Will Silver age follow Golden age?

[ultimatevenom]

Ok, thinking about it, Golden age books are now becoming too expensive and the people that collect them are slowly leaving the hobby.

 

Will Silver age books follow? Just think about it this way, Silver age is seeing a massive boost in prices not just due to speculating but also because the collectors are getting into money. But when these collectors die or the books become to expensive will Silver age books just fall out of popularity?

[fantastic_four]

Ok, thinking about it, Golden age books are now becoming too expensive and the people that collect them are slowly leaving the hobby.

 

Will Silver age books follow? Just think about it this way, Silver age is seeing a massive boost in prices not just due to speculating but also because the collectors are getting into money. But when these collectors die or the books become to expensive will Silver age books just fall out of popularity?

 

Depends on which Gold and Silver books you mean. The ones that have actively popular modern properties, such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, most Marvel heroes, etc, should continue to remain popular as long as their modern properties do.

[ultimatevenom]

Ok, thinking about it, Golden age books are now becoming too expensive and the people that collect them are slowly leaving the hobby.

 

Will Silver age books follow? Just think about it this way, Silver age is seeing a massive boost in prices not just due to speculating but also because the collectors are getting into money. But when these collectors die or the books become to expensive will Silver age books just fall out of popularity?

 

Depends on which Gold and Silver books you mean. The ones that have actively popular modern properties, such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, most Marvel heroes, etc, should continue to remain popular as long as their modern properties do.

 

There are more people now that would rather spend there money on high grade Bronze books than a nice looking mid-grade from the silver age and golden age of the same character.

 

Look at Golden age books at the moment, some of the best copies of some books are coming up and they are not getting touched, the silver age ones are. Surely the same will happen with Bronze taking over Silver.

[fantastic_four]

Look at Golden age books at the moment, some of the best copies of some books are coming up and they are not getting touched, the silver age ones are.

 

Which Golden Age books aren't getting touched? The ones with modern properties are in HIGH demand, but the ones who haven't had exposure for decades really aren't. The same is mostly true of Silver and Bronze books...titles with no modern equivalents don't sell nearly as well as their counterparts.

 

Not that some discontinued books don't sell well...Bronze books such as Werewolf by Night, Conan, and Metal Men still fetch high prices, but there are plenty of in-demand Gold titles like this as well, such as Phantom Lady.

[COI]

Look at Golden age books at the moment, some of the best copies of some books are coming up and they are not getting touched, the silver age ones are.

 

If a high grade run of Action comics 1-20 were to surface, I seriously doubt that they wouldn't be touched. On the contrary, I think it would be an all out war to secure those copies.

 

Surely the same will happen with Bronze taking over Silver.

 

I don't think so. There are too many completionists out there for Bronze to ever "take over" Silver, and there is no possible scenario I could see where(for example) the demand ASM #'s 80-150 will exceed the demand for ASM #1-79. There may be a time when prices on S.A may cool a bit while bronze may heat up, but as for Bronze exceeding Silver? Can't see it happening by any stretch of logic.

 

I believe that many Bronze collectors may eventually start working their way backwards into Silver, once they've mostly aquired all the bronze they want. It's a logical transition. I don't think I know of any high grade Bronze age collector who dosen't have at least a few S.A books on their want list.

[aardvark88]

As the BA collector works backwards to silver, they will find a steady supply of comics to 1966. The SA collector who tried to work backwards to the GA, ran out of $$ & could not source the comics. Easier now with eBay & Heritage, but too pricey to build runs of GA comics.

[ft88]

There may be a little bit hi "hi grade only" fever. Where you only collect above a certain grade. So when it is virtually impossible to find Golden Age in 9.4 or better the 9.4 purist simply passes. So they would much rather have a JIM 100 in 9.4 than a Superman #80 in 8.5 even if the JIM 100 is much more common overall and in hi grade.

 

When you talk about low grade I think Golden Age will always have a market above low grade Silver and Bronze. Compare a VG Swamp Thing 1 vs a VG Whiz comics #90, Both will sell on ebay but the older book will go for $40 while the bronze will go for $10.

 

So in addition to all the comments about continuity of characters, I think its more about the grade. Compare a generic Golden Age Batman say #53 vs a Spider-man #53 both in CGC 9.6 and the Batman will win hands down always.

 

I think what you are asking is which is the better investment going forward SIlver or Bronze. For low grade I would guess Gold over SIlver over Bronze. For Hi grade I would guess Bronze over Gold over Silver, Strictly as investments. My personal exceptions would be the top 6 usual suspects in Bronze H181 asm 129, 122, 121, X-men 94 GS 1. And Gold I wouldn't welcome too many low grade Dells of non currect characters.

 

But I'd rather have to hold onto $1000 worth of G double digit Detectives vs VG copies of double digit FF's. And I'd rather have the 12 cent FF's than a pile of Marvel Team ups from the 70's.

[Aman619]

its now too pricey to build a HG Silver run... at least with Golden age, you can back off on the grade down to 7.0 and syill put together a great run...

[CompleteRunComics]

I think I see what Ult.Venom may be thinking. I myself don't pay attention to GA books. 1) I can't afford them but 2) I also collect what I'm familiar with, grew up with, and like. A good example is; as a Batman lover I picked up Batman Archives volume #1. The thing that struck me most was how silly the stories were. For the most part I stick to Batman BA books and later, silver being a little to pricey for me.

Looking across the whole GA spectrum though, from superhero, cartoon, western etc..I could see as silver age collectors age the interest in comics from that age across the board dwindle. Granted, Batman, Spider-Man, the biggies in other words, will always have collectors and speculators but books on the fringe I think will be passed over as time goes on. As westerns passed on, cartoon books, won't titles such as, say Brave and the Bold and Showcase, where a future collector won't have the name recognition because there is no Brave and the Bold and Showcase today, and is used to getting a more and more sophisticated story, plus being more familiar with what they grew up with, Transformers etc., simply pass over them?

 

CRC

[fantastic_four]

won't titles such as, say Brave and the Bold and Showcase, where a future collector won't have the name recognition because there is no Brave and the Bold and Showcase today, and is used to getting a more and more sophisticated story, plus being more familiar with what they grew up with, Transformers etc., simply pass over them?

 

There's no more Amazing Fantasy...does that mean issue 15 will eventually fade into obscurity? The non-key B&B and Showcase issues may well fade over time, but I can't see that happening to the key issues where famous superheroes (JLA and Flash) made their bones.

[COI]

Brave and the Bold and Showcase, where a future collector won't have the name recognition because there is no Brave and the Bold and Showcase today, and is used to getting a more and more sophisticated story, plus being more familiar with what they grew up with, Transformers etc., simply pass over them?

 

I collect high grade Silver, even though I grew up in the 80's. I think that as long as the Superhero genre remains the most popular, there will be collectors for mostly all the superhero books. The sophistication level of the stories isn't a factor with "collectors", because I think most of the people who are shelling out big bucks for NM silver are into comics as collectibles, not reading material. Regardless of age, it's inevitable that as collectors begin earning more money, at least some of them will begin going back and buying up the early issues of the genre. However, if the entire Superhero genre begins to fade away, there may come a time when demand takes a serious nose dive. It's possible, and perhaps even inevitable, but it isn't going to happen tomorrow.

[CompleteRunComics]

There's no more Amazing Fantasy...does that mean issue 15 will eventually fade into obscurity? The non-key B&B and Showcase issues may well fade over time, but I can't see that happening to the key issues where famous superheroes (JLA and Flash) made their bones.

 

Amazing Fantasy #15 is of course one of the biggies (if not the biggest) I was referring to. Key issues absolutely have the staying power while superheroes are in but the age as a whole is where I was going.

 

I collect high grade Silver, even though I grew up in the 80's. I think that as long as the Superhero genre remains the most popular, there will be collectors for mostly all the superhero books. The sophistication level of the stories isn't a factor with "collectors", because I think most of the people who are shelling out big bucks for NM silver are into comics as collectibles, not reading material. Regardless of age, it's inevitable that as collectors begin earning more money, at least some of them will begin going back and buying up the early issues of the genre. However, if the entire Superhero genre begins to fade away, there may come a time when demand takes a serious nose dive. It's possible, and perhaps even inevitable, but it isn't going to happen tomorrow.

 

Grew up in the "80's" myself and try to collect the highest grade silver I can afford. I was reffering to the age as a whole, all genres even some superhero series that may have more of an impact now because we grew up with them.

 

Simply put, I see the GA and eventually SA books in demand being streamlined down to keys and titles with renewed interest due to new title volumes, tv and movies every several years.

 

On a side note, have prices for books in Overstreet for GA westerns or cartoon books (Four Color?) stalled or do they still climb somewhat in comparison with silver and early bronze?

 

CRC

[seank]

A good example is; as a Batman lover I picked up Batman Archives volume #1. The thing that struck me most was how silly the stories were. For the most part I stick to Batman BA books and later,

 

If I want great writing and sophisticated stories, I'll read Tolstoy*. For goofball fun and relaxation, gold and silver age stories can't be beat.

 

* or Maus, or 100 Bullets, or a variety of other modern comics, none of which feature superheros.

[CompleteRunComics]

If I want great writing and sophisticated stories, I'll read Tolstoy*. For goofball fun and relaxation, gold and silver age stories can't be beat.

 

* or Maus, or 100 Bullets, or a variety of other modern comics, none of which feature superheros.

 

Yeah, you and I will read them but the next age of collectors...won't.

 

 

CRC

[joe_collector]

Yeah, you and I will read them but the next age of collectors...won't.

 

Actually, there hasn't been a "next age" of collectors since the late-80's.

[Bronty]

Sigh.. seems true to me. I know lighthouse says that he sees younger people in his store, but certainly the increased convention traffic in the last couple of years (at least speaking locally) seems due to "80s kids" returning to collecting, rather than really "new" collectors being minted.

 

There's a *lot* of people on these boards even who seem to have a similar story: quit collecting in the early nineties, came back in the early 2000's...

[Mephisto]

I think I see what Ult.Venom may be thinking. I myself don't pay attention to GA books. 1) I can't afford them but 2) I also collect what I'm familiar with, grew up with, and like. A good example is; as a Batman lover I picked up Batman Archives volume #1. The thing that struck me most was how silly the stories were. For the most part I stick to Batman BA books and later, silver being a little to pricey for me.

 

The Silver Age stories are even more campy than the GA stories. They are just plain bad. The thing I love about the early Tec's is that Batman was truly the Dark Knight, shotting people with guns and throwing people off roof tops killing them. Shortly after Robin came along the stories lightened up, although ti appeared Robin killed a guy in Tec 38 when he threw him off a beam at a construction site. I can't stand most stories with Robin. My favorite Modern Batman stories are the flashback stories that don't have Robin.

[COI]

My favorite Modern Batman stories are the flashback stories that don't have Robin.

 

Personally, I like " A Death in the Family" for that very reason. Robins are at their best when they're dead, and Batman is at his best when they're dead.

[Mephisto]

My favorite Modern Batman stories are the flashback stories that don't have Robin.

 

Personally, I like " A Death in the Family" for that very reason. Robins are at their best when they're dead, and Batman is at his best when they're dead.

 

Yup and I just read KnightFall and Tim was being all gay saying that Batman needs a Robin and Bruce wasn't the same after Jason died but he has been a little better since he has taken over the roll. Therefore Jean Paul needs a little brat to molest in order to rightfully claim the mantle of the Bat.

The Batman should never have been allowed to become the original Michael Jackson. What kind of a Dark Knight has a kid in greggy short shorts named follow him around?

[lou_fine]

Ok, thinking about it, Golden age books are now becoming too expensive and the people that collect them are slowly leaving the hobby.

 

Will Silver age books follow? Just think about it this way, Silver age is seeing a massive boost in prices not just due to speculating but also because the collectors are getting into money. But when these collectors die or the books become to expensive will Silver age books just fall out of popularity?

 

Most definitely, without a doubt. This follows the same line of thought that I had in a post a few weeks ago talking about the life cycle of a comic book collector.

 

GA was in vogue back in the 70's and 80's with nobody paying any attention to the later books. The 90's saw the transition of money starting to favor the SA. With the turn of the century and the changing population demographics, SA is most definitely the hot item. BA is just starting to pick up steam, and without a doubt, will only gain in prominence with the changing population demographics and the pricing of SA hitting an unattainable peak similar to high grade GA keys right now.

 

Bottom-line: Every collectors Golden-Age relates to a different time period depending on when they was growing up. In this sense, collectors will generally always be chasing after the books of THEIR golden-age.

 

As a result, most of the big SA BSD's are willing to spend big money on buying up HG SA books. The majority of them will not be willing to spend the same kind of money or even less on much rarer HG GA books because they do not have a connection to these books, even though they may feature the same characters. In the same way, a lot of collectors on these boards are now saying they will spend money on BA, but have absolutely no interest in GA or SA books. Especially in light of not only the high prices, but also the corny stories from the GA and SA in comparison to the more sophisicated stories and art of the BA.

 

I guess only time will tell, but it's pretty hard to fight against changing population demographics.