The Future of Comic Books 1 1

[Quicksilver Signs]

Sports cards are still worth a ton of cash, not the 80's 90's junk but the less common older stuff. 

It will be the same for comics, silver, some bronze and gold of course will always have value.  Just maybe don't count on your 1st appearance of the 2nd Ant Man, Thanos or Deathstroke endlessly rising in value for your grandchildren  

They will stop making movies once people stop going, I can't recall the last superhero movie I was actually excited about. I still go but it's mostly forgettable, throwaway pop culture. 

[NoMan]

1 hour ago, Quicksilver Signs said:

1st appearance of the 2nd Ant Man

Marvel Premiere #47 rules the Collecting Universe. I've got a 9.8 w/WP!!!

Edited June 22, 2017 by NoMan
'Cause Marvel Premeier #47 is worth it

[marvelmaniac]

Just to add to the baseball comments and why it is not as popular as it was...

When I was growing up I LOVED baseball and baseball cards.

Collected baseball cards as a kid and never felt excitement like I did when I opened a new pack and the next "series" was out.

Each week with my allowance it was, do I buy comic books, baseball cards or both???

Dad used to take me to Connie Mack Stadium to watch the Phils (pre-1965) and grew up at the VET with TON's of memories that I will have and cherish forever, would go on a whim and buy $4 general admission ticket and enjoy the game.

When I was growing up Baseball was only televised on local TV and we only had 6 channels, remember watching Jim Bunning throw his perfect game against the Mets on Fathers Day of 1964, did not understand the significance of that feat at the time (I was 8) but I still remember Dad saying, "we just watched history."

Dad took me to meet Johnny Callison in person, he was managing a bowling alley in Phila. during the off season, he became my favorite player.

Also, I remember being picked up after school in Phila. to go to Hebrew school and the driver had the Giant's/Yankee's world seines on the radio. (1962)

There was one  national "game of the week" televised on Saturdays on NBC I think.

Back in the 80's my Sister (who was an avid Dodger fan) and I went to the VET to see the Phils/Dodgers (Steve Garvey era).

After the game we went around back where the dodgers exited to board their bus to get player autographs.

After getting 5-6 autographs I asked did you get so and so, and she was not sure, all of a sudden Ken Landreaux (Dodger outfielder) said to my Sister, "give me your book", he then proceeded to board the bus and then came back with another 10 or so autographs.

I went to a "scheduled" double header between the Phils and Expo's in 1980, 5:35 PM start, 7 hours of rain delays later, Greg Luzinski hitting a home run at 3 AM and me getting home at 5 AM, still a GREAT memory.

All of the things I mentioned above could/would never happen in today's society.

Baseball is a game played by real people and other than a few rule changes has not changed, the players however have changed and are not fan friendly anymore, all games are now televised on cable TV (I cannot watch the Phils because I do not have Comcast cable), not local TV, there are numerous games on everyday of the week (CSN/Fox/ESPN) with 150 other channels to choose from, it costs a family of 4 over $200.00 to go to a ball game so kids are not exposed, so it is not special anymore

Comic books are about fictional characters and change as "pop culture" changes and Hollywood keeps the interest going so kids are always exposed.

After that rant, As much as I Love both baseball and comic books I cannot explain why I collect comics and not baseball cards.

 

 

 

[spracknetch23]

For one thing, superheroes do not age (at least they stop aging around 30), can remain relevant, and last generations, whereas most baseball players can't, especially after retirement.

[1Cool]

8 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

I dont have beef with marketing collectibles straight out of the gate. Even if they are not being used (read)

Do people who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on limited edition Nike shoes get to wear them?

Do the companies market these with the intent of their users wearing them?

But that doesnt stop 100s of thousands of people from lining up outside of a store rain or shine and hoping to get a pair and pay stupid amoutns of money

Do they end up flipping them on eBay?

Sure

Is Nike going out of business anytime soon?

No

Terrible comparison.  Nike makes most of their money selling shoes to people who wear them.  If Nike became a company that only sold a few collectible shoes and the rest of the brand sat around the store collecting dust do you think Nike would stay in business very long? 

[OrangeNemesis]

ill still be collecting comics when/if the market crashes. It isn't about the money to me so ill take them as cheap as possible. 

[Aweandlorder]

51 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

Terrible comparison.  Nike makes most of their money selling shoes to people who wear them.  If Nike became a company that only sold a few collectible shoes and the rest of the brand sat around the store collecting dust do you think Nike would stay in business very long? 

Actually it isn't. 

First I compared shoes to comics by drawing distinct parallels with the marketing model of variants-limited edition and their effect on buyer and seller on the secondary market. Mainly eBay. Both are VERY healthy markets if you're unaware  

Secondly, comics aren't JUST selling variants. That's one branch of its marketing power. If you were to ask me what's the driving force behind the companies and creators nowadays I will easily answer it's property licensing. 

Its just that in my comparison, it's easier to compare comics to shoes. Than comics to music let's say, which has close to ZERO retail marketing power  

Edited June 22, 2017 by Aweandlorder

[GoBucs]

20 hours ago, aardvark88 said:

Too many variants each Wed. e.g. Mighty Mouse #1 for some reason had 5 different covers so a pure marketing ploy by Dynamite Comics to increase direct sales. Good business or leading to a new issue market crash in 2018?

Any amount of variants Dynamite puts out shouldn't be surprising, they're just a front for Dynamic Forces. Another shameless company is Boundless, check out their variant covers for more 

 

Edited June 22, 2017 by GoBucs

[1Cool]

12 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

No they weren't what caused it to crash. 

Variants aren't a problem. People who speculate on them CARELESSLY are the problem. 

Agree with you on this one.  The 90s didn't really have a variant problem since there was really no variants per say other then maybe the X-Men 1 having 5 different covers.  The 90s crash occurred because people were buying long boxes of a single copy and putting it in their closet since Wizard said it was going to be a hit.  Companies were making a ton of cash so they thought "why not put out two books a month and double our profits".  Millions of books being gobbled up and stored for investment purposes.  Over production created the 90s crash which I don't think we have going on right now.  The possible "variant crash" would be a whole new issue.  This crash would impact a whole lot less people since the number of investors has to be way less then in the 90s but the amount invested per person I'd think is higher then in the 90s.

[ygogolak]

14 hours ago, FineCollector said:

The internet made baseball cards obsolete.  Not hard to find pictures and stats from your favorite players anymore...

Not hard to get a print of a Warhol either but that somehow still holds value.

[FineCollector]

3 hours ago, ygogolak said:

Not hard to get a print of a Warhol either but that somehow still holds value.

There's a lil bit of a difference between a hand-painted canvas, and a mass produced piece of cardboard.  Try again.

[ygogolak]

27 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

There's a lil bit of a difference between a hand-painted canvas, and a mass produced piece of cardboard.  Try again.

That's not what the comparison was. The OP stated that people stopped having an interest in cards because they bought them for statistics which are now available online.

[Jimmy Linguini]

You can't make movies based on baseball cards.

[1Cool]

4 hours ago, ygogolak said:

Not hard to get a print of a Warhol either but that somehow still holds value.

A painting is one of a kind and even a limited print can be hung on your wall for decoration.  Sports cards really are obsolete and show you how boring being a kid use to be.  A cardboard piece of paper with stats and a picture of a player?  At least a comic can be read and the cover has some artistic qualities.  Whoever held up a Ken Griffey rookie card and marveled at how young he looked.  I know the older stuff is fairly rare so their is value in that but I can see sports cards having a much tougher time staying relevant then comic books.  And that is saying something since I see comics becoming basically irrelevant (compared to the heights we have seen) in the next 25 -30 years. 

[ygogolak]

29 minutes ago, Jimmy Linguini said:

You can't make movies based on baseball cards.

Shoeless Joe cards went through the roof after Field of Dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

(I have no clue if this is true)

[ygogolak]

2 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

A painting is one of a kind and even a limited print can be hung on your wall for decoration.  Sports cards really are obsolete and show you how boring being a kid use to be.  A cardboard piece of paper with stats and a picture of a player?  At least a comic can be read and the cover has some artistic qualities.  Whoever held up a Ken Griffey rookie card and marveled at how young he looked.  I know the older stuff is fairly rare so their is value in that but I can see sports cards having a much tougher time staying relevant then comic books.  And that is saying something since I see comics becoming basically irrelevant (compared to the heights we have seen) in the next 25 -30 years. 

Let's not take what I said at face value of an original art piece. What if I said an original art print which still holds value?

Tombed comics can't be read and they sell for more than raws.

[Aweandlorder]

[TheSSurfer]

19 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

I dont have beef with marketing collectibles straight out of the gate. Even if they are not being used (read)

Do people who spend 10s of thousands of dollars on limited edition Nike shoes get to wear them?

Do the companies market these with the intent of their users wearing them?

But that doesnt stop 100s of thousands of people from lining up outside of a store rain or shine and hoping to get a pair and pay stupid amoutns of money

Do they end up flipping them on eBay?

Sure

Is Nike going out of business anytime soon?

No

Yeah I could see that. What I mean by the future of them, a lot of millennial s today don't seek a lot of interest in comics at all.

[SteppinRazor]

21 hours ago, TheSSurfer said:

Yeah I can see that. My biggest concern is most people this day and age could care less about comic books. There are some, myself included, that grew up watching the cartoons and such, but just seems a lot of the millennial care more about social media and such then comics. I guess that's where I'm trying to get at.

As a medium, comics will always be made.  Soon enough, they will rarely be printed (as zines, not comics), but artists will still make them.  Readership will continue to drop, but there is a floor.  Comic books already barely exist as a business outside of crowd funded work.  Marvel and DC exist only because they were bought for their IP.

So I think the market side of things, a small segment of the population will create and consume them, but creators will need real jobs or use social media revenue generating techniques to earn enough to make them.  Assuming we don't figure out some sort of universal income soon.  The content of comic books will mostly migrate to video games and movies.

As for the collecting hobby, I think that the group of collectors is aging and not being replaced in a 1:1 ratio, so fewer people will want to buy.  They will drop in monetary value across the board.

 

Regarding the baseball cards, the biggest problems they had were the steroid era and sabermetrics.  The former being an issue as people get older.  Fewer people alive today saw Ted Williams play or care about Ted Williams.  It won't be long before no one even knows who Ty Cobb was, let alone want a piece of cardboard with his face on it.  If Sosa and McGwire didn't juice, people would be nostalgic for their HR record duel for another 60 years.  If Bonds hadn't, he would be this generation's Babe Ruth.  Monumentally important.  Sabermetrics rendered even the little info on the card useless.

The main difference between them and comic books is that baseball cards do not have content.  You don't get anything out of a baseball card other than the cover.  There's a whole saga inside a serialized comic book.

[ADAMANTIUM]

Most people in comics juices at one point or another: hulk, iron man spiderman