Do speculators make this hobby better or worse?

[the blob]

I was told an Iron Man #55 in F is worth over $200.00? What do YOU THINK my answer is...

 

A few months back I got like $150 on a BIN for a G/VG copy I had just bought out of my LCS for $60. It was up on ebay for less than an hour.

[comicwiz]

That bloody ASM #700 DITKO variant is a case in point.

 

And to show how absolutely silly the entire ASM 700 thing is,

 

I just bought a gorgeous slabbed AF 15 for 30% LESS than that slabbed ASM 700 signed by Stan Lee got a couple of weeks ago.

 

That's how you know somethings fudged up in funny book town.

 

Nice! (thumbs u

 

It seems this is happening regularly, and on a daily basis in the sports card hobby. New autographed/jersey/hard signed/refractor/etc. cards are being opened from packs and hyped as a get rich quick scheme. Sadly, if you walk into a shop and show them any vintage HOF or RC's, they won't even look at them. Forget about how the hobby shows and promotions side has dwindled, but I just can't wrap my head around how a hobby can sustain itself on "manufactured" collectibles.

 

It's the bizarro opposite of how the comic hobby gravitates to back issue "keys" or the tendency to glorify the throwback era of where/when characters appearing in films first originated. As bad as it seems to find a few people making it rain with the ASM 700 or WD craze, I'd be far more concerned as a collector of sport cards with the long-term health of that hobby.

 

I NEVER see those rare insert cards selling at my local comic/card shop. I do see lots of people buying the $100+ packs, but if they or the store hit the jackpot it goes straight to ebay. I don't see them selling too much high end vintage stuff out of the display either though. The 50 cent - $1 cards from the 50s - 70s sell pretty well though.

 

I brought a good stash of late 60's early 70's sports cards to two shops nearby and both acted like they were doing me a favour to pay them to take them off my hands.

[krighton]

i'm surprised people even walk into a store and try to sell stuff anymore. The reason you don't see those inserts in stores is probably because they're selling them online.

[the blob]

That bloody ASM #700 DITKO variant is a case in point.

 

And to show how absolutely silly the entire ASM 700 thing is,

 

I just bought a gorgeous slabbed AF 15 for 30% LESS than that slabbed ASM 700 signed by Stan Lee got a couple of weeks ago.

 

That's how you know somethings fudged up in funny book town.

 

Nice! (thumbs u

 

It seems this is happening regularly, and on a daily basis in the sports card hobby. New autographed/jersey/hard signed/refractor/etc. cards are being opened from packs and hyped as a get rich quick scheme. Sadly, if you walk into a shop and show them any vintage HOF or RC's, they won't even look at them. Forget about how the hobby shows and promotions side has dwindled, but I just can't wrap my head around how a hobby can sustain itself on "manufactured" collectibles.

 

It's the bizarro opposite of how the comic hobby gravitates to back issue "keys" or the tendency to glorify the throwback era of where/when characters appearing in films first originated. As bad as it seems to find a few people making it rain with the ASM 700 or WD craze, I'd be far more concerned as a collector of sport cards with the long-term health of that hobby.

 

I NEVER see those rare insert cards selling at my local comic/card shop. I do see lots of people buying the $100+ packs, but if they or the store hit the jackpot it goes straight to ebay. I don't see them selling too much high end vintage stuff out of the display either though. The 50 cent - $1 cards from the 50s - 70s sell pretty well though.

 

I brought a good stash of late 60's early 70's sports cards to two shops nearby and both acted like they were doing me a favour to pay them to take them off my hands.

 

thing is, unless it is an upper tier HOFer or a lower level one in amazing shape, it is probably going into the cheap-o box for $1 or less. there's no interest beyond that in a 1969 gaylord perry in ok shape or a 1972 harmon killibrew, 1975 Billy Williams....and forget about the guys who didn't make the HOF, but who were stars like Garvey, Parker, Hernandez, etc.

[the blob]

I was told an Iron Man #55 in F is worth over $200.00? What do YOU THINK my answer is...

 

A few months back I got like $150 on a BIN for a G/VG copy I had just bought out of my LCS for $60. It was up on ebay for less than an hour.

 

funny thing is, now that shop is on the bandwagon and he had a mid-grade marvel feature 12 up on the wall for $30...meanwhile, last month I cleaned him out of a bunch of Starlin/Thanos Captain Marvels in really nice shape (alebit not 25 or 26) he had for $5 a pop.

[the blob]

at the end of the day I, of course, like the speculation because I can make some money from it and lord knows I can use it during these tough times. suddenly those guardians of the galaxy books I had been accumulating in the almost 20 or so years since anyone had any interest in them are worth a few bucks. if only those BA deathlock, son of satan or morbius books would pick up some steam and the next ghost rider movie didn't stink, then I'd be doing well, because lord knows I hoarded a ton of all of those after they became worthless again in the mid-90s. i am pleased to see omega men 3 has picked up some steam, although prices on it are all over the place.

 

i do not like the pace of it though. of course, what pushes things to nutso heights is the internet and it tends to speed up the life cycle of these things.

 

i do have to say one thing, the prices on saga 1 are just nuts and just smell like valiant implosion, and I'm not saying that because I sold 10 of them to a boardie 3 weeks ago for 1/3 - 1/2 what they seem to be going for today (or what they were going for when he got them in the mail..)....peter pinklepuss is maybe a little different in that it had a really small print run, saga did not.

[He11blazer]

It is very reminiscent of the early 90s, although one difference is that a lot of the hot modern titles are actually decent reads, as opposed to all that garbage that Image and Valiant vomited up back then (sure, sure, some of it wasn't garbage, but most of it was).

 

Walking Dead is even crazier than Harbinger was. It has greater stamina with the TV show, but it will end. And prices will wither. All those hot titles that think they're the next WD#1 will wither rapidly. I don't care how good someone thinks Saga is, it is not going to have the long lasting nostalgic appeal of a comic that someone read in their youth that they wish to recapture. You only pay a premium for hot moderns because you think you'll get your money back with interest.

 

The multiple variants bore me and put me off buying. When I heard there was an Adventure Time comic I thought I'd pick it up. Love the show and it would be fun to read and collect. Looked on ebay and oh dear, half a dozen variants. YAWN. Forget that then.

 

I don't care though. The comics industry may suffer, crash, reboot or whatever. No concern of mine. There will always, always be good material available to those who want it.

[Mishmashman]

Walking Dead is even crazier than Harbinger was. It has greater stamina with the TV show, but it will end. And prices will wither. All those hot titles that think they're the next WD#1 will wither rapidly. I don't care how good someone thinks Saga is, it is not going to have the long lasting nostalgic appeal of a comic that someone read in their youth that they wish to recapture. You only pay a premium for hot moderns because you think you'll get your money back with interest.

 

The multiple variants bore me and put me off buying. When I heard there was an Adventure Time comic I thought I'd pick it up. Love the show and it would be fun to read and collect. Looked on ebay and oh dear, half a dozen variants. YAWN. Forget that then.

 

I don't care though. The comics industry may suffer, crash, reboot or whatever. No concern of mine. There will always, always be good material available to those who want it.

 

But isn't a new generation of comic readers springing up who will grow up, in a sense, with books like Saga and whatever other modern titles are out there? If Saga has a 30 year run--not saying it will happen, but it's possible--what's not to say it won't be worth much more then than now? Certainly, most modern books won't be difficult to find, at least not in high grade, but I don't think they'll have no nostalgic value whatsoever years from now--assuming the title can continue a long and prosperous run.

 

I think books like WD will always have a cult following, but I do agree with you that, overall, the prices will eventually dip and plateau.

 

I think one big thing the comics industry today has working against it is that there are so many other competing forms of entertainment out there. Let's face it: How many people even enjoy reading today? I think most young kids would rather play with toys or video/PC games than sit down and read a comic. There's a reason, I suppose, print runs today are only a fraction of what they were 30 to 40 years ago. The market for comics has shrunken. This, I believe, will always lower the ceiling on modern books as many popular titles are either too widely published to be worth anything years from now or they're just fads (as some believe books like Panzerfaust to be) without any sustainable, long-term interest.

[the blob]

"I think most young kids would rather play with toys or video/PC games than sit down and read a comic."

 

How many millions of copies of Harry Potter or Diary of a Wimpy Kid have been sold? There's definitely a big chunk of kids out there who are avid readers even if the rest want to turn their brains into mush (no offense to the gamers out there, but that's what it is). My son owns almost every wimpy kid book. Their interest in comics might not be so strong though. (DOAWK is basically a comic though)

 

 

[ARWilson-migration]

It is very reminiscent of the early 90s, although one difference is that a lot of the hot modern titles are actually decent reads...

 

The stories may be good, but the art is generally terrible. Chew is on top of the (garbage) heap.

 

The multiple variants bore me and put me off buying. When I heard there was an Adventure Time comic I thought I'd pick it up. Love the show and it would be fun to read and collect. Looked on ebay and oh dear, half a dozen variants. YAWN. Forget that then.

 

Unless you have an intense case of OCD, this makes no sense to me. Why would a book having variants keep you from reading it?

[TupennyConan]

Discuss.

 

No.

[tinynascarfan-migration]