Collecting New 52 Batman, worth it?

[ThoseBackPages]

Yea, Katchoo does not care for the word!

[500Club]

Most collectors who buy Batman, Spiderman, superman , x-men, avengers, buy them to read. I can't say the same for Saga and many other Image titles.

 

Like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, you are talking out of your azz here.

 

Saga TPB vol1 sold over 100,000 copies. The chance of these having sold to speculators and not readers is slim to none.

 

Saga's print run has increased from issue 1. You don't honestly think more copies are being speculated on as the series goes on, do you?

[500Club]

Here's how i think of it.

 

1.) Is it actually rare:

Print Run: 188500

 

NO

 

2.) Is it hard to find in grade

 

NO

 

3.) Are the comics before it and after reasonably close in value? Batman 713, Batman 2

 

NO

 

4.) Is it old? Sept, 2011

 

NO

 

5.) Are it's peers of similar value? Detective, Action, Superman, etc

 

NO

 

 

I just dont think the fundamentals justify the price, its artificially inflated because its the one book from new 52 everyone likes, and isnt selling/dumping. You can list many series like this where the books were super hard to get and valuable and then eventually one day the status quo changes and no one cares any more. (New Avengers, Uncanny X-force, Astonishing X-Men etc)

The two huge risks are a reboot, and the creative team leaving.

[the authority]

Most collectors who buy Batman, Spiderman, superman , x-men, avengers, buy them to read. I can't say the same for Saga and many other Image titles.

 

Like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, you are talking out of your azz here.

 

Saga TPB vol1 sold over 100,000 copies. The chance of these having sold to speculators and not readers is slim to none.

 

Saga's print run has increased from issue 1. You don't honestly think more copies are being speculated on as the series goes on, do you?

 

Interesting. I had no clue the trade numbers were that high. I bought the 1st and 2nd which I will probably pass on to someone else if/when the compendium comes out.

[CBT]

 

Haha. Cute MTG like TBP card.

 

It's from a game called Munchkin, which no one should play, because it's not very fun...

 

Unless you enjoy obnoxious, hilarious, hyper-competitive, nerd boardgames with a D&D/RPG style of play made so super user friendly that even your wife or girlfriend will enjoy beating you at it.

[CBT]

The two huge risks are a reboot, and the creative team leaving.

 

I think the latter is the danger that can cause the former eventually.

[500Club]

Most collectors who buy Batman, Spiderman, superman , x-men, avengers, buy them to read. I can't say the same for Saga and many other Image titles.

 

Like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura, you are talking out of your azz here.

 

Saga TPB vol1 sold over 100,000 copies. The chance of these having sold to speculators and not readers is slim to none.

 

Saga's print run has increased from issue 1. You don't honestly think more copies are being speculated on as the series goes on, do you?

 

Interesting. I had no clue the trade numbers were that high. I bought the 1st and 2nd which I will probably pass on to someone else if/when the compendium comes out.

Yeah. Likewise.

 

That statistic came from the high profile article on Saga in Time Magazine (I think it was Time).

[500Club]

The two huge risks are a reboot, and the creative team leaving.

 

I think the latter is the danger that can cause the former eventually.

Yeah, that probably is the most likely trigger, but there's no telling when a corporate directive could upset the apple cart. Although DC has historically been more conservative, seeing the path Marvel has taken over the past decade with reboots makes me think anything is possible.

 

(Sadly, DD, Marvel's best title IMHO, is ending with #36)

[CBT]

(Sadly, DD, Marvel's best title IMHO, is ending with #36)

 

yah, i have been enjoying it a lot, and it is sad. The thing that has cause marvel's decade of reboot, imo (besides just being money grabs), is that they are trying to realign their books to present an accessible united front, that can augment the movies.

 

when DC did new 52 to save their lagging sales, it pretty much forced marvel to follow suit. The fact that there is a 2.0 for marvel now, will also put back pressure on DC to find ways to keep readership high.

 

the big two are a lot like American Politics, its all about exciting the swing "buyers" and trying to keep them in your camp... the partisan's never change sides regardless.

[nikocb]

I'm sure the print run on NM 98 is at least 50% more than Batman and look at what it is doing. The way the trend is for batman, this time next year it will be $100 easily.

 

Yes it is, its also a first appearance....you reply to one part of my message, but ignored the rest.

 

Batman #1 is the first appearance of Harper Row

I also think it's the first time Capullo drew Batman

 

I love the title and the creative team, who I've met several times and their attitude towards the fans makes me want to support the book even more.

 

That being said, I do agree that the bubble with burst eventually.. I'm just not sure how far it will fall.

 

 

 

The two huge risks are a reboot, and the creative team leaving.

 

I think they've contracted the creative team to stay the same for another 2 years or something? It's DC's best selling title every month and one of the best selling out of all the publishers... DC is smart enough [surprisingly] to know not to mess with a winning formula.. at least not yet.

[Balham's Finest]

If I was going to pay $50 or more for a two year old book, I'd want it to do a lot more than "hold value" in the long term.

[Joe Kim]

I had it on my pull list from Day 1, as I loved Snyder's pre 52 run. I read most of my copies though, not knowing about the fact that the prices would become what they would. Therefore most of my run is 9.2-9.6, very few if any 9.8s.

 

As much as I love this run, its one of my favorite Batman runs of all time, and I understand why the value is going up (especially sketch variants, those hold value really well), its been hard for me to pay premiums to upgrade my readers to 9.8s.

[kimik]

apparently you turned this into a DC fanboy thing? I wasn't saying any Marvel Now books would do better. No non-first appearance, non-error, non-artificiallyrarevariant from either of the big two will hold value long term...

 

No, I was trying to draw in the couple of huge Marvel fanboys that slam everything DC that are surprisingly absent in this thread so far. Batman is the only modern DC title I read and collect now that Johns has left GL. I spend more on Image and Dark Horse (Conan and spin-off titles) each month.

 

 

WD, Saga, etc, aren't going to be relaunched with new numberings. YTLM is a very good point, or pick any non-big 2 well received series that came to an end. I'm the first to say (and have been saying), there is a large bubble going on. At least 2013 saw it pull back some, but there are lots of non-big 2 books that can be purchased for $50 or less, with much lower print runs, and long term "good story" appeal.

 

I have more faith in WD still being here 5 years from now than Saga, even though WD has become fairly formulaic. You can see BKV's pace starting to bog down just like it did with YTLM. Will it stay at a higher price for longer than the other Image #1s? More than likely. However, it will still drop.

 

As far as the print run argument, it does not matter if demand is no longer there to support the prices. Saga #1 had a very healthy 1st print run for an Image title, so when the series ends or interest in the title wanes (whichever comes first), the low print run may slow the price drop but it will still happen.

 

FWIW, the one Image #1 that seems to have staying power and the potential to steadily rise despite the best efforts of the creative team to sink it is Nowhere Men.

 

 

he asked for peoples opinions, i think $50 is too much, you think its FMV, that's fine. But the point I was making, is that WHEN new 52 ends, and the old numbers come back, it's FMV will get crushed. I cited some Marvel examples, but DC ones exist too. Also, prior to that 188 print run, Batman was running some low numbers. So, just because its batman, doesnt mean its print run is indestructible. If it did, they wouldnt have had to reboot in the first place.

 

$50 is below FMV. This fall they were going for $60 at local shows. Next spring I will be asking for $75+. The only copy I have seen recently at an LCS sold for $60 as well.

 

I disagree that it will get crushed - look at the prices on the Snyder Black Mirror story in Tec. Will it pull back with the renumbering? Likely, but to what level? Using Tec #871 as the guide, it would be in the $20 - $30 range which is still a decent price. If you use ASM vol 2 #19, 22, or 36 as the example, which is a better parallel as it is the flagship Marvel character, then it will not drop much at all even though the numbering is out of whack.

 

 

 

It will definitely retain value, and always be the top dog of new 52. The night of the owls run as a whole, will be like planet hulk, old man logan, etc, where there is big price jump over the books around the high quality stories.

But, LOOK at the other new 52 books. Action, Superman, even Detective, none of them command even close to the price of Batman. Will not Superman have all the same attributes you describe? Even if the story isnt quite as good, how do you justify the difference in price?

 

My answer, as I eluded to above, is speculative over-valuation. People have decided, Batman is the one to own, and so they are willing to keep paying up for it. If they never renumber it, and it goes hundreds and hundreds of issues long, then yah, $50 might be reasonable. On the flip side, if the whole comic market suffers a huge collapse, $50 will seem like a long distant memory. If the rest of new 52 struggling, cause any sort of renumbering in the near term, same problem imo.

 

There are other New 52 #1s that have jumped up nicely as well - Nightwing #1, WW #1, Suicide Squad #1, Batman & Robin #1, Justice League #1, Tec #1 to name a few. You can sell them for $15+ online and at shows. The difference between Batman the rest of the New 52 titles is due to the quality of the book - the others are varying degrees below it.

 

As far as speculation on it, I would argue that the over-speculative period is long over and the reason it is rising in value is due to the demand for the book. I did not speculate on it, and judging by the posts here and from conversations as shows, neither did a lot of other people either. The main reason - we all viewed it as generating little to no return just like all of the Marvel relaunches. Judging by the competition I saw for copies in LCSs and online, there was some decent speculation when it was selling for $20 - $25 online (I know I was buying them readily when I could ), but that period is over and it is still selling well.

 

WRT your point re: a collapse, if the whole comic market suffers a huge collapse kiss the Image #1s and other hot modern goodbye as well.

 

That being said, if I were looking to spend $50 as the OP originally stated I would be looking at older books. (thumbs u

 

[500Club]

I think they've contracted the creative team to stay the same for another 2 years or something? .

Good. Consistency has been a rare thing from the big two in the last few years. The bright side of the issue is the fact Greg Capullo has a history of being able to stick with a title for a long time.

[500Club]

apparently you turned this into a DC fanboy thing? I wasn't saying any Marvel Now books would do better. No non-first appearance, non-error, non-artificiallyrarevariant from either of the big two will hold value long term...

 

No, I was trying to draw in the couple of huge Marvel fanboys that slam everything DC that are surprisingly absent in this thread so far. Batman is the only modern DC title I read and collect now that Johns has left GL. I spend more on Image and Dark Horse (Conan and spin-off titles) each month.

I'm a Marvel fanboy.

 

They stink. It's a rudderless ship right now. DC seems to have a cohesive publishing plan, at the very least.

 

WD, Saga, etc, aren't going to be relaunched with new numberings. YTLM is a very good point, or pick any non-big 2 well received series that came to an end. I'm the first to say (and have been saying), there is a large bubble going on. At least 2013 saw it pull back some, but there are lots of non-big 2 books that can be purchased for $50 or less, with much lower print runs, and long term "good story" appeal.

 

I have more faith in WD still being here 5 years from now than Saga, even though WD has become fairly formulaic. You can see BKV's pace starting to bog down just like it did with YTLM. Will it stay at a higher price for longer than the other Image #1s? More than likely. However, it will still drop.

Bogging down? This argument would hold more water if you weren't the only person who I've heard voice it. What you call bogging down, I call plot establishment and character development. If you don't like this 'bogging down', read Marvel books. Meaningless battles and endless deaths and resurrections will be your reward.

 

The chance of WD being around in 5 years is close to 100%. The chance of Saga being around is close to 95%. Therefore, for what it's worth, that part of your argument is correct.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Personally, I think Batman 1 will hold its value long term. Sure the book had a high print run, but the creative team is the new it thing. I think it'll be like Frank Millers first issue on Daredevil.

 

But like others have said, but what you like.

[the authority]

Personally, I think Batman 1 will hold its value long term. Sure the book had a high print run, but the creative team is the new it thing. I think it'll be like Frank Millers first issue on Daredevil.

 

But like others have said, but what you like.

 

How about Frank Miller's runs on Batman ?

 

The Dark Knight Returns and Year One ?

 

I would call those 2 of the top 10 Batman stories ever told. I think the biggest deal about Miller's DD was from 168 up he was the writer and the artist. Rare air.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Personally, I think Batman 1 will hold its value long term. Sure the book had a high print run, but the creative team is the new it thing. I think it'll be like Frank Millers first issue on Daredevil.

 

But like others have said, but what you like.

 

How about Frank Miller's runs on Batman ?

 

The Dark Knight Returns and Year One ?

 

I would call those 2 of the top 10 Batman stories ever told. I think the biggest deal about Miller's DD was from 168 up he was the writer and the artist. Rare air.

 

My point was more the way that Miller's first issue of Daredevil has held its value. I think that this book will be similar in that sense. I'm not sure if it was a good comparison or just that I had Daredevil on the brain.

 

I just think that this book will stay in demand because of how much of an impact Snyder/Capullo will have on the market and character.

[the authority]

Personally, I think Batman 1 will hold its value long term. Sure the book had a high print run, but the creative team is the new it thing. I think it'll be like Frank Millers first issue on Daredevil.

 

But like others have said, but what you like.

 

How about Frank Miller's runs on Batman ?

 

The Dark Knight Returns and Year One ?

 

I would call those 2 of the top 10 Batman stories ever told. I think the biggest deal about Miller's DD was from 168 up he was the writer and the artist. Rare air.

 

My point was more the way that Miller's first issue of Daredevil has held its value. I think that this book will be similar in that sense. I'm not sure if it was a good comparison or just that I had Daredevil on the brain.

 

I just think that this book will stay in demand because of how much of an impact Snyder/Capullo will have on the market and character.

 

Got you (thumbs u

[Underground44]

Just finished reading it and it's terrific. I know this set is pretty difficult to complete. I spotted my first Batman #1 in the wild today for $50 and I'm really mulling over getting it and then finishing the set. I finished off my GL and GLCorps New 52 set today so I need something else to aim for.

 

That's really all that matters. Buy and collect what you like then you'll never be disappointed or disillusioned in your collection.