1979 Overstreet prices??

[rjpb]

You could get at least $50 for a F/VF GS X-Men #1 25 years ago - I'll gladly pay you $10 for your copy

[dekeuk]

I paid $50 for a NM copy of GS X-Men #1 in 2001-2. I just regraded it and it is probably F/VF and I'll be lucky to get $10.

Mike

 

I'll give you $11 for it.

[underthebigw]

The real problem is that if you ordered NM or MINT comics by mail order in 1979 you got what are now considered VF comics (if you were lucky).

 

Yes, theoretically you could have ordered a NM Spiderman #129 for $5 in 1979, but more than likely the comic you would have received would not have been a 9.4, it would have been a 7.0 and 8.0.

 

And if you got that 8.0 you would have been happy, because as a collector, you probably thought what you had received was NM. But it wasn't, at least not according to what is considered NM today.

 

The people that made out like bandits were the ones that went to comic stores and conventions from 1975 to 1990 and bought hand picked copies of true NM key bronze age comics. You could have easily bought 9.6 and 9.8 copies of Iron Man 1, Hulk 181, Green Lantern 76, Xmen 94, Spiderman 121 & 129, etc. It would have required being very patient until true 9.6+ copies came along, but it could have been done on a very moderate budget.

 

The other aspect that makes the dream of hoarding NM books at old prices unrealistic, and one no one mentions, is that you had to find the books, first. I have my 1980 copy of Overstreet, in which I underlined every Adams book, every Wrightson cover, and whatever else I coveted. Price was never an issue, not because I had a ton of money, but because you almost never saw the books you wanted in true NM. I went to the NY Creation cons, and every local store I could then. Just not available. I felt I was lucky if I found 2 or 3 books on my list at the NY shows.

 

There was no internet, you knew you had a good chance of getting F/VF books when you mail ordered, you couldn't easily contact other collectors in other parts of the country (long distance calls were big bucks then, the lack of email, etc). The resources just weren't there. Now you can trip over HG copies of almost all SA and BA books, but trying to find NM copies was a pain in the buttocks.

[Aman619]

I agree with you. However, if the comics back issue dries up as you suggest, while they may always be a market, it will be so small compared to the massive numbers of existing comics out there that I shudder thinking of what all but the best few copies will sell for. Huge supply plus minuscule demand equals a bummer man.

 

A bummer if you're a seller - not if you're a buyer.

 

right. cept all us buyers today (you included?) will be sellers (not buyers) by then.....

[CommandD]

The thing nobody has raised is that while comic books themselves may lose popularity, comic book characters are stronger than ever in the movies. Superman might not move that many books, but they've been making Superman movies for more than half a century - and most likely will.

 

Of course, he could always peter out in the same way Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers no longer seem to hold the audience's attention.

 

But I don't think every major character in the DC/Marvel universes can all peter out...