The State of the Hobby (Stirring the Pot)?

[eewwnuk]

As someone newer to the hobby (having got in the 2011 - 2012 timeframe) and focused more on modern art, I see quite a bit of what I consider to be 'A' pieces still going up for sale. The Shamus collection alone was filled with the pages that I would love to have!

 

But this is coming from someone that would rather have McFarlane's, Lee's, Quesada's and of course Breyfogle's in his collection than golden or silver age art.

[Nexus]

Take-downs were big, impressive and quite often pretty public. Fast-forward 10+ years and after years of molding and pruning and trimming these guys have probably built a collection they are proud of/content with and are now falling back a little bit. They are becoming much more focused on what they take down and are probably somewhat fatigued with the stress and grind of years of constantly hunting and dealing. I also speculate that many of these guys also are preferring more and more to work these deals off the grid and in some cases removing most if not all of their profile from CAF. There seems to be less interest in chest-beating as there was a few years back. My guess is big take-downs are definitely still happening but they are less frequent and far less public.

 

Concurrent with all this, we've probably all become a bit more jaded, too. What used to impress may not impress as much anymore. So the quality and frequency of the "take-downs" may not have drastically changed, but they just don't register the way they used to. Thus, leading to this perception.

 

On the supply side - again, I echo others comments - the dealer sites and auction houses have experienced a real dearth of consistent A/A+ level material coming to market over the past year or two. It seems strange as you would think that the steep escalation in prices would pull out pieces but alas that hasn't been the case. My theory is that the inverse is actually happening in that these guys sitting on lots of black-hole art are thinking why sell now when in 10 years it will be worth even more?

 

Most active collectors I know are trying to build a collection. Unless they really need the money, why would they sell? Why would they weaken their collections by selling their best A/A+ art? It's less about "I'll wait 10 years when it will be worth even more", it's more about what's the point of collecting if everything's for sale?

 

Now, if you're talking about old-timers who are no longer active, then it's just a matter of time.

 

What's become evident, though, is that anyone who sold their best art just for the cash, and didn't redeploy that cash into equally good (or better) material, has lost. For the most part. Of course, anyone who had a real-life need for the money should have no regrets. But the winners have been those who have bought and held for the long term. That may not always hold true, but it also doesn't matter as much to those who never viewed potential profit as a primary motivation for collecting.

 

 

[zhamlau]

Eh I'll yammer a bit.

 

I got into this hobby in 1987 at the ripe old age of 10. i remember buying pages from Keith Pollard for 5.00 a page, and i think it was 12 pages for 50 bucks. I almost completed New Mutants 39 I believe before giving up, but it was a great time.

 

I have floating in and out of this hobby for almost 30 years now, and it really has been an amazing transformation. You guys talk about buying stuff in 2004 and watching it skyrocket...pages i glossed over at 10 bucks years ago are now routinely pulling down 1000-3000 dollars...wtf...?!?!

 

I think the state of the hobby is strong for a few reasons.

 

1. Items disappear for decades. There are LOTS of folks who just black hole stuff. It goes in all sweetness and light, and its instantly crushed out of our universe never to be seen again. Not speculators, not dealers, not one time buyers for the kids. Straight up collectors. That's awesome, that's a hell of a good sign in my book.

 

2. The culture has completely changed, liking superheroes was considered passe when I was a kid, even us readers in the mini 90s boom kept it to ourselves. Now every Hepster D-Bag has a Hulk logo tat on their forearm, and talks about their love of "Graphic storytelling". They define Hollywood, they define TV, they define the toys kids play with, heck they even have kids reading them online and shockingly from stores. Look at Halloween now, its 1/2 Marvel these days. Point being, the world changed. As such, these pages are now elevated beyond just nostalgic mold catchers but are truly pieces of a shared cultural experience.

 

3, Even if you don't collect comics, the lure of having an original iconic "retro" page really appeals to a lot of people who aren't pure hardcore collectors. I've personally put 3 folks onto buying art in the last few years who started to love it just from me talking to them about it and showing them some of my collection.

 

On a side personal note, If the "bubble" really does burst, I think i would be ecstatic! It would mean i could load up on stuff I really want to have but cant afford at today's prices. If im thinking this, being an average/below average guy that I am, its probably a sign that things are pretty stable.

[ComicConnoisseur]

One of the best buying tactics for collectors of today is much like any other speculative investing strategies of "buy low, sell high" is to maybe buy some undervalued art (and I do think there's a few artists, Mark Bagley included) whose work may go up in value at a greater pace than some of the already established priced pieces.

 

So, ideally a person picks up 100 x $100 pieces for $10,000 that matures into $300 pieces and is able to sell or trade for that $30,000 value and secure higher priced material which hopefully didn't increase as aggressively.

 

I'd have a hard time writing a check our handing over $30,000 in cash for a piece of comic art, but most certainly wouldn't be as reluctant to do a trade, or use proceeds from a sale to finance that bigger piece. Psychologically, if I bought something for $2,000 and sold/traded it for $5,000 and picked up another piece priced at $5,000, it would seem to me that that new $5,000 piece only cost me $2,000... it makes me sleep better at night I guess

 

 

I like your way of thinking. (thumbs u

Mark Bagley art is definitely undervalued.