I stepped away from the comic market a year ago. What happened? 7 7

[Off Panel]

On 2/13/2022 at 8:53 AM, XxSpideyxX said:

I stopped following the market at the start of 2021.  

What is going on now?  

This reminds me of a story my nephew told me last year.

He works in the downtown area of a small city in East Tennessee. One day in November 2020 he was outside taking a break when he saw "Joe," the local nomad wandering down the street. Joe liked to spend a lot of time out in the woods and would often be away for months at a time. My nephew said at that point he hadn't seen him in over a year.

Joe was moving down the sidewalk with his big tree branch walking stick, staring at everybody wearing masks and all the masking signs in the shop windows.

As he got closer, my nephew said, "Hey, Joe."

Joe stopped and said, "Hey, yourself!"

Then added, "So, um... Did somethin' happen?"

[1950's war comics]

On 2/13/2022 at 8:53 AM, XxSpideyxX said:

I stopped following the market at the start of 2021.  

What is going on now?  

your collection doubled in value

[JollyComics]

On 2/13/2022 at 11:27 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

What do you see 10 years from now? 

That is VERY GOOD question.  

I will do my best to grab some potential books and be willing to spend some expensive books in next few years before my parents are in 80's and won't be around any longer.  

Last October, my young sister was unexpectedly passed away. My family thought that she would be around after my parents will be gone. My sister was the best accountant manager and I am ok with number but I am a quick learner.  My parents already decided to show their "bible" trust books to me. I am the first person in my family to see it.  My little brother has Schizophrenia for 30 years and is not doing well lately. I looked up in the Internet about the life expectancy for the people with the mental illness. Most of them live until 50 something and very few made to early 60's. He is now 52.  If he is still alive, he will get only 20% inheritance but I will be his guardian to manage his money for the rest of his life. He is a harmless hermit. 

Wished my sister was alive today but it will be a long term assignment for me to understand how to manage the big portfolio with several lawyers, finance managers and bank managers. Maybe I WOULD able to afford some mega key books. I have about 5-7 more years to pay off my current mortgage. My parents paid off the mortgage fifteen years ago. I may retire after my parents' passings and may convert my two pensions to Roth IRAs until I turn 67 without pay taxes.  

Mine, my sister and my parents already established the college funds for my two kids who are currently in the high school.

That is ten years from now.  I may continue building up the comic book collection that will be inherited to my kids.  They LOVE manga books and Japanese stuffs.  Who knows?

Edited February 13, 2022 by JollyComics

[JollyComics]

On 2/13/2022 at 11:28 AM, goldust40 said:

Year on year since 2011 is sticker shock-world. All I've learned is that you can't second guess the market in terms of leveling off or corrections, nor do mitigating factors mean quite as much as everyone thinks.

The difference in the last 12 months is that the market growth has been turbocharged.

What a maddening year!

[707comics]

Stuff from dollar bins is now worth a lot of money and stuff that was worth money is no longer affordable to us mortal folks 

[lou_fine]

On 2/13/2022 at 6:28 AM, frozentundraguy said:

If your a fan of DC comics there are still bargains to be found.

I just checked and I believe you would be incorrect here as these books here are already at something like 6X their unrestored condition guide prices (i.e. high $2K's or low $3K's) even though they are raw and have the much dreaded restoration on them:    

On 2/5/2022 at 2:09 PM, RareHighGrade said:

I just noticed that next week's Heritage weekly auction will have low grade copies of the following early issues in the title: #6, #23, #24, #33, #34, #36 and #38.

Many of these are rarely available, so it will be a nice opportunity for folks who are trying to get them.

Which kind of makes me kind of wonder what they are going to end up at by the time the bell rings for the final bids later today.   

Edited February 13, 2022 by lou_fine

[Cat]

Oh yeah, the page by Mike Zeck introducing the black Spider-Man costume sold for around 3.5 million US dollars. I'm not joking. 

[Iceman399]

On 2/13/2022 at 9:29 AM, blazingbob said:

Roy has become a political activist.  Running with the truckers I hear at the protests selling shirts and burrito's.  Calls himself System of a protest man.

OMFG

[Cobbledclam]

On 2/13/2022 at 6:29 AM, blazingbob said:

Roy has become a political activist.  Running with the truckers I hear at the protests selling shirts and burrito's.  Calls himself System of a protest man.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Cobbledclam
Pics

[KPR Comics]

Did you really step away?

[Blastaar]

Every collector now gets their own unique variant.  You can buy them for $5.99, they will be valued at $39.99, and you can sell them for $3.99. 

[XxSpideyxX]

On 2/13/2022 at 7:20 PM, KPR Comics said:

Did you really step away?

Yep!  I grabbed my last ‘must have’ at the start of 2021 and haven’t looked at anything comic related since.  I don’t have a GPA subscription or otherwise follow the market outside of this space and the occasional YouTube prognosticator, which seem to all blow smoke anyway.  

[Ken Aldred]

The current market is so unaffordable to many of us that I’ve given up worrying about future trends.  Not worth the anguish.

 

[mysterymachine]

On 2/13/2022 at 4:54 PM, XxSpideyxX said:

Yep!  I grabbed my last ‘must have’ at the start of 2021 and haven’t looked at anything comic related since.  I don’t have a GPA subscription or otherwise follow the market outside of this space and the occasional YouTube prognosticator, which seem to all blow smoke anyway.  

I've been trying to do that since I retired last July. I just can't seem to kick the FOMO habit. Maybe I should just switch to beer. It would probably save me money.

[lordbyroncomics]

On 2/13/2022 at 8:09 PM, Ken Aldred said:

The current market is so unaffordable to many of us that I’ve given up worrying about future trends.  Not worth the anguish.

 

I relate to that. I've decided to progress with Pharmacy studies and sell my collection. A wise sage on these very boards gave me the advice of, "if you make it as a Pharmacist, you'll be able to afford to buy comics again"

[comicnoir]

If you make it in comics, you'll be able to afford comics.

[kav]

price clime a bit.

[XxSpideyxX]

On 2/13/2022 at 8:22 PM, mysterymachine said:

I've been trying to do that since I retired last July. I just can't seem to kick the FOMO habit. Maybe I should just switch to beer. It would probably save me money.

I made myself a ‘want’ list based on strict criteria and refuse to add or take away from it.   This way, my collecting goals aren’t influenced by trends or opinions, only my own personal choices and emotions.  

[Rob]

On 2/13/2022 at 9:28 AM, Gaard said:

I've been coming here for about 8 years. People have been warning about a coming bust since day one.

Busts happen when bubbles burst.  In 2014, there wasn't a bubble.  Let's take X-Men 94 in 9.4 as an example (you can pick any issue of any title, and it'll probably tell the same story).  8 years ago, Feb 2014, GPA shows it sold for $1538 on avg.  In fact, from 2002 through Jan 2021 its price was pretty stable, fluctuating between $1200-$3000 year after year.  Then in 2021, it skyrocketed to a high sale of $7988 by May.  You honestly think this new environment is an apples to apples comparison to the hobby over the last 8 years?  Or ever?  

Of course this is going to correct.  We're already seeing it.  The 12 month avg of that book was $6529 and the 90 day avg is $5109.  Every single grade of #94, except 9.8 and 1.8, the 90-day avg is less than the 12 month avg.  I'm putting my buying on hold for a while. Certainly don't want to invest on the way down.

[Westy Steve]

On 2/14/2022 at 12:50 AM, Rob said:

Busts happen when bubbles burst.  In 2014, there wasn't a bubble.  Let's take X-Men 94 in 9.4 as an example (you can pick any issue of any title, and it'll probably tell the same story).  8 years ago, Feb 2014, GPA shows it sold for $1538 on avg.  In fact, from 2002 through Jan 2021 its price was pretty stable, fluctuating between $1200-$3000 year after year.  Then in 2021, it skyrocketed to a high sale of $7988 by May.  You honestly think this new environment is an apples to apples comparison to the hobby over the last 8 years?  Or ever?  

Of course this is going to correct.  We're already seeing it.  The 12 month avg of that book was $6529 and the 90 day avg is $5109.  Every single grade of #94, except 9.8 and 1.8, the 90-day avg is less than the 12 month avg.  I'm putting my buying on hold for a while. Certainly don't want to invest on the way down.

Interesting that you use that book as an example. I just bought the best one I could afford at the moment, which is a 6.5.  Why did I buy it? Read on.  

In my humble opinion, the market has really stratified. I know you guys say that dollar bin books are expensive, but realistically it’s only some movie tie in books that get hot in those bins that get hot. And books get hot fast because of FOMO and because the good stuff is so expensive. 

I’ve come to terms with the fact that $500 is the new $200.   I tend to collect more “important” books and my old threshold of $200 doesn’t buy a very important book unless I want low grade. So based on that analysis, I feel that X-Men 94 is a good purchase relative to other stuff out there.  I’ve started looking at prices per grade point and it’s taught me that books like X-Men 94 at $160 to $175 per point seem cheap relative to their relevance. Many of us remember when GSX1 (now at $700 per point) and an X94 cost the same. It seems the X 94 is about equally as painful to purchase as it was when I was a single guy just out of college with a good job. But GSX1 is ridiculous. 

Earlier appearances, once coveted by collectors, are taking a huge backseat to first appearances. And the MCU is driving the bus with such an iron grip that collected books are being forgotten. If you want to collect the “new X-Men“, you’re going to need an X-Men 94 which will cost you about $160 per point mid grade.  Figure out what a werewolf by night 32 will cost you per point   (more than twice as much!) if you want to collect those early appearances. Movie madness! X94 is the relative bargain. 
 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Westy Steve