Oh Man I Sure Hope the Comics Market Never Crashes as Bad as the Stamps Market 13 13

[ComicFill]

On 3/10/2022 at 2:31 PM, Rob said:

Guaranteed.  Talking about 2.0's, last April, 2 copies sold for over $10,000.  This past Feb 5 one sold for $9500, then the last sale was $9000.  I would say the decrease has begun.

The entire comic market went nuts last spring / summer. Almost everything was hitting all time highs. Everything has cooled a bit. If mutants are introduced in MoM it will spike again and then it will continue to go up as there is casting news, leaks, set shots, trailers, etc. I don't think X-men 1 is coming down unless the whole comic market comes down.

[Rob]

On 3/10/2022 at 7:22 PM, ComicFill said:

The entire comic market went nuts last spring / summer. Almost everything was hitting all time highs. Everything has cooled a bit. If mutants are introduced in MoM it will spike again and then it will continue to go up as there is casting news, leaks, set shots, trailers, etc. I don't think X-men 1 is coming down unless the whole comic market comes down.

Well that was my point.  I used X-Men #1 in 2.0 as a reference.  My prediction is that there's no way that book (and the relative values in the market) goes from ~$1000 for the last decade to $10,000 overnight, and stays there.

[comicginger1789]

I view my comics as my hobby. Is it nice to know there is value in them beyond what I sent? Sure

But end of the day, my hobby in life could have been golf. I could have spent the money on equipment and games and beers and such. That hobby would never repay itself. It’s about the enjoyment. Comics are the same for me.

Will they crash? Probably some day. But I feel that day is a lot further off than ever before. Those saying comics are hard to get into and expensive are being silly. Enough people out there exist and I think the hobby is growing amongst people aged 20-35. It is not the cheapest to get into but once people hit that age and have money to spend, they are happy to do so to own whatever books they can.

[William-James88]

On 3/10/2022 at 6:46 PM, ComicFill said:

If you are going to spend $1,000 on a spider-man 300 it should be because you like Venom so much you are willing to spend $1,000 to own it. That shouldn't change just because suddenly other people aren't. I'm not going to lie, it's fun to track the value of my collection. But as my wife likes to remind me it isn't actually worth money unless I sell it.

Lol, my wife says the same thing when I tell her about how much my FF 5 is worth,  knowing I won't ever sell it.

[SuperBird]

As long as I've been on the boards, there have been threads exactly like this one. Meanwhile, comics are more mainstream than at any time I can remember, and values have gone up exponentially. 

[JJ-4]

On 3/11/2022 at 7:58 AM, SuperBird said:

As long as I've been on the boards, there have been threads exactly like this one. Meanwhile, comics are more mainstream than at any time I can remember, and values have gone up exponentially. 

Super Heroes are as mainstream as any time I can remember (think of all the kids buying comics in the 70's thru the 90's) now enjoying the MCU.  People buying new books, not so much.

[ComicFill]

On 3/11/2022 at 6:43 AM, JJ-4 said:

Super Heroes are as mainstream as any time I can remember (think of all the kids buying comics in the 70's thru the 90's) now enjoying the MCU.  People buying new books, not so much.

 

On 3/10/2022 at 6:49 PM, comicginger1789 said:

I view my comics as my hobby. Is it nice to know there is value in them beyond what I sent? Sure

But end of the day, my hobby in life could have been golf. I could have spent the money on equipment and games and beers and such. That hobby would never repay itself. It’s about the enjoyment. Comics are the same for me.

Will they crash? Probably some day. But I feel that day is a lot further off than ever before. Those saying comics are hard to get into and expensive are being silly. Enough people out there exist and I think the hobby is growing amongst people aged 20-35. It is not the cheapest to get into but once people hit that age and have money to spend, they are happy to do so to own whatever books they can.

When people talk about being hard to get into, I think they mean for people who want all the keys. 20 years ago if you wanted an AF15, it was expensive but you could save up for it. Now most people never could buy it. The market has gone up so much that those marvel silver age keys are simply never going to be accessible to someone just joining the market.

[EastEnd1]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:43 AM, JJ-4 said:

Super Heroes are as mainstream as any time I can remember (think of all the kids buying comics in the 70's thru the 90's) now enjoying the MCU.  People buying new books, not so much.

 

A recent article from Yahoo Finance...

The Billion-Dollar Comic Book Business Continues To Boom

According to Publisher’s Weekly, sales of comic books and graphic novels topped $1.28 billion in 2020, an all-time high. It’s no fluke. With a few exceptions — sales fell a little in 2017, for example — comic book sales have been rising consistently for decades.

A quarter-century ago in 1996, North American sales were around $300-$320 million, according to Comichron. By the early 2000s, sales were well over $400 million a year, and by the midway point of the decade, they had topped a half-billion dollars. By the early 2010s, annual sales were over $700 million — over $900 million by 2015. In 2019, North American comic book sales broke the 10-figure barrier, and at the start of the 2020s, comic books remain a billion-dollar business with no sign of slowing down — and again, that’s just North America.

According to 360 Research Reports, the global comic book industry is expected to reach nearly $4.69 billion in 2026 — up from $3.87 billion in 2020 — for a compound annual growth rate of 3.3%.

[SuperBird]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:43 AM, JJ-4 said:

Super Heroes are as mainstream as any time I can remember (think of all the kids buying comics in the 70's thru the 90's) now enjoying the MCU.  People buying new books, not so much.

Buying habits are switching to graphic novels, is all. Overall sales are up. 

[SuperBird]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:57 AM, ComicFill said:

 

When people talk about being hard to get into, I think they mean for people who want all the keys. 20 years ago if you wanted an AF15, it was expensive but you could save up for it. Now most people never could buy it. The market has gone up so much that those marvel silver age keys are simply never going to be accessible to someone just joining the market.

That's OK though. There are always top tier collectibles that most cannot afford, but they are still able to enjoy the hobby. 20 years ago it was just a different set of books that were unattainable. 

Edited March 11, 2022 by SuperBird

[Poekaymon]

On 3/10/2022 at 3:10 AM, Krydel4 said:

Not really. $1 in 1982 is worth $2.91 today. 

That's exactly why I said "depending on how old you are." 

Either way, by your own numbers, when you account for inflation the difference is, in my humble opinion, minor, especially taking into account the other things I've mentioned.  

[1Cool]

On 3/11/2022 at 12:21 PM, SuperBird said:

Buying habits are switching to graphic novels, is all. Overall sales are up. 

From a floppy comic book collector vantage point it's a huge issue.  If almost all the growth in comic books are coming from digital and TPB sales then why would it be seen as a good thing for comic book collectors?  That is like saying comic book movies make billions a year so the comic market must be red hot - they are two completely different items. 

I do agree to your earlier post that this discussion has been brought up every couple years for the last 15 years.  It use to be the prices are just too high for graded books since nobody could get multiples of guide back before CGC and its pretty obvious that people are willing to pay up the wazoo for high grade slabs and key books.  About 10 years ago I remember some people started talking about the lack of younger people actively collecting comics and who would buy all these comics once the older guys started retiring or expiring.  I think most of us gave the hobby about 25 years back 10 years ago.  I guess we will see in about 15 years if the projections come true or the market will pivot again due to unforeseen factors.  Time will tell.  I'd be shocked if I was still buying and selling comic books after about 10 years so I guess it will be for others to pick up all the good stuff for great prices.

[1Cool]

Former DC Comics Artist Shane Davis Says DC Comics' Days Are Numbered Now That Publisher Is Booted From WarnerMedia’s Office - Bounding Into Comics

With DC being so close to not even producing comic books is there really an argument to be made for comic books being as vibrant as ever?  

[William-James88]

On 3/11/2022 at 9:58 AM, SuperBird said:

As long as I've been on the boards, there have been threads exactly like this one. Meanwhile, comics are more mainstream than at any time I can remember, and values have gone up exponentially. 

Not all though, which is what makes this thread very interesting for me. I have now learnt that the comic collecting landscape has in fact changed over the past decade(s). For one, while the idea of comics and comic characters is more mainstream than ever, buying monthly comics is at a low. It is of course offset by more people reading trades. So then comic collecting is down in that sense.

And then I learnt of run collecting. I never really cared to look but books like DC Silver Age Hawkman or Atom sell less than guide when they aren't keys. So values of those books have not gone up exponentially. They have instead fallen.

That was not the case 15 years ago. I mean even some Superman comics crashed. A Superman 184 in 9.2 sold for just shy of $200 in 2008.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/superman-184-dc-1966-cgc-nm-92-off-white-pages/a/18063-13698.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 

I bought that exact slabbed book for $60 in 2021. That's a crash. But people don't talk about it since no one cares about run of the mill non keys anymore. And that's why those crashed.

[D2]

I get concerned that the comic market will one day crash.

I don't own a store or know what percentage of readers are under the age of 15, but I do believe that readers under the age of 15 are the future.

 

If we can't get 50% of comic readers to be kids, age 15 and under, then sell everything. 50% of a healthy market, obviously. Not 50% of 10,000 total readers in the industry.

[D2]

On 3/11/2022 at 9:58 AM, SuperBird said:

As long as I've been on the boards, there have been threads exactly like this one. Meanwhile, comics are more mainstream than at any time I can remember, and values have gone up exponentially. 

I don't know if I believe this is true.

This is my opinion, obviously, but unless we know exactly who is buying comics, it's impossible to know. In fact, there can be arguments made that speculators are the ones that are buying books in bulk.

There is a fundamental difference between comic sales numbers, and comic reader numbers. Speculators will come and go, but the longevity of the hobby/market as a whole will depend on who is reading them.

[bc]

On 3/11/2022 at 3:08 PM, D2 said:

I get concerned that the comic market will one day crash.

I don't own a store or know what percentage of readers are under the age of 15, but I do believe that readers under the age of 15 are the future.

 

If we can't get 50% of comic readers to be kids, age 15 and under, then sell everything. 50% of a healthy market, obviously. Not 50% of 10,000 total readers in the industry.

Can't speak for all, but I got hooked on comics back in the early '70's because you could get them anywhere - convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores and just about anyplace they could jam in a spinner rack. I didn't have to bug the parents to drive me across town to the LCS. Plus I could buy a small stack with my allowance to get me thru the week. 

I think the medium needs to consider the prices on modern books (will not comment on content here) and their limited availability to readers below the legal driving age - those factors will permit the fostering of a new crop of comic readers needed to sustain the hobby in the long term.

-bc

[Krydel4]

On 3/11/2022 at 12:59 PM, bc said:

Can't speak for all, but I got hooked on comics back in the early '70's because you could get them anywhere - convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores and just about anyplace they could jam in a spinner rack. I didn't have to bug the parents to drive me across town to the LCS. Plus I could buy a small stack with my allowance to get me thru the week. 

I think the medium needs to consider the prices on modern books (will not comment on content here) and their limited availability to readers below the legal driving age - those factors will permit the fostering of a new crop of comic readers needed to sustain the hobby in the long term.

-bc

And price really. New Digital issues should be 99 cents. The fact they are the same price as a hard copy in most cases is ridiculous. 

[D2]

On 3/11/2022 at 3:59 PM, bc said:

Can't speak for all, but I got hooked on comics back in the early '70's because you could get them anywhere - convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores and just about anyplace they could jam in a spinner rack. I didn't have to bug the parents to drive me across town to the LCS. Plus I could buy a small stack with my allowance to get me thru the week. 

I think the medium needs to consider the prices on modern books (will not comment on content here) and their limited availability to readers below the legal driving age - those factors will permit the fostering of a new crop of comic readers needed to sustain the hobby in the long term.

-bc

Nailed it. 
 

Comic books don’t have to die. 
 

They are a healthy alternative to entertainment outside of a screen. Yes, there are more immersive and intense forms of entertainment, but it’s also an affordable and portable way to have fun. 
 

Same as you, I was hooked on comics at 10, through books at the convenient store. 
 

When kids hit 16, they have wheels and are mobile. By 16 they are into parties with raging hormones, probably for a few years already. Optimum age to snag a real reader is 9 to 11. The Walmart approach was good, but the execution failed. Go back to the bookshelf with the magazines. Corner stores… wherever. Everywhere… anyway, I digress. 

[jjonahjameson11]

On 3/11/2022 at 6:44 PM, D2 said:

Nailed it. 
 

Comic books don’t have to die. 
 

They are a healthy alternative to entertainment outside of a screen. Yes, there are more immersive and intense forms of entertainment, but it’s also an affordable and portable way to have fun. 
 

Same as you, I was hooked on comics at 10, through books at the convenient store. 
 

When kids hit 16, they have wheels and are mobile. By 16 they are into parties with raging hormones, probably for a few years already. Optimum age to snag a real reader is 9 to 11. The Walmart approach was good, but the execution failed. Go back to the bookshelf with the magazines. Corner stores… wherever. Everywhere… anyway, I digress. 

Interesting, but the vast majority of teens that I see these days have absolutely no interest in reading anything except for video game instructions or Magic card instructions.

they’re ALWAYS on their phones, discord servers,  cruising the malls for a ‘hookup’ or playing video games.

 I time, money or interest leftover for comics