Does the younger generation collect art for the newer books?

[buyatari]

I've seen many of the newer high dollar covers in galleries of older collectors. Would you say fewer of today's new readers enjoy collecting the art? I ran across this article which suggests that the next generation is less apt to collect anything and in comic books buy only to read graphic novels not to collect.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0112/p17s01-lifp.html

[john h.-migration]

My take on this is that collecting original art is a progression of the

 

comic book collecting bug. After buying up all the comics, then associated

 

memorabilia, the next step is to look for the art. Also if 'younger' collectors

 

are skimping on money and just buying TPBs, why would they have money

 

to buy original art? It does make it a challenge when you try to obtain a 1 of 1

 

piece of art rather than a printed copy that produced in thousands.

 

JMHO,

 

John H.

 

Also use the 20-year memorabilia theorem - the HOT items for sale is what

 

10-year olds were exposed to 20 years ago. Now at 30 years old, they have

 

disposable income.

[Bronty]

I've seen many of the newer high dollar covers in galleries of older collectors. Would you say fewer of today's new readers enjoy collecting the art? I ran across this article which suggests that the next generation is less apt to collect anything and in comic books buy only to read graphic novels not to collect.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0112/p17s01-lifp.html

 

This isn't to answer your question, just a sidebar:

 

I've heard gene mention that this-generation-is-less-apt to collect anything before and I think its a steaming pile of dogcrap as a theory. People will collect things it just may not be coins and stamps. IMO because of the ever-increasing rate of technological change the nostalgia associated with collecting the artifacts of our youth has never been higher, and will continue to spawn collectors of all sorts... perhaps just not in areas we are used to thinking of as collectibles.

 

To me the surprising thing is not that fewer young people are collecting things like stamps, but rather that ANY young people collect them at all. If I was 12 I sure as heck wouldn't be excited about stamps, or comic books and comic art, for that matter.

[buyatari]

I've seen many of the newer high dollar covers in galleries of older collectors. Would you say fewer of today's new readers enjoy collecting the art? I ran across this article which suggests that the next generation is less apt to collect anything and in comic books buy only to read graphic novels not to collect.

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0112/p17s01-lifp.html

 

This isn't to answer your question, just a sidebar:

 

I've heard gene mention that this-generation-is-less-apt to collect anything before and I think its a steaming pile of dogcrap as a theory. People will collect things it just may not be coins and stamps. IMO because of the ever-increasing rate of technological change the nostalgia associated with collecting the artifacts of our youth has never been higher, and will continue to spawn collectors of all sorts... perhaps just not in areas we are used to thinking of as collectibles.

 

To me the surprising thing is not that fewer young people are collecting things like stamps, but rather that ANY young people collect them at all. If I was 12 I sure as heck wouldn't be excited about stamps, or comic books and comic art, for that matter.

 

No stamps huh? Well what if you grandfather and your father both collected stamps and both collections would one day be yours and these collections (2 lifetimes worth) were worth quite a bit?

 

I think some hobbies are passed down.

 

As for the TBP comment. Back when I was younger I'd never buy a TPB because I wanted my comics to one day be worth megabucks. I bought with collecting in mind. I think the article says that the younger buyer buys as TBPs as a disposable product. I don't know how much truth there is to this as I don't own a comic store.

 

Now I guess the younger generation will collect something I just wonder how many are collecting the art. Are the storylines running now so appealing to 10-15 year olds that in 20-30 years they will have their own Sandman,Watchmen and Killing Joke pages to chase after or is the genre geared towards the already established collector who will be in nursing homes in 20-30 years. If that is the case who is to blame the generation who doesn't apprecaite these things or the industry who hasn't catered to the new generation.

[Bronty]

collections are inherited, hobbies aren't.

 

For example, I have a friend who fits your description - inherited a large stamp collection from granpa. He thinks they are kinda neat and everything, but sure as hell won't spend his own money on them and ultimately will one day sell them without having added a thing to the collection.

[buyatari]

collections are inherited, hobbies aren't.

 

For example, I have a friend who fits your description - inherited a large stamp collection from granpa. He thinks they are kinda neat and everything, but sure as hell won't spend his own money on them and ultimately will one day sell them without having added a thing to the collection.

 

I disagree. If that grandfather AND the father would have started him out early by taking him to shows, educating him on stamps and the history while spending a good deal of time with him and stamps at an early age he would most likely collect stamps today.

 

Handing him a million dollar collection at age 35 isn't what I meant.

 

 

[Bronty]

I know that cases like what you describe above happen (look at the dentist and his son) but IMO they are pretty rare which is why I was discounting them. I just don't see 'legacy collectors' as a big influx

[delekkerste]

I've heard gene mention that this-generation-is-less-apt to collect anything before and I think its a steaming pile of dogcrap as a theory. People will collect things it just may not be coins and stamps. IMO because of the ever-increasing rate of technological change the nostalgia associated with collecting the artifacts of our youth has never been higher, and will continue to spawn collectors of all sorts... perhaps just not in areas we are used to thinking of as collectibles.

 

Well, sure, if you count amassing songs on iTunes or an ever-increasing heap of old videogame console and cartridges piling up in a corner as new technology replaces the old as "collecting", I'm with you. But, this type of nostalgia-based collecting that you see with Gen X and, especially, older generations? For both economic and social reasons, I think that trend has peaked, and I have cited news stories which have agreed as much (recall that one of them showed that the % of people who identified themselves as "collectors" has been dropping off considerably). EDIT: Just clicked on the CS Monitor link, didn't realize that they picked up on the trend as well!

 

Of course, collecting will never disappear, and it will take time for meaningful time (years/decades) for the changes I'm talking about to become obvious, but the writing is on the wall.

 

As for the original post about the younger generation collecting newer OA, sure, a lot of the primo newer pieces have ended up in the collections of older, established collectors, but from what I've seen, most of the rank and file newer OA that gets sold ends up with younger collectors. Many/most of the older comic and OA collectors on this Board don't seem to even read newer comics to any great extent, so their newer OA acquisitions tend to be the bigger/better "trophy" pieces by current standout artists (e.g., James Jean). Most of the newer OA tends to be less expensive (with obvious exceptions, of course), which also appeals to the younger set.

[Khazano]

Define "Younger Generation"

 

I'm 26 and have been collecting since I was 17....

 

 

[LordZarak]

I've heard gene mention that this-generation-is-less-apt to collect anything before and I think its a steaming pile of dogcrap as a theory. People will collect things it just may not be coins and stamps. IMO because of the ever-increasing rate of technological change the nostalgia associated with collecting the artifacts of our youth has never been higher, and will continue to spawn collectors of all sorts... perhaps just not in areas we are used to thinking of as collectibles.

 

I think that collectors collect what impact their lives the most, and I can easily see the trend move from comics (and art) to technology as collectibles. In fact, I've seen evidence of this just last summer at Wizard World Chicago when I learned that there was a market for sealed NES games, to the point that you can even have them graded just like CGC does with comics. I think it's more of a niche thing at this point, but could very easily explode given that those games are not passe and still in demand on the Wii Virtual Console.

[Bronty]

I've heard gene mention that this-generation-is-less-apt to collect anything before and I think its a steaming pile of dogcrap as a theory. People will collect things it just may not be coins and stamps. IMO because of the ever-increasing rate of technological change the nostalgia associated with collecting the artifacts of our youth has never been higher, and will continue to spawn collectors of all sorts... perhaps just not in areas we are used to thinking of as collectibles.

 

Well, sure, if you count amassing songs on iTunes or an ever-increasing heap of old videogame console and cartridges piling up in a corner as new technology replaces the old as "collecting", I'm with you. But, this type of nostalgia-based collecting that you see with Gen X and, especially, older generations? For both economic and social reasons, I think that trend has peaked

 

and with all due respect I think you're absolutely out to lunch Collecting comes from an inner drive... there have been many times I've WANTED to quit and couldn't And I'm sure the guy collecting roman busts 100 years ago was fuelled by a similar drive, and I'm sure the next guy collecting *whatever* in 50 years will be fuelled by a similar drive. Macro trends don't change inner drives.

 

I agree with your take on expensive new art being bought by older rather than younger collectors

[delekkerste]

Hear me now, believe me later.

 

Like I said: I don't believe collecting will disappear, just that its popularity and ubiquity will continue to diminish, as it already has been with the younger generation. There are many factors other than nostalgia that fuel the desire to collect things in the OCD manner that we know it. An "inner drive" may be one of them, but the environment has to be conducive to it as well (I'm going to be late for dinner if I elaborate further, though I'm sure I have in the past already).

 

You make it seem like I'm "out to lunch" with some radical proposition when plenty of mainstream media sources have been commenting on the same phenomenon!

 

 

[Bronty]

That's because the media sources have a vary narrow view of what collecting means and what 'collectibles' are: stamps, coins, cards, comics.

[easyt63]

I think the point that is being is missed is that 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, OA wasnt anywhere near as expensive as it is today. With that being said it would be almost impossible for young people either still in college or just out to collect OA, its too expensive now.

[Meeley Man]

I think the point that is being is missed is that 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, OA wasnt anywhere near as expensive as it is today. With that being said it would be almost impossible for young people either still in college or just out to collect OA, its too expensive now.

 

I think this has been the best point of why the younger generation seems less inclined to collect OA. In the end, no matter what one would think of collecting, it all comes down to the expense.

[Bronty]

For sure. Possibly a more insightful question to ask ourselves might be whether or not young people are buying less expensive art in significant numbers.

[buyatari]

I think the point that is being is missed is that 20 years ago, even 10 years ago, OA wasnt anywhere near as expensive as it is today. With that being said it would be almost impossible for young people either still in college or just out to collect OA, its too expensive now.

 

True enough and if you go back 40 years ago it wasn't considered collectable at all by anyone. People were throwing it out and using it to mop up ink spills. Had someone said back then that the younger generation would one day be spending what they are now on this material no one would have agreed.

 

 

 

 

[Brian Peck]

OA art might be alot more expensive than it was 20 years ago but it is also alot more accessable. I know when I started collecting in the mid 80s it was hard to find OA especially out here on the west coast. I didn't even think about collecting art until I have given the first peiece of comic art by my father. Then it was just CBG, local comic cons like Wonder Con or a comic book store with the occational piece. Now its everywhere on the internet from dealer sites, CAF and especially ebay.

I would think more people would get into collecting comic art because its so easily accessed. Not all of the newer art is super expensive there is cheap stuff. But I do agree, with my collecting for such a long time I don't collect much after the mid 90s. It has to be by an artists I really like or something special about the art. Most of the new art doesn't have dialog on it so those pages hold no attraction for me.

[tilleycs]

It's not just people in, or just out of, college who can't afford to collect original art. I've been out of college for quite a while, and sometimes I wonder if I'll ever be able to afford (as in, "have enough money to buy it free & clear", not put it on a credit card and spend months paying it off plus interest) some of the stuff I'd love to have.

 

I don't know how people afford it, honestly. But then again, I feel the same way about comics - I don't know where people get the money for some of the stuff they buy (esp. if they do it constantly). I've seen some pretty cheap OA pages, but it's usually cheap for a reason (the character of the book isn't even on the page, etc.).

 

I recently read the Civil War TPBs and FF: The End from the library, and I wouldn't mind having the OA pages from some of those books. I've never seen them on the market (I don't watch the auctions regularly), so I have no idea how much they go for.