Has there been a substantial increase in the number of serious comic book collectors? 1 1

[Randall Ries]

On 3/27/2021 at 9:15 AM, 1950's war comics said:

the insane thing about these comic book prices is that there are countless Bronze comics that have recently rose in value that are now worth more

than the holy grail of Lincoln cents ,... the 1909 SVDB

Oh how I dreamed of that penny when I was a kid.

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Todd McFarlane, at the 25:42 mark of his Wondercon @ Home 2021 video, stated that in 2020 Image had...

1. More titles debut over 100,000 copies than in the last 10yrs.
2. Even mid tier Image books are selling 2-3 times their normal numbers and
3. Spawn has seen increases of 200-600% the last 5-6 issues. 

[InfantTerrible]

20 minutes ago, oldmilwaukee6er said:

Todd McFarlane, at the 25:42 mark of his Wondercon @ Home 2021 video, stated that in 2020 Image had...

1. More titles debut over 100,000 copies than in the last 10yrs.
2. Even mid tier Image books are selling 2-3 times their normal numbers and
3. Spawn has seen increases of 200-600% the last 5-6 issues. 

Interesting points. Again because of pandemic, people stuck at home, nothing to do. So people are ordering comics online or digital version. And probably the same story with Marvel and DC comics. And these new readers become the new batch of collectors.

Who would've thought pandemic actually brings in new interest to comic books

Edited March 30, 2021 by IronMan_Cave

[Lazyboy]

1 hour ago, zosocane said:

Over the last 20 years, how many X-Men films were by Marvel Studios?

Why does it matter? Everybody knows the X-Men. There have been multiple good movies (as well as some that weren't). What could they possibly do to actually increase their popularity?

[MetalPSI]

1 minute ago, Lazyboy said:

Why does it matter? Everybody knows the X-Men. There have been multiple good movies (as well as some that weren't). What could they possibly do to actually increase their popularity?

Put out a great movie

[Lazyboy]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

Put out a great movie

Which will somehow interest people who don't already know and like the X-Men and make them desperately want to buy comics?

[InfantTerrible]

On 3/25/2021 at 9:50 PM, inovrmihd said:

Prices of sports cards are soaring.  I attributed this to a combination of two factors;  1)  new collectors due to COVID who got into sports, here and around the world; 2)  money printing/speculation/fomo, etc.  the second factor is the bigger dynamic. It is easy to see this second factor.  I would like opinions on whether the comic market has also experienced a wave of new legitimate collectors.  I am not talking about just speculators and I am not talking at all about the rush to get out of cash.  I am seeking opinions on whether the number of people who are genuinely interested in the hobby.  As far as I can tell, the stamp market is dying, and the coin market, which I believe was for a long time the king of collectible (nine active) hobbies, is dying out.  There are still plenty of wealthy people who grew up as coin collectors are still active, but there is absolutely no nostalgia value and I don’t see any young collectors entering the hobby.  I thought comics would go the same way, especially with digital comics, but I can understand how sports cards can attract new collectors who might be interested in the history and know about the great players even though they never saw them play.  I can get why someone that starts collecting cards of modern players would be interested in owning a Willie Mays or Oscar Robertson or Walter Peyton card.  Are their new people getting into comics that are real collectors as opposed to simply investors, speculators, or TINA types who hear they will triple their money on social media?  I haven’t been following prices until recently, and I am asking because because their seems like the bulk of the appreciation is going to new ultra rare cards, or keys.  I am sure there have been plenty of observations about that, as well as speculative further bubble talk, but I just want to know about the number of new “collectors”, the people who would appreciate a semi key, for example.  It is easy for a non collector to understand the desirability of the first issue of Spider-Man, but difficult for a non collector to understand the first issue where the Hulk fights the Fantastic Four, or something even more esoteric like Defenders #10.  I would appreciate any thoughts, specific to this narrow question.

Sports cards are exploding because there's that one site where you can share ownership of high valued cards, so basically just bunch of group of collectors bidding against another  group.

There's no such thing in comic books, at least not yet...lets hope not, keep the hobby to individual collectors

[MetalPSI]

4 minutes ago, Lazyboy said:

Which will somehow interest people who don't already know and like the X-Men and make them desperately want to buy comics?

I'm desperate for a good movie

[SpidersComics]

On 3/27/2021 at 3:25 PM, zosocane said:

I watch some YouTube “haul” videos to see what younger guys are doing.  And they’re chasing high grade keys in the $100 to $1K range — mostly Copper to Modern.  All spec plays.  None of these videos focuses on the writers or artists or characters.  I doubt they have ever read or page-flipped through a Nova #1 or an ASM # 300 — they’re just flipping plastic.

This right here. 100%. I watch a few youtubers and not a single one mentions writer, artist OR plot. Purely First Appearance (fap).

One guy listed his 3 specs (2 FF's and a Cap America) and when I mentioned they were all drawn by John Byrne he didn't know who that was...trading CGC 9.8's like oversized baseball cards is where we're at presently.

However...(this is where I turn positive)

The pure focus on FAPS means that as long as you avoid those issues you can still buy a lot of good reading material cheaply, just don't try and complete the run....yet!

Edited January 30, 2022 by SP1dxor

[THE_BEYONDER]

55 minutes ago, IronMan_Cave said:

Sports cards are exploding because there's that one site where you can share ownership of high valued cards, so basically just bunch of group of collectors bidding against another  group.

There's no such thing in comic books, at least not yet...lets hope not, keep the hobby to individual collectors

 

[InfantTerrible]

9 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

 

damn....

[THE_BEYONDER]

4 minutes ago, IronMan_Cave said:

damn....

Here’s another thread on the subject....

 

[zosocane]

1 hour ago, Lazyboy said:

Which will somehow interest people who don't already know and like the X-Men and make them desperately want to buy comics?

Of course not.  The Fox-Men were perfectly ... OK.  Just that, OK.  A Marvel Studios-produced X-Men universe will put the X-Men in the same league as the Marvel Studios-produced Avengers.  It isn't about people not knowing the X-Men wanting to buy comics.  It's about existing collectors, investors and speculators having a whole new appreciation for the X-Men universe, which explains in part why GSXM1 and XM1 have been exploding.

[InfantTerrible]

12 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Here’s another thread on the subject....

 

If this is the future of collectibles, then individual collectors have no chance, what's stopping others setting another LLC like this....

 

Edited March 30, 2021 by IronMan_Cave

[nmtg9]

3 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Which will somehow interest people who don't already know and like the X-Men and make them desperately want to buy comics?

Maybe. If you're 18 now the last decent movie was DOFP when you were 11. If, in five years there is a great MCU mutant film you might be inspired to get into the hobby. 

[MetalPSI]

Apocalypse and Phoenix were so bad, I think people forget xmen is a thing 

[Gatsby77]

7 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Why does it matter? Everybody knows the X-Men. There have been multiple good movies (as well as some that weren't). What could they possibly do to actually increase their popularity?

This. Y'all are acting like the success of X-Men (2000) didn't lead directly to the first Spider-Man movie (finally) being greenlit (which it did).

Honestly - it went Blade -> X-Men -> Spider-Man.

After 7 movies - and spin-offs from Wolverine to Deadpool to the The New Mutants - it's not like everyone doesn't already know who the X-Men are. And I don't believe just having *Marvel Studios* produce chapter 8 will magically cause a (true - not speculative) demand surge.

That's like saying..."I can't wait until they re-cast Iron Man and announce the trilogy reboot so that my Tales of Suspense 39 will increase."

Edited March 30, 2021 by Gatsby77

[theCapraAegagrus]

7 hours ago, SP1dxor said:

This right here. 100%. I watch a few youtubers and not a single one mentions writer, artist OR plot. Purely First Appearance (fap).

One guy listed his 3 specs (2 FF's and a cap am) and when I mentioned they were all drawn by John Byrne he didn't know who that was...trading CGC 9.8's like oversized cards is where we're at presently.

However...(this is where I turn positive)

The pure focus on FAPS means that as long as you avoid those issues you can still but a lot of good reading material cheaply, just don't try and complete the run, yet!

I know a certain person who recently bought a big $$$$$ book, and I don't think they ever read it. As in, completely unfamiliar with the story and has no idea why it's valuable other than that it cost them big $$$$$. They claim to like comic books, though.

People could at least be honest with themselves.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Angel of Death

[theCapraAegagrus]

4 hours ago, Dr. Dank said:

Apocalypse and Phoenix were so bad, I think people forget xmen is a thing 

Considering that everyone was 'losing their minds' over Evan Peters' cameo in WandaVision? That's a big no from me dawg.

[Gatsby77]

Forget X-Men 1.

The next big book? Brave and Bold 28, yo  - first appearance of Starro. Gonna' make Iron Man 55 look like Tales of Suspense 97.