Long Term Value of 1985-1995 Comics

[dam60]

Well, not to be the angel of death here, but I think that a solid case can be made that ALL books will be worth substantially less in 20 years than they are worth today. It just doesn't seem like there is enough new interest in the hobby to sustain these prices. No kids I know of like comic books - this is not to say that they don't like the comic CHARACTERS - but few kids I know are all that into collecting ANYTHING.

 

This doesn't stop me from buying books though. I really enjoy collecting comics, talking about comics, reading comics, etc. Collecting comics is a productive hobby. In fact, if it weren't for comics and this bulletin board, I could be out of the street freezing my arse off right now!

 

Buying certain comics like Joes or Batman or whatever is an individual preference that is done most often not out of investment but out of sheer enjoyment. At least that's the way it should be

[Guest]

I enjoy it for the same reasons you do. The thrill of the hunt and because comics are fun......It seems like you may finish your entire run of Batman before I get those first 30 Joes in a 9.8!

[dam60]

In that case it will be just because my copies actually exist. God knows that you have been scouring the earth for those babies . . .

[Guest]

you have no idea how long and far Ive searched for these books!!

[vic6string]

I wouldn't invest in this stuff either, but if you have it already, there is no sense to sell now if you have room to keep them. So much of this stuff has gone into 25 cent boxes and discount bins that it may someday be at least a little tough to get them in good shape. A dealer in my area has a bunch of the stuff in boxes without bags and boards, and people tend to sit on the boxes. Not one book in the lot is better than a reader copy. You are talking about books that are almost 20 years old. Some people (new collectors or impulse buyers) will but them simply because of the age thinking they may be worth something at a garage sale in a couple of years.

[PovertyRow]

So, I am trying to make some space in my room and also get some money to reinvest in my comics so I gathered up 5 long boxes worth of primarily 1980-1995 Marvels

 

History repeats itself. My feeling is that, yes...lots of hoarding went on in the later 60's. Even more in the 70's. And much more in the 80's. But you know what? Look at some of those 70's books. Three and four figure insanity. Now amoung your 1980-95 long boxes, how can you determine what may be what? Anyone remember when Iron Man 55 hit the uppers? Kind of came from nowhere, along with the more gradual but now shocking climb of BA books that were poo-pooed on. And even things like Wereowlf By Night and Spotlight 2 etc etc. And why? Because many of these BA books ended up in the quarter bins. And most folks were saying "!" I remember looking at many Bronze Books in OS that were guiding for $7-10 in NM that now are just insane in grade.

 

Now I will grant you that more people are hoarding the 80's type books than ever...but you have to ask yourself..."Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"

 

If you have a place to store these books in good shape I say do so. How much will you get for most of them now? Wholesale price?

 

Far too much history has gone by the wayside. A lot of the people who will say these books are worth nothing are like the dealers I tried to sell three full long boxes of Bronze Age books to - including things like Spotlight 2, Werewolf 1, Marvel Team-Up and Two In Ones, Wrightson Swamp Things, GA/GL drug issues, well -will not list them all but suffice it to say many of the keys were there and they had absolutely no interest.

 

Ignore the folks who say "dump them". If you have room for a few long boxes keep them. Yes, wait for some time. One of two tihngs will happen: you will have outwaited the impatient ones and they will have contributed their collections to the quarter bins or you will hold on to them for some years and keep them in the best shape you can and perhaps reap a profit you never expected. Keep them if you can. Enough folks may dive off a cliff into the sea to make it worthwhile.

[Guest]

Thats right Pov.....as long as people keep throwing away or putting these books in the quarter bins to waste away, some of them may actually be worth something in top condition 20 years from now.

[delekkerste]

A lot of the people who will say these books are worth nothing are like the dealers I tried to sell three full long boxes of Bronze Age books to - including things like Spotlight 2, Werewolf 1, Marvel Team-Up and Two In Ones, Wrightson Swamp Things, GA/GL drug issues, well -will not list them all but suffice it to say many of the keys were there and they had absolutely no interest.

 

The difference between the once-neglected 1970s books that are now commanding top dollar and the 1980s/1990s stuff is:

 

1. The 1970s books were actually good - you had talent like Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightston, Mike Ploog, etc. working on the books you mentioned. The creative quality of those books vs. books in the more recent period in question is the difference between night and day.

 

2. There have been huge advances in the preservation of comic books since then, so there are many more surviving copies of the more recent books, particularly those with the enormous print runs of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

 

3. Demographically speaking, you are not going to have a generation of nostalgic collectors looking to pay top dollar for those awesome 1990s books when the youth of the 1990s and 2000s enters their prime earning years. Who has fond memories of the books that came out in the 1990s?

 

It doesn't really matter if these books from the 1990s are getting roughed up in quarter bins because even if they become rare in high grade, only the completists are ever going to want copies of those -poor quality books...and given the lack of fresh blood into this hobby, the ranks of the completists who don't already have these issues is not growing.

 

Gene

[Guest]

so I should include these early Joes I collect into the Late Bronze Age perhaps...1982-1985??

[COI]

"1. The 1970s books were actually good - you had talent like Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightston, Mike Ploog, etc. working on the books you mentioned. The creative quality of those books vs. books in the more recent period in question is the difference between night and day."

 

" Who has fond memories of the books that came out in the 1990s? "

 

I don't disagree that the quality is not comparable, but that's based purely on opinion, both mine and yours. I'm not big on the early 90's books, but to say that no one would have fond memories towards those books is false. If you're a reader of comics, and the first books that started you on the hobby were the early 90's "", then in most caes, you will have a soft spot for them. Maybe you can't see it because you obviously hate those books, but your dislike for them does not make them worthless to everyone.

 

Here's an example; I've read the entire Byrne run of X Men, and I couldn't care less about them. I didn't think they were great at all, and I'm constantly rolling my eyes at the fact that there's always 10 complete runs on ebay at any given time. But I recognize that they are loved, and for that reason I will not call them . And the argument that those were actually "good" and are not comparable to the topic at hand will not hold water with me. Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the quality of a comic is based in the imagination of its reader.

 

I don't believe these books have much if any potential for growth for reasons other than their quality. Reasons like this one from your post:

 

"2. There have been huge advances in the preservation of comic books since then, so there are many more surviving copies of the more recent books, particularly those with the enormous print runs of the late 1980s and early 1990s."

 

That I can get on board with, as it is a physical reason for the low prices, and are much more valid as an argument than "they suck".

 

Value is based solely on supply and demand. And very often, demand is not necessarily based on the quality of the book. If this was so, Image would have been out of business its second week. And if this were so in other art forms like film, we'd see a lot more films like "The Godfather" and a lot less " The object of my Affection" or whatever other lame,money driven J'LO/Julia Roberts/Freddie Prinze JR POS the "big 4" can crank out.

 

[fantastic_four]

Ignore the folks who say "dump them". If you have room for a few long boxes keep them. Yes, wait for some time. One of two tihngs will happen: you will have outwaited the impatient ones and they will have contributed their collections to the quarter bins or you will hold on to them for some years and keep them in the best shape you can and perhaps reap a profit you never expected. Keep them if you can. Enough folks may dive off a cliff into the sea to make it worthwhile.

Come on now, poverty...if you give this advice to everybody, then they'll never become uncommon!

 

EVERYBODY GIVE YOUR UNWANTED 80s AND 90s COMICS TO KIDS SO THEY CAN READ THEM! It'll make you feel good, give the kids a little entertainment, and be great for the hobby! One of the best ways to distribute them to kids is to give them to a middle school teacher or librarian to give out to kids as prizes for educational contests.

[fantastic_four]

Since I grew up with comics in the 80s, I couldn't disagree more with you about them sucking compared to the 70s. Byrne Fantastic Four, Claremont X-Men, Miller Daredevil and Batman, McFarlane Spider-Man...Elektra, the legitimization of Kingpin, Bullseye, Hobgoblin, and Spidey's best all-time villain, Venom...these are the reason I'm collecting today.

 

I'm not saying the 80s were better than the 70s, because they're both less significant, albeit better executed, than the Marvel genesis in the 60s. But the 80s doesn't "suck."

[delekkerste]

But the 80s doesn't "suck."

 

You will find very few people on this PLANET who are more pro-1980s than I am! I'm all for everything from Reaganomics to the Dark Knight Returns...in my follow-up post, I characterized 1980-1986 to be fantastic in terms of quality (not just at Marvel and DC, but also First, Eagle, Eclipse, Pacific, etc. were publishing books of incredible creative quality) and 1986-1989 as being still somewhat good. It's the 1990-1998 period which is a sucking black hole in terms of comic quality.

 

Gene

[delekkerste]

Here's an example; I've read the entire Byrne run of X Men, and I couldn't care less about them.

 

Yeah, but nobody ever quit comic collecting because they didn't care about the Byrne X-Men run. People quit in droves in the 1990s due to the evils of overprinting, too many titles, price increases and worst of all, the ridiculously poor quality of books - I was one of them, as were many others on this Board. Every time I order something from Koch Comics, they send me these freebies, which are invariably comics from this period. Mostly Marvel, but some DCs, Images and Valiants. This stuff is UNREADABLE. Most of the creators are unknowns, the art sucks, the stories suck, the paper quality sucks, the coloring on the Marvel books practically glows in the dark and hurts your eyes to look at...I'm sure some people liked the Edsel when it came out, but it never caught on and never made a comeback. Similarly, I think these comics, particularly those from 1993-1998, are destined to go down in history as the worst, most unloved books ever...to hold them is simply to take up space that could be used for storing books that are actually worth saving for posterity.

 

With so many 1990s collectors now exited from the hobby anyway, I don't think there will ever be sufficient interest/nostalgia to fuel a meaningful comeback in these books. Those who like these books already own them and those who don't I can't see ever getting interested in this POS material!

 

Gene

[Zonker]

OK I agree comics from 1993 to 1998 are unlikely to appreciate in value much, but I disagree with the statement

Similarly, I think these comics, particularly those from 1993-1998, are destined to go down in history as the worst, most unloved books ever...to hold them is simply to take up space that could be used for storing books that are actually worth saving for posterity.

Just like the earlier blanket statement that 1980's books sucked, or books from 1985-1995 were the worst quality, I don't think you can write off even 1993-1998 quality-wise.

 

Here are some counter-examples:

 

Neil Gaiman's Sandman 1989-1996

James Robinson's Starman 1994-2001

Kurt Busiek's Astro City 1995-on

Marvels 1994

Kingdom Come 1996

Grant Morrison's JLA started in January 1997

 

Now what is different about these quality series is that they have been extensively cherry-picked in terms of TPB reprintings. Therefore they may well be in print forever!

 

So I doubt there will be much demand for the original issues. But you never know. People may decide they want to display the original Sandman books with those fantastic Dave McKean covers. People may want to read the letters pages of the early JLA. Also, Gaiman and Robinson occasionally contributed to the lettercols of Sandman and Starman if I recall correctly.

 

Who'd have thought 20 years ago some of the Bronze Age books would command the prices they do?

 

Cheers,

Z.

[Guest]

I agree with your hypothesis on giving away books to kids and the long term value of those books! The more books from that era that become readers or fire wood or whatever, the more those same books may actually be worth something in 200 years.

[Guest]

If you are so pro 1980s, then you MUST be a closet collector of GI JoES??? C'mon, admit it!

[Zonker]

Thought of another few examples of high-quality work from the period 1993-1998:

 

Alan Moore's From Hell

Frank Miller's Sin City

Warren Ellis' Stormwatch

 

...also Preacher and Transmetropolitan got their start in this period.

 

But these examples just serve to further make the point that the good stuff has all been tpb'ed. (new verb, there!)

 

But here is one example of a well-loved run throughout most of the 1990's that is unlikely to be extensively reprinted (at least under the current Marvel administration ): Incredible Hulk by Peter David.

 

...but having said all that, I'd have to agree that the flagship characters from DC and Marvel (apart from the Hulk) were not well-served in the mid-1990's.

 

Cheers,

Z.

 

 

[delekkerste]

If you are so pro 1980s, then you MUST be a closet collector of GI JoES??? C'mon, admit it!

 

I stopped reading Joe with #68...the series just got too toy-influenced, unrealistic and downright loopy for me...the early issues were great, though.

 

Gene

[delekkerste]

I don't think you can write off even 1993-1998 quality-wise.

 

Well, for the mainstream titles (those that were published before, and continued to be published after, this period), I think you can write off most of those books. As for the titles you mentioned (not all of which I have read), they undoubtedly accounted for less than 1% of the total comics sold during the time period in question. So, no, you can't interpret literally that all of the books from that timeframe were ...but it's close enough to generalize. On the whole, the quality during that timeframe, particularly at Marvel, was abysmal.

 

Gene