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What is happening to the hobby?
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411 posts in this topic

12 minutes ago, 1Cool said:

TPB and graphic novels are doing very well - I agree.  They now account for 60% of the total sales compared to 40% 5 years ago.  The total number of books being purchased (especially when you get outside the top 5) is low, low, low.  If you remove variants and you really see how few comics are being bought to be read and enjoyed.

How many comics are produced today though? There is an obvious glut of titles and publishers.
What's the numbers for digital readers? We don't know...

Statement of Ownership shows 48 titles in 1960. With #48 being an average of a little over 100k sold a month. Now we get the top 250-300 month, which obviously have smaller numbers per title.

Edited by ygogolak
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20 hours ago, Martin Sinescu said:

Hobby seems fine to me. More content and diversity of selection than I've ever seen. More opportunities for independent creators to reach their audience while retaining their rights to characters. The availability of older material in reprint or online provides way more accessibility of classic stories than ever before. Characters being brought to life through movies in ways that weren't even conceivable when I started and expanding the reach of comic characters further into the mainstream. Etc, etc, etc. Plenty of negatives around if you want to be dismal and force a specific narrative but I think this is a great time to be into comics.

If you love reprints and modern comics, which I do, you are right! The hobby is fantastic right now.  I was bemoaning the fact that I will probably get priced out of original GA stuff in the next couple of years if this continues. I can buy reprints, of the stuff that is actually reprinted, but it is not the same. I love the smell of the old newsprint and finding a new stamp, date, store, or owner, that i had never seen.  I've completed the 2 runs that I wanted to complete so at least there's that but I doubt I'll be able to complete any other Timely run, even restored.: :( 

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34 minutes ago, ygogolak said:

How many comics are produced today though? There is an obvious glut of titles and publishers.
What's the numbers for digital readers? We don't know...

Statement of Ownership shows 48 titles in 1960. With #48 being an average of a little over 100k sold a month. Now we get the top 250-300 month, which obviously have smaller numbers per title.

I believe in 1960, the average amount of titles in a given month total from all the various publishers was about 115-120.

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21 hours ago, Martin Sinescu said:

Hobby seems fine to me. More content and diversity of selection than I've ever seen. More opportunities for independent creators to reach their audience while retaining their rights to characters. The availability of older material in reprint or online provides way more accessibility of classic stories than ever before. Characters being brought to life through movies in ways that weren't even conceivable when I started and expanding the reach of comic characters further into the mainstream. Etc, etc, etc. Plenty of negatives around if you want to be dismal and force a specific narrative but I think this is a great time to be into comics.

From a reader/fan standpoint, I absolutely agree.  From a collector standpoint, maybe not so much.  There are some disturbing trends in the herd mentality that remind me a lot of the mid-90's.

 

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18 minutes ago, Pontoon said:

I believe in 1960, the average amount of titles in a given month total from all the various publishers was about 115-120.

The current amount of titles per publisher really turned me off to reading current content for a loooooooooong time. I had no idea where to start.

That's why I went to Spawn, and original Batman/Superman titles. I'm still, very slowly, starting to read new stuff. It's just overwhelming.

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18 minutes ago, TwoPiece said:

The current amount of titles per publisher really turned me off to reading current content for a loooooooooong time. I had no idea where to start.

That's why I went to Spawn, and original Batman/Superman titles. I'm still, very slowly, starting to read new stuff. It's just overwhelming.

I agree....and you can never go wrong with the titles you have chosen anyways.Spawn Batman Superman,all great.

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2 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Actually sportscards may be more expensive. Modern rookie cards that come yearly go for more than Walking Dead cgc 9.8.

 

Yeah because they make them so rare and expensive.

I stopped collecting sports cards after I bought up a whole bunch of Patrik Stefan RCs right after he came out,talk about the worst speculation in the history of speculating.

Edited by Hollywood1892
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Just now, Hollywood1892 said:

Yeah because they make them so rare and expensive.

I stopped collecting sports cards after I bought up a whole bunch of Patrik Stefan RCs right after he came out,talk about the worst speculation in the history of speculating.

I am going to give you all a hint.

When his rookie card drops later in the year it will be worth more than Walking Dead 1.

image.jpeg.cac62c4a9079e0b606e69f94483b49ec.jpeg

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1 minute ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I am going to give you all a hint.

When his rookie card drops later in the year it will be worth more than Walking Dead 1.

image.jpeg.cac62c4a9079e0b606e69f94483b49ec.jpeg

That's not a hint man....anyone see this guy play at Duke?

Too be honest though RJ Barrett is better.

No comment on the Stefan rookie cards though?

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57 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

That's not a hint man....anyone see this guy play at Duke?

Too be honest though RJ Barrett is better.

No comment on the Stefan rookie cards though?

On the college level I agree RJ seemed like the better player but physically Zion should transition better in the pros.  Way too much hype around him but Zion should do better from a total number of all-star games standpoint.

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