Questions For Comic Interview Project HELP PLEASE!! 0

[mjune12252002]

Hey guys! I am researching for a comic books collection project interview and wanted to know if anyone could answer these questions as a comic book collector?

 

I am only referring to comic book collectors who are truly passionate. Not speculators. I also am probably gonna focus on superheroes, like Marvel and DC!

 

Have comics gone up or down in value over time?   (How does the value of comics change? What is the average price range in certain time brackets? In your time collecting how have prices changed?)

Do you see comic book collecting going up or declining in the future? (Will the market for comics be effected by Covid or will it continue to be something people still do? Will it get more or less popular and why?)

 

I can also include any extra information or cool stories and credit on the project! Thank you ahead of time!

Edited April 7, 2021 by mjune12252002
specificity

[theCapraAegagrus]

These vague questions do not have blanket answers.

[mjune12252002]

2 minutes ago, Angel of Death said:

These vague questions do not have blanket answers.

How can I be more specific to help answer? I didn't mean to be vague!:)

[theCapraAegagrus]

19 minutes ago, mjune12252002 said:

How can I be more specific to help answer? I didn't mean to be vague!:)

Well, to start, I'm not sure how interest rates are involved with comic books. Are you asking for those who borrowed money to buy comic books?

It's disingenuous to try assessing all comic books across all time, wouldn't you say? If we talk about Golden Age books, and how much they're worth today, I would guess that they're generally worth more now than back then. How many Silver Age books are worth less today than their cover price in the 70's?

I'm not quite sure about the final question, either. Are you asking if more people will collect comics going forward? Are we including speculators who don't care about the comic books, and just look at them like another form of currency?

[revat]

I don't understand why we're limiting the question to comic books.

 

Why not all books?  Why not other stuff like jackets? or Cereal? or my hair.?

[mjune12252002]

28 minutes ago, revat said:

I don't understand why we're limiting the question to comic books.

 

Why not all books?  Why not other stuff like jackets? or Cereal? or my hair.?

I mean I'm not saying comic books are all one should collect, it's just the topic I chose for my project!:)

[mjune12252002]

41 minutes ago, Angel of Death said:

Well, to start, I'm not sure how interest rates are involved with comic books. Are you asking for those who borrowed money to buy comic books?

It's disingenuous to try assessing all comic books across all time, wouldn't you say? If we talk about Golden Age books, and how much they're worth today, I would guess that they're generally worth more now than back then. How many Silver Age books are worth less today than their cover price in the 70's?

I'm not quite sure about the final question, either. Are you asking if more people will collect comics going forward? Are we including speculators who don't care about the comic books, and just look at them like another form of currency?

For all the questions, I am asking about the comic book collecting community specifically!:) I know it's hard to access all across time. The first I was referring to the amount of interest in the community in terms of percent or like how many have been interested over time. The second I just meant how has the community grown and changed in terms of cost of issues! The final question is like a question of whether to community will continue to collect in the future or if it may be thought that it will decline because of money issues over covid or anything like that? I assume it will because comics are awesome, but I just have to answer that one and was looking for some input!

[Ryan.]

1 hour ago, mjune12252002 said:

Hey guys! I am researching for a comic books collection project interview and wanted to know if anyone could answer these questions as a comic book collector?

 

What type of interest rate have comic books earned?

Have comics gone up or down in value over time?   

Do you see comic book collecting going up or declining in the future?

 

I can also include any extra information or cool stories and credit on the project! Thank you ahead of time!

Since this appears to be for an interview I recommend narrowing your questions to be as specific as possible. Asking an interviewee broad questions is going to generate broad answers. 

As far as researching for this project, unfortunately you are going to have to put in the time and really dig in to what exactly you want to know and search based on that specific criteria. These boards contain many, many (perhaps too many) ongoing threads related to comic values and related interest so you can start by reading through those threads. 

[mjune12252002]

1 minute ago, Ryan. said:

Since this appears to be for an interview I recommend narrowing your questions to be as specific as possible. Asking an interviewee broad questions is going to generate broad answers. 

As far as researching for this project, unfortunately you are going to have to put in the time and really dig in to what exactly you want to know and search based on that specific criteria. These boards contain many, many (perhaps too many) ongoing threads related to comic values and related interest so you can start by reading through those threads. 

Okay, thank you, that helps a lot! I have started reading through a lot already!:)

[theCapraAegagrus]

24 minutes ago, mjune12252002 said:

For all the questions, I am asking about the comic book collecting community specifically!:) I know it's hard to access all across time. The first I was referring to the amount of interest in the community in terms of percent or like how many have been interested over time. The second I just meant how has the community grown and changed in terms of cost of issues! The final question is like a question of whether to community will continue to collect in the future or if it may be thought that it will decline because of money issues over covid or anything like that? I assume it will because comics are awesome, but I just have to answer that one and was looking for some input!

I still don't understand the first question. So, I guess I'll pass.

The second question is still far too vague, because there are tons of variables. Golden Age? Silver Age? Horror? Sci-Fi?

What kind of people are we talking about? Actual collectors, or are you including speculators?

[mjune12252002]

1 minute ago, Angel of Death said:

I still don't understand the first question. So, I guess I'll pass.

The second question is still far too vague, because there are tons of variables. Golden Age? Silver Age? Horror? Sci-Fi?

What kind of people are we talking about? Actual collectors, or are you including speculators?

You are totally right! Sorry they were the questions I was given I just didn't think enough to specify enough. The first I can probably find through researching numbers more. As for the second I guess probably Marvel and DC genres and maybe past issues, not current ones. Like more rare types! If that helps? And the third I am only referring to actual collectors! I wanna get deep into those who truly are passionate about it!

[Devin Colman]

Because there's such a large variety of variables that come into play when talking about comic book values, I think it'd be good for your project if you took a more specific section of collecting for your project and what factors affect the cost of the book. It's not as simple as a savings account where u buy ASM 194 which has a compound interest of 1.2% monthly, it's a lot more than that.

You could definitely discuss topics that affect a books individual value. Not to say it's exactly like the stock market, but there are similar behaviors between the two. For example, some books are safe books that will (for the time being) always climb in value such as big first appearances/origin stories kinda like gas, oil and land.

Then there's fads and trends, this is a dumb example but Patrick Gleason variants are nuts right now, his cover of ASM #55 in first printing is going for hundreds, but two months ago u could buy it on the shelf for $4.99. That's a book that's popular right now, but when the fad is over (like we saw with gamestop stocks) the books value will plummet.

You've also got factors like how common of a book it is. Often, variants that are less produced are worth more. Books like death of superman are worth pennies because everyone and their mother has a copy.

There's also the grading of the book. I have a copy of action comics #1 but it was passed threw a paper shredder and then my dog ate it, would u spend thousands on it? Probably not, so the grade of the book definitely is a factor when talking about fair market value.

Next you've got how the outside world plays a factor on the comic world. MCU and DCEU news largely affect book value. SPECUALTION of the black and silver show has caused the first appearance of black cat to sky rocket. Once those movies and shows pass, the book drops a bit. It's the same in the stock market, when Elon Musk says Tesla's stock prices are too high and the company isn't worth that much, people sell and the company takes a hit because of something that happened in the outside world.

Finally you've got personal interest. If no one cares about comics, they are worthless. Collectors will pay what their heart desires to get their childhood book. For me, I'll always pay the little bit more for ASM keys because those stories mean a lot to me, but other people would never spend that much on some nicely arranged paper.

I know this doesn't answer your questions to a tee, but it's the kinda things you should keep in mind for your project. It would be a very cool project to analyze similarities in how the outside world factors play a role in both the comic industry and the stock market (fads, trends and news announcements).

[theCapraAegagrus]

3 minutes ago, mjune12252002 said:

You are totally right! Sorry they were the questions I was given I just didn't think enough to specify enough. The first I can probably find through researching numbers more. As for the second I guess probably Marvel and DC genres and maybe past issues, not current ones. Like more rare types! If that helps? And the third I am only referring to actual collectors! I wanna get deep into those who truly are passionate about it!

"Rare" is an interesting term. The only thing that I can say for sure is that 1st Appearance or "Key" comics have generally risen in price over time. I wouldn't consider them "rare", though. You can find them for sale all of the time. Low print runs? Are they in-demand? They may be more "rare", but are they harder to find? You can see how jumping down this rabbit hole makes answering these questions more difficult.

I can answer the 3rd question: I don't see the collection community growing. People who actually enjoy comic books appears to be decreasing, in general, from my perspective.

[mjune12252002]

1 minute ago, Angel of Death said:

"Rare" is an interesting term. The only thing that I can say for sure is that 1st Appearance or "Key" comics have generally risen in price over time. I wouldn't consider them "rare", though. You can find them for sale all of the time. Low print runs? Are they in-demand? They may be more "rare", but are they harder to find? You can see how jumping down this rabbit hole makes answering these questions more difficult.

I can answer the 3rd question: I don't see the collection community growing. People who actually enjoy comic books appears to be decreasing, in general, from my perspective.

Thank you so much I really appreciate you taking the time to answer and ask questions to help!

[mjune12252002]

5 minutes ago, Devin Colman said:

Because there's such a large variety of variables that come into play when talking about comic book values, I think it'd be good for your project if you took a more specific section of collecting for your project and what factors affect the cost of the book. It's not as simple as a savings account where u buy ASM 194 which has a compound interest of 1.2% monthly, it's a lot more than that.

You could definitely discuss topics that affect a books individual value. Not to say it's exactly like the stock market, but there are similar behaviors between the two. For example, some books are safe books that will (for the time being) always climb in value such as big first appearances/origin stories kinda like gas, oil and land.

Then there's fads and trends, this is a dumb example but Patrick Gleason variants are nuts right now, his cover of ASM #55 in first printing is going for hundreds, but two months ago u could buy it on the shelf for $4.99. That's a book that's popular right now, but when the fad is over (like we saw with gamestop stocks) the books value will plummet.

You've also got factors like how common of a book it is. Often, variants that are less produced are worth more. Books like death of superman are worth pennies because everyone and their mother has a copy.

There's also the grading of the book. I have a copy of action comics #1 but it was passed threw a paper shredder and then my dog ate it, would u spend thousands on it? Probably not, so the grade of the book definitely is a factor when talking about fair market value.

Next you've got how the outside world plays a factor on the comic world. MCU and DCEU news largely affect book value. SPECUALTION of the black and silver show has caused the first appearance of black cat to sky rocket. Once those movies and shows pass, the book drops a bit. It's the same in the stock market, when Elon Musk says Tesla's stock prices are too high and the company isn't worth that much, people sell and the company takes a hit because of something that happened in the outside world.

Finally you've got personal interest. If no one cares about comics, they are worthless. Collectors will pay what their heart desires to get their childhood book. For me, I'll always pay the little bit more for ASM keys because those stories mean a lot to me, but other people would never spend that much on some nicely arranged paper.

I know this doesn't answer your questions to a tee, but it's the kinda things you should keep in mind for your project. It would be a very cool project to analyze similarities in how the outside world factors play a role in both the comic industry and the stock market (fads, trends and news announcements).

Thanks! This is really good info, I really appreciate it! I definitely wanna include that!

[Devin Colman]

Just now, mjune12252002 said:

Thanks! This is really good info, I really appreciate it! I definitely wanna include that!

No problem, my pleasure!

[Devin Colman]

2 hours ago, mjune12252002 said:

Will the market for comics be effected by Covid or will it continue to be something people still do?

This is a big one, I don't think CGC has ever been busier. Since people cannot travel and got to bars/sporting events to over pay for beer, people (myself included) have started spending more time and money on comics.

[Math Teacher]

56 minutes ago, Devin Colman said:

Then there's fads and trends, this is a dumb example but Patrick Gleason variants are nuts right now, his cover of ASM #55 in first printing is going for hundreds, but two months ago u could buy it on the shelf for $4.99. That's a book that's popular right now, but when the fad is over (like we saw with gamestop stocks) the books value will plummet.

I thought the same thing about Wolverine #1 - Christopher variant. It was available at C2E2 in February, 2020, and its price continues to hold its own, even after one year.

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, Devin Colman said:

but when the fad is over (like we saw with gamestop stocks) the books value will plummet.

Probably not the best example given that GME is still overvalued at this time (170+).  I have little doubt that in a year, the price will have corrected itself, but thus far, it hasn't.

Edited April 7, 2021 by ExNihilo

[ExNihilo]

3 hours ago, mjune12252002 said:

Have comics gone up or down in value over time?   (How does the value of comics change? What is the average price range in certain time brackets? In your time collecting how have prices changed?)

The very first thing I have to explain to friends or other people is that the vast majority of comics lose value.  There is a false perception that was cemented in the 90s that comics gain value.  That in turn led to a huge speculator boom (and subsequent bust) in the 90s.  Back then, people saw some of their old first appearances gaining in value and so we got X-Force #1, X-Men #1, and Spider-Man #1 which all had massive print runs and were marketed as "Collectors" items.  Same with the slew of first issues from Valiant and Image or the foil/hologram/die cut/etc covers.  After all these years, turns out a lot of those books aren't worth more than $1 (less than cover price at the time).  When you think about books that have gained in value, you're really looking at a very small percentage of books.  You have to understand that Marvel alone publishes like 100 different books each month (I'm counting cover ABCDEF of each title).  Of all the books published each month, few result in a notable first appearance or key.  A few of those books might have value based purely on their rarity (1:25 , 1:100, etc ratio variants).  But when the general public hears "Amazing Spider-Man #1 just sold for $125,000" they're talking about a book that's almost 60 years old at this point.  The books with the biggest values are all 60+ years old.  I guess what I'm saying is, you can't just have a blanket statement about how comics have gone up or down because the answer depends on what comic.  There is no blanket answer for all comics, nor is there a set amount/rate at which comics have grown.  I think if historical numbers existed, you'd see spikes that coincided with moments in history as opposed to the steady increase you would find in the stock market.

3 hours ago, mjune12252002 said:

Do you see comic book collecting going up or declining in the future? (Will the market for comics be effected by Covid or will it continue to be something people still do? Will it get more or less popular and why?)

If we circle back to the example above of X-Force, X-Men, and Spider-Man, these were (and still are) the most heavily printed issues of all time.  Each has a print run of over a million (or close to it).  That in turn is why prices are so low, supply outweighs demand.  Every collector probably has 5 of each issue.  Compare that with todays sales figures which can be found at Comichron.  You can see that most titles don't even hit 100,000 monthly sales.  Comic collecting has declined in the last 30 years.  I've seen my fair share of local shops close up, evidence that the comic business is no simple feat.  I can't speak to the future, but there are people out there who feel that it's only a matter of time before print media becomes a thing of the past.  Marvel and DC both have digital subscription formats so people can read on their PC/Tablet.  If we want to use Newspaper/Magazines as an example, you can see how they've shifted their business from print to online.  (I realize there's a difference there as news is consumed immediately with the advent of the internet).  Unfortunately, the way things are trending, we're seeing a decrease in sales, which leads to an increase in cover price to cover costs, which further leads to a decrease in sales.  I prefer printed issues, and I like to think there's enough of a nostalgia factor that we'll continue to see issues on shelves, but I can also see collectors declining.