Do Teens Still Collect Silver Age Comics Anymore?????

[Monkeyman]

When I was a teen in the late 70s I didn't collect SA, I didn't even know what it was. Only later on did I learn about comics that weren't on the shelf at that time.

 

Mike

[VintageComics]

I'm only 39 19 and I collect them.

 

[Marvelfangirl]

I'm only 39 19 and I collect them.

 

[avenging_son]

I started collecting Silver when I was 18... now I'm mid 20's

[Wayne-Tec]

I can't speak for my generation but I can speak for myself, I'm 21 and collect comics with as much passion as one could imagine.

 

When I was younger I collected everything from new (then) comics, to 80's comics, and some SA. As I got older (14), I began seriously collecting with SA accounting for 90% + of my collection. Now, I prefer GA but still appreciate SA and have a lot of interest in the mega-keys.

 

I don't know anyone my age personally who collects comics so I suppose that your concerns might be warranted to a degree. I play video games as much as anyone else in my generation but it doesn't distract from my desire to continue to collect.

 

I might be a rare exception as I was essentially raised on Marvel Comics. My father grew up as a collector and I just never grew out of the "Super Hero" phase. I eventually ditched the Batman PJ's but never lost interest in the comics, films, games for that matter, etc.

 

What is the average age of most serious collectors anyway, give or take?

[gaz973]

I started collecting Silver Age while in my twenties and I'm now thirty seven. I used to enjoy reading the SA reprints in my distant youth.

[Fireboy]

I just turned 21 and i recently started to collect older Deadman and Phantom Stranger comics whenever i can find em cheap on ebay.

 

My most wanted books are some low grade Daredevil 1-6. Yellow Daredevil

 

[DrJerkberg-migration]

I didn't start collecting SA's until I was about 27, in the 7 years prior to that I didn't collect at all. My brother and I collected a lot of BA stuff in our teen years. The main reasons were accessibility (our LCS didn't really stock SA's, this was prior to the internet, and we were too naive/dumb to understand how to use a mail order catalogue), and of course cost. Most BA stuff was in dollar bins when I was a kid/teenager.

 

I still remember a copy of Avengers 8 hanging on the wall of the LCS, he had it tagged at VF and $15. I never bought it. Don't know why that one sticks out in my head, but there you have it.

 

Until I turned 27, the only SA's I owned were a Batman Annual 7 and a JOM 107 that belonged to my dad when he was a kid. We found them in my grandfathers attic in 1989 when he was moving.

 

I hope that teenagers carry the collecting torch, but it's pretty hard to say if they will or not. The world has changed a lot since I was young, and perhaps the general focus of kids now lies down different avenues.

[Fedoraman]

Please forgive my ignorance - what does JOM stand for?

[*Bronze age fan*]

I am 37 right now. I collect Marvel Silver Age stuff..252 comics more for them ALL!!!!! Back in my teen years I used to buy tons of Copper, Bronze and Silver comics if I could afford them at that time. I wish I would have just focused on the Silver Age stuff...since that had the biggest price swing!

[DrJerkberg-migration]

Please forgive my ignorance - what does JOM stand for?

 

JOM stands for Journey Into Mystery with one great big typo (oops)....

 

...or maybe Journey ONTO Mystery?

[SAGAT]

Wizard World Toronto was an utter failure in Toronto as attendance was extremely low and Teens did not come in droves. Mostly middle aged men looking for deals with none to be had. Everyone was buying trades and graphic novels and not much silver age unless severely discounted. High grade books just sat there and nobody was moving the wallet.

 

Silver Age collectors and even teens who collect them are plentiful in the US conventions. South of the border the Silver Age market is very strong from the shows in Chicago, Detroit, and Orlando. North of the border - forget it people here do not have $35K to spend on an AF15 CGC 7.0. Anything over $5K is a no no here.

[bigfiver69]

I actually think that the bug to buy older and older books comes when you get older and older.

 

I never got reinterested in comics until I was 31... I never got serious about silver war books until I was 35.

 

The big reason? I finally had some money to spend.

 

My son who is 12 loves the old Sgt. Rock and Haunted Tank Showcase books. But he is not a collector - not his thing.

 

Granted, he will inherit a pretty sweet collection when my time is up!

 

Shep

 

 

[etanick]

I actually think that the bug to buy older and older books comes when you get older and older.

 

I never got reinterested in comics until I was 31... I never got serious about silver war books until I was 35.

 

The big reason? I finally had some money to spend.

 

My son who is 12 loves the old Sgt. Rock and Haunted Tank Showcase books. But he is not a collector - not his thing.

 

Granted, he will inherit a pretty sweet collection when my time is up!

 

Shep

 

+1

 

What teenagers have the money to buy SA even 10 or 20 years ago? Hell, I didn't buy my first SA back issues until I was in my mid 20's, 10 years after I started collecting.

 

This hobby depends on people with money and as long as there are young collectors, some of them will grow up and make a decent living and if they are still collecting...then it will be fine.

 

[fantastic_four]

What teenagers have the money to buy SA even 10 or 20 years ago? Hell, I didn't buy my first SA back issues until I was in my mid 20's, 10 years after I started collecting.

 

Low to mid grade Silver was affordable back then, and it's fairly affordable now. I bought my first Silver book around 1984 at the age of 13, it was a VF X-Men #23 for $6. I bought other miscellaneous 4.0 to 8.0 Silver X-Men and Spidey books for years after that...this was all my own money made working paper routes and minimum wage jobs, not from big allowance money from my parents. My friend's dad bought him low-grade copies of X-Men 1 to 20 in the mid-1980s...they weren't too expensive back then, I'm guessing it cost him maybe $200-$400 max over the course of a few years. And X-Men was in full swing at that time, one of the hottest titles around.

 

Low-grade Silver seems affordable in the past and present...cost doesn't seem as big an obstacle as simply being interested in buying them in the first place.

[etanick]

Well, back then I wasn't fortunate enough as far as having money so yes even $5 on a book was a lot. Hell, I washed dishes for $12 a night and that is from 4 to midnight even when I was 19. I could have gotten a better job but when I didn't have a car and can't afford one, I took what I can get. I even washed dishes for extra money while in MBA school...so nothing is beneath me.

 

I remembered having a budget of $2 to $3 month to buy books off the rack was hard to do.

 

Needless to say, all that hard works, tough life made me a hell of a lot better person and the success after, much sweeter.

 

I may have not gotten along well with my dad but one thing he said many times that I will take to my grave... "dignity is in how you do things, not on what you do"...translation from the old country but you get the idea.

 

This is not a knock on people with money at all..my 3 years old son is so spoiled but hey, life is short and I can write a book on my American dream came thru.

 

44 and semi retired...what is there to complain?

[SAGAT]

Good for you Etanick, glad everything worked out for you and you got great books to show for also. You are one of the more knowledgeable collectors I know -maybe I will see you at Megacon next year.

[etanick]

maybe...if my wife can sell her business and goes into semi retired mode like me, we will be traveling to shows everywhere all the times. I took her to her first show in Tampa last year and she had a good time and she can't wait to go to Comicon with me in July.

 

I see you got yourself Avengers #1..congrat!

[SAGAT]

The Avengers 1 was on ebay for about 10 minutes before I did a quick bin at 1K, this was back in October 2009. I love the look of that one - my fav cover of all time. Av #4 is 5th best for me.

[dikran]

Well the difference between teens of the 80's & 90's and those of today is that back then we all read the comics of the day & bought them for 60 cents to 1$. Today kids can turn to any channel and see Superman, Batman, Wolverine, Spidey etc or buy DVDs or see them in movies.

 

If the kids of today are not reading the comics of today (4$ a pop!) then they will not care about the comics of yesterday, tomorrow, regardless of how much money they have or what the perceived value of SA comics might be 30-40 years from now.