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Poll: How old are collectors?
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Started by batman_fan,

How old are comic collectors?  

256 members have voted

  1. 1. Let’s see how old comic collectors are

    • 14 and under
      1
    • 15 to 19
      1
    • 20 to 24
      3
    • 25 to 29
      3
    • 30 to 34
      5
    • 35 to 39
      8
    • 40 to 44
      23
    • 45 to 49
      44
    • 50 to 54
      51
    • 55 to 59
      64
    • 60 to 64
      30
    • 65 to 69
      15
    • 70 and older
      7

182 posts in this topic

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Readcomix

Readcomix

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Posted

Before we all declare the hobby dead in two years, let’s ask ourselves if the results might look different in a poll conducted on Instagram. Don’t get me wrong, I suspect the bulk of comics collectors are north of 40 but I don’t think the overall skew is as bad as it looks on a chat board, which is long-form, old-school social media.

I attended an independent artists’ comic con this past weekend, and the place was packed with young people looking for new content and meeting creators. I doubt there was much appetite for back issues in that room, but there were new fans of the medium. I think it’s incumbent on dealers and LCS owners to pass down the history of the medium, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that if the new generation of comics readers becomes back issue collectors they may have a greater appetite/appreciation for genre titles moreso than the longjohns fare many of us grew up with.

My biggest disappointment in the show was in not seeing any OA for sale from new creators. That’s what I went looking for: OA from up and coming creators.

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thehumantorch

thehumantorch

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On 4/30/2024 at 7:43 PM, Readcomix said:

Before we all declare the hobby dead in two years, let’s ask ourselves if the results might look different in a poll conducted on Instagram. Don’t get me wrong, I suspect the bulk of comics collectors are north of 40 but I don’t think the overall skew is as bad as it looks on a chat board, which is long-form, old-school social media.

I attended an independent artists’ comic con this past weekend, and the place was packed with young people looking for new content and meeting creators. I doubt there was much appetite for back issues in that room, but there were new fans of the medium. I think it’s incumbent on dealers and LCS owners to pass down the history of the medium, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that if the new generation of comics readers becomes back issue collectors they may have a greater appetite/appreciation for genre titles moreso than the longjohns fare many of us grew up with.

My biggest disappointment in the show was in not seeing any OA for sale from new creators. That’s what I went looking for: OA from up and coming creators.

And I just got back from selling at the Calgary Comic Expo.  Sold a lot of books to a lot of young collectors.  And the good news is I think most of them will read the darn things.

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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Posted
On 5/1/2024 at 2:43 AM, Readcomix said:

Before we all declare the hobby dead in two years, let’s ask ourselves if the results might look different in a poll conducted on Instagram. Don’t get me wrong, I suspect the bulk of comics collectors are north of 40 but I don’t think the overall skew is as bad as it looks on a chat board, which is long-form, old-school social media.

I attended an independent artists’ comic con this past weekend, and the place was packed with young people looking for new content and meeting creators. I doubt there was much appetite for back issues in that room, but there were new fans of the medium. I think it’s incumbent on dealers and LCS owners to pass down the history of the medium, and I think it’s reasonable to assume that if the new generation of comics readers becomes back issue collectors they may have a greater appetite/appreciation for genre titles moreso than the longjohns fare many of us grew up with.

My biggest disappointment in the show was in not seeing any OA for sale from new creators. That’s what I went looking for: OA from up and coming creators.

Yup. I'm not taking the results here as being definitive or that the sky's falling in any way.  Too small a population, regardless.

More joking about the novel experience of just becoming a senior citizen. 

 

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Hepcat

Hepcat

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Posted (edited)
On 4/30/2024 at 9:22 PM, thehumantorch said:

Actually, I think they're hurting my knees, every time I lift a long box.

I'm strong and fit and I have no joint or other pains whatsoever despite being in the oldest cohort. My hearing isn't what it used to be though and I need to get my right eye checked out again.

On 4/30/2024 at 11:04 PM, sfcityduck said:

I was hoping you'd all die before me so I could pick up your collections!

My goal is to keep picking up comics from other (probably younger) collectors throwing in the towel and be the oldest active collector left standing. We'll see how I'm doing in another thirty years.

:wink:

Edited by Hepcat
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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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On 5/1/2024 at 4:58 AM, 1950's war comics said:

only one person their 30's :(

So many feeling the nick of the Reaper’s scythe.

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DougC

DougC

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On 4/30/2024 at 8:43 PM, Readcomix said:

I attended an independent artists’ comic con this past weekend, and the place was packed with young people looking for new content and meeting creators. I doubt there was much appetite for back issues in that room, but there were new fans of the medium.

On 4/30/2024 at 8:46 PM, thehumantorch said:

And I just got back from selling at the Calgary Comic Expo.  Sold a lot of books to a lot of young collectors.  And the good news is I think most of them will read the darn things.

I have only been to smaller 1-2 day conventions this year in the midwest and the amount of young people is promising but they are a very different type of collector than what is represented on these forums. Hosting a couple panels I like to try and get a read on the collecting room and found that many (under 25yo) enjoy having physical media but do not want to "collect" runs, sets, or variants outside of what catches their eye. Almost to a person no one collects back issue "keys" as they are priced out of that market; the same sentiment applies with slabs from any company for comics (but not cards) as the response is that it costs to much. Though even with that there were some who do have slabs but only in the 8.5-9.2 range of popular books that the price completely falls off the cliff if not 9.8.

In short; comic collecting has become an expensive hobby exacerbated by fads and grifting that newer generations of collectors do not seem to have the same initial naivety to fall for and are happy to wait out the hype and buy only what they like at low cost. Which is something I learned the hard way in the 90's.

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wardevil0

wardevil0

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Posted

I'm interested in what this says about the eras of the comics themselves.  I think a lot of us could trace our continuing fandom to the comics we were exposed to when we were in the 8-12 age range.  For me, that's around the Jim Shooter, 25th Anniversary era of Marvel, epitomized by this memo:

fd117ba2-32fd-40bb-98a0-acae2c2bd36e.jpe

I hypothesize the lower numbers of collectors in their 30s is primarily due to the Clone Saga, Marvel bankruptcy, and market collapse of the mid 90s.

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