Where do you see the hobby in 25 years 4 4

[Ken Aldred]

11 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

so much can change in the future .. back in the 60's the top paid athletes were professional bowlers !! and bowling was one of the most popular sports on tv,.., these days pro bowling is on life support

The same thing is happening now with darts in the UK.  Hugely popular on TV only a decade or two back.

[Ken Aldred]

9 hours ago, OuterboroGuy said:

So I needed some throne-reading material yesterday and grabbed a Silver Surfer #4 that was lying around (1987 series). Sometimes when I want to torture myself I look at the back-issue prices in the ads from 1980s books.  Check out these AF15 prices (low grade, mid grade, high grade).  (Of course, in 1987 I was an 18 year old kid eating government cheese and heading off to college on scholarship.  But if I tried I probably could have scratched together a few hundred bucks.)

The problem here is that from these two you would probably have received an extremely overgraded copy or one with restoration.

Perhaps not too bad only if you were incredibly patient and willing to wait decades for the market to compensate.

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by Ken Aldred

[FlyingDonut]

The Great Crash of 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 is coming!

[Mercury Man]

9 hours ago, OuterboroGuy said:

So I needed some throne-reading material yesterday and grabbed a Silver Surfer #4 that was lying around (1987 series). Sometimes when I want to torture myself I look at the back-issue prices in the ads from 1980s books.  Check out these AF15 prices (low grade, mid grade, high grade).  (Of course, in 1987 I was an 18 year old kid eating government cheese and heading off to college on scholarship.  But if I tried I probably could have scratched together a few hundred bucks.)

Don't kick yourself.  It's all relative.   I am the same age as you.  I remember 1988 a small place in town, did comics, but mostly antiques.  The owner had a X-Men #1 that he pulled out to show me.   Higher grade, I think he was somewhere in the $400 range, and at that time, I just kind of thought, that was a ton of money for a comic book.  I didn't have that kind of money lying around.  Should have got a second job that summer 

[Hollywood1892]

1 hour ago, FlyingDonut said:

The Great Crash of 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 is coming!

It wasn't a thread about some sort of crash, it was just a thread about what peoples opinions were about comics in 25 years, but thanks for your input

[kav]

23 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

It wasn't a thread about some sort of crash, it was just a thread about what peoples opinions were about comics in 25 years, but thanks for your input

I wish you would change the title-I dont see comic collecting as a 'hobby'.  I enjoy the stories and reading and owning comics.  I also read a lot of novels and have a closet full but do not consider that a 'hobby'.

[FlyingDonut]

2 hours ago, Hollywood1892 said:

It wasn't a thread about some sort of crash, it was just a thread about what peoples opinions were about comics in 25 years, but thanks for your input

Was just pre-emptive. Comics in 2045? I'll be 80, so hopefully with large print.

[James J Johnson]

44 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

Was just pre-emptive. Comics in 2045? I'll be 80, so hopefully with large print.

Many of us won't be here! In fact, the forum may not even be recognizable by today's forum standards, moderation, members and whatnot; it may be mostly newbies, whippersnappers and upstarts no less in 25 years. In fact, you can probably count on that. Woe to us.   

Helen knows all about this. She'll share it with you:

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by James J Johnson

[Hollywood1892]

8 hours ago, kav said:

I wish you would change the title-I dont see comic collecting as a 'hobby'.  I enjoy the stories and reading and owning comics.  I also read a lot of novels and have a closet full but do not consider that a 'hobby'.

You're not the title police

[theCapraAegagrus]

14 hours ago, Hollywood1892 said:

What does that have to do with collectibles?

Nobody bought their wedding crashers on dvd thinking it was going to pull in a fortune down the road

I was concise: "They don't want to own much."

[theCapraAegagrus]

14 hours ago, kav said:

People collect art at all levels.  Not every art collector has Monets.  There are plenty of $500-$1000 art pieces from long ago.  There are second, third, fourth tier artists from the 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, etc.  People also pay for valuable prints.  They are not one of a kind.  Warhol prints are quite valuable.  

He made a specific point and I combated it.

[1950's war comics]

i hope that comic books stay popular 25 years from now ,, i think coins have the best staying power ,,, i am amazed at how little interest there is in stamp collecting these days ..

so one never knows...

[Bookery]

15 hours ago, Myowncollector said:

Nothing rude or dismissive at all. I know you are a shop owner. That is why I didn't want to get into a discussion with you. What could I possibly say to make you think otherwise.  Don't want you think otherwise. You can feel however you want about whatever you want. I appreciated the reply but I haven't heard of anyone else having your view points. Not a single person. Especially on the movies. I thought everyone who collects comics and keeps tabs on the price knows movies effect their value. Different people and areas so I believe you. Just every shop owner and dealer I know says every year that they keep thinking it is time for the bubble to burst yet every year is the best year they ever had. This year will probably be different to say the least. Friend had a shop next to a movie theater. Soon as movie ended people would come over and buy iron man comics or whatever movie just ended. After heath ledger joker, sold out anything joker from any age. 2012 I seen every single one of my mega keys double in value with the avengers movie. I had many c and d list characters books thst nobody cared about increase crazy amounts because of a tv or movie. So you have had different results, fair enough. It will never be like the 90s with hot titles selling half a million copies and no book will ever sell over a million copies unless they make it super cheap or something crazy. But the fact that books still sell 30 to 100 k physical copies at $4 and $5 is just as impressive. Who knows what the digital numbers are but the fact people actually pay for them is impressive.

Sure comic collecting became more popular in the 70s and gained each decade after. And yes non key issues don't gain any value. Especially now that there are how many titles released each month all with numerous variants. I am just judging the comic collectible market by comics that are actually collectible. 

That's my viewpoint and that of ever shop owner and dealer I know. Nothing you say will change it. Not being rude. We just have no reason to discuss the topic unless you tell me what I said altered your opinion. But in 2 months I have never seen a single person say oh wow, you was right wa wrong or you opened my eyes. Or any such thing. 

Most of the problem is we're talking about two different things.  I'm responding to the specific thread title.  You're commenting about specific collectibles.  I never said movies haven't driven certain issues skyward... I'm not oblivious.  I meant movies haven't driven more people toward the comic medium overall.  Prices can go up within a small community of collectors without that community increasing in size.  Book collectors use "The Great Gatsby" as an example.  99% of the used book market is defunct.  It happened in a fairly short period of time.  But a pristine copy of Gatsby sets a new record every auction.  That's because even though there may be only 50 people on the planet willing to spend $20-$30k for a copy, there are only a couple of dozen copies to be had.  It's a very tiny demand, but an even smaller supply.  At that level, however, that one collectible tells us nothing about the overall health of the market.

All pop-culture collectibles fade... always have, always will.  That doesn't mean they evaporate completely... there are still a few people collecting Felix the Cat.  But they diminish to the point that it's just a small hardcore group that still collects them, and the general public is barely aware of them as a collectible entity.  There may be a couple of ultra-rare Big Little Books that would set a new record if they came up for sale... but the vast vast majority, including once "hot" issues... will sell for a fraction of the value they did 20 years ago.

[Bookery]

13 hours ago, kav said:

Its not MCU that keeps book valuable plenty of books like planet or venus or nearly any GA continue to climb.  There is zero evidence for comics as a collectible dying and continuing evidence for the opposite for the last 40 years running.

I have my own 500-page price guide that I maintain, and I update it every couple of months.  You would be shocked how many golden-age issues have declined, sometimes substantially, in the past year or two.  DCs, including "the good stuff" have taken a pretty big hit.  Even a lot of non-key horror and good-girl books have declined, though I think this latter is more a settling down after an over-exuberant escalation.  But golden-age's scarcity has kept it less volatile... it doesn't take very many collectors to hold up the value of such a limited supply.  But a lot of these characters have been mostly forgotten... the likelihood that books featuring Hourman, Starman, Shining Knight, Johnny Quick, Doll Man, Kid Eternity, etc., especially with unexceptional covers or in less than high grade, will continue to be in high demand across the decades seems unlikely.  They won't be worthless, of course.  But when adjusted for inflation, a lot of $1000 books will one day be $500 books or even $200 books (and yes,  a handful will be $10,000 books).

[theCapraAegagrus]

47 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

i hope that comic books stay popular 25 years from now ,, i think coins have the best staying power ,,, i am amazed at how little interest there is in stamp collecting these days ..

so one never knows...

Probably due to the lack of using them these days.

I think stamps are pretty cool, though. Worked with an engineer who collects them.

[Hollywood1892]

2 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

I was concise: "They don't want to own much."

I am pretty sure minimalism has very little to do with collectibles

[theCapraAegagrus]

Just now, Hollywood1892 said:

I am pretty sure minimalism has very little to do with collectibles

It literally does, though.

Collectibles are ultimately unnecessary, and minimalism is all about necessity.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Chris, in answer to your question, and it can only be an opinion because nobody can know what the future will bring.....

25 years will fly by. It sounds a long time away but it's not. 25 years ago it was 1995, that seems like yesterday to me.

I believe that not much will change regarding comic books. Maybe new books will move into full on digital production, who knows?

But as regards hard copy books from the 1930s to now, they will still be circulating from collector to collector to speculator. There will always be a market for them. There are literally billions of them in existence. That will not disappear. People love nostalgia and the past, and certain folks will always want to collect.

This hobby is solid as a rock.

[FlyingDonut]

1 hour ago, Bookery said:

  There may be a couple of ultra-rare Big Little Books that would set a new record if they came up for sale... but the vast vast majority, including once "hot" issues... will sell for a fraction of the value they did 20 years ago.

Tell me about it. 

[Hollywood1892]

1 hour ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

It literally does, though.

Collectibles are ultimately unnecessary, and minimalism is all about necessity.

You could literally own one slab that would be more valuable then a condominium