Are Comic books dead or dying? 5 5

[BlackTerror98]

(Disclaimer: I have other investments like stocks, gold so my money is not all tied up with just comics)

 

As the direct market comes to a different place then it was years ago with lower sells and lower issues being printed. I find myself thinking that having $45k worth of books for enjoyment and investment for my future is not going to age well. I work at my local comic book store and I see people between the ages of 20-60 and those in the 40-60 age branch say that collecting for investment is a poor idea due to no one really caring about comics anymore. This media will go away like vinyls and cds and they recommended I sell off my Collection or consider collecting something more sustainable like Tesla stocks or Bitcoin. I buy books for the purr enjoyment of finding it and holding a book in my hands that has traveled for 20-80 years to get where it is now. How many people saw it and held it and read it or where it started life. The investment side only came to my realization when I graduated high school and found out my collection is worth now $45k (selling the books a fair price) if were to sell them on the high end I could MAYBE MAYBE get $58k-$60k as my math adds up (13 years of non stop collecting and books given to me by old collectors for screaming deals since they can not take them to their graves). I have a little over 120~ Golden age books mainly Action Comics, Superman, Timely, Nedor and classic WWII covers.  Some are worth $150-$600 but mainly of them are worth in the thousands like Action Comics #44, Superman #23, #26 #32 or Marvel Mystery #48, #51 and #55 or Wonder Comics #3, #4, #6 or Batman or Zip comics or Americans best etc.. I also have around 1400~ Silver age, Bronze age books and some keys include ASM #129, Marvel spotlight #5, and Marvel special edition #15 and Avengers #4 etc. I have been collecting since I was 9 and my local comic store always hooked me up with the deals since he saw my eye light up like a Christmas tree. Now that am getting older just curious if any of you think the second hand market will fail or be killed off due to no new collectors.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Matthew Kyle Brasile

[Lightning55]

If you listen to any financial advisor, they will always tell you to diversify.  You are 100% invested in one commodity.  That is not a healthy situation, no matter what that commodity is, all eggs in one basket.  You might want to start adding other types of investments to prevent a major heartache if the unicycle you are peddling loses its only wheel.  It's hard to get the motivation to invest in things that might be boring, like stocks, bonds, other financial instruments, etc., but you have to have the discipline to do it.

I have made no opinion on the comic market, but it doesn't matter.  No one will be able to predict ANY of the markets with surety.  So just figure that they are ALL subject to collapse, or tremendous gains.  You can't predict which way it will go, you can't time it, you can't depend on any of it, so just try to move along in a balanced fashion to weather the storms and take advantage of the windfalls that might occur.

[Sentral]

I think Comics will keep going strong because its "Americana" like muscle cars and baseball.  Comics are stories. and stories are powerful things. 

[InfantTerrible]

20 minutes ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

As the direct market comes to a different place then it was years ago with lower sells and lower issues being printed. I find myself thinking that having $45k worth of books for enjoyment and investment for my future is not going to age well. I work at my local comic book store and I see people between the ages of 20-60 and those in the 40-60 age branch say that collecting for investment is a poor idea due to no one really caring about comics anymore. This media will go away like vinyls and cds and they recommended I sell off my Collection or consider collecting something more sustainable like Tesla stocks or Bitcoin. I buy books for the purr enjoyment of finding it and holding a book in my hands that has traveled for 20-80 years to get where it is now. How many people saw it and held it and read it or where it started life. The investment side only came to my realization when I graduated high school and found out my collection is worth now $45k (selling the books a fair price) if were to sell them on the high end I could MAYBE MAYBE get $58k-$60k as my math adds up (13 years of non stop collecting and books given to me by old collectors for screaming deals since they can not take them to their graves). I have a little over 120~ Golden age books mainly Action Comics, Superman, Timely, Nedor and classic WWII covers.  Some are worth $150-$600 but mainly of them are worth in the thousands like Action Comics #44, Superman #23, #26 #32 or Marvel Mystery #48, #51 and #55 or Wonder Comics #3, #4, #6 or Batman or Zip comics or Americans best etc.. I also have around 1400~ Silver age, Bronze age books and some keys include ASM #129, Marvel spotlight #5, and Marvel special edition #15 and Avengers #4 etc. I have been collecting since I was 9 and my local comic store always hooked me up with the deals since he saw my eye light up like a Christmas tree. Now that am getting older just curious if any of you think the second hand market will fail or be killed off due to no new collectors.

Once you sell off your collection then what? ...you're gonna buy a home? pay student debt? ....if so sure go ahead

thing is once you sell off your collection and have some extra money, you're gonna ask yourself, hmmm I have extra money, what am I going to do? ..I think I'm going to collect something.....the cycle starts over again

Edited April 1, 2021 by IronMan_Cave

[kav]

People have been saying comics as a collecible is dying for 30 or so years-meanwhile books continue to climb, some drastically.  Some say all the older people who pay big money for books are dying out so the value will drop.  I see plenty of younger people joining the fold and a lot of books i have wanted for decades have not become affordable.

Edited April 1, 2021 by kav

[BlackTerror98]

6 minutes ago, Lightning55 said:

If you listen to any financial advisor, they will always tell you to diversify.  You are 100% invested in one commodity.  That is not a healthy situation, no matter what that commodity is, all eggs in one basket.  You might want to start adding other types of investments to prevent a major heartache if the unicycle you are peddling loses its only wheel.  It's hard to get the motivation to invest in things that might be boring, like stocks, bonds, other financial instruments, etc., but you have to have the discipline to do it.

I have made no opinion on the comic market, but it doesn't matter.  No one will be able to predict ANY of the markets with surety.  So just figure that they are ALL subject to collapse, or tremendous gains.  You can't predict which way it will go, you can't time it, you can't depend on any of it, so just try to move along in a balanced fashion to weather the storms and take advantage of the windfalls that might occur.

I do have about $30k~ in stocks mainly apple, tesla, google, and space x. (I bought Tesla, google, space x and apple back in 2014 with my dad's account I used my own money and now it's well through the roof, I have precious metals such as gold (my dad gave me some for graduation from High school 2 oz.) palladium (used in german cars for exhaust) when Volkswagen had that exhausted call back it made it go through the roof as well and now it's trending up. Since BMW is now being forced to use it in their electric cars for emissions safety. I also have about 14k just sitting in my bank account. 

 

But comic books turns out to be my biggest investment when it really never was planned to be😂

[BlackTerror98]

11 minutes ago, IronMan_Cave said:

Once you sell off your collection then what? ...you're gonna buy a home? pay student debt? ....if so sure go ahead

thing is once you sell off your collection and have some extra money, you're gonna ask yourself, hmmm I have extra money, what am I going to do? ..I think I'm going to collect something.....the cycle starts over again

I would honestly either buy Gold, stocks or Bitcoin.. and student debt I don't have any since I live in a state with amazing student benefits if you get good grades. So I pay $115 dollars a semester at John Jay and I don't dorm since Covid. And a house 😂 $45k won't even be enough for a 2 year apartment the size of a bathroom😂 so I see your point 

 

[kav]

The most I've ever spent on a book was $50 and that was one time-Thor 165.  I've been buying books in the 5-10-20 range for about a decade and now have quite a few books in the 200-600 range.

[MetalPSI]

[CHASEnBLUE]

My  is to grade the comics you do have if you have not already done so. The type and era of comics you have overall will continue to appreciate as the market flows. On that note, there are only two things for certain in life - death and taxes.  

[catman76]

Comic books themselves or as collectibles? who cares about collecting or value. The comic book magazine which everyone means when they say comic book has been dying for a long time. Comics themselves are healthier than ever with more comics being made than ever really. It's comic book store, mainstream  superhero marvel/dc crud that people only think exists for some reason. I know you meant as collectibles and value and all that, but comics as an art form are as strong as ever with more being made than ever, more people making publishing their own more than ever. I go to Quimby's and places and there's so many comics constantly coming out it's insane. Comics are in great shape and going nowhere. The collecting thing and marvel, dc etc? Who cares.

[BlackTerror98]

12 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

 

[BlackTerror98]

5 minutes ago, catman76 said:

Comic books themselves or as collectibles? who cares about collecting or value. The comic book magazine which everyone means when they say comic book has been dying for a long time. Comics themselves are healthier than ever with more comics being made than ever really. It's comic book store, mainstream  superhero marvel/dc crud that people only think exists for some reason. I know you meant as collectibles and value and all that, but comics as an art form are as strong as ever with more being made than ever, more people making publishing their own more than ever. I go to Quimby's and places and there's so many comics constantly coming out it's insane. Comics are in great shape and going nowhere. The collecting thing and marvel, dc etc? Who cares.

I know people who have over $100k in comic books that they spend thousands on yearly... It does matter too someone you know? It does matter to me but since I have more then one investment area. However,  if one collectables goes down then the faith in the others will go down as well... I learned that in my Economic class about investments outside the stock market. It was pretty interesting! I would look into getting into palladium since it's used in electric cars for their emissions (when you plug it into the outlet it acts as a conductor) and it has a higher burning threshold then others used in tesla's and such!

[BlackTerror98]

16 minutes ago, CHASEnBLUE said:

My  is to grade the comics you do have if you have not already done so. The type and era of comics you have overall will continue to appreciate as the market flows. On that note, there are only two things for certain in life - death and taxes.  

thank you I appreciate it! And That's very true 😂  depressing but true 

[Jasonmorris1000000]

When new comics stopped coming out in April 2020 due to COVID-19, I overreacted and thought that would be the final nail in the coffin for printed comics.  I believed that when/if new comic stories returned that they would be digital only.  I’m so glad I was wrong.  I’ll continue to buy new comics until either I die or the art form does.  I’m like you and have been saving all my comics since I was 6.  I’m currently 47 and enjoy reading and collecting as much as I did 41 years ago.  I have a suspicion that you’ll never outgrow it either.  I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and you seem very intelligent.  I have a feeling by the time you’re my age you’ll be rich in addition to having a spectacular comic book collection.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Jasonmorris1000000

[comicquant]

I love collecting comics but I personally would not rely on them as an investment instrument.  They’ve done extremely well over the last two decades and will likely continue for a long time but from a purely investment perspective I would prefer my money to be wrapped up in mainstream investments.  My comic collection makes up less than 1% of my investment assets.  My goal is to collect for fun but under the guise of not making dumb purchases (which happens anyway). 

[the blob]

The comic companies seem to be claiming they are selling more new issues than in years. Back issue collecting is wayyyy up. This is an odd time to be asking if comics are dead or dying. Maybe next year if the new blood is bored with comics.

I was in a shop the other day and a guy came in asking for Brsrker 1. The shop was actually sold out. I guess they did not go the 1000 copies route to get variants, although they have 2 locations, so they might have been able to.

[comicquant]

34 minutes ago, catman76 said:

Comic books themselves or as collectibles? who cares about collecting or value. The comic book magazine which everyone means when they say comic book has been dying for a long time. Comics themselves are healthier than ever with more comics being made than ever really. It's comic book store, mainstream  superhero marvel/dc crud that people only think exists for some reason. I know you meant as collectibles and value and all that, but comics as an art form are as strong as ever with more being made than ever, more people making publishing their own more than ever. I go to Quimby's and places and there's so many comics constantly coming out it's insane. Comics are in great shape and going nowhere. The collecting thing and marvel, dc etc? Who cares.

I couldn’t agree more.  There are some outstanding titles being published outside of marvel and DC.  It seems like every month there are twice as many as the previous month and many of them are awesome.  I’m at the point now where my trip to the lcs is specifically to buy those books.  

[Domo Arigato]

1 hour ago, Matthew Kyle Brasile said:

...they recommended I...consider collecting something more sustainable like...Bitcoin. 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2021 by Domo Arigato

[theCapraAegagrus]