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What happens to GA collecting when the Boomers die out?

Started by The Black Hand ®,

68 posts in this topic

The Black Hand ®

The Black Hand ®

Posted
Posted

I was reading another post asking how would a slumping real estate market affect your collecting. So I've always wondered what will happen once the boomers die out. I collected silver age off the rack when I was a kid(yes, I bought Spiderman #1 at my local drugstore along with all the rest) along with back issue GA and I collect golden age now at 53 years old. I'm wondering if the hobby dies when my generations dies out.What do you guys think?

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drbanner

drbanner

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I'm 37, starting reading comics around 1975, and over the last 5 years have sold just about every non-Hulk bronze age comic I had in order to build my GA collection.

 

What's not to love!?!? devil.gif

 

mask1.jpg

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CW

CW

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19 and collecting GA

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CW

CW

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Maybe the GA will go away

 

Nice try J. 27_laughing.gif

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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I'm 34 and collect GA... didn't start until a few years ago.

 

Ditto for me...word for word. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

29 yrs old, been buying GA for a number of years, but made my largest purchases within the past 3 three years. I think the belief that GA collectors are all 89 and ready to croak is largely a misnomer. There's new blood. thumbsup2.gif

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jkrk

jkrk

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From my perspective here is the proper question:

 

Will future gnerations be interested in collecting comics as a hobby whether we are talking about GA. SA. BA. or moderns? If the answer is affirmative then I have no concern about some GA titles. For instance will a bronze buyer of Batman comics have any interest in going back and collecting the early Batman books? Once he/she increases his earnings power then I believe the answer to be Yes. I also suspect that when collectors look at the historic aspect of the books a market will always exist.

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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I believe there's a healthy future for vintage comics. I know a lot of folks on the boards disagree, and I've read many a report about the steadily declining readership and so forth.

 

But I think that collecting pricey material is not contingent upon readership. I know for a lot of people that is the hook into the scene, but things are changing....nobody needs to read a Batman #1 (though of course everyone should) in order to appreciate its value, its iconography, its significance to pop culture, etc.

 

So I don't see the death of readership being the death of vintage comics. Slabbing would seem to prove that very point, would it not? For better or for worse, comics are becoming encapsuled collectibles a la sports cards and coins, and people don't buy those to read them, obviously. So I see a similar marketplace available for comic collectors, too...

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shrunkenhead

shrunkenhead

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Also, we're (meaning the GA crowd) becoming increasingly cover conscious...it started with the Gerber guide, and has perpetuated into the age of slabbing. Just another sign that readership doesn't always equate to collectability. Classic covers reap big bucks, regardless of the interiors. Take the LB stuff, for example, all those shiity pages with gorgeous cover art!

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delekkerste

delekkerste

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Wow, glad to see all you younger people going to golden age. I guess you know quality when you see it.

 

Yes, it's good to know that these 6 people are going to keep this genre alive. tongue.gif

 

I'm sure there will always be an interest in GA books, but with the demographic and income trends going the way they are (along with the slow, secular decline of the comic book medium/hobby as a whole), I am sure there will be a net loss of GA collectors going forward and fewer dollars available to support the market. All these "well, I'm xx years old and I just started collecting GA" anecdotes are quaint, but any serious estimation of the trends in terms of net collectors and net dollars has to be troubling to all but the most ardent Pollyannas out there.

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jbud73

jbud73

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I'm 34 and collect GA... didn't start until a few years ago.

 

Ditto for me...word for word. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

29 yrs old, been buying GA for a number of years, but made my largest purchases within the past 3 three years. I think the belief that GA collectors are all 89 and ready to croak is largely a misnomer. There's new blood. thumbsup2.gif

 

Time for a transfusion tongue.gif

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