CGC moratorium on new comic books

[Logan510]

Is there a full moon tonight?

 

This past weekend. I felt the urge to howl and did, several times.

 

 

Were you rockin' out to some Bieber at the time?

spicy enchiladas.....,

 

I know the feeling

[Waylander]

Just rocking to the early 90's when the comic market almost went to ...oh...lest we forget.

 

The 90's

 

Image and their variants

Image and their Zero issues (mulitple)

Image and their 3 month plus between issues

 

Marvel and the relaunch of X-Men - sold millions

 

DC - did not read any but they MUST have done something good

 

90's - what the heck was wrong with the 90's

[Logan510]

Just rocking to the early 90's when the comic market almost went to ...oh...lest we forget.

 

The 90's

 

Image and their variants

Image and their Zero issues (mulitple)

Image and their 3 month plus between issues

 

Marvel and the relaunch of X-Men - sold millions

 

DC - did not read any but they MUST have done something good

 

90's - what the heck was wrong with the 90's

 

If you have to ask...

[MODOK]

 

90's - what the heck was wrong with the 90's

 

Are you serious?

 

From WIKI, and I think you should read this in it's entirety! This is very educational and an accurate historical account of what went "wrong" in the 90's with our comic book collecting hobby.

 

.....................................................................................

 

The speculator boom

 

From roughly 1985 through 1993, comic book speculation reached its highest peaks. This boom period began with the publication of titles like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen and "summer crossover epics" like Crisis on Infinite Earths and Secret Wars. After Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns made their mark, mainstream attention returned to the comic book industry in 1989 with the success of the movie Batman and again in 1992 with "The Death of Superman" storyline.

 

Once aware of this niche market, the mainstream press focused on its potential for making money. Features appeared in newspapers, magazines and television shows detailing how rare, high-demand comics such as Action Comics #1 and Incredible Hulk #181 (the first appearances of Superman and Wolverine, respectively) had sold for thousands of dollars, with Action # 1 breaking the $1 million mark.

 

During this time, comic book publishers began to pander specifically to the collectors' market. Techniques used included variant covers, polybags, and gimmick covers. When a comic was polybagged, the collector had to choose between either reading the comic book or keeping it in pristine condition for potential financial gain, or buying two or more copies to do both. Gimmicks included glow-in-the-dark, hologram-enhanced, die-cut, embossing, foil stamped or foil-embossed covers. Gimmicks were almost entirely cosmetic in nature, and almost never extended to improved content of the comics. However, many speculators would buy multiple copies of these issues, anticipating that demand would allow them to sell them for a substantial profit in the future.

 

This period also saw a corresponding expansion in price guide publications, most notably Wizard Magazine, which helped fuel the speculator boom with monthly columns such as the "Wizard Top 10" (highlighting the "hottest" back-issues of the month), "Market Watch" (which not only reported back-issue market trends, but also predicted future price trends), and "Comic Watch" (highlighting key "undervalued" back-issues).

 

The speculators who made a profit or at least broke even on their comic book "investments" did so only by selling to other speculators.In truth, very few of the comics produced in the early 1990s have retained their value in the current market; with hundreds of thousands (or, in several prominent cases, over ten million) copies produced of certain issues, the value of these comics has all but disappeared. "Hot" comics like X-Men #1 and Youngblood #1 can today be found selling for under a dollar apiece.

 

Veteran comic book fans pointed out an important fact about the high value of classic comic books that was largely overlooked by the speculators: original comic books of the Golden Age of Comic Books were genuinely rare. Most of the original comic books had not survived to the present era, having been thrown out in the trash or discarded as worthless children's waste (just like baseball cards typically were at that time) by parents (stories of uncaring parents throwing out their kids' comic book collections are well known to the Baby Boom generation), or recycled along with other periodicals in the paper drives of World War II. As a result, a comic book of interest to fans or collectors from the 1940s through the 1960s, such as an original issue of Superman, Captain America, Challengers of the Unknown, or Vault of Horror, was often extremely difficult to find and thus highly prized by collectors, in a manner similar to coin collectors seeking copies of the 1955 doubled die cent. In many ways, with an enormous supply of high-grade copies, the "hot" comics of the speculator boom were the complete opposite.

The bust of the speculator market

 

The comic book speculator market reached a saturation point in the early 1990s and finally collapsed between 1993 through 1997. Two-thirds of all comic book specialty stores closed in this time period, and numerous publishers were driven out of business. Even industry giant Marvel Comics was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1997, although they were able to continue publishing. It is surmised that one of the main factors in Marvel's downfall was the decision to switch to self-distribution (via their purchase of Heroes World Distribution). Up until then, many publishers went through secondary distributors (such as the current and only mass distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors) and Marvel felt it could preserve some of its cash flow if it made the move to becoming one of the few publishers to also distribute directly to the comic market. This backfired terribly when the bottom fell out of the market, as they were stocked with multiple printings of variant and "collectible" issues that were no longer in high demand and they could not cover the costs of their distribution service.

 

The bust can also be linked back to some of the series that caused the boom, a few years earlier. DC's decision to publish two blockbuster stories depicting the loss of their two major superheroes ("Knightfall" — the breaking of the Batman — and "The Death of Superman"), and their subsequent flooding of the press as to its supposed "finality", is considered by some collectors to have started a slow decay within the non-regular buyer comic community which then led to drops in sales. Many comic retailers believe that numerous comic speculators took the death and crippling of two major characters to signify the end of the Batman and Superman series. As many comic readers and retailers knew full well, very little in comics actually changes with any finality. Many aspects of the status quo returned after the story arcs were over (Superman died, but was resurrected, and Batman was crippled, but eventually recovered).

 

Many comic speculators who were only in the market to see important comics mature, then sell them for a tidy profit, didn't quite understand how quick the turn around would be on the story recant, and many rushed out to scoop up as many copies of whatever issues were to be deemed significant. Comic shops received not only staggering sales during the week that Superman died, but also had to try and meet the demand. This led to the saturation of the market and the devaluing of what was thought to be the end of an American icon. Some comic book retailers and theorists deem DC's practices in the press forum and their relationship with the non-specialized consumer to be grossly negligent of the status of the market, and that their marketing campaign, whereas most likely not malicious in intent, spelled doom for the speculator market and comic sales in general. Others place the blame for the comic market crash on Marvel (whose product line had bloated to hundreds of separate titles by late 1993, including the poorly received "Marvel UK" and "2099" lines) or creator-owned upstart Image Comics (who fed the speculator feeding frenzy more than any other comics publisher).

 

Other publishing houses had different problems. Valiant Comics — at one point the third-largest comic book publisher — was sold to the video game giant Acclaim Entertainment for $65 million in June 1994. Acclaim renamed the line Acclaim Comics in 1996. Their primary motivation was to make the properties more suitable for use in video game development. Eventually, Acclaim filed for bankruptcy following the collapse of its video game business. The miniseries Deathmate — a crossover between Image Comics and Valiant Comics — is often considered to have been the final nail in the speculation market's coffin; although heavily hyped and highly anticipated when initially solicited, the books from the Image Comics side shipped so many months late that reader interest disappeared by the time the series finally materialized, leaving some retailers holding literally hundreds of unsellable copies of the various Deathmate crossovers.[6] Other companies, such as Broadway Comics, Comico, Continuity Comics, Defiant Comics, Eclipse Comics, First Comics, and Malibu Comics also ceased publication in the period between 1993 and 1997.

 

 

Post-bubble speculation

 

Since 1997, comic book sales have fallen to a fraction of early-1990s levels, with print runs of many popular titles down as much as 90% from their peaks. Currently, most of the hype generated around the major companies' comics involves changes to the characters, well-known creators writing or illustrating a title, and buzz surrounding an adaptation to another medium such as film or television.

 

The one remaining bastion for comic speculation remains in online auction sites such as eBay; but even there, comic books remain a buyer's market. In the 2000s, prices for genuinely rare near-mint comics rose steadily, doubling in some cases. This was aided in part by newly-established comic book grading companies, such as Comic Guaranty LLC (CGC) and Professional Grading eXperts LLC (PGX). Improved accountability has increased collector confidence, although some collectors have complained that the market has once again become more about speculation, instead of being focused on the art and stories.

Until February 2002, the highest price paid for a comic book was $350,000 for Marvel Comics #1, bought by Jay Parrino (USA) in November 2001. The sale of a Comic Guaranty LLC (CGC)-graded 8.0 "very fine" issue of Action Comics #1 reportedly sold between a undisclosed buyer and seller on the comic book online auction site "Comic Connect" for $1,000,000 topped the list for a few days. It was quickly eclipsed by a CCG-graded 8.0 Very Fine Detective #27 (the first Batman comic book) at Heritage Auctions, which realized $1,075,500.[ In July 2010, another Action Comics #1, a CGC -graded 8.5 was reportedly sold between a undisclosed buyer and seller on "Comics Connect" for $1.5 million, thus setting the current record for the highest sum ever paid for a comic book.

 

[Dr. Balls]

I'm sure that CGC will think this is a great idea and immediately put a stop to a large portion of their profit center. Makes lots of sense.

[lizards2]

 

90's - what the heck was wrong with the 90's

 

Are you serious?

They sucked.

 

fixed that nasty old wall of text.

[Designer Toast]

I'm sure that CGC will think this is a great idea and immediately put a stop to a large portion of their profit center. Makes lots of sense.

 

I was thinking the same thing! Profit smofit!

 

 

[FFB]

This post reminds me of the classic Bugaboo post involving the competition whereby CGC forum participants would drive out to the desert with their comics, create burning pyramids out of comics, and punch themselves in the nads.

 

Or something like that.

[lizards2]

This post reminds me of the classic Bugaboo post involving the competition whereby CGC forum participants would drive out to the desert with their comics, create burning pyramids out of comics, and punch themselves in the nads.

 

Or something like that.

Sounds like a great time! How did it turn out?

[comicwiz]

This post reminds me of the classic Bugaboo post involving the competition whereby CGC forum participants would drive out to the desert with their comics, create burning pyramids out of comics, and punch themselves in the nads.

 

Or something like that.

Sounds like a great time! How did it turn out?

 

The Ultimate CGC game -06/18/03

 

"I've got a better idea for this game. First, everyone who wants to participate must gather up every book they have in their collection and load it into their car (or truck, depending on how many books you have). Then, you must drive your collection at least 3 states away from where they are currently being stored. Once you arrive, you then build a stone temple in the shape of a pyramid. This temple must have a base that is exactly 9 square feet, and it must be precisely 9 feet tall at the point. You must then park your vehicle precisely 3 miles away from this temple and then make your way back to it while crawling on your hands and knees. Then, climb to the top of the temple, punch yourself in the nuts, and scream as loudly as you can, "I'm a person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point for playing this game". Once you have accomplished this feat, walk back to your vehicle, drive back home, and put your comic collection back where it belongs. The first one to do this and come in here and post pictures of it, is declared a pathetic loser. The others must then drive back to their stone temple pyramid, destroy it, and take pictures to post for proof of its destruction. In the event of a tie where two or more people accomplish this feat and post their proof at the same time, then they must all drive 4 states away for round two and do the same thing. If, again, there is a tie, then those remaining will have to drive 5 states away for the third round, and so on. Good luck to all."- Bubaboo

[Aces]

This post reminds me of the classic Bugaboo post involving the competition whereby CGC forum participants would drive out to the desert with their comics, create burning pyramids out of comics, and punch themselves in the nads.

 

Or something like that.

Sounds like a great time! How did it turn out?

 

The Ultimate CGC game -06/18/03

 

"I've got a better idea for this game. First, everyone who wants to participate must gather up every book they have in their collection and load it into their car (or truck, depending on how many books you have). Then, you must drive your collection at least 3 states away from where they are currently being stored. Once you arrive, you then build a stone temple in the shape of a pyramid. This temple must have a base that is exactly 9 square feet, and it must be precisely 9 feet tall at the point. You must then park your vehicle precisely 3 miles away from this temple and then make your way back to it while crawling on your hands and knees. Then, climb to the top of the temple, punch yourself in the nuts, and scream as loudly as you can, "I'm a person_having_a_hard_time_understanding_my_point for playing this game". Once you have accomplished this feat, walk back to your vehicle, drive back home, and put your comic collection back where it belongs. The first one to do this and come in here and post pictures of it, is declared a pathetic loser. The others must then drive back to their stone temple pyramid, destroy it, and take pictures to post for proof of its destruction. In the event of a tie where two or more people accomplish this feat and post their proof at the same time, then they must all drive 4 states away for round two and do the same thing. If, again, there is a tie, then those remaining will have to drive 5 states away for the third round, and so on. Good luck to all."- Bubaboo

That doesn't sound fun at all...

[arexcrooke]

Bug was something else

[DiceX]

Bug was something else