Wall Street Journal Article on Comics & Pressing - Sept 23, 2005

[joe_collector]

It's in the hard copy. What do you mean "online puff piece"?

 

, you mean this was actually printed in the Wall Street Journal? I assumed that it was some insert or weekend magazine piece, not from the main core of the daily.

 

A "puff piece" is similar to a vanity project, designed to portray the subject matter in a positive light, and often using close personal contacts for the information and quotes.

[jimm94]

From the tone of the WSJ writer, it sounds like he's a forumite!

 

I doubt it, and I don't see this article as a sign of the comic implosion, though I do think we are on the declining side of the current bubble for some books. If I were to guess, I'd say that Mark used his relationship with the media (and this reporter in particular) to suggest a story idea and provide some directions/people to contact as a starting point.

 

As tth said, the author did a pretty good job of getting the major points across without screwing anything up too badly. It's nice to see comics get mainstream media coverage, even if the author was picking up on a lead from someone already within the hobby.

 

BTW, Mark, I enjoyed seeing you on C-Span the other night. Bravo!

[Foolkiller]

It's in Today's edition. I get the jist of puff piece, but I don't think this quite qualifies... though I have to admit, it certainly smacks of some of those qualities. I wasn't sure about what you meant by the online part, -- the puff piece I got what you were getting at.

[TomG]

There've been articles about "comic books as investment" for years, at least since the early 70's. This is nothing new. That's one very old cat that wiggled his old bones out of that bag!

 

Here is an interesting article from way back.

[Red Hook]

Here's an even earlier article that I clipped from the newspapers when I was 13 and still have in my files.....you might say this has been a topic of interest to me for a while.......

 

[TomG]

Nothing like looking at history!

[Red Hook]

YEAH!

[Foolkiller]

Great stuff fellas ! I love it... !

[FFB]

To raise $50,000 to help start his San Francisco law firm, Scott Bonagofsky parted with some of his most valuable possessions: early issues of "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "Fantastic Four" comic books. "It was better than I did in the stock market over the last five years," he says.

 

If your stock portfolio couldn't beat the comic market over the past 5 years with the numerous sectors (homebuilders, specialty retail, basic materials, energy, etc.) that have had triple-digit returns during that time (didn't you score with MVL and LGF? ), all I can say is that it's a good thing you're starting a law firm and not a hedge fund.

 

Congrats on the new firm, though!

 

Paragraph 1: Eat me.

 

Paragraph 2: Thanks Gene!

[garthgantu]

 

Pretty unimpressive reporting, I'd say.

 

I wouldn't say that... I'd call it "reporting for the masses." If this article appeared in CBG, we'd be up in arms at the way it glosses over what we would consider "key points/facts." But the WSJ has to write for a broad business audience, and this article is in the "Weekend Journal" section, which is even softer in terms of reporting business/industry news and trends.

 

All in all, it's pretty good, IMHO

[Foolkiller]

hey scott --

 

are you doing some new firm info or a release -- I'd love to get any new info you have about your new firm...

[garthgantu]

You all realize, of course, that this means it is clearly time to sell.

 

Nice article, btw. Clearly the writer knows what he's talking about. I wonder where the writer got the idea for the placement.

 

And, just as an aside, once again, it points out the screaming, crying need for a PR professional for CGC. Steve, please contact me, I can give you the names of 20 top notch PR people who can work with the company to get this sort of placement and control your spin.

 

Or you could just give him my name and save a lot of time and trouble...

[FFB]

From the tone of the WSJ writer, it sounds like he's a forumite!

 

He's not, as far as I know. But he spoke to some forumites who referred him to other forumites, who referred him to other forumites, and next thing you know, the story was chock full of them.

[FFB]

hey scott --

 

are you doing some new firm info or a release -- I'd love to get any new info you have about your new firm...

 

Sure thing, Brian. PM me your current work address.

[tth2]

From the tone of the WSJ writer, it sounds like he's a forumite!

 

He's not, as far as I know. But he spoke to some forumites who referred him to other forumites, who referred him to other forumites, and next thing you know, the story was chock full of them.

Is he a comic collector? The article is really done so much better than the average mainstream media piece. He`s either a collector or did a very good job of learning from his sources and filtering the trivial from the important.

[FFB]

From the tone of the WSJ writer, it sounds like he's a forumite!

 

He's not, as far as I know. But he spoke to some forumites who referred him to other forumites, who referred him to other forumites, and next thing you know, the story was chock full of them.

Is he a comic collector? The article is really done so much better than the average mainstream media piece. He`s either a collector or did a very good job of learning from his sources and filtering the trivial from the important.

 

He is not a comic collector. I spoke with him about a dozen times over the past few weeks and I know he was talking to a lot of other people and asking many, many questions and doing a lot of fact checking. He did a very thorough job of researching his story.

[tth2]

I spoke with him about a dozen times over the past few weeks

And yet the article was so balanced!

[delekkerste]

, you mean this was actually printed in the Wall Street Journal? I assumed that it was some insert or weekend magazine piece, not from the main core of the daily.

 

Your assumption is correct - it was published in the "Weekend Journal" insert that appears on Fridays and covers art, food, sports, travel, celebrity homes, pop culture and other things that don't appear regularly on the other days of the week.

[Foolkiller]

I'm not drawing a distinction on this. Insert or no, I got the impression from JC he thought it was just an internet piece, which it is not.

[the blob]

there have been articles about comics as investments for many years. and there have been ups and downs in the comics market. but when did "investment grade" comics ever take a hit in price? either high grade expensive books or lower grade expensive books... seriously, have any of the marvel #1s from the early 60s ever lost value (even when OPG bumped down prices on lower grade stuff?). heck, we've had several nasty recessions since collecting really started big in the early 70s and they just stay steady or go up... not that an $800 low grade copy of a marvel #1 is an investment book. if people treat this stuff as part of a portfolio, I think you need to talk about books with FMV of $2500+. too much hassle and too many transaction costs selling a $500 book to talk about it as part of your portfolio.