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Have comic prices been mostly frozen since the economic crisis began?

Started by fantastic_four,

55 posts in this topic

fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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In 2008, I ran a financial analysis of all the CGC books I owned to determine how much they had appreciated since I first purchased them. I've been wanting to update that analysis for a few years because I knew prices hadn't gone up as much since then as they had before the economic meltdown and started working on it today.

 

My early conclusion--most of my comics have remained almost exactly flat since the economic crisis began around 2008. Some have gone up a bit, some have gone down a bit, but no major changes in the last four years. This includes both key and non-key comics and in my case is limited to just the titles I collect, i.e. Silver Marvels, specifically Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Anyone else noticed this about the market as a whole, or is this mostly restricted to the Silver Age? I've personally only noticed an uptrend on the absolute mega-keys, particularly AF15.

 

I suppose this isn't all that surprising given that a similar holding pattern has been in effect for many other types of investments the last few years, particularly real estate.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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flat might be good given the general economy :shrug:

 

I haven't noticed a big decrease in real estate in my area (Richmond, Virginia) in the last four years either. Is the stock market down significantly from four years ago after the big dive took place, or has it remained mostly flat as well? I don't really know.

 

I'm generally curious about what other collectibles have done since the crisis--guns, coins, cards, etc. Initially comics had a boom around 2009, but at some point in I think late 2009 or perhaps it was mid-2010, I forget, it came back to where it had been before that surge. I assumed people were investing in hard assets for a short time, but then divested again as the markets steadied, but I'm not really sure. I had heard guns and art were booming in 2009, but I don't know if they also came back down to being flat as I don't follow those markets.

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In 2008, I ran a financial analysis of all the CGC books I owned to determine how much they had appreciated since I first purchased them. I've been wanting to update that analysis for a few years because I knew prices hadn't gone up as much since then as they had before the economic meltdown and started working on it today.

 

My early conclusion--most of my comics have remained almost exactly flat since the economic crisis began around 2008. Some have gone up a bit, some have gone down a bit, but no major changes in the last four years. This includes both key and non-key comics and in my case is limited to just the titles I collect, i.e. Silver Marvels, specifically Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Anyone else noticed this about the market as a whole, or is this mostly restricted to the Silver Age? I've personally only noticed an uptrend on the absolute mega-keys, particularly AF15.

 

I suppose this isn't all that surprising given that a similar holding pattern has been in effect for many other types of investments the last few years, particularly real estate.

 

Tough to say exactly, but for me I would say

1. Gold (Has been performing by far the best) Record prices on many books, although I have been rather lucky.

2. Modern (Lots of crazy speculation going on)

3. Silver (Slower)

4. Bronze (Losing value) (HG Marvel even worse)

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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Yes. Walking Dead comics have gone no where since 2008 along with SA and GA keys. :)

 

 

 

 

:fear:

 

 

 

Just sounds like the books you have been collecting are not that high in demand.

 

 

Not really fair to pull out Walking Dead as proof of a robust market.

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Its not just Walking Dead, lots of speculation going on. ToT, any new number 1, Daredevil, Hot DC books, Thanos, even some Valiant books :insane:

I haven't seen this kind of speculation in a long time.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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In 2008, I ran a financial analysis of all the CGC books I owned to determine how much they had appreciated since I first purchased them. I've been wanting to update that analysis for a few years because I knew prices hadn't gone up as much since then as they had before the economic meltdown and started working on it today.

 

My early conclusion--most of my comics have remained almost exactly flat since the economic crisis began around 2008. Some have gone up a bit, some have gone down a bit, but no major changes in the last four years. This includes both key and non-key comics and in my case is limited to just the titles I collect, i.e. Silver Marvels, specifically Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Anyone else noticed this about the market as a whole, or is this mostly restricted to the Silver Age? I've personally only noticed an uptrend on the absolute mega-keys, particularly AF15.

 

I suppose this isn't all that surprising given that a similar holding pattern has been in effect for many other types of investments the last few years, particularly real estate.

 

Technology being what it is, has increased the amount of focus a person can put in any given area of the market. Over scrutinizing a market makes people generally more aware of the volatility and seems to encourage more careful buying.

 

For that reason (along with the fact that we've had a global economic slowdown) people have been buying more carefully.

 

That means that books that look better for the assigned grade have done better than average and books with poorer qualities have done worse, so two books within the same grade can have two entirely different results.

 

For example, I auction two copies of the same ASM book a couple of years ago. Both identical except one had OW pages and the other had OWW pages.

 

One went for $3300, the other for about $5000.

 

People are being more careful than ever with their money, and that is spilling over into collecting, comic values and how they sell.

 

Until people learn to adapt a little to the amount of information we have at our fingertips, and streamline all this data, people are going to continue to be very selective which is going to continue to result in a volatile market. Until that happens, people will be afraid to sell at a bottom or buy at a top, and will always try to buy at "less than GPA".

 

I've seen the same cyclical trends in artwork, automotive technology, and a few other areas.

 

Technology and the human race are constantly jumping past each other and then waiting for the other to catch up with it almost like the "rubber band" gag in cartooons where one slingshots past the other and visa versa.

 

 

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Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

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Yes. Walking Dead comics have gone no where since 2008 along with SA and GA keys. :)

 

 

 

 

:fear:

 

 

 

Just sounds like the books you have been collecting are not that high in demand.

 

 

'Cause 'flavour of the month' books are much more sensible to sink your money into.

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Flaming_Telepath

Flaming_Telepath

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In 2008, I ran a financial analysis of all the CGC books I owned to determine how much they had appreciated since I first purchased them. I've been wanting to update that analysis for a few years because I knew prices hadn't gone up as much since then as they had before the economic meltdown and started working on it today.

 

My early conclusion--most of my comics have remained almost exactly flat since the economic crisis began around 2008. Some have gone up a bit, some have gone down a bit, but no major changes in the last four years. This includes both key and non-key comics and in my case is limited to just the titles I collect, i.e. Silver Marvels, specifically Amazing Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Anyone else noticed this about the market as a whole, or is this mostly restricted to the Silver Age? I've personally only noticed an uptrend on the absolute mega-keys, particularly AF15.

 

I suppose this isn't all that surprising given that a similar holding pattern has been in effect for many other types of investments the last few years, particularly real estate.

 

Technology being what it is, has increased the amount of focus a person can put in any given area of the market. Over scrutinizing a market makes people generally more aware of the volatility and seems to encourage more careful buying.

 

For that reason (along with the fact that we've had a global economic slowdown) people have been buying more carefully.

 

That means that books that look better for the assigned grade have done better than average and books with poorer qualities have done worse, so two books within the same grade can have two entirely different results.

 

For example, I auction two copies of the same ASM book a couple of years ago. Both identical except one had OW pages and the other had OWW pages.

 

One went for $3300, the other for about $5000.

 

People are being more careful than ever with their money, and that is spilling over into collecting, comic values and how they sell.

 

Until people learn to adapt a little to the amount of information we have at our fingertips, and streamline all this data, people are going to continue to be very selective which is going to continue to result in a volatile market. Until that happens, people will be afraid to sell at a bottom or buy at a top, and will always try to buy at "less than GPA".

 

I've seen the same cyclical trends in artwork, automotive technology, and a few other areas.

 

Technology and the human race are constantly jumping past each other and then waiting for the other to catch up with it almost like the "rubber band" gag in cartooons where one slingshots past the other and visa versa.

 

 

Sorry? ???

 

I think you're saying 'people have less money so they're being more careful with it'.

 

But I can't be certain.

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

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The average american has seen a 38% decline of their overall assets if they were in the stock market. So yeah, flat would be good.

 

For the content I collect, prices are down at least 20% or more.

 

When you say Americans have seen a 38% decline in their stocks, you're including the financial meltdown of 2008 in that number, right?

 

What do you collect that has gone down 20%?

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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For that reason (along with the fact that we've had a global economic slowdown) people have been buying more carefully.

 

 

Sorry? ???

 

I think you're saying 'people have less money so they're being more careful with it'.

 

But I can't be certain.

 

More or less. I think the combination of increased technology and less over all wealth to go round has stagnated prices in some areas (runs of books being made more available) and increased volatility in others (ie Keys spiking, more obscure books dropping).

 

Increased technology (or awareness through technology) has levelled the playing field somewhat from the traditional "buy low - sell high" model the way comicwiz commented on in a thread a few weeks ago (or a few days ago, can't remember exactly when that thread was).

 

Decreased disposable income has as certainly affected the way people spend their money.

 

Those are just my perceptions though.

 

:)

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

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I Anyone else noticed this about the market as a whole, or is this mostly restricted to the Silver Age?

Timelys have increased a fair amount.

Iconic 50s cover books for the most part have increased a tremendous amount.

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