Collectible comics in 2059

[Dr. K]

I believe comics are collected and are valued for more than sentimental reasons. Comics are significant cultural artifacts and as such have intrinsic value. I mean hardly anyone sends letters anymore but people are still collecting stamps. That being said what I would imagine is that in 50 years the comics that will have real value will pretty much be those that have real value now - Action 1, Tec 27, Sups 1, AF 15 etc. - because they are cultural landmarks and they are rare.

[Comicsarefun]

Seems to me that stopped production of new comics could actuall help the back issue market. People will want certain comics or types of comics for the historical or cultural perspective for at least 100 more years or so I would think.

 

WWII comics will always hold a great deal of interest for history buffs, and many other genres will hold similar groups attentions.

 

Others will discover comics even if they never saw them as kids and have no nostalgic urges at all. They will perhaps find them infinitely cool and be sucked in (like me and pulps).

 

In any case, prices may rise and fall, hot issues will continue to pop up and many will crash; but the rare issues, the classic covers, the classic stories, the classic genres...they will always have at least some interst until the day they crumble into the dust from whence they came.

 

 

[Flaming_Telepath]

I believe comics are collected and are valued for more than sentimental reasons. Comics are significant cultural artifacts and as such have intrinsic value. I mean hardly anyone sends letters anymore but people are still collecting stamps. That being said what I would imagine is that in 50 years the comics that will have real value will pretty much be those that have real value now - Action 1, Tec 27, Sups 1, AF 15 etc. - because they are cultural landmarks and they are rare.

 

And I suspect that they will be the only ones that do.

 

First Hulk/FF crossover? Nope.

 

Classic Romita cover Spidey #50? Nah.

 

Death of Gwen Stacy? Not a chance.

 

Very first appearance of Superman? Yeah, probably. (thumbs u

[BucOne-migration]

 

if they are still producing comic related movies in 2059, I'm sure those comics will

still be in demand.

[t3quila]

if they are still producing comic related movies in 2059, I'm sure those comics will

still be in demand.

 

i agree some of those will be in demand

[PEP]

How many Batman movies will have been made by 2059?

[DR.X]

How many Batman movies will have been made by 2059?

 

I'm worried more about how many Rocky movies will have been made by then!

 

 

DRX

[MR.COMICBOOK]

if I am around in 50 years,I will probally be selling all my comics in 2059 to pay my nursing home bill

[MR.COMICBOOK]

Hmmm....look at what happened to records; went from 8 tracks, to tapes, to CD's to mp3's.

 

Which way will comics go?

Comics have already gone from pulp paper to mondo paper to baxter paper.

I am sure they will progress to some kind of high tech paper in the future.

 

Rick... you've seen printing of paper go down steadily during your lifetime and while I do believe that some paper will be produced, the sheer economics of it, the fact that less paper advertising than ever is being bought which in itself is the major profit generator of newspapers and magazines points in the opposite direction, unless you mean "whatever comics will be printed will be on baxter paper". That would be true.. if any comics are being printed.

 

Further down the road, you can be sure that books will be small discs or crystals that you insert into your multi-function watch or iPod and contains video, and an option to hear the news read to you instead of reading it yourself.

 

 

I think it will be downloading, not even small sd cards, evidence was 2 years ago, I watched season 1 of Heroes on dvd, last year I watched Heroes season 2 on demand Comcast.Why pay $30 for something that I will only watch once? times are changing not only for comics but for books and dvd people as well.

[bhhooks22]

Collectibles are collectibles , and will always be so. Coin collectors collect for many reasons. It has nothing to do with whether people also happen to be using this as the current medium of exchange or not in the US and around the world. If the planet permanently stops using all coins tomorrow in the economy it should have no effect on those that collect coins.

 

 

B~

 

[fantastic_four]

Collectibles are collectibles , and will always be so. Coin collectors collect for many reasons. It has nothing to do with whether people also happen to be using this as the current medium of exchange or not in the US and around the world. If the planet permanently stops using all coins tomorrow in the economy it should have no effect on those that collect coins.

 

EXACTLY the opposite of what you just said is true. What led you to this hypothesis?

[Davenport]

I think it will be downloading, not even small sd cards, evidence was 2 years ago, I watched season 1 of Heroes on dvd, last year I watched Heroes season 2 on demand Comcast.Why pay $30 for something that I will only watch once? times are changing not only for comics but for books and dvd people as well.

Tech is changing so rapidly it's tough to predict how companies will respond. I do think at some tipping-point "hard copies" of media will probably be (re)produced "on demand".

 

Warner already offers 'on demand' DVDs produced from their Warner Archives . So what if their vast DC Comics back issue library were also marketed the same way? "Want a Detective Comics #31 or Showcase #22? Click here."

 

Producing on demand "hard copies" might become an interesting 'additional' service, as compliment to normal digital distribution.

[kimik]

As long as comics are viewed as an "investment" collectible by the general public then the back issue hobby will not die with the switch to digital books. My buddy's wife gets her Archie subscriptions digitally/electronically right now, and they send the special issues (e.g. upcoming wedding) to her in printed format. However, she will still collect the older printed issues for continuity sake in her run.

 

The biggest question for the future is what will retain value? I think that the key books and classic cover books will be the ones that increase in value in the future, while the vast majority of books will drop in price. My guess is that we will see a big increase in supply of common GA and SA books over the next 20 years as long time collectors pass on to the big back issue store in the sky AND/OR sell off collections to make ends meet. On the demand side, big money will only go to the major key issues and other classic cover/minor key issues that are perceived to be investment worthy. The rest of the books should adjust down accordingly, just like antiques, old books, pulps, sports cards, stamps, coins, and other longer lived collectible markets have done. Basically, the cream will rise to the top in any hobby.

 

Someone asked about records. One local dealer does records and movie posters in addition to comics (they are his main biz). His record clients are split into two camps - older collectors who listened to records growing up, and a growing under 25 group that are music lovers and are starting their own collections now. I see the same thing with comics here as well. The main difference is the younger collectors chase different common records than the older generation, but the big money is still paid for the rare/1st edition (?) recordings of the key groups/artists from the 50s, 60s and 70s by everyone.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Go to any decent Bittorrent site, Demonoid for example and see that thousands have downloaded gigabytes of digital comics, i myself have have close to 500GB of comics, they are convenient to read and i can read whatever i feel like.

 

Doesn't mean i don't enjoy owning some of the comics, but having the entire DC back catalogue to hand is just to sweet to miss out on.

 

I know, right?

 

Why pay for something when you can steal it for free?

 

SUCKAS!!!!!

[RockMyAmadeus]

Collectibles are collectibles , and will always be so. Coin collectors collect for many reasons. It has nothing to do with whether people also happen to be using this as the current medium of exchange or not in the US and around the world. If the planet permanently stops using all coins tomorrow in the economy it should have no effect on those that collect coins.

 

 

B~

 

Um.

 

Well.

 

Not *exactly*....

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

As long as human beings have a sense of touch and can feel nostalgia, they will always collect things.

 

There will ALWAYS be someone who will be interested in "pop culture of the 20th century" in the form of comic books...ALWAYS.

 

Barring total annihilation of the human race, of course.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

[MR.COMICBOOK]

As long as comics are viewed as an "investment" collectible by the general public then the back issue hobby will not die with the switch to digital books. My buddy's wife gets her Archie subscriptions digitally/electronically right now, and they send the special issues (e.g. upcoming wedding) to her in printed format. However, she will still collect the older printed issues for continuity sake in her run.

 

The biggest question for the future is what will retain value? I think that the key books and classic cover books will be the ones that increase in value in the future, while the vast majority of books will drop in price. My guess is that we will see a big increase in supply of common GA and SA books over the next 20 years as long time collectors pass on to the big back issue store in the sky AND/OR sell off collections to make ends meet. On the demand side, big money will only go to the major key issues and other classic cover/minor key issues that are perceived to be investment worthy. The rest of the books should adjust down accordingly, just like antiques, old books, pulps, sports cards, stamps, coins, and other longer lived collectible markets have done. Basically, the cream will rise to the top in any hobby.

 

that question has already been answered, 99 percent of comics 1980 and up have little or no value moneywise. you got it right that the keys and classic covers will always have value.

[Bronty]

As long as human beings have a sense of touch and can feel nostalgia, they will always collect things.

 

There will ALWAYS be someone who will be interested in "pop culture of the 20th century" in the form of comic books...ALWAYS.

 

Barring total annihilation of the human race, of course.

 

(thumbs u

 

 

well of course there will be small circle. but the interest and prices paid on everything except the top .1% of books won't be anything like today. No readers = few future collectors.

[Bronty]

Seems to me that stopped production of new comics could actuall help the back issue market.

 

 

I could not disagree more. Look around you, there are countless examples of books whose values have fallen when the title or publisher became defunct. Concurrently, all of the vintage titles featuring still-in-print characters do well. Its the reason AF15 sells for more than TTA27. Its the reason Tec 27 sells for more than Whiz 2. Continued relevance through modern publishing is the only thing keeping these books alive. Every year Whiz 2 and books like it with no modern relevance slip a little further down the hierarchy.

 

We don't even have to look at the future when comics are no longer published; the effects are already plain to see even with *characters* that are no longer published. Now if the entire medium went belly up you'd be left with only that which had lasting historical significance. Let's see. Batman, Superman and Spiderman titles. That's about it.

[Comicopolis]

Seems to me that stopped production of new comics could actuall help the back issue market.

 

 

I could not disagree more. Look around you, there are countless examples of books whose values have fallen when the title or publisher became defunct. Concurrently, all of the vintage titles featuring still-in-print characters do well. Its the reason AF15 sells for more than TTA27. Its the reason Tec 27 sells for more than Whiz 2. Continued relevance through modern publishing is the only thing keeping these books alive. Every year Whiz 2 and books like it with no modern relevance slip a little further down the hierarchy.

 

We don't even have to look at the future when comics are no longer published; the effects are already plain to see even with *characters* that are no longer published. Now if the entire medium went belly up you'd be left with only that which had lasting historical significance. Let's see. Batman, Superman and Spiderman titles. That's about it.

 

Just one example - how come all those Phantom Lady books go for big money then