Modern Speculation

[CBT]

Just thought I would piggy back off of the Bronze Discussion I saw

 

Scenario: You have $300 of disposable income to invest long-term(5 years) in getting some Modern keys. What do you pick?

criteria these must be CGC`ed.

 

These will not be for a quick flip, you spend the $300 now and hopefully in 5 years you will have a little profit. Since you guys are the experts like to hear your pros and cons thoughts.

 

Thanks for then input and help it may provide any member

 

9.8 SS celebrity photo cover book. Speculators arent into them at all so you arent paying a bubble premium, and the people doing a tv show or movie right now, likely wont be in it any more 5 years from now, and once they are out of the con circuit will be harder to get a signed book for. Celeb signed 9.8 would also hold up better if the whole market bubble rolls over, if its a desirable sig on a photo cover book, and the appeal extends beyond just the comic market.

 

That's probably your best bet for a modern low 3 figure book, with good stability and security. celebrity >>> comic writer/artist, photo cover >>>>>>>> art cover, with respect to longer term stability.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Only other book I would throw out that hasn't been mentioned would be Chew #1.

 

 

I agree I used to argue with Branget about this book. You either love it or hate it. I thought it was dumb as hell, but to each their own I have learned in my old age.

 

I cant argue with Sales with over time it does have an audience.

 

 

Agree. What I found out over the years is sell things people want to buy,instead of just grabbing stuff I think they would want, or stuff I like. I needed to learn what sold well and what didn't and avoid the things that didn't.

 

[the blob]

It all depends on the timeframe. I have bought a lot of stuff cheap thinking that a market will develop (or re-develope ) and it did. But that isn't a quick flip, true, and there is a time value of money. How well this works with recent moderns I am not sure, but "moderns" from 15-20 years ago, I think it does.

[Aweandlorder]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

[raybowles]

My local shop has every key issue for sale currently including a WD1 9.0 CGC. (Like a good 20 issues of keys) They still sitting there and have been now for months. A year or two ago if they even got them in they sold with a few days. Now they sit. If that's not a sign I don't know what is.

 

 

I bet they are overpriced. I have went to a couple of conventions and the CGC graded Walking Dead's were way overpriced. Dealers were charging 150%-250% of GPA so of course the comics were not selling. The same thing is common on EBAY. There are so many sellers who are asking for asinine prices and the comics sit there month after month.

 

When Walking Dead's are priced at GPA they usually sell fast.

[ygogolak]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

 

The 80's books you mention are more comparable to Scout, Black Mask, etc...comics. Image has maintained its ground as the #3 and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

[Aweandlorder]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

 

The 80's books you mention are more comparable to Scout, Black Mask, etc...comics. Image has maintained its ground as the #3 and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

wth is black mask?

 

I take it you werent collecting in the 80s

[ygogolak]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

 

The 80's books you mention are more comparable to Scout, Black Mask, etc...comics. Image has maintained its ground as the #3 and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

wth is black mask?

 

I take it you werent collecting in the 80s

 

You haven't heard of Black Mask Studios?

 

I'm saying Fish Police could be the Space Riders of the 20-teens. Elementals the Henchgirl, etc...

[SquareChaos]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

[the authority]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

 

The 80's books you mention are more comparable to Scout, Black Mask, etc...comics. Image has maintained its ground as the #3 and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

wth is black mask?

 

I take it you werent collecting in the 80s

 

You haven't heard of Black Mask Studios?

 

I'm saying Fish Police could be the Space Riders of the 20-teens. Elementals the Henchgirl, etc...

 

I view it the same way. Image would be more comparable to the Vertigo or Icon lines. Smaller companies would be the equivalent of the Fish Police. There were goldmines in some of that old indies group. Cerebus and TMNT come to mind. For every Preacher or Sandman from Vertigo, there were 100 that weren't so profitable.

[ygogolak]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

We Can Never Go Home is / was good. They have serious schedule issues in general though.

[Aweandlorder]

Books like Chew, Peter Panzerfaust and other indies remind me of hot books of the 80s... Fish Police, Elementals, Spaced, Quadrant... All gone and forgotten

And thats why I never again'd on them

 

The 80's books you mention are more comparable to Scout, Black Mask, etc...comics. Image has maintained its ground as the #3 and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

 

wth is black mask?

 

I take it you werent collecting in the 80s

 

You haven't heard of Black Mask Studios?

 

I'm saying Fish Police could be the Space Riders of the 20-teens. Elementals the Henchgirl, etc...

 

Didnt seem like thats what you meant from the context of your writing.. Like... At all

Longevity has NOTHING to do with whats heating up

Image was dead walking before walking dead was optioned, and that by itself impacted many of the titles which had/have perceived scarcity, Chew included

Same thing with 80s indies.. Once TMNT, Cerebus, Grendel and the likes took off, they impacted the entire market with them... FOR YEARS books like FP, Trollords, Thundermace, RedFox were commanding a premium. I remember a gentleman on this board who just a few years ago STILL argued that FP#1 is a $10-20 book

And BTW, Scout never commanded a premium. Not then and not now, so dont know if that comparison is relevant (in terms of pricings)

[Aweandlorder]

Nevermind I got what you meant now.. Scout being the publisher... Duh.. threw me off for a second

[the authority]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

[natevegas]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

These indies have copied the #1 variant copy craze that the other big 2 keep doing. Until people wake up and stop buying 25 plus variants of #1's why be concerned about keeping time schedules. Sales drop off no biggie there is another book we can put out that'll be a #1. Rinse repeat that is the trend right now.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

These indies have copied the #1 variant copy craze that the other big 2 keep doing. Until people wake up and stop buying 25 plus variants of #1's why be concerned about keeping time schedules. Sales drop off no biggie there is another book we can put out that'll be a #1. Rinse repeat that is the trend right now.

Good post. I was checking the latest top 100 sales, and it seems 50 percent of the top 100 comic books are like a number one issue? It seems like the comic book companies reboot and publish a pile of new number ones every single month. Eventually people are going to figure out most number ones are not going to double in value.

That`s one good thing about The Walking Dead comic book as there is continuity where they don`t reboot it every few months with a shiny new number one with 10 variants.

 

[rjrjr]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

These indies have copied the #1 variant copy craze that the other big 2 keep doing. Until people wake up and stop buying 25 plus variants of #1's why be concerned about keeping time schedules. Sales drop off no biggie there is another book we can put out that'll be a #1. Rinse repeat that is the trend right now.

Good post. I was checking the latest top 100 sales, and it seems 50 percent of the top 100 comic books are like a number one issue? It seems like the comic book companies reboot and publish a pile of new number ones every single month. Eventually people are going to figure out most number ones are not going to double in value.

That`s one good thing about The Walking Dead comic book as there is continuity where they don`t reboot it every few months with a shiny new number one with 10 variants.

 

Comic book companies publish more of what people are buying. Since the #1s are at the top of the chart, it only makes sense for them to publish more. Variants, female versions of male characters, etc. All trends that the companies will exploit to make a dollar. (I've said this before, I don't blame the companies for publishing the ever increasingly harder to get variants. All they have to do is look and see what people are willing to pay for brand new comics, so they know there is a demand. And it helps them sell more units than they otherwise would.)

 

The history of this hobby is publishers chasing the latest trends going all the way back to the beginning. Superheroes are selling, so let's publish superheroes. Horror comics sell, so lets pump out horror comics. Romance sells, so here are a bunch of romance titles. 3D comics were a trend for a while in the 50s?

 

I still cannot believe Marvel or DC haven't gone to a series of mini-series or a season format where they restart numbering at #1 every year. Marvel is close with the constant restarts whenever an event occurs.

[ComicConnoisseur]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

These indies have copied the #1 variant copy craze that the other big 2 keep doing. Until people wake up and stop buying 25 plus variants of #1's why be concerned about keeping time schedules. Sales drop off no biggie there is another book we can put out that'll be a #1. Rinse repeat that is the trend right now.

Good post. I was checking the latest top 100 sales, and it seems 50 percent of the top 100 comic books are like a number one issue? It seems like the comic book companies reboot and publish a pile of new number ones every single month. Eventually people are going to figure out most number ones are not going to double in value.

That`s one good thing about The Walking Dead comic book as there is continuity where they don`t reboot it every few months with a shiny new number one with 10 variants.

 

Comic book companies publish more of what people are buying. Since the #1s are at the top of the chart, it only makes sense for them to publish more. Variants, female versions of male characters, etc. All trends that the companies will exploit to make a dollar. (I've said this before, I don't blame the companies for publishing the ever increasingly harder to get variants. All they have to do is look and see what people are willing to pay for brand new comics, so they know there is a demand. And it helps them sell more units than they otherwise would.)

 

The history of this hobby is publishers chasing the latest trends going all the way back to the beginning. Superheroes are selling, so let's publish superheroes. Horror comics sell, so lets pump out horror comics. Romance sells, so here are a bunch of romance titles. 3D comics were a trend for a while in the 50s?

 

I still cannot believe Marvel or DC haven't gone to a series of mini-series or a season format where they restart numbering at #1 every year. Marvel is close with the constant restarts whenever an event occurs.

I wonder if this strategy has cost Marvel readers?

They should bring back the numbering for Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men to start. IMHO

I also wonder how big an impact Loot Crate has on the scene with sales?

 

[GM8]

I still cannot believe Marvel or DC haven't gone to a series of mini-series or a season format where they restart numbering at #1 every year. Marvel is close with the constant restarts whenever an event occurs.

 

This has got to be one of the most annoying things. From the variants to the constant renumbering it is dizzying. I get the marketing and economics of it, I would probably do the same thing if I had my publishing shoes on. But from a long-term collector/fan perspective it is enough to have pushed me to only buying back issues. Think that Batman rebirth variant is worth something? Wait until next year when another Batman #1 comes out!

[natevegas]

Almost everything I've read from Black Mask is either bad, or struggles for mediocrity.

 

There's a large difference in quality (in general) between some of the Image books and those.

 

 

Disclaimer: I haven't read every Black Mask book.

 

I loved the 1st issue of 4 Kids Walk into a Bank but it took so long for issue #2 to come out, I really lost interest. I had it preordered but I don't think I read it. These small companies should plan a little better for consistency in release dates. They are great are grabbing a person's attention but have a difficult time keeping it.

These indies have copied the #1 variant copy craze that the other big 2 keep doing. Until people wake up and stop buying 25 plus variants of #1's why be concerned about keeping time schedules. Sales drop off no biggie there is another book we can put out that'll be a #1. Rinse repeat that is the trend right now.

Good post. I was checking the latest top 100 sales, and it seems 50 percent of the top 100 comic books are like a number one issue? It seems like the comic book companies reboot and publish a pile of new number ones every single month. Eventually people are going to figure out most number ones are not going to double in value.

That`s one good thing about The Walking Dead comic book as there is continuity where they don`t reboot it every few months with a shiny new number one with 10 variants.

 

Comic book companies publish more of what people are buying. Since the #1s are at the top of the chart, it only makes sense for them to publish more. Variants, female versions of male characters, etc. All trends that the companies will exploit to make a dollar. (I've said this before, I don't blame the companies for publishing the ever increasingly harder to get variants. All they have to do is look and see what people are willing to pay for brand new comics, so they know there is a demand. And it helps them sell more units than they otherwise would.)

 

The history of this hobby is publishers chasing the latest trends going all the way back to the beginning. Superheroes are selling, so let's publish superheroes. Horror comics sell, so lets pump out horror comics. Romance sells, so here are a bunch of romance titles. 3D comics were a trend for a while in the 50s?

 

I still cannot believe Marvel or DC haven't gone to a series of mini-series or a season format where they restart numbering at #1 every year. Marvel is close with the constant restarts whenever an event occurs.

I wonder if this strategy has cost Marvel readers?

They should bring back the numbering for Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men to start. IMHO

I also wonder how big an impact Loot Crate has on the scene with sales?

That leaves me with a question maybe someone on here can answer for me. If a shop orders 500 copies of a book with the promise of partial or full returns if it doesn't sell. Does that Marvel or DC ever retract sales numbers for returned copies or do they just count all 500 as "sales"?