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

[tth2]

I collect Sliver Age books and I'm 22

 

I started collecting SA when I was 13 and it has been fun and rewarding. At 22 you will amass a good collection for years to come. With all the knowledge you will attain from experience and knowledge, success is inevitable. (thumbs u

I started collecting SA when I was in 5th grade. Of course, at that time, SA was just a few years ago!

 

Hey Tim, do you still have some of the books you bought back then for a dime?

[G.A.tor]

I collect Sliver Age books and I'm 22

 

I started collecting SA when I was 13 and it has been fun and rewarding. At 22 you will amass a good collection for years to come. With all the knowledge you will attain from experience and knowledge, success is inevitable. (thumbs u

I started collecting SA when I was in 5th grade. Of course, at that time, SA was just a few years ago!

 

Hey Tim, do you still have some of the books you bought back then for a dime?

[SAGAT]

No joke but I never ever in my whole life seen a kid under age 17 buy a silver age comic over $50 ever at a convention. Your thoughts?

 

 

There is a 14 year old buy at every Toronto Convention I go to who spends$100's of dollars on comics. He comes with his mom.

 

Are you talking about the Indian fella with the glasses? They pull books from dealers and try to haggle but never buy a thing.

 

That's the kid. He's shrewd but he buys.

 

Now I'm curious to know who you are more than ever.

 

 

....he's the guy who speaks in "ALL CAPS" ....just kidding, SAGAT.....GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

Yeah I'm that guy I write in CAPS to get your attention and guess what it worked.

But I'm at every single comic show in Toronto since 2005. (this is when i started up again after retiring from the hobby in 1992). Heck I started this interesting thread and plenty more.

 

The kid with the mom buys zilch cuz i see him at Wes Hagen's table haggling and they never open the wallet. Just my observation.

[VintageComics]

I wouldn't say Zilch. I'd say he's selective. Last time I saw him at a one day show he was selling to dealers as well as buying.

 

 

[SAGAT]

I wouldn't say Zilch. I'd say he's selective. Last time I saw him at a one day show he was selling to dealers as well as buying.

 

 

I musta seen you at shows, are you the guy wearing the Philly Eagles jersey or the guy with glasses & orange hair or older buddy with frown. These are just some of the usual faces. Acually judging by number of posts you made I think you gotta be the guy with the pony tail who showed me the restored Batman #1. Let me know if my guess is right.

[VintageComics]

I wouldn't say Zilch. I'd say he's selective. Last time I saw him at a one day show he was selling to dealers as well as buying.

 

 

I musta seen you at shows, are you the guy wearing the Philly Eagles jersey or the guy with glasses & orange hair or older buddy with frown. These are just some of the usual faces. Acually judging by number of posts you made I think you gotta be the guy with the pony tail who showed me the restored Batman #1. Let me know if my guess is right.

 

That was me with the Batman #1. Obviously I showed it quite a bit that weekend so I can't remember who you are.

 

...and you are...?

 

[SAGAT]

I met u in front of highgradecomics.com booth at Wiz Toronto show -asian fella you know always friendly shaking your hand. I mentioned you didn't need to take out the batman #1 out of the mylar. I see you at every Toronto show and even Wiz World Chicago 2008.

[the blob]

kids (dunno about teens) are just as into comic CHARACTERS as ever. we do a halloween parade and half the boys are dressed up as spidey or wolverine or whatever. my son loves his superman t-shirts, his batman pajamas, etc. etc. etc. and his little buddies in nursery school are much the same. they see the movies, the cartoons, the toys, etc.

 

yes, i know, it doesn't necessarily translate into comic sales, but we'll see whether these kids are downloading them into whatever in 10 years and collecting the originals when they have some spare money in 20 or 30 years. if the characters and stories are alive in their little brains they may have some interest in reading about them at some point.

 

true, it has been around 10 years since the first x-men and spidey movies i suppose and i suppose those 5 years olds (now 15) haven't jumped into comics.

[SAGAT]

We need to get more kids into comics otherwise with fewer future collectors, nobody will run auctions on ebay anymore and everyone will just sell using buy it nows. We are seeing that trend now. I'm hoping this doesn't happen to the comic market. As sportscards are dying completely with fewer kids collecting cardboard and card companies like Fleer going bankrupt.

[Jeffro.]

DC's Scooby Doo series is now up to # 156. Archie's are still being published. Admittedly, only two examples but I'd say that means there is a market for these kinds of comics. Kids comics may not be the powerhouse they were up to the early 80s but they still do sell.

 

[etanick]

I have mentioned a few times, one of the factor that can change the trend is the price of a new comic books.

 

It is very tough to compete with today's other entertainments that kids from 5 to 15 have at their disposal.

 

As a parent..lets see, $30 for a PS3 or Wii game that provide weeks worth of entertainment for the kids or 10 or less comic books? If a kid is a reader, he can go thru 10 books in a day or 2.

 

I can tell you growing up in the early 80's living in the project/ghetto...comic books were a big big big part of entertainment because a) there were't cable tv, at least not affordable one b) no cell phone to chat with your buddies for hours c) no home video games because they are either unaffordable or not available.

 

Me and my few friends would buy a few books and trade them back and forth to read because none of us can buy 15 titles but we can buy 2 or 3 books per month, read them and lend them to our buddies, we can easily read 10 to 15 books per month. It was fun and it was great spending $1 each and read 15 comic books. How many 14 years old today would think that what I did back then is fun or cool...NONE...sadly.

 

We are living in a lazy materialistic world more than ever...so reading is too much work for the teens now...hell even Penthouse Forum probably is no longer a viable entertainment read anymore...not when you can get free porn on the internet. It is a troubling future for sure. While I don't and won't say that this industry will die, I see it as unhealthy going forward....COLLECTORS will always exist because we all love old things but without new readers/new collectors, price appreciation for non key books in all ages will stay stagnant. The hobby for the most parts aren't global until recently where Russian tycoons or Chinese newly rich es can get access. With past/current/future success of the movies, more wealthly non US collectors will participate in auctions. CL is a mouse click away and If i was them, I would focus on advertising outside the US just as much as within.

 

Before I joined this board, I collect and complete my runs and will continue. I really didn't pay much attention to key collecting but since I joined this board, it is more apparent that more and more people are focus only on keys and even with that focus and attention, many of the key books aren't doing that well recently with a few exceptions.

 

That being said, the hobby will out live me and for now, i will do what I like to enjoy the hobby...it isn't a source of income for me so I don't stress out on the value that much and certainly don't bank on my comic books as a retirement fund source....and i don't spend retirement money on comic books...hell no.

 

 

[the blob]

but kid/pre-teen BOOKS are as popular as ever and selling in huge #s...so some kids are indeed reading. the harry potters, all this vampire junk...there are a lot of books geared toward kids...but those kids who at age 9 or whatever who are iclined to read harry potter might not be so inclined to read a stack of comics...which is odd, because let's say 30 years ago, the kid who guzzled down stacks of zimmer bradley or whatever sci fi/fantasy may have also been reading comics too.

 

new comics are expensive indeed, but I can go to my local LCS and pluck out a stack of overstock issues for $1 each or less. most shops have a cheap box to rummage through (though quality may vary). of course, there are so few shops now so it's harder to find these affordable options, but alas, it's not like i see a bunch of 14 year olds hitting my LCSes cheap box every day and it's located kindah near a high school. those kids will occasionally come into the store, but mainly to attempt to shoplift.

 

sure, selling price-cut overstock is hardly a way to bring in publishing profits, but if shops were able to recoup their ordering mistakes a little better this way it helps the bottom line.

[jimjum12]

Comics have to be one of the most poorly promoted entertainment products in the world. It's a shame....almost everyone I know who grew up on comics turned out OK. As far as Harry Potter...I had a Pastor when they first went big who actually encouraged reading them....he was happy to see kids reading something that dealt with Good and Evil in the spiritual realm....and for him to have given them the thumbs up meant he read a few himself . He was a neat guy, not at all rigid and judgemental like one might think. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u