Will Copper/Modern Comics Ever Be “Scarce”? 1 1

[jsilverjanet]

I’m referring to the comics that were printed in the millions like Spider-man 1, Spawn 1 or Superman 75. *Let’s not focus on the rare “variants” of these books aka newsstand, gold/platinum etc

At some point some copies will be lost, destroyed etc. how long will that take before a book will become scarce from this era? How much of an effort would be needed? How many copies are still sitting in backstock, collections, abandoned warehouses? 

 

[bababooey]

No.

[Get Marwood & I]

I'm not sure they ever will be scarce in the way that we define scarce books from the 50's etc. They came out when collecting was a widespread hobby with lots of dedicated collectors preserving them in ways that previous generations rarely if ever considered. We'd need a nuclear war or something to wipe most of civilisation out before Spawn 1 / Spider-Man 1 1990 ever became scarce Hec 

[shadroch]

Define scarce. 

If you are asking if they ever will be in demand, I'd say yes. Look at the stuff from the late 70s/early 80s that is slowly beginning to command decent prices. 

[1Cool]

Unless there is a massive national paper drive for some unforeseen reason I do not see those books ever being scarse.  

[djpinkpanther67]

I say yes. There are still books that were low distribution, or titles that people generally ignored. There are a lot of them in $1 boxes, but after countless rummaging they are no longer HG. There’s a bunch I’m actively searching for (mostly Thanos related) that are tough. I get lucky at shows, shops or eBay sometimes, but overall they are a challenge even now

[Lazyboy]

1 hour ago, jsilverjanet said:

I’m referring to the comics that were printed in the millions like Spider-man 1, Spawn 1 or Superman 75. *Let’s not focus on the rare “variants” of these books aka newsstand, gold/platinum etc

Those books are outliers. They do not represent the average comics from the era. Are you interested in Copper/Modern books in general or the highest printed books in history?

1 hour ago, jsilverjanet said:

At some point some copies will be lost, destroyed etc. how long will that take before a book will become scarce from this era? How much of an effort would be needed?

A long enough period of time (far longer than any of us will live to see) will destroy them all. Anything other than a long period of time that causes actual scarcity of regular books (the ones that weren't always scarce or close to scarce) from the era you're asking about will push comic books far away from the thoughts of the lucky(?) survivors.

1 hour ago, jsilverjanet said:

How many copies are still sitting in backstock, collections, abandoned warehouses?

Lots... of everything. There have been billions of comics printed in the last hundred years. Attrition is a real thing, but there are collections and inventory everywhere. You can visit a convention or warehouse dealer or look on eBay and see thousands or maybe even millions of comics, but no matter where you look, you are only seeing a tiny fraction of what exists.

24 minutes ago, djpinkpanther67 said:

I say yes. There are still books that were low distribution, or titles that people generally ignored. There are a lot of them in $1 boxes, but after countless rummaging they are no longer HG. There’s a bunch I’m actively searching for (mostly Thanos related) that are tough. I get lucky at shows, shops or eBay sometimes, but overall they are a challenge even now

 The topic is actual scarcity, not what you can't quickly and easily find available for purchase in UHG.

[jsilverjanet]

1 hour ago, shadroch said:

Define scarce. 

If you are asking if they ever will be in demand, I'd say yes. Look at the stuff from the late 70s/early 80s that is slowly beginning to command decent prices. 

No, scarce as in hard to find, purchase etc 

[jsilverjanet]

@Lazyboy

I’m referring to these books or similar books like this that are clearly visible, have some value and easily available today and would be easier to track and see when they would become scarce but it sounds like I won’t be around to see it 

 

[djpinkpanther67]

@Lazyboy, lack of HG IS scarcity, especially for books published in the last 20 years. Who wants a VG copy of any CA/Modern books?

They are getting tougher to find as we speak

[ComicConnoisseur]

Scarcity no,but the keys will be in demand and that counts.

An example is there might be over a million Spawn #1s, but there is always someone willing to add it to their collection.

[jsilverjanet]

The question is not about demand. These books will be in demand (well maybe) and I’m not interest in high grade. Plenty of books are scarce in high grade. I’m curious if the book will ever be considered scarce. Like bababooey said maybe the answer is no. Maybe it’s never. Maybe 1 million copies is just too many copies to begin with 

[jsilverjanet]

But I do appreciate the conversation and posts  

[Aweandlorder]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

I'm not sure they ever will be scarce in the way that we define scarce books from the 50's etc. They came out when collecting was a widespread hobby with lots of dedicated collectors preserving them in ways that previous generations rarely if ever considered. We'd need a nuclear war or something to wipe most of civilisation out before Spawn 1 / Spider-Man 1 1990 ever became scarce Hec 

[Aweandlorder]

2 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

We'd need a nuclear war or something to wipe most of civilisation out before Spawn 1 / Spider-Man 1 1990 ever became scarce Hec around 10 am tomorrow EST    

Fixed

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiangong-1-tracking-the-chinese-satellite-falling-to-earth/

[SteppinRazor]

12 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said:

The question is not about demand. These books will be in demand (well maybe) and I’m not interest in high grade. Plenty of books are scarce in high grade. I’m curious if the book will ever be considered scarce. Like bababooey said maybe the answer is no. Maybe it’s never. Maybe 1 million copies is just too many copies to begin with 

I think it is far more likely that demand will die way before the comics do.  Copper/Moderns are eras after the idea of them being collectible existed.  They were bought and bagged/boarded new.  Kind of like baseball cards too.  Kids used to stick them in the spokes of their bike wheels.  Comics in the Silver age and before weren't considered valuable, other than for the kids who swapped them with friends for other stuff.

No, I think there won't be a scarcity of Copper/Moderns, as too many people had already realized they were of value.  There would need to be a lot of throwing away of comics that people just don't do as much anymore

Edited March 31, 2018 by SteppinRazor

[gcstomp]

Natural disasters will destroy plenty over our lifetimes.  How many in just past year you think were destroyed with the california wildfires, and mass flooding in texas etc.  Major accumulations will get destroyed, its inevitable.

[jsilverjanet]

It sounds like the biggest too many were purchased and protected got in the way of these books and now they are too available 

So if that’s true then silver/golden age books that have become scarce are due to materials not being available to protect them as future investments

to the time machine with some mylites!

[shadroch]

10 minutes ago, SteppinRazor said:

I think it is far more likely that demand will die way before the comics do.  Copper/Moderns are eras after the idea of them being collectible existed.  They were bought and bagged/boarded new.  Kind of like baseball cards too.  Kids used to stick them in the spokes of their bike wheels.  Comics in the Silver age and before weren't considered valuable, other than for the kids who swapped them with friends for other stuff.

No, I think there won't be a scarcity of Copper/Moderns, as too many people had already realized they were of value.  There would need to be a lot of throwing away of comics that people just don't do as much anymore

That ignores the history of fandom. Books after 1965 were most certainly treated like collectibles. 

[the blob]

No. With that said, spawn 1 and superman 75 sell. The comic cos had the opportunity to soak up glut in the 90s, shops would have happy sent bulk overstock in for various limited editions, but that time has passed. The companies probably saw no economic reason to do this, but i think warehouses of back issue glut devalue the desireability of new comics off the rack. I stopped buying new comics in the 90s because for that $1.25 i could buy 5 back issues.