Future of Comic Book Collecting

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Anytime

[FlComicFan]

I think the idea of collections, tpbs and graphic novels works but.... The books have to be exceptionally good to be sellable. Its easier to get someone to part with $3 for a monthly if they read it and it sucks or the art isnt what they like or whatever then they simply dont bother picking up that title. If you are trying to sell a $15-20 or up packaging of comic material then it better be some decent stuff. I dont collect new books period. I wander into a comic shop once every few years of when I need supplies or the latest Overstreet (I collect Golden Age through bronze Age heavily). When I do wander in I usually will look at a few of the books that catch my eye or are being touted as being very good. Not one time have I broken down and bought any new titles hence I weigh my want for them against the cost and dont feel personally they are worth it. Now I do applaud Marvel for the Essentials series I have bought almost everyone of them with exception to the reprints of the new X-Men and Wolverine as I bought all those when they were published in the 80's early 90's. The silver age are a real treat as even though I am sure I have read most of them at one time or another to be able to sit down and read them all in one sitting almost takes me back to riding my bike all over town seraching all those spinner racks. Kudos to Marvel I wish they were color and had those cool old ads but am content with getting a great entertainment value at a fair price. I hope DC does something similiar and marvel continues the series eventually publishing all their 60's 70's books maybe a Marvel Mystery essentials!!!!!

 

I value your opinion and its a pleasure to be able to heard different opinions on the hobby I have loved since childhood. I am just very troubled than kids of today wont have the same opportunity to discover Spidey, Archie and the gang, the good Duck artist and all the other great stuff.

[Kevin Boyd]

Thanks Chet, I sometimes wish we could all meet and talk in person rather than thru our posts, I think we'd see some pretty interesting conversations and things would be a little less combative.

 

I agree, if they do concentrate on the collections (as they are) they do need to sit down and concentrate on the quality of the books that are put out... and I think the format itself would allow them the breathing room to do it. Without the crunch of putting out a monthly Green Lantern comic they could shape and develop Green Lantern stories (short and long) with a diverse group of creators instead of forcing creative teams to crank and stretch out their ideas into the monthly serial format. We would see more self-contained "novel" stories with continuing subplots than an endless series of episodic adventires.

 

I love the Essentials (and Masterworks and Archives) and I also agree with you that they would look great in color and I know that Joe Quesada has expressed that point in public a few times, so you never know... it could happen.

 

The sixties Marvel material is timeless, and is great reading for kids at any age. I think I'm going to start giving my nephew the FF volumes next.

 

I sure wish DC would do it as well, as some of their series would be perfect for the format. I would love to be able to get the Neal Adams Batman stories in an Essential format (although I think they are doing them in hardcover format next year), or the John Byrne Superman comics.

 

I've always bought moderns off the rack and I've been collecting regularly since I was a kid in the early 1970's. I've always found that there are new projects that interest me, as I've become very creator-centric with what I do buy, although I've always been a sucker for Spidey comics.

 

Kev

 

[Darthdiesel]

Mostly 22 + yrs old guys boasting about how much they sold their cgc GI Joes & Byrne X-men for on eBay last month.

 

Hey now, Odin, Ricky is only 20....

[He11blazer]

I firmly believe that everyone in the industry knows that comic books days are numbered...

 

I have come from the future (the year 2010 in fact) to tell you that they're still putting out cool new comics.

 

[ashrael]

[joe_collector]

I have come from the future (the year 2010 in fact) to tell you that they're still putting out cool new comics.

 

"Cool new comics" -

 

And unit sales are still dropping, which is why Diamond went to the "dollar index" to hide this fact and ensure that rampant cover price increases help mask the readership drops.

 

That's sad.

[rjrjr]

Not much has changed in the past 8-9 years when this thread was first discussed.

 

What I find funny is how many reminisce about the glory days of the past when comics were every where and kids read them. My recollection is different. Comics were read by a few kids my age, but not that many kids. If you read comics you were a geek. Not every kid who actually read comics were actually geeks (I didn't consider myself a geek and I definitely had a life outside of comics), but it was generally frowned upon as being unacceptable. I'm over 40 years old, so I'm thinking this was the case for most of us on these boards.

 

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future. Will superheroes dominate the landscape? Probably, although we're seeing more acceptance of other material (crime, horror, and science fiction) than at any time in the past. I think the longevity of the superhero books has to do with the episodic "universes" which are akin to soap operas. I know I have no problem finding material (both old and new) to buy and read, and I don't read superhero comics from the big two, so I'm hopeful I'll still be reading comics until I die.

 

It looks like zombie comics are here to stay for the foreseeable future and it will be interesting to look back on this period and see people collect that sub genre of horror titles.

 

I believe Archie fills a niche for funny teenage comics and it probably always will. Nobody has been able to compete with Archie in that genre, although I'm not sure any company has seriously ever tried.

 

Toy tie ins (GI Joe, Transformers, etc.) and video game tie ins (Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.) look like they are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

 

It also looks like there will always be a market for TV/movie tie ins like Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. and to a lesser extent, Robocop, Terminator, Aliens, Predator, etc.

 

I'm always surprised funny animal comics are not more popular (Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, etc.) and am very surprised that the caretakers of those properties do not push those characters with kids more, but I don't see those comics disappearing completely. One time staples of that genre (Woody Woodpecker, Sylvester and Tweety, Huckleberry Hound, etc.) are mostly unknown by this generation of kids.

 

I don't see a resurgence for Western or Romance titles. I do believe, while we'll get an occasional comic, those genres are dead forever.

 

I'm hopeful more original comics (Hellboy, Walking Dead, Goon, etc.) will be created and stick around. It's unfortunate many of the notable titles from the 80s like Badger, Grimjack, American Flag, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc. have all but died off.

[joe_collector]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

That totally ignores the fact that far more comics were sold back then, there were more publishers, more best-selling genres, and more venues that carried comics.

 

Both my sisters bought funny animal and Archie comics like mad when they were kids, and their friends were no different. At a "certain age" comics were frowned upon, but when I was 6-10, virtually everyone read them.

 

The sales data does not lie, and top-selling books went from selling several million a month, to under a million to 500K, to 250K, down to 50K a month now for a prime title like ASM. That's the reality and the only way publishers are keeping their divisions above water is through rampant cover price spikes and their parent wanting to keep them afloat for movie/TV/merchandise licensing. Most comics are now a low-leader expense for marketing and could never survive on their own.

 

If comic sales would have hit today's ultra-low levels even in the 80's, they would have been shut down immediately.

[Hepcat]

Mostly 22 + yrs old guys boasting about how much they sold their cgc GI Joes & Byrne X-men for on eBay last month.

 

[Hepcat]

The sales data does not lie, and top-selling books went from selling several million a month, to under a million to 500K, to 250K, down to 50K a month now for a prime title like ASM. That's the reality and the only way publishers are keeping their divisions above water is through rampant cover price spikes and their parent wanting to keep them afloat for movie/TV/merchandise licensing. Most comics are now a low-leader expense for marketing and could never survive on their own.

 

If comic sales would have hit today's ultra-low levels even in the 80's, they would have been shut down immediately.

 

I keep wondering how quickly back issue demand would drop if DC or Marvel closed their doors and new collectors didn't replace those who had lost interest (or died). And if back issue demand dropped, prices would drop. This would be a pretty good thing of course to the pure, hard-core collector who is always in a buying mode. Eventually, however, the conventions, publications and websites on comics on which we all rely would start to dwindle as well which would not be a good thing for anybody.

 

[the blob]

but it was generally frowned upon as being unacceptable. I'm over 40 years old, so I'm thinking this was the case for most of us on these boards.

 

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

--------------

 

most of my older brother's male classmates were into comics in his grade school years. he's 43. perhaps that was a geographic thig, i dunno.

 

i'd say half of my male classmates were too, though i was more than any of them.

 

 

is ASM really down to 50K? but it comes out what, 3-4X a month?

 

[Bronty]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

nobody's arguing that past a certain age they were always a niche. But there are shades of grey - readership #s being what they are it would seem to point to collecting comics eventually going from a big niche to a sizable niche to a marginal niche.

[ComicConnoisseur]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

nobody's arguing that past a certain age they were always a niche. But there are shades of grey - readership #s being what they are it would seem to point to collecting comics eventually going from a big niche to a sizable niche to a marginal niche.

I have to agree comics have been at least a niche since the late 1970`s,when I was in the seventh grade in 1979 we had 30 students and maybe just 4 of us collected comics, believe it or not most kids were into Led Zeppelin,Pink Floyd and other rock groups back then and comics were niche.Given all the competition comics have today with internet,manga,pokemon,dvds,cellphones and videogames I think they are holding up quite well. (thumbs u

[rjrjr]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

That totally ignores the fact that far more comics were sold back then, there were more publishers, more best-selling genres, and more venues that carried comics.

 

Both my sisters bought funny animal and Archie comics like mad when they were kids, and their friends were no different. At a "certain age" comics were frowned upon, but when I was 6-10, virtually everyone read them.

 

The sales data does not lie, and top-selling books went from selling several million a month, to under a million to 500K, to 250K, down to 50K a month now for a prime title like ASM. That's the reality and the only way publishers are keeping their divisions above water is through rampant cover price spikes and their parent wanting to keep them afloat for movie/TV/merchandise licensing. Most comics are now a low-leader expense for marketing and could never survive on their own.

 

If comic sales would have hit today's ultra-low levels even in the 80's, they would have been shut down immediately.

 

 

More comics were sold back when? Prior to my being born? No doubt.

 

Maybe I should clarify, I'm only addressing the span of time I've been reading and collecting comics. I'm over 40. I started reading comics in the 70s. (The first comic off the news-stand I remember getting was Star Wars #26, although I'm sure there were issues before this that my parents bought for me.) Back then, the death of the industry was being talked about. This "death" was still be talked about through the early 80s. From the late 80s through a period in the early 90s, comics hit a high point in sales, but I'd argue not due to readers, but speculators. Come the late 90s, the death of the industry was being talked about again and still is to this day. Since I've been a collector, except for a brief blip where speculation had run rampant, the death of comics has been imminent. Guess what? Comics are still being published and I have no worries that they won't still be published until I'm long dead and buried.

 

So, in my lifetime, I've never seen the huge millions of copies sales (outside of that brief speculation period and even then, it was not every comic selling millions of copies, but very specific titles), nor do I remembers a majority of kids reading comics. If even 25% of the kids were reading comics when I was in elementary/junior high/high school, I'd be surprised. Sure, I knew some kids that read them, but they have always been a domain for the geeks and social misfits since I can remember. (As an aside, for as popular as the TV series Lost was, I'd be hard pressed to believe even 10% of the people at my place of work even watched the show.)

 

I cannot remember a time where there has been more variety in comic book choices from disparate publishers than today, so I'm surprised that you feel there are less publishers today than in years past. I also do not believe there are less venues for one to buy comics, but many, many more. All I need to do is sit down in front of a computer and order my new comics from any number of online comic retailers. Esoteric titles can be ordered directly from the publisher. I can go to any bookstore in this country and buy collections and most major bookstores have entire rows dedicated to TPBs. I see comics at the llocal retail chains like Walmart, Target, and ToysRUs. The local Half Price Bookstore and Bookman's have back issues and TPBs. In fact, I not only can buy any new comic being released easier than ever, I can buy virtually any back issue (with the rare exception) that I want. I also can buy comics published in other countries if I chose. The number of comic conventions I can attend is huge. There are more venues now for a comic reader/collector than there ever has been.

 

Now, if you want me to lament about how there are less comic readers than "back in the day", I can if that is important, but why? Comics are available to people if they WANT to read and collect them and are more accessible than any time in the past. We are living in a period of comic reading and collecting nirvana, so I have absolutely no reason to complain, except that I wish I had more disposable income to spend on my reading and collecting habit.

[rjrjr]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

nobody's arguing that past a certain age they were always a niche. But there are shades of grey - readership #s being what they are it would seem to point to collecting comics eventually going from a big niche to a sizable niche to a marginal niche.

I have to agree comics have been at least a niche since the late 1970`s,when I was in the seventh grade in 1979 we had 30 students and maybe just 4 of us collected comics, believe it or not most kids were into Led Zeppelin,Pink Floyd and other rock groups back then and comics were niche.Given all the competition comics have today with internet,manga,pokemon,dvds,cellphones and videogames I think they are holding up quite well. (thumbs u

 

Agreed.

 

[oakman29]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

That totally ignores the fact that far more comics were sold back then, there were more publishers, more best-selling genres, and more venues that carried comics.

 

Both my sisters bought funny animal and Archie comics like mad when they were kids, and their friends were no different. At a "certain age" comics were frowned upon, but when I was 6-10, virtually everyone read them.

 

The sales data does not lie, and top-selling books went from selling several million a month, to under a million to 500K, to 250K, down to 50K a month now for a prime title like ASM. That's the reality and the only way publishers are keeping their divisions above water is through rampant cover price spikes and their parent wanting to keep them afloat for movie/TV/merchandise licensing. Most comics are now a low-leader expense for marketing and could never survive on their own.

 

If comic sales would have hit today's ultra-low levels even in the 80's, they would have been shut down immediately.

 

 

More comics were sold back when? Prior to my being born? No doubt.

 

Maybe I should clarify, I'm only addressing the span of time I've been reading and collecting comics. I'm over 40. I started reading comics in the 70s. (The first comic off the news-stand I remember getting was Star Wars #26, although I'm sure there were issues before this that my parents bought for me.) Back then, the death of the industry was being talked about. This "death" was still be talked about through the early 80s. From the late 80s through a period in the early 90s, comics hit a high point in sales, but I'd argue not due to readers, but speculators. Come the late 90s, the death of the industry was being talked about again and still is to this day. Since I've been a collector, except for a brief blip where speculation had run rampant, the death of comics has been imminent. Guess what? Comics are still being published and I have no worries that they won't still be published until I'm long dead and buried.

 

So, in my lifetime, I've never seen the huge millions of copies sales (outside of that brief speculation period and even then, it was not every comic selling millions of copies, but very specific titles), nor do I remembers a majority of kids reading comics. If even 25% of the kids were reading comics when I was in elementary/junior high/high school, I'd be surprised. Sure, I knew some kids that read them, but they have always been a domain for the geeks and social misfits since I can remember. (As an aside, for as popular as the TV series Lost was, I'd be hard pressed to believe even 10% of the people at my place of work even watched the show.)

 

I cannot remember a time where there has been more variety in comic book choices from disparate publishers than today, so I'm surprised that you feel there are less publishers today than in years past. I also do not believe there are less venues for one to buy comics, but many, many more. All I need to do is sit down in front of a computer and order my new comics from any number of online comic retailers. Esoteric titles can be ordered directly from the publisher. I can go to any bookstore in this country and buy collections and most major bookstores have entire rows dedicated to TPBs. I see comics at the llocal retail chains like Walmart, Target, and ToysRUs. The local Half Price Bookstore and Bookman's have back issues and TPBs. In fact, I not only can buy any new comic being released easier than ever, I can buy virtually any back issue (with the rare exception) that I want. I also can buy comics published in other countries if I chose. The number of comic conventions I can attend is huge. There are more venues now for a comic reader/collector than there ever has been.

 

Now, if you want me to lament about how there are less comic readers than "back in the day", I can if that is important, but why? Comics are available to people if they WANT to read and collect them and are more accessible than any time in the past. We are living in a period of comic reading and collecting nirvana, so I have absolutely no reason to complain, except that I wish I had more disposable income to spend on my reading and collecting habit.

 

Well said. I walked into a Borders Bookstore the other day and was floored that they had four comic book racks of floppies,and six large shelves of TPBs in the center of the store.I really do feel that we are in a new age/era of collecting that we have never seen before,mostly from the acceptance of the characters in the movies.People are starting to get it! something that we've known forever,people finally are seeing how great the mythology of these characters truly are.That's always a good thing.

[Logan510]

So, the way I figure it, comics were a niche when I was a kid, they are a niche now, and will continue to be a niche in the future.

 

That totally ignores the fact that far more comics were sold back then, there were more publishers, more best-selling genres, and more venues that carried comics.

 

Both my sisters bought funny animal and Archie comics like mad when they were kids, and their friends were no different. At a "certain age" comics were frowned upon, but when I was 6-10, virtually everyone read them.

 

The sales data does not lie, and top-selling books went from selling several million a month, to under a million to 500K, to 250K, down to 50K a month now for a prime title like ASM. That's the reality and the only way publishers are keeping their divisions above water is through rampant cover price spikes and their parent wanting to keep them afloat for movie/TV/merchandise licensing. Most comics are now a low-leader expense for marketing and could never survive on their own.

 

If comic sales would have hit today's ultra-low levels even in the 80's, they would have been shut down immediately.

 

 

More comics were sold back when? Prior to my being born? No doubt.

 

Maybe I should clarify, I'm only addressing the span of time I've been reading and collecting comics. I'm over 40. I started reading comics in the 70s. (The first comic off the news-stand I remember getting was Star Wars #26, although I'm sure there were issues before this that my parents bought for me.) Back then, the death of the industry was being talked about. This "death" was still be talked about through the early 80s. From the late 80s through a period in the early 90s, comics hit a high point in sales, but I'd argue not due to readers, but speculators. Come the late 90s, the death of the industry was being talked about again and still is to this day. Since I've been a collector, except for a brief blip where speculation had run rampant, the death of comics has been imminent. Guess what? Comics are still being published and I have no worries that they won't still be published until I'm long dead and buried.

 

So, in my lifetime, I've never seen the huge millions of copies sales (outside of that brief speculation period and even then, it was not every comic selling millions of copies, but very specific titles), nor do I remembers a majority of kids reading comics. If even 25% of the kids were reading comics when I was in elementary/junior high/high school, I'd be surprised. Sure, I knew some kids that read them, but they have always been a domain for the geeks and social misfits since I can remember. (As an aside, for as popular as the TV series Lost was, I'd be hard pressed to believe even 10% of the people at my place of work even watched the show.)

 

I cannot remember a time where there has been more variety in comic book choices from disparate publishers than today, so I'm surprised that you feel there are less publishers today than in years past. I also do not believe there are less venues for one to buy comics, but many, many more. All I need to do is sit down in front of a computer and order my new comics from any number of online comic retailers. Esoteric titles can be ordered directly from the publisher. I can go to any bookstore in this country and buy collections and most major bookstores have entire rows dedicated to TPBs. I see comics at the llocal retail chains like Walmart, Target, and ToysRUs. The local Half Price Bookstore and Bookman's have back issues and TPBs. In fact, I not only can buy any new comic being released easier than ever, I can buy virtually any back issue (with the rare exception) that I want. I also can buy comics published in other countries if I chose. The number of comic conventions I can attend is huge. There are more venues now for a comic reader/collector than there ever has been.

 

Now, if you want me to lament about how there are less comic readers than "back in the day", I can if that is important, but why? Comics are available to people if they WANT to read and collect them and are more accessible than any time in the past. We are living in a period of comic reading and collecting nirvana, so I have absolutely no reason to complain, except that I wish I had more disposable income to spend on my reading and collecting habit.

 

Where are the new readers coming from? Comicbooks as we know them are no longer available as an "impulse purchase" on newstands or at 7-11's or any of the other traditional venues of the past. Yes, we can order them from 100 different locations on the internet or at a few stores like Wal-Mart or Borders or at any of the dwindling number of comic shops, but one has to search those out. The companies realize this and of course are catering to an older ( ever shrinking ) audience. I don't know what the solution is, but I think it's kind of pollyanaish to say that everything is so hunky dory and everything will be just fine.

[rodan57]

I think that all of us, in the know, understand that the industry died with the death of Gwen Stacey.

 

[kidcolt]

With less comic shops and hardly any corner stores carrying comics sales have to be down. In the late 70's and 80's comics were available in almost every store I went in. In the 90's there was the comic & card boom that had comic shops popping up on every corner and every sports card store started carrying comics.

 

The few comic shops that are still alive don't carry a very big selection. They carry a few of the more popular titles but even then they carry a very small inventory. Good luck finding a new independent title or even a main stream popular title if you don't have a box in that store. Most shops now have way more TP & HC then regular issues and they really promote them.

 

The industry is hurting that is obvious. There are very few new collectors and I don't see that changing. The older collectors are more interested in spending money on back issues of comics they know are good or stuff from their youth.