What’s your opinion on long term pricing trends?

[VintageComics]

I suspect that comics will be the pulps of the future. I believe most pulp collectors have died off, few new ones are entering the hobby and prices are dropping.

 

I don't know about that. Never really thought about it until your post but this is what occurs to me:

 

1) Pulps died off, comics seem to be in no danger of this, thus at least keeping some freshness and some new readers coming in

 

2) Comics always had some sense of collectibility, even if just from having the sequential numbering and continuing characters. Some pulps had some of those characteristics, but not to even close the same extent. I mean, after 15 years of pulps did any of them have 100th issue celebrations with covers of previous classic issues, ala Superman 100 and Batman 100?

 

3) Did the pulps create any lasting characters that remained extremely popular AND are mostly associated with the pulps? I mean, Conan may have started in the pulps but it's the 60s paperbacks that propelled him to worldwide fame, no?

 

Pulps were also primarily words, and science fiction oriented (with gorgeous covers, granted).

 

Picture books like have more appeal, as do the large variety of characters and genres available.

 

 

[joe_collector]

You guys are hilarious, and every hobby full of curmudgeony middle-aged fools having the same kind of conversation.

 

My father and uncles were/still are heavy into hockey cards, as when they grew up, hockey was all that kids talked about. Gordie Howe, Frank Mahovlich, Jean Beliveau, etc. - they bought hockey cards, sent in for Beehive photos and idolized these guys.

 

But when the speculation came in, the card grading, the rising prices on new card packs, the insane price jumps on vintage cards, and the weakening of the kid buyer base, they'd sit around the table with a few beers, taking about how "hopefully kids won't stop collecting cards" and how "they need to drop prices to attract more kids", etc.

 

Then it all imploded, kids left totally, card grading drove prices up, then way down, and since it depends 100% on aging adults to support it, right now you can pay up to $1K for a single pack of hockey cards.

 

It'll be the exact same thing for us, as you can't beat demographics.

[VintageComics]

You guys are hilarious, and every hobby full of curmudgeony middle-aged fools having the same kind of conversation.

 

My father and uncles were/still are heavy into hockey cards, as when they grew up, hockey was all that kids talked about. Gordie Howe, Frank Mahovlich, Jean Beliveau, etc. - they bought hockey cards, sent in for Beehive photos and idolized these guys.

 

But when the speculation came in, the card grading, the rising prices on new card packs, the insane price jumps on vintage cards, and the weakening of the kid buyer base, they'd sit around the table with a few beers, taking about how "hopefully kids won't stop collecting cards" and how "they need to drop prices to attract more kids", etc.

 

Then it all imploded, kids left totally, card grading drove prices up, then way down, and since it depends 100% on aging adults to support it, right now you can pay up to $1K for a single pack of hockey cards.

 

It'll be the exact same thing for us, as you can't beat demographics.

 

Even on your birthday you're a condescending, insulting tool.

 

 

[joe_collector]

No, it's just that I've seen and heard the *exact* same things from my grandfather with stamps and my father/uncles with sportscards, and I'm smart enough to realize that hobbies tend to be generational, and comics are mine.

 

I'm also smart enough to realize that no 8-year old today is going to grow up and spend $500K on a copy of AF 15. Just as I won't spend any money on stamps or cards.

[TheShadowKnows]

I suspect that comics will be the pulps of the future. I believe most pulp collectors have died off, few new ones are entering the hobby and prices are dropping.

Not so much on the high grade material.See what the bat woman weird tales cover is going for lately.

[VintageComics]

No, it's just that I've seen and heard the *exact* same things from my grandfather with stamps and my father/uncles with sportscards, and I'm smart enough to realize that hobbies tend to be generational, and comics are mine.

 

I'm also smart enough to realize that no 8-year old today is going to grow up and spend $500K on a copy of AF 15. Just as I won't spend any money on stamps or cards.

 

I don't think anybody thinks comics are going to live forever, but I think it's safe to say that any key that represents a relevant character will live longer than a key that represents a non-relevant character, so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?

 

Whatev' we've had this debate round and round. We'll see.

[ImageMask]

Hockey cards, comics and tools.......

[joe_collector]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

[tth2]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

Who`s going to cling to his youth more desperately than a wealthy 80 year old guy?

[Flaming_Telepath]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

Who`s going to cling to his youth more desperately than a wealthy 80 year old guy?

 

But he's not going to do it by buying a funny book.

[VintageComics]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

Who`s going to cling to his youth more desperately than a wealthy 80 year old guy?

 

But he's not going to do it by buying a funny book.

 

If he can, why not pull a Bedrock and choose both?

[Nick Fury-migration]

This thread is about future trends, but heres my experience from the past: 30 years ago (1980) the local comic book store opened in my town. I actually held onto my collection but 30 years later, 90% of the books that I bought new now sell for less than $1. You couldn't have convinced me of that 30 years ago! I didn't realize this was a movement happening all across the country, dramatically increasing the supply of comic books.

 

I'm wondering if anyone here could name 20 books printed since 1980 that are worth over $100 in a 9.0 grade?

[tth2]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

Who`s going to cling to his youth more desperately than a wealthy 80 year old guy?

 

But he's not going to do it by buying a funny book.

His other parts might not be working well enough to recreate other memories from his youth.

[lizards2]

I suspect that comics will be the pulps of the future. I believe most pulp collectors have died off, few new ones are entering the hobby and prices are dropping.

 

Not on the books I want

 

Yep - same for me.

 

You guys need to quit following the trends, and begin starting the trends

[Forbush-Man]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

Who`s going to cling to his youth more desperately than a wealthy 80 year old guy?

 

But he's not going to do it by buying a funny book.

 

Right. A guy that old and that rich would buy what this guy did.

[Jeffro.]

No, it's just that I've seen and heard the *exact* same things from my grandfather with stamps and my father/uncles with sportscards, and I'm smart enough to realize that hobbies tend to be generational, and comics are mine.

 

I'm also smart enough to realize that no 8-year old today is going to grow up and spend $500K on a copy of AF 15. Just as I won't spend any money on stamps or cards.

 

I don't think anybody thinks comics are going to live forever, but I think it's safe to say that any key that represents a relevant character will live longer than a key that represents a non-relevant character, so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?

 

Whatev' we've had this debate round and round. We'll see.

 

The Crash™ is right around the corner.

 

 

[comicwiz]

so I could see AF #15 fetching $500K in 50 years. Why not?.

 

Sure, but it will be a 80-90 year old guy buying it.

 

Curious - why couldn't a 20-something Internet millionaire, Son of an oil baron, or any young adult in the top wage-earning category fit that demographic? While the percentages of affluence will always be smaller compared to middle and low-wage earners, the formers percentages are still greater than the days your ancestors were collecting. Despite the tough and unrelenting tide that's been sweeping through on a global scale, the per capita of billionaires is still much, much higher than it was 50 or 100 years ago.

 

Lifestyle has much to do with acquired tastes, so I agree that an 8 year-old that is satisfied with an iPod and their gaming console wouldn't necessarily be the right fit, but it's a crude example, particularly because it's like comparing the tastes of two different people, one contented with a BK dine-out, and another who won't settle for anything less than a triple-digit priced filet mignon.

[MisterX]

There's a great book about collecting pulps called The Blood N Thunder Guide to Collecting Pulps.

 

In it, the author Ed Hulse points to the demise of pulp as being a combination of things: a new mood in the country post WW2 that was eager for new entertainment (not characters who were peceived as stale), and the onslaught of television.

 

The first reason could be partly generational. The second, reason well, new technologies seem to provide new ways of entertainment that threaten the old. (Video games vs. comics, anyone?)

 

(I'm probably doing a diservice to Mr. Hulse in this summarization.)

 

One intersting qoute from the book is this --

 

If you're looking to "invest" in pulp magazines hoping to make a killing a few years from now, we've got three words for you: find another field. Pulps remain affordable because the hobby thus far hasn't attracted the type of speculator whose profiteering ruined comic-book collecting years ago by moving many desirable items beyond the financial reach of those who most appreciated them. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be enough money in pulp magazines to make them appealing to these soulless homunculi.

 

Doesn't mince words, does he?

 

Now, I wonder, will Speculation be the machine that keeps our hobby alive?

 

 

[comicwiz]

I'm not suggesting comics are immune to Hulse's prediction of speculators ruining a hobby, but when was the last time a Pulp was optioned for the silver-screen? One further, can you think of the same for any stamp or collector card?

[fantastic_four]

If you're looking to "invest" in pulp magazines hoping to make a killing a few years from now, we've got three words for you: find another field. Pulps remain affordable because the hobby thus far hasn't attracted the type of speculator whose profiteering ruined comic-book collecting years ago by moving many desirable items beyond the financial reach of those who most appreciated them. Fortunately, there doesn't seem to be enough money in pulp magazines to make them appealing to these soulless homunculi.

 

Oversimplificated arrogance at its finest! I'd love it if we renamed this place to the Soulless Homunculi Message Boards.