Soon Every Marvel Comic Book Will Be a Key

[goldust40]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Groot will have the same appeal as Spidey.

[vaillant]

You know what else is really great? Selling a book because of speculation and then using the funds to pick up the Marvel Masterworks hard copy containing that book because then I can then read the stories and enjoy the art without fear of bending a page or creasing the spine. It's awesome that everyone likes to do different things with their collection.

 

But the rushed up computer coloring sucks… At least more than often, in the first years of published issues. :shrug:

[jools&jim]

 

To no one in particular

 

You've had thirty years to get these books. Now they are expensive and you are complaining?

 

Yes.

 

But...there is a subtle difference--if only psychologically--between "expensive" and "inflated".

 

I never complained about paying, say, $2-$3 each for non-key common VG BA Marvels, even though to lots of folks that stuff is either worthless or 50-cent box fodder at best. It's the weekly/monthly (daily?) jumps from "essentially worthless" to "$20 - $200 or more" that have me reeling a bit...

[Jeffro.]

To no one inparticular

 

You've had thirty years to get these books. Now they are expensive and you are complaining?

 

You and Kevin76 should get together and start formation of the All-Downer Squad.

[*Bronze age fan*]

To no one inparticular

 

You've had thirty years to get these books. Now they are expensive and you are complaining?

 

Don’t be silly – you can’t have all at once, unless you are Bill Gates.

 

Personally, when I started collecting, I really had to see where I put my money. Not that it has changed much, anyway. If you go by what you like and try to avoid what you can’t afford, it’s not linear, so very likely you can’t have everything.

 

They have all the reasons to complain…

 

 

 

Ummmmmmmmm. Yes you can. And I am NOT Bill gates.

[Jeffro.]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Groot will have the same appeal as Spidey.

 

"Wood, Jerry [snaps fingers]... Wood."

[Logan510]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Absolutely not. History has shown that comic book movies are good for nothing better than a short term spike as far as comic sales go.

 

If Marvel were smart, they would've had a new printing of the GotG TPB ready to go once the movie came out. I have several colleagues whose children loved the movie and wanted more material, but could not find it at reasonable prices

[Santos208]

Becase....howard duck?

[Illustrious]

The Comic Singularity is coming...

[Shadow Images]

What is funny is the people that think this is not a bubble just like the art market, the collector car market, housing market, etc.... It's all the same when the speculators find the next hot thing and this pop culture phenom is over the market will reset and a lot of this overhyped issues will return to normal levels. Anyone who thinks differently, we'll good luck. I've seen this kind of market too many time. If you look and wait you can always get deals. Jmho

[Dr. Balls]

Soon every Marvel comic will be a key.

 

The second a character is mentioned, even peripherally, in a movie or movie promo, any book with some incarnation of this character becomes the latest hot book to buy.

 

Not a new concept. Pick up any Overstreet Fan or Wizard from the 90's and they're hyping books just the same. First Spidey Clone? 1st Silver Sable? 1st Big Barda? 1st Vengeance? 1st Kane? 1st Ash? Those were all huge, along with a bunch of other garbage. At least now, legitimate Bronze and Silver books are being hyped.

 

The 90's comic industry hyped books just like we're seeing it now - just in a different way. Comics were pushed based on them being tied to a storyline, video game - and in the late 90s - if they were a possible movie commodity.

 

You think movie speculation is bad now? Imagine buying comics that fans and editors thought might make a good movie, with absolutely no ties to studios or production times? Imagine a book value spiking because someone overheard Harlan Ellison saying he *might* be interested in writing a -script for an Avengers movie while he was in line at a deli getting a sub sandwich.

 

Believe me, if you were around in the 90's for the massive hype machine that crashed comics, you'd have nothing to complain about right now. Not saying it won't get worse - but this era that people complain about? So tame compared to 20 years ago.

 

Pick yourself up a stack of Wizards from the early 90s and give 'em a read. You'll see things could be WAY worse than they are.

[Aces]

The Comic Singularity is coming...

More likely the Comic Book Crisis.

[spidrvacc]

Still beats the gimmick books, foil covers etc of the 90's.

[shadroch]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Absolutely not. History has shown that comic book movies are good for nothing better than a short term spike as far as comic sales go.

 

If Marvel were smart, they would've had a new printing of the GotG TPB ready to go once the movie came out. I have several colleagues whose children loved the movie and wanted more material, but could not find it at reasonable prices

 

 

When the first Batman came out, I had a table inside the theatre lobby for the first weekend. I was limited to selling Bat books, pins and posters but my distributor and Joe Koch both gave me extra stock I could return. I made a deal with the manager for 15% of my net sales. I didn't make a killing but gave out about a thousand flyers for my store and got a few new customers. Several hundred stores did the same nationally.

This would have been a great movie to do this again, but today's retailers are simply not the guerrilla fighters that we were.

 

[Dr. Balls]

Still beats the gimmick books, foil covers etc of the 90's.

 

Gawd. No kidding - by a mile.

 

DC releases 21 variant covers? At least they all have different art. In the 90s, they would have changed the color of the masthead and people would have bought three copies of each. Sooooo much worse back then.

[01TheDude]

so if you are fairly certain that this is a brief upsurge in the value of these books, does it make sense to jump on the opportunity to sell off these items now at their (assumed) peak value. You can always pick them up cheaper later if you want them back once the interest level returns to normal.

[spidrvacc]

Still beats the gimmick books, foil covers etc of the 90's.

 

Gawd. No kidding - by a mile.

 

DC releases 21 variant covers? At least they all have different art. In the 90s, they would have changed the color of the masthead and people would have bought three copies of each. Sooooo much worse back then.

 

I still remember early 90's my friend buying 5 foil cover books at a comic book store in NY and the guy telling him how much they would be worth. He paid $295 for the 5 books (Believe they were valiant and image books) and looked at me and said they were going straight to a safety deposit box and would hold them there for 20 years to put his kids through college. Years later i asked him about them (15 years later or so ) and he had threw them out at some point. Such an embarrassing period in comics.

[dscythe]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Absolutely not. History has shown that comic book movies are good for nothing better than a short term spike as far as comic sales go.

 

If Marvel were smart, they would've had a new printing of the GotG TPB ready to go once the movie came out. I have several colleagues whose children loved the movie and wanted more material, but could not find it at reasonable prices

 

They did.

http://www.amazon.ca/Guardians-Galaxy-Abnett-Lanning-Collection/dp/0785190643/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407256922&sr=8-1&keywords=guardians+of+the+galaxy

 

Says it's not out but Amazon is slow, showed up in LCS's 2 weeks ago.

[mackenzie999]

n the 90s, they would have changed the color of the masthead and people would have bought three copies of each. Sooooo much worse back then.

 

Hard to blame DC if that was the case.

(not saying it wasn't, I skipped comics in the '80s and 90's)

[SquareChaos]

This is the best time to be a comic collector and fan. I don't have any issue with movies raising awareness and hype about first appearances, etc.

 

It's fun and exciting.

 

But is that raised awareness translating into new readers? Not so sure.

 

Absolutely not. History has shown that comic book movies are good for nothing better than a short term spike as far as comic sales go.

 

If Marvel were smart, they would've had a new printing of the GotG TPB ready to go once the movie came out. I have several colleagues whose children loved the movie and wanted more material, but could not find it at reasonable prices

 

 

When the first Batman came out, I had a table inside the theatre lobby for the first weekend. I was limited to selling Bat books, pins and posters but my distributor and Joe Koch both gave me extra stock I could return. I made a deal with the manager for 15% of my net sales. I didn't make a killing but gave out about a thousand flyers for my store and got a few new customers. Several hundred stores did the same nationally.

This would have been a great movie to do this again, but today's retailers are simply not the guerrilla fighters that we were.

 

My LCS owner does this for every comic book movie opening weekend. He has partnered with a local cinema to do so.