Is there honestly any long term value in modern (post 2010) comics? 3 3

[KCode98]

This is an internal struggle I'm really having with myself. Half of me is saying

"Any key books, there are people sitting on THOUSANDS of NM+ copies waiting to floor the market. So no, there will never be any long term value"

The other half of me is saying

"That is ignorant to think that anything new cannot be valuable going forward long term"

 

But hear me out, I see any new books as being sold of knee jerk reactions and trends only to eventually die out and be pennies. OR new books are gaining value due to the movies but will only die out after the movie is old. Also at this point collecting is far solidified, encapsulating comics is here, and that leaves countless copies to always stay NM+ which will kill the supply part of the "supply and demand" and we need both to have value.

Example would be if in 1963 countless people were collecting comics at 12 cent and pressing them all in books to never see the light of day until today, a NM+ of X-Men 1 would be worth half of less what it is worth now.

 

And that isn't even taking into account the countless different "variants" that are out there for each book. I know if you could see in the future it would be easy but I cannot wrap my head around what could be potential long term investments with ANY new books!

Edited March 23, 2022 by KCode98

[eddly]

Star Wars 1 is generally regarded as one of the highest printed comics from the Bronze Age (feel free to correct me). For years I would see people on this forum claim that it will never be worth anything as a result.

It was one of the first comics that people bought in large quantities for collecting purposes. I’d say it is doing quite well despite its high print run.

What happens if X-Force becomes the next big franchise? Can X-Force 1 become a hot book? How about those mass produced X-Men 1 books? Already getting hot despite being common as dirt.

So what about books post 2010? Definitely as long as the particular “franchise” or character remains relevant. Also in 10 years is the comic industry still a thing? Before the relatively recent spike in comic movies and shows… there was a lot of doubt regarding the current generation caring about comics and what that would mean for the industry. Is that still a threat or will movies and shows still keep comic characters relevant.

The rule of 25 should be considered as well.

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by eddly

[Beyonder123]

People have been having this argument for decades. I remember people saying 80s books would never be super valuable because of their high print runs. Then people said 90s books wouldn't be valuable. And now people are debating weather moderns will be valuable. I'm sure old timers remember people saying similar things back in the day.

If there is a demand, there will be value no matter the print run. Sure maybe moderns will never reach the level of value that silver and golden age books currently hold. But like what was stated above, the real question is weather there will be a market. Not whether books in said market from specific time periods will be worth anything.

[KCode98]

On 3/23/2022 at 8:08 PM, Beyonder123 said:

People have been having this argument for decades. I remember people saying 80s books would never be super valuable because of their high print runs. Then people said 90s books wouldn't be valuable. And now people are debating weather moderns will be valuable. I'm sure old timers remember people saying similar things back in the day.

If there is a demand, there will be value no matter the print run. Sure maybe moderns will never reach the level of value that silver and golden age books currently hold. But like what was stated above, the real question is weather there will be a market. Not whether books in said market from specific time periods will be worth anything.

Why would there be no future market if there has been a market since 1939? Same logic you applied could be applied to that as well, no?

[Lazyboy]

On 3/23/2022 at 6:59 PM, eddly said:

Star Wars 1 is generally regarded as one of the highest printed comics from the Bronze Age

... across all printings.

On 3/23/2022 at 6:59 PM, eddly said:

(feel free to correct me).

[eddly]

On 3/23/2022 at 6:33 PM, Lazyboy said:

... across all printings.

I’m good with this correction, when I saw the notification that you quoted me… I was scared of another x-force debate. 

[Krydel4]

Probably. It all depends on your definition of relative worth. Will there be comics that are worth millions like AC 1, Tech 27, MC1...etc? No, I don't see that happening. Will there be books worth in the 4 or 5 figure range in 25 years, I think yes. However, it will probably be coming from the indies like IDW, Image, Darkhorse etc. just because the print runs are smaller. With the speculators running rampant, I don't think their will be anything printed in the last 5 years that isn't going to have thousands of copies in highgrade available at any moment and that will keep prices low. I personally collected New Mutunts in the 90s and bought 2 copies when a new character was introduced (1 to read and 1 to keep) so I have 2 NM 87 and NM 98. I was very careful in choosing my comics so even my readers from back then are 9.2s and 9.4s. The other 87 and 98 are pristine and haven't been touched since they left the LCS. Also of the NM98 I have 2 more copies given to me from friends who "grew up" and got rid of their collections and they let me pick threw there collections (I also have 3 Darkhawk 1s). The FIRST page of Ebay had 48 NM98 available (some have been sitting there for months) and If I have 4 to add to that how many copies are just sitting in collections.

[Tnexus]

Definitely not a blanket statement here, but I think the more accurate number might be around 2016 for this question. That's when I feel store exclusive really took off.

[Ken Aldred]

Characters such as Miles Morales and Kamala Khan should have longevity. Every Age will have a few characters with staying power.  Wolverine, Venom, Harley Quinn, as in music, only one or two stay at the top for very extended periods without the audience tiring and moving onto a new fixation.

Edited March 24, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[jdandns]

Zero value, except perhaps as packing material for shipping actually valuable items like Beanie Babies 'n such.

Get to shreddin'.

[eddly]

On 3/23/2022 at 9:34 PM, Ken Aldred said:

Characters such as Miles Morales and Kamala Khan should have longevity. Every Age will have a few characters with staying power.  Wolverine, Venom, Harley Quinn, as in music, only one or two stay at the top for very extended periods without the audience tiring and moving onto a new fixation.

Don’t forget Robin King!

[Beyonder123]

On 3/23/2022 at 5:20 PM, KCode98 said:

Why would there be no future market if there has been a market since 1939? Same logic you applied could be applied to that as well, no?

My point is that the only way there will be no modern books with value is if there is no market altogether. Why would people suddenly stop caring about modern keys in the future like first Miles Morales but still care about older keys? Modern keys will always have value. Just not as much relative to older books. How much value they will have is up for debate. And it's not like the comic market has only gone up since 1939. The market has crashed before and it could crash again.

[Ken Aldred]

On 3/24/2022 at 3:51 AM, jdandns said:

Zero value, except perhaps as packing material for shipping actually valuable items like Beanie Babies 'n such.

Get to shreddin'.

Many comics now going for 3 figures or more used to be considered birdcage fodder. It’s a fickle business.

The more you destroy, the scarcer the item becomes, as well.

[jdandns]

I just buy the ones I like and don't worry much about the future value. It's pretty much how I've always done it. Luckily, I lived long enough to see a bunch of them turn out to be "something". I have no doubt some lasting characters have been introduced even over just these past 5 years.

[Axe Elf]

The ones that turn out to be valuable will be the ones that nobody is stashing.

[1950's war comics]

 

Is there honestly any long term value in modern (post 2010) comics?

for your answer see the stamp collecting thread, and modern stamps actually do have some intrinsic value

 

 

[SeniorSurfer]

I don't see it happening, at least not anytime soon unless some anomaly occurs like:  A character being selected for a major motion picture or a warehouse with 3/4 of an available book going up in smoke (reminds me of Dangerfield after he encourages the audience to "bust up the joint" then tempers it by saying "all right... all right... wait 'till next week after the fire").  Otherwise it seems unlikely and younger buyers are making the classic mistake of buying manufactured "limited edition" collectibles (see Beanies, Precious Moments, Franklin Mint anything, etc.) as opposed to ones that became collectible due to their scarcity.

A look at Reddit, eBay, IG, Facebook and any other individual selling platforms shows beacoup moderns for sale at any price with captions like "thinning out my collection" or "trying to concentrate on just..." or even "spring cleaning."  A look at most dealers will show little interest in buying books that don't have a ".25 or less cover price" and certainly not trading even truckloads of modern "variants" or "keys" or "grails" for GA and SA.

As we've heard ever since we started this collecting hobby:  Buy what you like to read and don't think so much of future riches as you're likely to be disappointed.

[theCapraAegagrus]

I think that there are some possibilities, but it will take a long time until we know the long term. My grandfather certainly did not expect his Superman and Batman #1s to be worth as much as they were 40 years later.

[EastEnd1]

I thought the same thing when I was buying comics at the comic shops in the 1980s and 90s... there would be too many well preserved copies to warrant much appreciation.  Turns out I was wrong in many instances.  I've been selling plenty of books from 2000 on in 9.8 (some lower) for three to four figures.  With print runs on new comics lower than ever, and new comics being more expensive than ever, seems to me there will continue to be decent appreciation on key books in the highest grades.  It might even be opportunistic to buy new comics due to the scarcity factor as compared to predecessors.

[godzilla43]

Probably no but I just have to buy stuff like Black Panther 3 if I see them at cover price