Overlooked and Potentially Undervalued Long/Mid-Term 2 2

[Amadeus Arkham]

By the way...there were TPBs in the early 90's, just not to the extent, of course, that there are today.

 

Reprints of New Mutants #98 exist.

 

So why are people paying crazy amounts for this book?

 

Deadpool is a wicked popular character plus movie speculation.

[RockMyAmadeus]

By the way...there were TPBs in the early 90's, just not to the extent, of course, that there are today.

 

Reprints of New Mutants #98 exist.

 

So why are people paying crazy amounts for this book?

 

Deadpool is a wicked popular character plus movie speculation.

 

That was a rhetorical question.

 

The point is, people are paying for the originals, even though reprints and digital "copies" exist, and are far, far, farrr cheaper.

[Flatliner1313]

Some of these runs that will stand the test of time could be good picks.

You just have to pick who you think will be looked upon like Claremont's Uncanny X-Men Run, McFarlane's ASM run, Miller's Daredevil run, etc.

Books that gain legendary status and encourage people to hunt down the originals.

 

[divad]

Just like vinyl.

[spreads]

By the way...there were TPBs in the early 90's, just not to the extent, of course, that there are today.

 

Reprints of New Mutants #98 exist.

 

So why are people paying crazy amounts for this book?

 

Casual buyers like my work colleagues who know very little about comics buy them for 'investment' purposes. This leads into my next point....there's a growing dichotomy between the value of key issues and non key issues (mostly first appearances) in a series. Look at the teen titans for example, there was a dealer here (Donut?) that sold 75 copies of NTT #2 at a show, but how many of these books in the other part of the series can be found in 50 cent bins? Yes the print runs are low, but I think this 'speculative-train-of-thought' will continue into the modern age...

[spreads]

Some of these runs that will stand the test of time could be good picks.

You just have to pick who you think will be looked upon like Claremont's Uncanny X-Men Run, McFarlane's ASM run, Miller's Daredevil run, etc.

Books that gain legendary status and encourage people to hunt down the originals.

 

I alluded to this above, but I think you're bang on...the absolute top characters like Spiderman and Batman for sure would be the place to speculate if you wanted to go after modern low-print run books.

 

Last weekend at a buddy's bachelor, a friend of mine with four boys under the age of 7 was telling me how obsessed his twins are with Batman. Apparently they dress up like Batman/Robin every damn day, and he's not into comics so this fixation didn't come from their parents.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Consider a book like Batman #608 second printing.

 

There were, according to reports published at the time (Wizard, I believe) only 30,000 copies printed.

 

It's the first appearance of "Hush", right?

 

Apply the same kind of madness as in the early 90's...something I would have scoffed at 5 years ago, too, but here we are at $700-$1000 New Mutants #98s, for the fourth most common subbed book so far.

 

The fact that supply hasn't dented demand is something that we have not seen on this magnitude for 20 years.

 

It's a different market, folks.

 

PS. Did anyone see that Amazing #300 surpassed Wolverine #1? Interesting. Spiderman #1, by the way, is the most subbed of all, across all versions, with over 10,000.

[rjrjr]

 

What I'm hearing is because some people are spending big money on keys, everyone should be buying everything from a certain time period because somehow, all these "rare" books are going to have buyer clamoring for them? If we are shifting to a "just the keys" market, I don't think buying the odd number of "Amazing Man X" which isn't a key is going to be a good investment regardless of how "rare" it is. And if I'm not mistaken, the people who are floating this theory are sitting on the very books we should be buying.

 

I'll be honest, I wasn't on board the crash is imminent bandwagon, but the past few months has me now believing a correction is inevitable. There is not an infinite amount of money being invested in comics. This party is going to stop sometime and there are going to be some people burned in the process. We've had an extremely healthy run up in back issue prices, and from experience, this isn't going to last forever. I remember the downturn in the early 80s, mid 90s, etc. It happened before and it will happen again. The correction won't be a sudden drop in prices for these high flying books either, it will be the inevitable disinterest in these books at these astronomical prices which is going to make these books less liquid. I've been around long enough to know very few dealers are going to drop the prices on comics, long after that comic has no one interested in buying it at those prices.

 

Irrational exuberance has overtaken a large number of people on these boards and once a large majority buy into the "comics will always rise" theory, you know there is something out of whack. Movie and TV driven comics has gotten beyond insane. I'm not understanding why someone who has no interest in a character, like Deadpool, will all of a sudden want the first appearance because the issue has skyrocketed in price, but yet that is what is happening. And not one of the buyers can name any storyline that Deadpool has been in that has any significance whatsoever. Just a) the character looks cool, b) the character is a cosplay favorite, and c) the character might or might not have a movie coming out (an actual movie needs to be made because every comic character seems to be optioned for a movie and a number of these things will not get made.) And they are listening to the false that there is a load of potential buyers (cosplayers, new generation of collectors, etc.) waiting to line up to hand over $1000 or more for the first appearance, when it is just the speculators, dealers, and collectors who already exist just trading these very copies among themselves.

 

Just my opinion, of course.

[divad]

Interesting analysis, but you're acting as though this is real money . . . . it's not - it's disposable income. Period. Don't over-intellectualize it.

[rjrjr]

Interesting analysis, but you're acting as though this is real money . . . . it's not - it's disposable income. Period. Don't over-intellectualize it.

 

You would say that. You have a vested interest in keeping the party going.

 

As for it not being real money, I'm not so sure. I've had discussions with several board members who are investing in comics, not in 401Ks, the stock market, etc. If they are staking their future retirement on comics, then for those people, that is real money.

[fastballspecial]

Caution and Diversification allow you to whether any storm.

[rjrjr]

Caution and Diversification allow you to whether any storm.

 

Whether or not I agree with you, I do feel I am positioned to weather any storm.

 

Fastball, just kidding with you.

[spreads]

Interesting analysis, but you're acting as though this is real money . . . . it's not - it's disposable income. Period. Don't over-intellectualize it.

 

You don't know if it's disposable income or not. We're living in an age of the greatest period of financial leverage we've ever seen. All levels of debt, whether it be at the consumer, corporate or public level are at all-time highs. If we ever undergo a serious de-leveraging, it would be very ugly. There won't be anyone around to buy comics, not when tangible and non-tangible asset classes collapse in value.

[divad]

Interesting analysis, but you're acting as though this is real money . . . . it's not - it's disposable income. Period. Don't over-intellectualize it.

 

You would say that. You have a vested interest in keeping the party going.

 

As for it not being real money, I'm not so sure. I've had discussions with several board members who are investing in comics, not in 401Ks, the stock market, etc. If they are staking their future retirement on comics, then for those people, that is real money.

 

If they are staking their future retirement on investing in Copper Age comic books, then they are indeed greater fools than you or I.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

…c) the character might or might not have a movie coming out (an actual movie needs to be made because every comic character seems to be optioned for a movie and a number of these things will not get made.)…

I'm not going to argue for or against your argument, but just wanted to make a point of fact that "option" generally refers to the exclusive opportunity to acquire the rights to an IP, and since Marvel and DC are both owned by companies involved with film production, the rights to all of their characters (with the exception of any Icon and Vertigo properties that are creator-owned), and already in the hands of film companies. Options only matter with other comic companies.

[RockMyAmadeus]

And if I'm not mistaken, the people who are floating this theory are sitting on the very books we should be buying.

 

You're mistaken.

 

This might surprise you, but not everyone posts solely out of self-interest.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

In the interests of full disclosure (shocking, I know), I watched the 1994-1996 comic market crash from the center of it. I watched the ramp up, and I watched the crash.

 

Here's where I stand: no matter what happens, I win. If people continue to pay silly prices for books that I bought for $1, I win (as happened in 1993, and has happened for the last 5 years or so.) If the market crashes, and I can buy more books that I want for much, much cheaper (as happened between 1997-2003.)

 

It's win-win for me. So, no, I have no special interest one way or the other.

[rjrjr]

Interesting analysis, but you're acting as though this is real money . . . . it's not - it's disposable income. Period. Don't over-intellectualize it.

 

You would say that. You have a vested interest in keeping the party going.

 

As for it not being real money, I'm not so sure. I've had discussions with several board members who are investing in comics, not in 401Ks, the stock market, etc. If they are staking their future retirement on comics, then for those people, that is real money.

 

If they are staking their future retirement on investing in Copper Age comic books, then they are indeed greater fools than you or I.

 

I wouldn't word it that strongly, but I would definitely advise people to consider other sources of investment besides comic books.

[rjrjr]

And if I'm not mistaken, the people who are floating this theory are sitting on the very books we should be buying.

 

You're mistaken.

 

This might surprise you, but not everyone posts solely out of self-interest.

 

So, a straight up answer, do you have any of the books for sale you are suggesting people should be buying up?

 

I understand you don't care one way or another, just curious if you are selling these same books you are talking about.

Edited September 29, 2014 by rjrjr

[Broke as a Joke]

This period of low print runs that people are talking about is hurt by the fact that there are no "keys" or memorable runs during that time. Even a book like Ultimate Spider-Man gets no attention now in the back issue market. Other than collectors filling holes in their runs, these books won't be sought after.