Where do you see the hobby in 25 years 4 4

[ADAMANTIUM]

Just now, kav said:

You just better watch yourself!

Well I can respect you dont want to put a label on it

More power to you, it's not a hobby for you. I think I've really made reference to it as "my hobby " twice....

You just made me think about it @kav so now worries it's good for me to ponder sometimes, devoids me of stress!

A Roy Thomas signing tomorrow  but didn't get much sleep last night.....

[1Cool]

5 hours ago, valiantman said:

I'd be far more concerned about the fine arts market in the next 25 years.  What causes an oil painting to be worth $20,000,000+?  Sure, it's one of a kind, it's great art, etc., but $20,000,000+?

Compare that to a key comic worth $5,000 with only 4,000 copies known.  That's also $20,000,000.

If tens of millions of people remember the movie for that key (first appearance) comic, that's nostalgia that 4,000 copies will never satisfy.  

Between the two, I'd say the 4,000 copies of a comic worth $5,000 today ($20,000,000) has a much better chance of becoming a $100,000,000+ total in 25 years... compared to a $20,000,000+ oil painting of some flowers or a landscape.

Nail on the head!  I’m also concerned about my Vango and Mone going down in price.  I’d have to throw them away if they were worth 70 million!

[Hollywood1892]

27 minutes ago, kav said:

It's not a hobby.  If collecting and reading comics is a hobby then everything is a hobby.  Watching TV, having conversations, eating-

Having conversations is my favorite hobby especially variants (known in the conversation world as the 'abstract')

[Myowncollector]

7 hours ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

And there are mansions worth more than Action Comics #1.

Except for that one guy who has that action 1 9.9 stashed away.

[kav]

4 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Having conversations is my favorite hobby especially variants (known in the conversation world as the 'abstract')

[Comics4All]

57 minutes ago, ADAMANTIUM said:

I would consider reading a hobby, but when you relate it to TV, I guess times have changed. Not like reading a stop sign or ingredient label, but reading a comic, buying a bag and board, slabbing, keeping up with it etc. I consider those ingredients with bottle caps 

This is not a sentence

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

1 hour ago, kav said:

It's not a hobby.  If collecting and reading comics is a hobby then everything is a hobby.  Watching TV, having conversations, eating-

Call it whatever you like, it's just words. An interest, a hobby, a pastime, a passion.

If you enjoy it that's all that counts. Personally I couldn't give a toss what it's called or what label anyone attaches to it.

I'm ok with 'the hobby'...works for me.

If you want to be technical then it's panelology.

And Chris, you shouldn't have changed the thread title. 

Now lot's of the dialogue does not have context related to the thread title.

@Hollywood1892

Edited June 13, 2020 by G G ®

[Hollywood1892]

2 minutes ago, G G ® said:

Call it whatever you like, it's just words. An interest, a hobby, a pastime, a passion.

If you enjoy it that's all that counts. Personally I couldn't give a toss what it's called or what label anyone attaches to it.

I'm ok with 'the hobby'...works for me.

If you want to be technical then it's panelology.

And Chris, you shouldn't have changed the thread title. 

Now lot's of the dialogue does not have context related to the thread title.

@Hollywood1892

Fine

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

1 minute ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Fine

Good man. 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

7 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

Fine

 

 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Just for the record, from the urban dictionary;

Panelology

Comic book collecting.

Panelology is a hobby that treats comic books and related items as artwork to be sought after and preserved.

 

I guess I'm content with calling it  a hobby, my hobby, the hobby.

[Hollywood1892]

3 minutes ago, G G ® said:

Just for the record, from the urban dictionary;

Panelology

Comic book collecting.

Panelology is a hobby that treats comic books and related items as artwork to be sought after and preserved.

 

I guess I'm content with calling it  a hobby, my hobby, the hobby.

Nice one!

[Qalyar]

Honestly, there are two paths for the future of comic collecting, and each one has a different paper collectible as the benchmark. It is literally impossible to know which one the world will follow. Organized comic collecting isn't fad-level new, like Beanie Babies or what-have-you. It's established enough that it won't die out completely, but it's still new enough that trends are hard to predict. And the publisher shenanigans don't help with that.

Comic collecting could play out like philately. "Key" issues and high-grade copies of mid-demand items shoot up out of reach of normal collectors, but a robust trade in somewhat lesser books keeps the hobby relatively strong. In its favor, comic books, like stamps, have an endless array of "sub-collection" options. You can chase variants (either the new shiny ones, or old-school things like the Marvel price variants, Canadians, etc.). You can collect by title run, by character, by cover artist, by writer, by genre... That's good for the health of the hobby. On the other hand, philately is organized. There are standard catalogues (Scott, mostly, but for some purposes Gibbons or Yvert or specialist publications) that have been established for decades, are viewed and comprehensive and authoritative. Does anyone thing Overstreet is a comprehensive guide to collectible comics, even from the big houses? It is not.

So the other option is that comics end up like 20th century books. A handful of the highest prestige works remain really expensive, but everything else, sooner or later, craters. Sure, first-printing, first-state copies of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot are worth tens of thousands or more. But even most King first editions are readily available for fractions of cover price. Step away from the big name authors, and most books published in the last 100 years are essentially worthless. Now, comics are an easier collection to maintain than books in terms of volume and weight for storage, and that's always been a mark against modern book collecting. Also, even mediocre comics are often printed in much smaller numbers than major books, and are less likely to be conserved in high-grade condition by their nature. That's good... but there is some reason to believe that people do collect comics like they do books. Poor catalogue standards, a focus on cover and cover quality over interiors, and the evil flipside of the "sub-collection" thing: people buy a niche and often nothing else.

Currently, comics are sort of hewing a middle road, but that's probably not sustainable, and 25 years ought to be enough market and social distance that it'll shake out. One way or the other.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

1 minute ago, Qalyar said:

Honestly, there are two paths for the future of comic collecting, and each one has a different paper collectible as the benchmark. It is literally impossible to know which one the world will follow. Organized comic collecting isn't fad-level new, like Beanie Babies or what-have-you. It's established enough that it won't die out completely, but it's still new enough that trends are hard to predict. And the publisher shenanigans don't help with that.

Comic collecting could play out like philately. "Key" issues and high-grade copies of mid-demand items shoot up out of reach of normal collectors, but a robust trade in somewhat lesser books keeps the hobby relatively strong. In its favor, comic books, like stamps, have an endless array of "sub-collection" options. You can chase variants (either the new shiny ones, or old-school things like the Marvel price variants, Canadians, etc.). You can collect by title run, by character, by cover artist, by writer, by genre... That's good for the health of the hobby. On the other hand, philately is organized. There are standard catalogues (Scott, mostly, but for some purposes Gibbons or Yvert or specialist publications) that have been established for decades, are viewed and comprehensive and authoritative. Does anyone thing Overstreet is a comprehensive guide to collectible comics, even from the big houses? It is not.

So the other option is that comics end up like 20th century books. A handful of the highest prestige works remain really expensive, but everything else, sooner or later, craters. Sure, first-printing, first-state copies of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot are worth tens of thousands or more. But even most King first editions are readily available for fractions of cover price. Step away from the big name authors, and most books published in the last 100 years are essentially worthless. Now, comics are an easier collection to maintain than books in terms of volume and weight for storage, and that's always been a mark against modern book collecting. Also, even mediocre comics are often printed in much smaller numbers than major books, and are less likely to be conserved in high-grade condition by their nature. That's good... but there is some reason to believe that people do collect comics like they do books. Poor catalogue standards, a focus on cover and cover quality over interiors, and the evil flipside of the "sub-collection" thing: people buy a niche and often nothing else.

Currently, comics are sort of hewing a middle road, but that's probably not sustainable, and 25 years ought to be enough market and social distance that it'll shake out. One way or the other.

I don't think you can compare stamps to comic books.

I collected stamps as a kid and I enjoyed it ...for a time.

But stamps are small, fairly uninteresting and not very tactile. Comic books are enlarged works of art that you can actively handle, read, enjoy all the various panels and splashes of artwork etc.

Stamps you sometimes lick and stick on an envelope and throw into a red box to be sent wherever and never to be seen again...or you stick them in albums.

I'm not even talking about value here, just sheer participatory enjoyment.

In short, stamps suck. Comic books are the dogs bollocks...to put it intellectually.

[Hollywood1892]

2 minutes ago, G G ® said:

 

In short, stamps suck. Comic books are the dogs bollocks...to put it intellectually.

Well put!

TBH you can toss coins into that mix with stamps, model trains is defo more interesting 

Without value attached, though Valiantman put it excellently, comics ranks above art in my opinion, and combines stories like books! I'd say  comics is the most interesting of the collectibles 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

Just now, Hollywood1892 said:

model trains is defo more interesting 

Do not get me started on Trains! Models and the real thing are an absolute passion of mine. 

[Qalyar]

6 minutes ago, G G ® said:

I don't think you can compare stamps to comic books.

I collected stamps as a kid and I enjoyed it ...for a time.

But stamps are small, fairly uninteresting and not very tactile. Comic books are enlarged works of art that you can actively handle, read, enjoy all the various panels and splashes of artwork etc.

Stamps you sometimes lick and stick on an envelope and throw into a red box to be sent wherever and never to be seen again...or you stick them in albums.

I'm not even talking about value here, just sheer participatory enjoyment.

In short, stamps suck. Comic books are the dogs bollocks...to put it intellectually.

And yet, stamps are an established collectible hobby where pieces of value have retained that value over a considerable period of time. Sure, there aren't (usually) boom/bust cycles like with modern spec covers. But that's probably for the best. Philately is a "healthy" hobby market in part because there is active trade not just in the four, five, six figure items ... but in five, ten, and twenty dollar pieces that aren't likely to turn around and suddenly be worth half that much by this time next year.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

2 minutes ago, Hollywood1892 said:

comics ranks above art in my opinion

Comic books are art, particularly the most talented artists. Obviously some suck, but comic books are a valid art form without a doubt.

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

1 minute ago, Qalyar said:

And yet, stamps are an established collectible hobby where pieces of value have retained that value over a considerable period of time. Sure, there aren't (usually) boom/bust cycles like with modern spec covers. But that's probably for the best. Philately is a "healthy" hobby market in part because there is active trade not just in the four, five, six figure items ... but in five, ten, and twenty dollar pieces that aren't likely to turn around and suddenly be worth half that much by this time next year.

I respect most hobbies that people get pleasure from but stamps or philately has definitely declined over the years compared to comics. But that doesn't matter if you love it. Personally for me comic books tick many boxes of interest whereas stamps are far too two dimensional and insubstancial for me. 

[Hollywood1892]

1 minute ago, G G ® said:

 dimensional 

This is a good way of looking at collectibles, in terms of being multi dimensional 

Comics hits art/vision/intrigue/stories/fantasies