COPPER AGE BOOKS FUTURE VALUES

[delekkerste]

Go to a middle school, and ask the kids there what they're watching. Teen Titans, Justice League and other Cartoon Network shows. Teen Titans is the #1 show among children 9-14. Deathstroke is the uber bad guy in the cartoon.

 

And these middle school kids are spending $60-$100 for this issue?

 

I've long felt that NTT #2 has been an undervalued book, but at $100 or even $60, it's overvalued. I doubt if people will be shelling out that much 5 years from now and, of the ones that do, I highly doubt they will be those middle school kids watching those cartoons these days.

[FlyingDonut]

Go to a middle school, and ask the kids there what they're watching. Teen Titans, Justice League and other Cartoon Network shows. Teen Titans is the #1 show among children 9-14. Deathstroke is the uber bad guy in the cartoon.

 

And these middle school kids are spending $60-$100 for this issue?

 

I've long felt that NTT #2 has been an undervalued book, but at $100 or even $60, it's overvalued. I doubt if people will be shelling out that much 5 years from now and, of the ones that do, I highly doubt they will be those middle school kids watching those cartoons these days.

 

They're not now, but they will when they have some disposable income. The same as you buying early 80s GI Joes and me buying mid 70s FFs.

[whetteon]

I don't know about you but I follow the donut!

[delekkerste]

They're not now, but they will when they have some disposable income. The same as you buying early 80s GI Joes and me buying mid 70s FFs.

 

That presumes that (1) they will be reading/collecting comics and (2) they will have more than 2 nickels to rub together in the economic environment I see prevailing at that time. The "buy what you liked when you were 12 years old" model is going to break down utterly and irrevocably. What, you didn't think the handful of generations since comics have been widely published was a statistically significant number, did you?

 

See you in Baltimore in a few hours,

Cassandra Gene

[joe_collector]

They're not now, but they will when they have some disposable income. The same as you buying early 80s GI Joes and me buying mid 70s FFs.

 

But you guys actually BOUGHT and READ those comics back then, right?

 

These are kids watching TV shows, and I do not see how that translates over into buying back issues when they grow up. I watched tons of comic-based or adapted TV shows when I was a kid, but not ONCE did it make me want to pick up the original comics. I still get a nostalgic buzz from watching an episode now, but it's strictly limited to the TV show connection.

 

For example, I was a HUGE fan of the Super Friends cartoon and the Batman 60's reruns, but it had absolutely no effect on my collecting.

[johnenock]

My kid, 9, saves all of his money to buy Flash comics. Of course, i have probably influenced him more than anything. But, he was so excited to buy one comic that was "worth" ten dollars the other day(Flash 300). He also collects Teen Titans and TT 2 is his grail piece(I'm giving him one of mine for his B-Day this year).

 

So, don't you think there are others like him out there right now. Sure his golden age will be the 2000's, but mine were the 80's, and I dip all the way back to pre-code horror. Might the kids today dip all the way back to the 80's? 70's? Maybe the Silver Age will be more worthless than the 80's books because there won't be anyone to collect 'em?

 

I know,

[the blob]

the $50 spent on a NTT #2 is simply foregoing a video game or two. the kid comes up with $10-$15 and bugs mom or dad to pony up the rest for his/her birthday. believe me, i'd see this all the time at the LCS my friend owned. when me and my brother were kids we'd get dad to buy us stuff we couldn't afford. heck, i still have two ASM Annual #1s he bought for us (likely for way too much) in the 70s. His thinking was that any #1 issue was the one to get (hence I also have Beowulf #1, Stalker #1, Eternals #1, etc. he bought at that same show...). I wish he had just spent all that money on one #1 book, preferably an ASM #1.

 

as for "kids won't grow up and be interested in this stuff because they won't have any money to spend because we'll be in a 100 year economic depression"... well, if that's your thinking mr. doom and gloom, there isn't much hope for those of us who wil be in our 50s when they hit their stride, will there be?

 

furthermore, i don't think adults who are buying GI Joe and Transformers comics now were necessarily buying them, rather than watching the cartoons, back in the 80s. I know I never bought the comics back then.

[shadroch]

When the great depression hits,comics will me multi useful. On cool nights,paper provides a cooling cover.On colder nites,it can fuel a fire.With no one having electricity,Reading will be the only entertaining,so they can be traded for food.Eveybody should have several long boxes mixed into their survival caches.

[whetteon]

When the great depression hits,comics will me multi useful. On cool nights,paper provides a cooling cover.On colder nites,it can fuel a fire.With no one having electricity,Reading will be the only entertaining,so they can be traded for food.Eveybody should have several long boxes mixed into their survival caches.

 

[Aman619]

I hear New Teen Titans #2 is a $100 book now. Go figure. Nothing like a massive shift in awareness and heat will do to a "common" book's sell price. There will be others from the 80s too in time.

 

Yeah, but how many of those books will be able hang onto those price increases? NTT #2 at $100? Flavor of the moment, I'm afraid. I highly doubt it will be a 3-figure book 5 years from now. And that WC Avengers issue where Wanda starts flipping out? That's hot because it led to Avengers Disassembled (one of the worst storylines of all-time) and House of M (I'm in denial that this travesty is even happening)? Tell me we won't see this one back in the quarter or dollar bins in 5-10 years with the rest of the formerly hot '80s/'90s books.

 

but Gene, in the comics biz, books that get hot like this NEVER make it back to the quarter bins. Overstreet eventually raises their values ratifying the street prices, and, at worst, the books remain in stores etc stickered with the no-longer-attainable price tags.

 

Anyway, you cant compare NTT2 with Deathstroke's ( a character thats not disappearing any time soon in the DC universe) first appearance thats 23 years old now with an emotional change that triggers an "event" series of comics like Wanda's breakdown.

 

NTT2's rising price has IMO as muct to do with Identity Crisis's success as it does to a "sudden" awareness of a character's first appearance thats BEEN sitting in the quarter bins for 20 years, and it's getting a reappriasal as "worth a shot" for the future.

 

Anyway (again) I dont care about NTT2 that much, but, I can see how it could keep its value, or MOST of it. As you see in the thread over in General, Vincent and plenty of others here can easily wax nostalgic about this very period of comics that they grew up on. In ten years -- census be damned etc --- who's to say they wont be searching dollar bins for key books just as their older brethren have been doing for BRONZE for the past few years???

 

Its the natural order of things.... AND, I could argue that this ongoing process will continue until 20-30 years after the lastbig 90s blowout generation is supposed to step up and get nostalgic for THEIR comics. Only they wont take th ebait, havu=ing been totally soured on comics for good...

 

 

but,,,, whatever.... could be... maybe not....

[the blob]

"NTT2's rising price has IMO as muct to do with Identity Crisis's success as it does to a "sudden" awareness of a character's first appearance thats BEEN sitting in the quarter bins for 20 years, and it's getting a reappriasal as "worth a shot" for the future."

 

Hmmm, it wasn't really in quarter bins, was it? Dollar bin, yes. That book actually guided for like $10 into the early 90s and then I guess dropped off. I looked this up some time recently looking at an old Wizard or Overstreet magazine. (And back then, $10 actually meant something.) For much of the 80s when the Perez run on NTT was collected it sold at a little bit of a premium. I sort of rememeber it retailing for $5-$10 for a while when I was into comics through the mid-80s. 20 years ago NTT #1 sold for more than it does now.

 

When it got hot a year or two ago (actually, I remember I post in 2003 about it elsewhere) I was shocked it was still $6 in OPG.

[HouseofComics.Com]

AND, I could argue that this ongoing process will continue until 20-30 years after the lastbig 90s blowout generation is supposed to step up and get nostalgic for THEIR comics. Only they wont take th ebait,

 

I know that's a type but you may have coined a useful term: ebait. Something offered for sale on ebay. It's hard to say whether the 90s buyers will take the ebait or not but those items will always be cheap.

 

And for the earlier poster, the 60s Batman reruns probably had EVERYTHING to do with my collecting. Batman show leads to Batman comics (which happened to be Detective 100-pagers) and Batman from the 30s to the 70s which led to tons of comics of all genres which led to mail order which immediately led to golden age Batman...

 

Marc

[fastballspecial]

None of the Marvel/DC mainstream 1980's books will ever worth any serious cash, as print runs were high and collectors saved those books pristine and en masse. There's just too many of them in HG for prices to ever spike like Bronze did, plus there are no Wolverines or Punishers in the Copper Age, as virtually nothing *happened* during those years.

 

If you want to find books with some upward potential, look at the Independent superhero books with a fanbase and some potential, but it's likely a bit too late for those too.

 

He is essentially correct. The only Marvel/DC book I chase after from that time period is Joe 21 in high grade. I dont care how many issues they printed that [embarrassing lack of self control] of a comic is harder then hell to find in high grade. I have only had one 9.4 over the years. I havent checked lately but there wasnt even a 9.8 in the census a few months back.

 

I hate most of the 80s independents so I dont bother chasing them. But thanx to Wizard and such they will always be suckers to pay well above guide for over printed books like Avengers annual 10, TT 2, UXM 266, OM 2(Lobo?), Wolverine LS, and such.

[the blob]

But thanx to Wizard and such they will always be suckers to pay well above guide for over printed books like

 

Avengers annual 10 -- who is paying over guide for this unless maybe for an encapsulated 9.8? i'm happy selling it for 50% of guide.

 

TT 2 -- perhaps not as overprinted as you think

 

UXM 266 -- but there's always demand

 

OM 2(Lobo?) -- now a dollar bin book.

 

Wolverine LS -- yeah, but they're a great read and don't really sell for over guide unless a 9.6 or 9.8, don't they?

 

and such -- you forgot ASM 300! How could you forget that one??

[fastballspecial]

But thanx to Wizard and such they will always be suckers to pay well above guide for over printed books like

 

Avengers annual 10 -- who is paying over guide for this unless maybe for an encapsulated 9.8? i'm happy selling it for 50% of guide.

 

TT 2 -- perhaps not as overprinted as you think

 

UXM 266 -- but there's always demand

 

OM 2(Lobo?) -- now a dollar bin book.

 

Wolverine LS -- yeah, but they're a great read and don't really sell for over guide unless a 9.6 or 9.8, don't they?

 

and such -- you forgot ASM 300! How could you forget that one??

 

Avengers Ann. 10 - NM copy sold in my local LCS for guide last week.

UXM 266 - Demand by suckers his series bombed.

OM 2 - I would buy every high grade copy in the dollar bin you can find. Lobo is too edgy of a character for DC not to show some love too soon.

 

ASM 300 - I left out on purpose as it will retain value even if overprinted for several reasons. Its a anniversary issue 300 number, Early McFarlane art, Full Venom Appearance, and high grade copies are hard to find due to printing/centering problems.

[the blob]

jeez, one sale at an LCS for guide does not a market make! all i know is i listed a high grade copy at 1/3 of guide and didn't get a bite after two auction attempts. i didn eventually sell it for about 50% out of my store.

 

i agree on the lobo, although there are tons of these out there and back in the day it didn't seem like Lobo fans were people who cared about spending money on expensive back issues. I know my older brother loved Lobo. He is the kind of guy who leaves his comics on the floor of his bathroom and uses them as bathmats. Not exactly the bag and board 'em type of guy.

[micmack]

Omega Men 3 is Lobo's 1st apperance...

[fastballspecial]

Omega Men 3 is Lobo's 1st apperance...

 

Thank you I was unsure about that one and was too lazy to whip out my OS. It shows my lack of 80s DC stuff as I was a 100% Marvel man back then.

[Sal]

Omega Men 3 is Lobo's 1st apperance...

 

Thank you I was unsure about that one and was too lazy to whip out my OS. It shows my lack of 80s DC stuff as I was a 100% Marvel man back then.

 

it's a good ish. you will laugh hysterically at the goofy-ash outfit Giffen stuck Lobo with. although i was a bigger fan of his buddy with the tophat, iirc

[Jake01-migration]

oh wow...avengers annual 10 in guide is what 45 bucks?? im happy selling them for 10 12 bucks apiece and they dont even move like you would expect they would with the huge discount from OS..I have bought many copies recently in large OO lots for around 2 bucks a piece(i also just bought 3 in 9.0 for 3 dollars total) avengers anything after issue 200 usually sells for about 2 bucks a piece.respectable near guide prices can be obtained for raw copies before that such as the Byrne run as well as issues between 100 and about 130.other than that common issues in good shape ill gladly sell at half guide.but then again those are mid to late bronze issues