The Future of Comic Book Collecting & Investing

[CryptoDave]

Here's my Question:

 

In about 20-30 years from now, will Comic Book Collecting still be hot?

 

In other words, as current collectors who average in age 50 and up start to die off (sorry for the morbidity), assuming their heirs liquidate their collections; will there still be a strong demand for comic books whereby their values will still remain strong?

 

Some possibilities:

 

1. No: Values will Fall: As collectors start to die, their heirs (the majority of which have no appreciation for these books) will quickly sell and there will be a "flood" (OK maybe not quite a flood; but certainly more supply) thereby driving prices down.

 

2. Yes: Values will remain/retain overall as there is a current strong interest among a younger age group that will continue. Evidenced by seeing many many young kids at Cons. As they mature and their interest continues, they will want to know about the "Origins" and genesis of their favorite characters.

 

3. It depends on the Book: Golden Age Books might actually take a hit. The reasoning being that as a population matures, each generation harkens back to what they emotionally identify with as children. So if you buy into this argument, then in years to come future adults will be more interested in modern age books and the Golden & Silver Age will loose value (maybe not all of their value but certainly a decent percentage).

 

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please let's try to keep this "logical/analytical".

[MetalPSI]

I collect what I like to collect. Is my collection going to amount to any monetary worth? I have no idea and more so, don't care. At least not now. Maybe when I am retired and my wife tells me to get rid of that junk I'll give it consideration. Will I be disappointed to find out I own garbage? Never. I love what I have

[BlowUpTheMoon]

[CryptoDave]

I totally appreciate your point of view.

 

But this is geared for those that invest.

[oakman29]

Personally I don't think much of this investment,but I have seen teenagers collect golden age comics. It all matters on how we teach our children to appreciate the medium. I have two boys 6 & 3 and they love Spidey & Batman, and are growing quite an impressive collection of their own.

[FineCollector]

I'd put forth the idea that prices are increasing because keys are being hoarded by people in the know. When that group starts to liquidate their collection, all these hoards will be out on the market. A few people will want to keep those books, a few people will be smart and try to hide those books to maintain the market, but everyone else will be looking to flip. Do you still want to be investing when that happens?

[THE_BEYONDER]

I totally appreciate your point of view.

 

But this is geared for those that invest.

 

[s14roller]

Wouldn't trying to predict the future 20-30 years from now be counter-intuitive to the meaning of a logical analysis? If you said a few years out, fine, perhaps there's some data you can use. If any of us could predict what happens in even 10 years, I assure you we wouldn't be chatting about it with you on a forum.

 

 

[jsilverjanet]

such pretty colors!

[Old Fashion PB and J]

GA books are worthless, sell them to me for cover price while you still can! And DC is junk, same suggestion for DC.

[ygogolak]

[1Cool]

I'd think a mixture of option 1 and option 3 is the most feasible if looking out 25 years. That would put a vast majority of us in the retirement ages (or deceased knock on wood). Can't imagine there is enough of the teens of today wanting to buy a tangible comic book collection (especially Golden / Silver-Age books) to buy up all the books that come available. Prices generally go down or crash in that kind of situation.

[Topnotchman]

I went to a local hotel comic show last year. There was a stamp show going on in the next ballroom. Everyone at the stamp show, which was less than 15 people including the vendors. All had aged to the point of blue hair. The comic show which had less than 35 people was a mix of kids and adults.

[F For Fake]

Given the thread title and the OP's user name, I'm tremendously disappointed that this isn't someone taking another swing at ComicCoin, the world's favorite crypto currency based on buying up all Avengers Annuals with other people's money.

[CryptoDave]

For those that invest, you are in fact making a prediction.

 

 

Wouldn't trying to predict the future 20-30 years from now be counter-intuitive to the meaning of a logical analysis? If you said a few years out, fine, perhaps there's some data you can use. If any of us could predict what happens in even 10 years, I assure you we wouldn't be chatting about it with you on a forum.

 

[adampasz]

This is a fascinating question. I would look at it like any other investment. It could go up, and it could go down. So you should look to diversify your holdings.

 

Here are some of my thoughts in both directions:

 

Comics will rise in value because:

* Tools to trade comics online will continue to improve

* TV, movies, games and other media will continue to drive the popularity of these characters

* In our digital world, collectors will continue to be drawn to unique, tangible objects

* Silver and golden age comics will become more scarce, and will be considered more-and-more a legitimate investment vehicle

 

Comics will decline in value because:

* It is too much cost/effort to store and preserve them properly

* People will lose interest in comics-nerd/super-hero culture

* People will lose interest in non-digital goods

* Financial cycles or some external event will cause a decline

[Phicks]

Key first appearances will continue to be worth lots of money. But completionist collections of comics will ultimately decline in value, similar to what has already been seen with golden age cowboy comics. The last decade where we saw children trying to collect every issue of their favourite title was back in the 1980s. Once those children grow up and die off, the generation following them will only be interested in first appearance of characters who will by then be better known as subject matter for movies, TV, and video games, rather than the comic books they started out in.

 

So timeline wise, once kids who were born starting say in 1975 reach retirement age of 65 in 2040 and try to sell their old comics, they will find there is no one younger than themselves who wants to buy them. And then prices will plummet, other than first appearances. I think we have about 24 years left to sell off silver age comics (but prices have not peaked yet!).

 

And if there is a sub-genre that did not survive into the 1970s, price declines could happen sooner. Some areas where we might see price drops earlier: 1960s Gold Key TV/Movie photo covers, EC Comics (classics yes, but ancient history to the younger half of our hobby), and pretty much anything published by Dell.

[1Cool]

Key first appearances will continue to be worth lots of money. But completionist collections of comics will ultimately decline in value, similar to what has already been seen with golden age cowboy comics. The last decade where we saw children trying to collect every issue of their favourite title was back in the 1980s. Once those children grow up and die off, the generation following them will only be interested in first appearance of characters who will by then be better known as subject matter for movies, TV, and video games, rather than the comic books they started out in.

 

So timeline wise, once kids who were born starting say in 1975 reach retirement age of 65 in 2040 and try to sell their old comics, they will find there is no one younger than themselves who wants to buy them. And then prices will plummet, other than first appearances. I think we have about 24 years left to sell off silver age comics (but prices have not peaked yet!).

 

And if there is a sub-genre that did not survive into the 1970s, price declines could happen sooner. Some areas where we might see price drops earlier: 1960s Gold Key TV/Movie photo covers, EC Comics (classics yes, but ancient history to the younger half of our hobby), and pretty much anything published by Dell.

 

I believe this is already happening (maybe not for the horror ECs but the rest). Dell and Gold Key books from the 60's seem to be going very, very cheap when put up in auction.

[paperheart]

I went to a local hotel comic show last year. There was a stamp show going on in the next ballroom. Everyone at the stamp show, which was less than 15 people including the vendors. All had aged to the point of blue hair. The comic show which had less than 35 people was a mix of kids and adults.

 

isn't that 10% of the population of the state?

[islandmisfittoys]

Can't predict the future but think there is a younger demographic in comics than coins, sportscards or stamps.