The Future of Comic Book Collecting & Investing

[FlyingDonut]

Comic books are doing much better in terms of diversity and youth than other popular collecting venues. You want to see a collection of 60-80 year old middle aged white guys at a convention,go to a baseball card or coin show.go to an antique radio swap meet

 

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.

 

I have to laugh, since I belong to an antique radio forum, and this same subject comes up every other month, with the same thoughts about no one younger ever wanting to collect antique radios...

 

Seriously? PM me. I have a 1935 General Electric floor radio that I would love to get restored, but I have no idea where to start. DC area.

[fifties]

Comic books are doing much better in terms of diversity and youth than other popular collecting venues. You want to see a collection of 60-80 year old middle aged white guys at a convention,go to a baseball card or coin show.go to an antique radio swap meet

 

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.

 

I have to laugh, since I belong to an antique radio forum, and this same subject comes up every other month, with the same thoughts about no one younger ever wanting to collect antique radios...

 

Seriously? PM me. I have a 1935 General Electric floor radio that I would love to get restored, but I have no idea where to start. DC area.

Check your messages.

[vsndesigns]

Let's see...if an average comic book today costs $3.00 and if we assume an a 7% inflation per year...in 30 years...((((scribble scribble scribble))))...$22.84...and if value is based on rarity and condition...let's see...an average print run may be 100,000 copies today (I think in the 90's is was quite a bit higher)....divide that into the current number of people...7,412,778,971 as of today...as opposed to the number of people 30 years from now...9,227,935,007....and assuming that it got a grade of 9.8...hmmm...(((scribble, scribble, scribble)))...it would be worth...hmmm (depending if they make a movie about it)...whatever the market would bear...

[rjrjr]

 

I took this photo last weekend in Buffalo.

 

She those two kids digging through the inexpensive Marvel long boxes?

 

 

My kids always dig through boxes when I'm looking too. Guess how many comics they end up getting despite my insistence they should pick something out?

[rjrjr]

I don't know, I've had this demographics discussion before, and all I can go by is what I see at the relatively small regional cons I still bother with. It's wall to wall 30+ white guys with a smattering of other folks.

 

I live in the Midwest, so your experience may vary.

 

This is pretty much true at most cons. But parents do drag their kids along many times, hence the little kids looking through boxes.

[MetalPSI]

 

This is the first ever comic I received, I can't remember who gave it to me, but I read it, and really didn't understand it. I was eight years old, and I ended up tossing it one of the times I moved. It was just paper, and was worn out by that point.

 

Kids view the world differently. If I had received it from someone special, I would have kept it. Toys were more important than books

[Rip]

I can't speak for others but I see more people in the comic book shops these days that I have almost ever seen, including a lot more women. The difference however is the age of the collector seems to start at around 18-19 rather than much younger when I was a kid. Plus a lot of the people in a comic store will only get magic cards, gaming stuff etc.

[MetalPSI]

I totally agree, there are a lot more females browsing books than I remember when I was doing weekly LCS visits. It's nice to see. And not just because of that

[mrwoogieman]

Comic books are doing much better in terms of diversity and youth than other popular collecting venues. You want to see a collection of 60-80 year old middle aged white guys at a convention,go to a baseball card or coin show.go to an antique radio swap meet

 

Fixed that for you.

Fixed that for you.

 

I have to laugh, since I belong to an antique radio forum, and this same subject comes up every other month, with the same thoughts about no one younger ever wanting to collect antique radios...

 

Same thing for metal detector enthusiasts, I hear. Local clubs are disappearing due to no young blood entering the hobby.

[jools&jim]

 

If the current state of the new comics marketplace & readership isn't what it was when our cherished GA/SA/BA/CA comics were first published 30 - 80 years ago, why on earth should we assume that the future of the "back issue collecting hobby" will be anything other than very different from what it is today?

 

My daughter and her high school, church, and work friends (male and female) all LOVE the current Marvel Comics movies, and can't wait for the next one to be released; on the other hand, not a single one of them gives a damn about reading new Marvel comic books, or collecting old ones.

 

And yet these same people will suddenly wake up one day in their mid '30s, at the height of their earning power, and suddenly develop a craving to own a room full of expensive old comic books?

 

Uh...okay.

 

 

 

[the blob]

And yet these same people will suddenly wake up one day in their mid '30s, at the height of their earning power, and suddenly develop a craving to own a room full of expensive old comic books?

 

Uh...okay.

 

----------

 

You're probably right, but there are avid collectors on this forum who didn't read comics kids.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

 

I took this photo last weekend in Buffalo.

 

She those two kids digging through the inexpensive Marvel long boxes?

 

 

My kids always dig through boxes when I'm looking too. Guess how many comics they end up getting despite my insistence they should pick something out?

 

Here's a picture from the same Con. Note the three kids with bags in their hands.

[1Cool]

 

I took this photo last weekend in Buffalo.

 

She those two kids digging through the inexpensive Marvel long boxes?

 

 

My kids always dig through boxes when I'm looking too. Guess how many comics they end up getting despite my insistence they should pick something out?

 

Here's a picture from the same Con. Note the three kids with bags in their hands.

 

The guy may have books in his bag but the girl looks to not have books in her bag. Hard to tell if the guy is carrying around a print or a trade paperback. And as always - no bag in hand for the cosplayers.

[mattn792]

I don't know, I've had this demographics discussion before, and all I can go by is what I see at the relatively small regional cons I still bother with. It's wall to wall 30+ white guys with a smattering of other folks.

 

I live in the Midwest, so your experience may vary.

 

Try C2E2 or WW Chicago if you want to bust the wall to wall 30+ white guy experience.

[AmazingSaul]

I think a lot of people do not understand how it works.

 

Comic books are like Art. Art can be a thousand years old and still not devalue. Since comic books are now considered Art I highly doubt they will become a couple of dollars overnight.

 

Its like going to the Mona Lisa and saying "well your generation is way up! WORTHLESS!" I am sorry it doesn't work that way.

 

Humans usually value culture and art. This is why each and every culture has its art forms. Comic books are not going to devalue like this. If anything, you will see them in museums in 100 years from now.

[1Cool]

I think a lot of people do not understand how it works.

 

Comic books are like Art. Art can be a thousand years old and still not devalue. Since comic books are now considered Art I highly doubt they will become a couple of dollars overnight.

 

Its like going to the Mona Lisa and saying "well your generation is way up! WORTHLESS!" I am sorry it doesn't work that way.

 

Humans usually value culture and art. This is why each and every culture has its art forms. Comic books are not going to devalue like this. If anything, you will see them in museums in 100 years from now.

 

100 percent agree when it comes to iconic books like Action 1 or possibly a book like IH 181 CGC 9.8 or something but art is a tricky comparison to comic books. There is only 1 Mona Lisa whereas there are at least thousands of most books up for grabs. Will the number of copies dwindle over the years - probably. But most books in plastic and boards will be just fine in 25 years.

[MetalPSI]

Love the optimism, but comics are pop culture, and pop culture is fickle, at best.

 

The absolute best we can hope for is that comics won't be used for toilet paper

[Jeffro.]

I think a lot of people do not understand how it works.

 

Comic books are like Art. Art can be a thousand years old and still not devalue. Since comic books are now considered Art I highly doubt they will become a couple of dollars overnight.

 

Its like going to the Mona Lisa and saying "well your generation is way up! WORTHLESS!" I am sorry it doesn't work that way.

 

Humans usually value culture and art. This is why each and every culture has its art forms. Comic books are not going to devalue like this. If anything, you will see them in museums in 100 years from now.

 

The problem with that analogy is that "art" is often a singular piece, a one of a kind item. Hence, it may be worth a great deal of money. A comic book produced in the tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands (or even more) may or may not have value.

 

Will they be worthless? I say no and certainly the major key books should retain value. It's all the other stuff that will probably take a hit. We are already seeing it now. Certain genres of comics such as westerns don't have the same value or collector base that they had thirty years ago.

 

Stamps have lost a great deal of value since the peak days of stamp collecting. They too can be considered art.

[MetalPSI]

I think a lot of people do not understand how it works.

 

Comic books are like Art. Art can be a thousand years old and still not devalue. Since comic books are now considered Art I highly doubt they will become a couple of dollars overnight.

 

Its like going to the Mona Lisa and saying "well your generation is way up! WORTHLESS!" I am sorry it doesn't work that way.

 

Humans usually value culture and art. This is why each and every culture has its art forms. Comic books are not going to devalue like this. If anything, you will see them in museums in 100 years from now.

 

The problem with that analogy is that "art" is often a singular piece, a one of a kind item. Hence, it may be worth a great deal of money. A comic book produced in the tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands (or even more) may or may not have value.

 

Will they be worthless? I say no and certainly the major key books should retain value. It's all the other stuff that will probably take a hit. We are already seeing it now. Certain genres of comics such as westerns don't have the same value or collector base that they had thirty years ago.

 

Stamps have lost a great deal of value since the peak days of stamp collecting. They too can be considered art.

 

Agreed. OA is real art and will appreciate. Books themselves are mass produced. There are a lot of issues around. Some of the really rarest stuff to find isn't even worth all that much. Maxx 1/2 test prints are proof of that. Nobody cares, therefore, pretty much worthless

[Jeffro.]

If the current state of the new comics marketplace & readership isn't what it was when our cherished GA/SA/BA/CA comics were first published 30 - 80 years ago, why on earth should we assume that the future of the "back issue collecting hobby" will be anything other than very different from what it is today?

 

My daughter and her high school, church, and work friends (male and female) all LOVE the current Marvel Comics movies, and can't wait for the next one to be released; on the other hand, not a single one of them gives a damn about reading new Marvel comic books, or collecting old ones.

 

And yet these same people will suddenly wake up one day in their mid '30s, at the height of their earning power, and suddenly develop a craving to own a room full of expensive old comic books?

 

Uh...okay.

 

 

You're probably right, but there are avid collectors on this forum who didn't read comics kids.

 

Those are certainly the exceptions and not the rule. It's hard to believe hordes of people suddenly becoming comic book fans as adults when they didn't read them as kids.