Rookie Question re prices on recent Image books

[zuulioso]

Yes it definitely is surprising, but then again so is $1.5 million for a comic.

 

It is just a different market. I like to think of it as investing in startup companies. Sure you can make money if you really know what is going on, but it is more likely that you will follow a trend at the wrong time and buy something overvalued.

 

As for reading, there is some really interesting stuff out there right now.

[Gsims718]

I finally sat down and read some this weekend. Read the first 9 issues of Saga. That book is SICK, but I wish the prices weren't so high on first prints.

 

Like everyone has said, chasing the next walking dead.

 

Can't believe the prices on Peter Panzerfaust already. Haven't read that yet.

[mysterio]

I don't think anyone would say that the quality of these Image books isn't sky high, but that is a different thing than whether or not the prices are justified on these books. Story quality is a big difference between the 1990s and what may be happening now.

 

Like Sean, I definitely recommend Manhattan Projects if you haven't checked it out. Incredibly good book. As others have said, Nowhere Men is good, as are Saga, Revival, Fatale and TOT. Lots of good stuff to read, but this is not investment advice.

[Dr Chaos]

Great stories and art. Low print runs. Movie and TV adaptations to boost demand even more in the near future.

 

What is not to like?

[Dr. Balls]

Peter Panzerfaust is a legitimate speculation book. Tons of buzz, possible expansion into other media - and the print run is almost half of what The Walking Dead was. It's skyrocketing for good reason - there isn't many of them out there (I don't think there is data for #s6-8 yet), but with less than 5,000 as of #5, it's definitely a scramble for people to pick them up.

 

Read-wise, it's fun - but slow. The art is very atmospheric, and great to look at. I speculate that the BBC wanted to purchase the "concept" of PP, because I don't think you could fit the storyline of issues #1-5 into a one hour TV show. I'd say that we're looking at something like what they did with TWD, where they took the concept and built a show around it that doesn't follow the comics much.

[abjr]

Was a baseball card collector in the 80s and 90s

More often than not your new Image #1 is a Kevin Maas or a Brian Taylor rookie card

Every now and then its a Jeter.

 

Surprised you didn't include Gregg Jeffries

[COI]

Trust me I am not interested in purchases just curious

 

I think you should liquidate your NES collection and throw your hat in the ring. Surely this frenzy will last forever.

[the blob]

Now that some baseball card dealers/speculators have gotten involved I expect epic prices for moderns this year,but as you say it will eventualy have a major pop.

I think though we have got at least until the Avengers 2 movie debuts before the pop, so plenty of time to make some cash.

---------------------

 

Just the opposite, actually, particularly if they're buying copies of this weeks potentially "hot" book. With this new money out there buying up #1s and increasing print-runs/comic shop orders, we are sure NOT to see another Chew 1, Peter Pinkelpuss 1 or maybe even a Saga 1 where the prices blow up.

 

More quantity in this very transparent internet market means supply and demand prevail. Everyone can be a frigging dealer, UNLIKE the 90s where it at least cost you $50 to rent a table at a local show.

 

Sure, if these folks are out ther buying these #1s at current prices, hoping they will continue to go up, it will drive prices up in the short-term, but I cannot imagine that's really what they're planning on doing much of.

 

I really don't think card guys getting into comics 20 years ago created $150 Harbinger 1s, that happened through some bizarro market glitch. Card guys look to buy something for a little and try to sell it for a lot. What the card guys did is help crash the new comic market by ordering an extra 2 million copies of Turok 1 (and similar stuff) because it was so shiny and they thought they could flip it for $10 later. hah hah. personally, i think store owners and dealers over ordering to get "hot" variants is a bigger threat as all that extra inventory winds up in 25 cent boxes and folks wonder why the heck they're paying cover for anything. honestly, lately at my main LCS I am seeing him put a lot of 1:10 or 1:15 variants out on the rack at cover price rather than trying to get $8-$10 for them because it doesn't look like anyone was ever buying them at the higher price.

 

Of course, as I say that the Saga 1s I sold 3 weeks ago for what I thought was a decent price (I know I was leaving some money on the table) are now selling for $40-$70 more each than I sold them for, so what the heck do I know? Someone who bought at a semi-premium price did pretty well!

[mysterio]

Variant-mania is definitely helping to drive the current bubble. I mean, is the Ditko variant of ASM #700 really a good buy at $500 raw and up to $2000 graded? For a few month old book that will get undone by the writers/editors whenever they deem it convenient? (No, not an Image book so slightly off topic, but still germane to the bubble discussion.)

 

If anything, I could see how this current internet market where everyone can be a dealer for minimal costs will blow up more quickly. If some average joe part time dealer/flipper is holding 40 copies of the latest hot book that starts to cool they'll all get dumped on the market quickly. I can easily see this happening much faster now than it did in the 90's bubble, but I guess we'll see. The rampant hoarding going on now would have been more difficult pre-internet in many respects.

 

If you made money on your Saga #1 don't feel too bad. I sold three Peter Panzerfaust #1s for $10 apiece the week after they came out and look how I could have done. Hindsight is always crystal clear. As long as I make money in a flip I am happy, as I've lost money in my fair share too so it all evens out. Better than being the one holding all these moderns when the music stops.

[the blob]

 

 

 

(thumbs u

 

Having lived through the 90s bubble, as I am sure many here did, this is starting to feel eerily similar. Books that are 2 months old are selling for $40 apiece (Nowhere Men). And while the stories are good in the hot titles (e.g. Saga, Nowhere Men, Revival), and not so good in others (I didn't love Blackacre), the prices and frenzy are getting quite frothy for stuff that isn't that old.

 

The fact that so many new Image books are commanding such high prices so quickly is really starting to look bubblicious. I have thought for a while that we were heading into another bubble, and that feeling has intensified in the last 2-3 weeks. I've been buying to read, but am seriously considering selling off everything that is smoking hot now and buying trades.

 

 

While I don't disagree with the premise, because, frankly, some of these prices are just silly, but there's a big difference -- mainly that the books of today escalate due to the very low print runs, whereas in the 90s you did not have the internet, so the local shops could jack up prices because Wizard said something was "hot" and there weren't a zillion dealers..and even when there was a convention locally, it would be populated by shop owners who didn't want to budge much on price for the "hot" books (but criminey, you could do well in the 50 cents/$1 boxes for stuff that wasn't so popular at the time!)...so the pricing on some "hot" book was a heck of a lot more artificial in 1993 than it is now. peter panzerpickle 1 is selling for $200 or whatever because multiple someone out there bid it up to that poiint. what I find surprising is that the print-runs haven't been jacked up more with some many potential mini-lottery tickets out there.

[the blob]

Variant-mania is definitely helping to drive the current bubble. I mean, is the Ditko variant of ASM #700 really a good buy at $500 raw and up to $2000 graded? For a few month old book that will get undone by the writers/editors whenever they deem it convenient? (No, not an Image book so slightly off topic, but still germane to the bubble discussion.)

 

If anything, I could see how this current internet market where everyone can be a dealer for minimal costs will blow up more quickly. If some average joe part time dealer/flipper is holding 40 copies of the latest hot book that starts to cool they'll all get dumped on the market quickly. I can easily see this happening much faster now than it did in the 90's bubble, but I guess we'll see. The rampant hoarding going on now would have been more difficult pre-internet in many respects.

 

If you made money on your Saga #1 don't feel too bad. I sold three Peter Panzerfaust #1s for $10 apiece the week after they came out and look how I could have done. Hindsight is always crystal clear. As long as I make money in a flip I am happy, as I've lost money in my fair share too so it all evens out. Better than being the one holding all these moderns when the music stops.

 

while i'm annoyed with myself for the recent selling too early, it's not like I didn't sell 20-25 copies of saga 1 for $5-$12 about 6 months ago as well. this is what makes me ponder how this could possibly be a $70-$100+ book now, I have owned at least 30 copies of this book and I'm not a real new comic speculator!

[mysterio]

Variant-mania is definitely helping to drive the current bubble. I mean, is the Ditko variant of ASM #700 really a good buy at $500 raw and up to $2000 graded? For a few month old book that will get undone by the writers/editors whenever they deem it convenient? (No, not an Image book so slightly off topic, but still germane to the bubble discussion.)

 

If anything, I could see how this current internet market where everyone can be a dealer for minimal costs will blow up more quickly. If some average joe part time dealer/flipper is holding 40 copies of the latest hot book that starts to cool they'll all get dumped on the market quickly. I can easily see this happening much faster now than it did in the 90's bubble, but I guess we'll see. The rampant hoarding going on now would have been more difficult pre-internet in many respects.

 

If you made money on your Saga #1 don't feel too bad. I sold three Peter Panzerfaust #1s for $10 apiece the week after they came out and look how I could have done. Hindsight is always crystal clear. As long as I make money in a flip I am happy, as I've lost money in my fair share too so it all evens out. Better than being the one holding all these moderns when the music stops.

 

while i'm annoyed with myself for the recent selling too early, it's not like I didn't sell 20-25 copies of saga 1 for $5-$12 about 6 months ago as well. this is what makes me ponder how this could possibly be a $70-$100+ book now, I have owned at least 30 copies of this book and I'm not a real new comic speculator!

 

It had a print run of something like 37,000 copies, so the only way this could be a legit $100+ book is if a WHOLE lot of people just had to have one. That, or it could be that hoarders have locked up a big chunk of the uber high grade supply and flippers are trading it upwards.

 

Manhattan Projects (an awesome book, by the way) has seen a similar jump lately. You could have had a 9.8 #1 for around $80-100 in December, while a copy sold on eBay last week for $257 that was recently followed up by another $179 sale. I would love a copy of that book, but I simply don't have the money to buy one right now and am doubtful that the book can maintain that level for too terribly long. So I am content to wait. I may be wrong this time, but history says that sooner or later that book will come back to a price I am more willing to pay, even if it takes a few years. And I'd rather not have one than pay the record price just as the bell rings at the top of the market.

[oakman29]

Variant-mania is definitely helping to drive the current bubble. I mean, is the Ditko variant of ASM #700 really a good buy at $500 raw and up to $2000 graded? For a few month old book that will get undone by the writers/editors whenever they deem it convenient? (No, not an Image book so slightly off topic, but still germane to the bubble discussion.)

 

If anything, I could see how this current internet market where everyone can be a dealer for minimal costs will blow up more quickly. If some average joe part time dealer/flipper is holding 40 copies of the latest hot book that starts to cool they'll all get dumped on the market quickly. I can easily see this happening much faster now than it did in the 90's bubble, but I guess we'll see. The rampant hoarding going on now would have been more difficult pre-internet in many respects.

 

If you made money on your Saga #1 don't feel too bad. I sold three Peter Panzerfaust #1s for $10 apiece the week after they came out and look how I could have done. Hindsight is always crystal clear. As long as I make money in a flip I am happy, as I've lost money in my fair share too so it all evens out. Better than being the one holding all these moderns when the music stops.

 

while i'm annoyed with myself for the recent selling too early, it's not like I didn't sell 20-25 copies of saga 1 for $5-$12 about 6 months ago as well. this is what makes me ponder how this could possibly be a $70-$100+ book now, I have owned at least 30 copies of this book and I'm not a real new comic speculator!

 

It had a print run of something like 37,000 copies, so the only way this could be a legit $100+ book is if a WHOLE lot of people just had to have one. That, or it could be that hoarders have locked up a big chunk of the uber high grade supply and flippers are trading it upwards.

 

Manhattan Projects (an awesome book, by the way) has seen a similar jump lately. You could have had a 9.8 #1 for around $80-100 in December, while a copy sold on eBay last week for $257 that was recently followed up by another $179 sale. I would love a copy of that book, but I simply don't have the money to buy one right now and am doubtful that the book can maintain that level for too terribly long. So I am content to wait. I may be wrong this time, but history says that sooner or later that book will come back to a price I am more willing to pay, even if it takes a few years. And I'd rather not have one than pay the record price just as the bell rings at the top of the market.

That's what I said to myself about Walking Dead,still waiting.

[mysterio]

Variant-mania is definitely helping to drive the current bubble. I mean, is the Ditko variant of ASM #700 really a good buy at $500 raw and up to $2000 graded? For a few month old book that will get undone by the writers/editors whenever they deem it convenient? (No, not an Image book so slightly off topic, but still germane to the bubble discussion.)

 

If anything, I could see how this current internet market where everyone can be a dealer for minimal costs will blow up more quickly. If some average joe part time dealer/flipper is holding 40 copies of the latest hot book that starts to cool they'll all get dumped on the market quickly. I can easily see this happening much faster now than it did in the 90's bubble, but I guess we'll see. The rampant hoarding going on now would have been more difficult pre-internet in many respects.

 

If you made money on your Saga #1 don't feel too bad. I sold three Peter Panzerfaust #1s for $10 apiece the week after they came out and look how I could have done. Hindsight is always crystal clear. As long as I make money in a flip I am happy, as I've lost money in my fair share too so it all evens out. Better than being the one holding all these moderns when the music stops.

 

while i'm annoyed with myself for the recent selling too early, it's not like I didn't sell 20-25 copies of saga 1 for $5-$12 about 6 months ago as well. this is what makes me ponder how this could possibly be a $70-$100+ book now, I have owned at least 30 copies of this book and I'm not a real new comic speculator!

 

It had a print run of something like 37,000 copies, so the only way this could be a legit $100+ book is if a WHOLE lot of people just had to have one. That, or it could be that hoarders have locked up a big chunk of the uber high grade supply and flippers are trading it upwards.

 

Manhattan Projects (an awesome book, by the way) has seen a similar jump lately. You could have had a 9.8 #1 for around $80-100 in December, while a copy sold on eBay last week for $257 that was recently followed up by another $179 sale. I would love a copy of that book, but I simply don't have the money to buy one right now and am doubtful that the book can maintain that level for too terribly long. So I am content to wait. I may be wrong this time, but history says that sooner or later that book will come back to a price I am more willing to pay, even if it takes a few years. And I'd rather not have one than pay the record price just as the bell rings at the top of the market.

That's what I said to myself about Walking Dead,still waiting.

 

That book may be the rare exception, and every era seems to have one. Even some 90's books still do go for decent money (like New Mutants #98). Peter Panzerfaust or Nowhere Men or any of these could defy gravity forever too. It is possible. But after the TV hype dies down I still think that even WD #1 will come back down to more pedestrian prices. Maybe not $10, but to a price point where any collector who wants one could pony up.

[originalisbest]

I was only too happy to sell my floppy issues of Walking Dead for a decent profit and really, am not looking to getting them back in floppy form at any point down the road -- but am enjoying keeping up with the story via TPB's.

[mysterio]

I was only too happy to sell my floppy issues of Walking Dead for a decent profit and really, am not looking to getting them back in floppy form at any point down the road -- but am enjoying keeping up with the story via TPB's.

 

I did the same thing, and will be doing this will all the other hot Image books I enjoy reading.

[cujobyte]

Quite honestly I think part of the jump in prices = great reads. It's not coincidence that Saga was named best comic in 2012, nor the fact that the first trade came out, people read it, and liked it a lot. So obviously they want to start collecting. Yes there are speculators. But at minimum effort. TOT was $1.49 thru midtown. That was a no brainer. I've scooped up Nowhere man's, because I love the story, hoping to find an issue 3 today after work.

 

You know Bronty you really should pick up some of these, they're great reads.

[Bronty]

maybe as tpb's, and that's if I'm feeling spendy

[Beige]

If you buy pre-release,as the serious specs do,then you are leaving, even if you slab,nothing on the table if the comic dies.

I do however agree, that those buying in the feeding frenzy moment may soon regret it.

I would qualify that by saying,not so much in on-going books (Like PP,TWD etc) but I would not have wanted to pay over $50 for that Ditko variant,let alone $1200.

Those are the books that will kill a new buyer in the comic market stone dead - never to return.

Should have spent that on a nice SA Key.

 

[mysterio]

maybe as tpb's, and that's if I'm feeling spendy

 

You can always find trades for under cover price on various websites or by buying in bulk. The only time I pay cover on trades is when I buy from my LCS to try and support him, and then I only get one.