'm coming from versus most of the people on the Boards.

 

Regards,

Gene

[harveyfan323]

Hearing how easy it is to make big, safe profits in comics sent chills down my spine. Hearing you going off on how comic prices can never go down in value because they aren't making any more books from the '60s and '70s made my hair stand up.

 

That quote jumped out at me as well as being a bit absurd. Of course they can go down. Has anyone ever heard of "Valiant" in the early 90s...those prices sure dropped rather dramatically. But I assume they were discussing "blue-chip" books in the piece like early ASM, etc. There will always certainly be demand for those books but not at any price. Even if they don't crash, they do fluctuate in value, both up and down.

 

I thought the piece as a whole was interesting and well-done, but that one remark was a bit off-base. I think everyone involved probably knew that and it was just well-designed propaganda to get more people into the hobby.

 

I don't think Tripp's "exaggeration" of his stock market experience mattered at all. It certainly could have been true, and the piece wasn't about him. It's just about as relevant as him saying his favorite color is blue when it was really red. It didn't have a major bearing on the rest of the story. I know that they were suggesting the comic books are a "better investment" than stocks, but that's such a vague and abstract claim that it can't really be supported or argued against...except for the part of comics not being able to decrease in price which we all agree was a stretch.

[joe_collector]

I don't think Tripp's "exaggeration" of his stock market experience mattered at all. It certainly could have been true, and the piece wasn't about him.

 

Have you ever watched an informerical, then seen those guys taken out by cops, and their "testimony clients" dragged into court?

 

Those are the same excuses they use: "Sure, I didn't make 10X my investment, but I could have" or "I know people who did.... no I don't know their names..." or my favorite "I was just saying what they told me to".

 

To state anything but the truth when money is on the line can be deemed collusion, and although Reuters would likely get the stick for not bothering to confirm their sources, lying for the videotape is definitely something you don't want to get involved in.

[JohnBull]

First off, Doug, my hat's off to you for assembling such a great collection (though I admit that I would have been more impressed if it had been purchased on the cheap rather than by the brute force of throwing 7 figures of cash at the market).

 

Yes, I have to second that. I'd have been a lot more impressed if you could have bought the lot for, ooh, let's say $4000. Still, you weren't buying in 1968, so hard luck there.

[Captain Tripps]

Grove:

 

I bought books when I was 11-14 years old, got out of it and then back into it (a pattern shared by many collectors) in 1991, when I truly learned to appreciate high grade books and started buying as many as I could, etc. to complete runs. Most of my books were bought unslabbed before CGC existed and then I traded, plundered, purchased, tracked down, up-graded, etc. to amass this collection. I'm not unlike a lot of other collectors who have done the same thing, just maybe more obsessed. Anyway, I didn't want you to think that I simply had a spare million or to to throw into comics. It's been years of passion and work.

 

Who knows if I'll ever realize anything since I presently can't picture selling any of my runs.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Doug.

[Captain Tripps]

aman:

 

Thanks for the compliment. Anyway, the most fun part about the books is sharing them and showing them to other people, etc, which is why I put some on the Registry to begin with. Overall, you seem to know what you're talking about.

 

speak to you soon.

 

Doug.