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Is there a younger generation collecting comics?
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80 posts in this topic

Hi everyone, I would say that I have noticed that some people my age (late 20s) are collecting comics. I am not sure if we have the ability to make big purchases. I am also curious as to what everyone thinks is a big purchase? The dollar amount there may vary greatly. I love collecting. I had a small collection of readers when I was a boy and then I was out of collecting until about 6 years ago or so. I think the movies make up a large part of the surge of nerd and geek culture. I have my friends and even family members ask me about the characters in movies. No one in my family is remotely nerdy or collects anything along these lines.

I do see younger people into the medium now, and by younger I mean people my age. I would love for it to continue. I will say that I have moved from a pull list to digital but I will always have a soft spot for physical key issues and my collection will be proudly displayed when I get a house.

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To me it seems bleak. I have 2 teenage sons and to get them to read anything (even school work) for more than 10 minutes is a real struggle. There are just too many other "distractions" for them. I'm 50 and when I was a kid :preach: there were only so many ways for us to keep occupied and reading was a big one. Today's kids - for the most part - are totally immersed in all things screen. Will they read digital comics? Maybe but I don't see it being a big thing for the masses. Look at circulation numbers of today vs 30-40 years ago. A big seller today will hit 100000 copies. Savage Sword of Conan - a magazine - would routinely sell 250000+ copies a month - a black and white magazine that didn't have the wide spread distribution that comics did. My kids have very little interest in my collection, except  wanting to know the value of it and when will I sell it. They do love the movies but have no interest in reading the comics that came before. The collapse isn't happening today but the long term outlook - 20-30 years from now - isn't very rosy.

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23 hours ago, Jordysnordy said:

To me it seems bleak. I have 2 teenage sons and to get them to read anything (even school work) for more than 10 minutes is a real struggle. There are just too many other "distractions" for them. I'm 50 and when I was a kid :preach: there were only so many ways for us to keep occupied and reading was a big one. Today's kids - for the most part - are totally immersed in all things screen. Will they read digital comics? Maybe but I don't see it being a big thing for the masses. Look at circulation numbers of today vs 30-40 years ago. A big seller today will hit 100000 copies. Savage Sword of Conan - a magazine - would routinely sell 250000+ copies a month - a black and white magazine that didn't have the wide spread distribution that comics did. My kids have very little interest in my collection, except  wanting to know the value of it and when will I sell it. They do love the movies but have no interest in reading the comics that came before. The collapse isn't happening today but the long term outlook - 20-30 years from now - isn't very rosy.

Maybe the hipsters of the future will look at Comics and printed material and think it's cool. "Check it out man, I'm reading a book and it's printed on real paper!" :roflmao:

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My best friend had the Marvel and DC apps, but reading on an electronic device didn't do anything for him, so he didn't want to pay money to read comics on his phone/iPad. Same with me and my parents. We all have things for physical books. I guess, since my brothers don't have any artistic creativity, they don't appreciate having physical artwork. They're more into video games (I am, too, but I don't play nearly as often as they do).

There's a good side and a bad side to all of this:

Good: Market less-saturated with people looking for the same books as you.

Bad: Hobby dying down means market may be less saturated with supply.

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On ‎11‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 9:20 AM, Jordysnordy said:

To me it seems bleak. I have 2 teenage sons and to get them to read anything (even school work) for more than 10 minutes is a real struggle. There are just too many other "distractions" for them. I'm 50 and when I was a kid :preach: there were only so many ways for us to keep occupied and reading was a big one. Today's kids - for the most part - are totally immersed in all things screen. Will they read digital comics? Maybe but I don't see it being a big thing for the masses. Look at circulation numbers of today vs 30-40 years ago. A big seller today will hit 100000 copies. Savage Sword of Conan - a magazine - would routinely sell 250000+ copies a month - a black and white magazine that didn't have the wide spread distribution that comics did. My kids have very little interest in my collection, except  wanting to know the value of it and when will I sell it. They do love the movies but have no interest in reading the comics that came before. The collapse isn't happening today but the long term outlook - 20-30 years from now - isn't very rosy.

The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, Dogman, etc. books, which combine cartoons and text (Dogman is mostly cartoon, I think) sell in the millions. My 7 year old watches a screen way too much, but if he had his way, he would spend 30 minutes a night before bed reading the above stuff. He is a bit less interested in reading serious super hero stuff (even if he likes to watch cartoons, movies, etc.), he wants to laugh.

FYI, Conan was hugely popular into the mid 80s or so. It was one of Marvel's biggest titles. And Savage Sword was sold at newsstands, and may have had preferred placement given it was more expensive than a comic. But yes, distribution numbers were vastly higher back then, you're right. 40 years ago a kid could get 3 comics for $1, more or less. Now it is almost $12. Inflation would have it around $4. Same cost as a pack of Pokeman cards, which sell pretty well. 3 comics or a pack of cards? I'd take the comics!

My 13 year old is getting interested. He prefers reading TPBs/GNs to floppies, and reads a lot of comics online. He wants to help organize my collection and learn stuff. But he may also be looking at me, a heart attack waiting to happen, and figures he needs to know how to monetize this stuff, because if I drop dead my wife will put it all on craigslist and sell it for $50 to get it out of the house.

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I am 54 years of age, my wife and I had adopted two boys(brothers), oldest 9 , youngest 5. They are already collecting comics, and toys. Thank God I am an influence. They see papa's toys and comics and want to be a part of it. What Im trying to get at is you have be a part of the younger generations life to make them interested in this hobby, or else they will just play video games and become a missed opportunity.

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On 12/6/2018 at 7:11 PM, oakman29 said:

I am 54 years of age, my wife and I had adopted two boys(brothers), oldest 9 , youngest 5. They are already collecting comics, and toys. Thank God I am an influence. They see papa's toys and comics and want to be a part of it. What Im trying to get at is you have be a part of the younger generations life to make them interested in this hobby, or else they will just play video games and become a missed opportunity.

One of my best friends has three boys and each time they come round I always give them a few comics or some art paper and pens and stuff, but they only want to play that damn game grand theft auto! My pal is buying them a ps4 for Christmas this year and I told him he shouldn't. If I had kids there's no way I'd allow them a modern console or if I did it'd be strictly limited to an hour a day and definitely not on games like grand theft auto! I'd get them on fifa or gran turismo or dirt rally or something, anything that takes skill basically and not the mindless tripe that is grand theft auto!

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I'm in my early twenties and my younger brother got me heavily into reading comics recently, he's 20. We definitely don't have the disposable income for big purchases, but I've been growing my collection outside of getting my pull list by going through LCS dollar bins and getting those grab bags on eBay. Have been getting some good finds, but nothing too crazy. I plan to save money for a big purchase here or there eventually. Although, most people around my age that seem to be interested in comics are mostly only interested in watching the movies and shows or pirating the books online.

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I'm 36 and have been at it since around 2012 and collected over 4,000 so if a 30 year old Englishman can get hooked on funny books then anyone can.

I'm not a big reader of them either, now and again I'll pick out a book or three and get immersed in it all. Comics are cool to me. I enjoy putting together the collection, buying a new book, comparing it to the one I might have already, filling a spot in a run, winning a key for a good price, admiring the covers and judging the grade, looking on ebay and auctions and such. Knowing that each one I own has a value and desirability. And then that musty old smell of a silver age book! It is wonderful.

I am a lone wolf, none of my pals collect the books but we're all fans of the movies (for the most part lol) The movies are what did it and a chance find on eBay started the ball rolling for me with comics :)

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On 11/17/2018 at 12:54 PM, Artboy99 said:

Yes it was.

The thing is: for the moment the younger generation have not entered into the phase of their lives when they have stable long term employment and more disposable income. Will they buy more valuable comics is a huge unknown. There is statistical data on the current millennial generation that is telling. Many of them don't own homes or vehicles nor do they want to. They don't like the idea of being tied to anything like a mortgage like their parents were. And lets face it the value of a property is for the most part much more expensive than say 20 years ago.

Will they spend their money on collectibles? Potentially especially if comics can be accepted as a form of investible asset.

i buy cgc's for 200$-700$ and im 18 years old

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I’ve been collecting since 1974 and I’ve been hearing about how the hobby is going to crash and burn for at least 40 years now. Instead, it keeps getting bigger and values for the most part keep going up.  For the last few years, I’ve made a comfortable living selling vintage comic books and original art, something I would not have thought possible ten years ago. From high-grade keys to dollar books, everything sells if priced right. Most of the customers are in the 35-60 range, but there are guys as well as some women in their 20s. I’ve even sold Silver Age books to a few kids, one who is trying to complete a TOS run and one who buys a variety of titles.

 

Hundreds of millions of kids today around the globe are growing up immersed in a wide range of superheroes on the screen and we need just a teeny tiny percentage of them to sustain an interest in vintage collecting in order to keep the growth of this subset of the hobby going  for decades to come. Yes, most kids will not be interested in paper collectibles, but we don’t need a mass numbers. 

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On 11/17/2018 at 1:20 PM, spracknetch23 said:

There seem to be plenty of 20-somethings on Instagram actively collecting. Even some teens. As far as expensive books, I don't see why these teens and 20-somethings won't end up pursuing the big fish as they age and gain greater income levels. However I don't know if it'll be enough to sustain the current growth in the market. 

This ! also they will get burned on variants and the market in general and when the movies fizzle, they will all go raise families and live life! Then in 25 years when all of the movies reboot, they will jump back in for nostalgia purposes and we will boom again.

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So I'm part of this aforementioned "younger generation". I can't really say anything that hasn't really been said, but, I still like taking a trip to my local store and picking up a new issue of Spawn and the Walking Dead every week. Also Witchblade before it was cancelled and rebooted.

 

Started up back in 2013 with the Superior Spider-Man, that was pretty decent, but not great. I eventually found out Disney is a parent of Marvel since 2009 and that's why their stories were so subpar (too much SJW stuff they tried to throw in too). I also kind of didn't have a choice because the nearest thing to an LCS at that time was a Barnes & Noble we lived near, so I didn't have much of choice. Flash forward two years I stepped into my first ever LCS, and I remember seeing Spawn and having watched the movie (waaay back in the day, and it was cool when I was younger, lol, but my deposition has changed in recent years, only on the movie though), and that's when I started to read and collect the actual comics and discovered other Image titles and realized how they were related to the whole scheme of the comic books market and such. Also I'm a fan of the Heavy Metal Magazine.

 

Friends aren't into it as much as I am, the only nerdy interest that we share akin is in Magic: The Gathering, lol. 

 

Edited by Skylath
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I made the decision about 15 years ago going forward to start liquidating my collection. I put it all in my kids mutual funds for college. I really started aggressively when movie money started rolling in. I don't believe there is a future in less then 30 years or so. 

I now buy books dirt cheap in high grade and sell them. My kids college tuition are completely paid for from my comics. My kids made fun of me for years selling them, but I bet come this year their tune changes.

 

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