New Collector/Investor seeking advice from the Vets 1 1

[William-James88]

6 hours ago, the blob said:

that this isn't a first app, or iron man 1, submariner 1, hulk 102, etc either hasn't really hampered those books. $500 doesn't get him much in the way of a first appearance of an important character. maybe half a book. it's a nice book, but he may have overpaid for it given that it is a raw copy

$500 is all you need for first appearance of Batgirl. And I think she's an important character.

[William-James88]

On 4/12/2021 at 11:44 PM, Comic Pingu said:

Got off an auction for $485+fees, if i’m out of my mind please let me know cus I got free returns.

I wouldnt have done it. As a matter of fact, I didn't do it. I spent that same kind of money (or less) on Detective Comics 359, some beautiful Mac Raboy Wartime books, and a Golden Age Two Face cover, just to name a few. To me, they have more potential than that particular book at keeping value in the longer run. 

[the blob]

9 minutes ago, William-James88 said:

$500 is all you need for first appearance of Batgirl. And I think she's an important character.

A 3.0, sure, but I guess he bought raw, so you could get more stuff raw, take your chances, etc.

I have never found 102 (Cap or Hulk) all that exciting either, but I think the market disagrees. And yeah, for the money I would probably rather have Tec 359 for all the reasons you state. Although the market kraps on DC books. 

Edited April 16, 2021 by the blob

[the blob]

Also, it looks like all the cheap copies of 359 were bought up. There is a terrible looking 3.0 up for $599 with a B/O.

[the blob]

7 minutes ago, the blob said:

A 3.0, sure, but I guess he bought raw, so you could get more stuff raw, take your chances, etc.

I have never found 102 (Cap or Hulk) all that exciting either, but I think the market disagrees. And yeah, for the money I would probably rather have Tec 359 for all the reasons you state. Although the market kraps on DC books. 

And Warner is clueless on using the characters.

They're introducing Batgirl in Titans, but the wheelchair bound Oracle version. Which probably makes sense for the show (they already have one non-powered woman in a silly costume who can beat baddies up because she used to be a dancer? Huh?), but isn't going jack up those 359s... (Batgirl on the HQ cartoon was terrific and given that she is played by Cuoco's sister, she may be back, but that show, despite its brilliance, has zero impact on back issue prices).

[KCOComics]

It's funny how times have changed. All of those 1968 "firsts" were historically second class citizens in the world of SA keys.   

My local comic shop had a Iron Man 1 7.5 with a $2k price tag that was gone in a week. I'm not sure if he got $2k, but it flew! 

Anyway that was one of those books that I've never thought anything of. Owned a few copies, traded them away. You would see it at every show and many shops and it was never expensive. Now it's a big key,  like everything else! 

SS1 is my favorite of the 68 "firsts"  it might be the only one I still own. 

[KCOComics]

9 minutes ago, Testinadicalicious said:

And they still should be   that's why I always ask "what's so special about Cap's 87th appearance?" The Hulk book has an awful cover too.

This is the dilemma we are in and where I empathize with new collectors lol. 

If Ironman is your favorite character, but TOS39 is pushing $5k in a 1.5, what do you do?  The money follows the 68s. 

Cap is more interesting.  Those GA Caps have gotten pretty pricey so the $$ followed Avengers 4, before moving to Cap 100.  

I also agree on Hulk. 1-6 are iconic. I would buy anyone of those before a Hulk 102.  But it appears Hulk 102 is moving much quicker than Hulk 3 - 6. 

Edited April 16, 2021 by KCOComics

[lostboys]

New collectors from all the movies.

New - old collectors.

Working from home.

World populaton exploding and we are all connected to the internet...we are all at the same comic book convention.

Honestly, the more I think about it, this could only still be the starting point. Prices are rising with each new listing on Ebay. FMV numbers at comics go collect keep going up.

It's a lot of fun. Not as much fun as a 80s/90s comic and card convention in the lobby of a Holliday Inn though.

Do they still have those or are they all costume parties now?

Damn I'm getting old

[the blob]

5 hours ago, KCOComics said:

It's funny how times have changed. All of those 1968 "firsts" were historically second class citizens in the world of SA keys.   

My local comic shop had a Iron Man 1 7.5 with a $2k price tag that was gone in a week. I'm not sure if he got $2k, but it flew! 

Anyway that was one of those books that I've never thought anything of. Owned a few copies, traded them away. You would see it at every show and many shops and it was never expensive. Now it's a big key,  like everything else! 

SS1 is my favorite of the 68 "firsts"  it might be the only one I still own. 

SS1 was the one of them that was actually viewed as a key book all along (not key like the first wave of Marvels, but I think a F/VF SS 1 was probably about the same price as a VGish DD 1. Iron Man 1s were everywhere. I had almost as many of them as I had FF 48s and I don't think I ever paid more than $50.

[the blob]

32 minutes ago, lostboys said:

New collectors from all the movies.

New - old collectors.

Working from home.

World populaton exploding and we are all connected to the internet...we are all at the same comic book convention.

Honestly, the more I think about it, this could only still be the starting point. Prices are rising with each new listing on Ebay. FMV numbers at comics go collect keep going up.

It's a lot of fun. Not as much fun as a 80s/90s comic and card convention in the lobby of a Holliday Inn though.

Do they still have those or are they all costume parties now?

Damn I'm getting old

the willingness to accept the last 1 or 2 sales as the new floor for the books ... and seemingly everyone quickly re-pricing their books to reflect that,

[the blob]

5 hours ago, KCOComics said:

This is the dilemma we are in and where I empathize with new collectors lol. 

If Ironman is your favorite character, but TOS39 is pushing $5k in a 1.5, what do you do?  The money follows the 68s. 

Cap is more interesting.  Those GA Caps have gotten pretty pricey so the $$ followed Avengers 4, before moving to Cap 100.  

I also agree on Hulk. 1-6 are iconic. I would buy anyone of those before a Hulk 102.  But it appears Hulk 102 is moving much quicker than Hulk 3 - 6. 

102 is wayyyy cheaper than any of 3-6. It may be going up faster, but it was pretty cheap before. Psychologically people were more willing to accept Iron Man 1 as an expensive book before Hulk 102, just because of the numbering. Hulk 102 in the 4.0-5.0ish range seems to have doubled since January from $65-75 to $130-150. Of course, Tales to Astonish is completely forgotten in the mix, along with Tales of Suspense.

[KCOComics]

4 minutes ago, the blob said:

102 is wayyyy cheaper than any of 3-6. It may be going up faster, but it was pretty cheap before. Psychologically people were more willing to accept Iron Man 1 as an expensive book before Hulk 102, just because of the numbering. Hulk 102 in the 4.0-5.0ish range seems to have doubled since January from $65-75 to $130-150. Of course, Tales to Astonish is completely forgotten in the mix, along with Tales of Suspense.

I agree it's cheaper. I was just saying prices have been moving much quicker on the 102. For $500 (give or take) you can get a VG 4, 5 or 6 vs a VF+ (maybe VF/NM) 102.  

I would rather put my $500 toward Hulk 5 than 102 

[shadroch]

On 4/12/2021 at 3:15 PM, the blob said:

It's funny, my 15 year old wants to learn about investing, although he has very little interest in actually working to make some money in order to invest, which is nuts because minimum wage is $15 here right now. If you can get a job, a great time to be a teen! Apparently he has gotten his fundamentals from tick tock videos on investing,

I told him I would give him 1000-2000 low end comics and he can try and make money from them. Has he taken me up on my offer? Of course not! Lazy mo-fo.

 

My first job, I made $1.85 an hour and worked about ten hours a week. A hours work allowed me to buy 9 Marvels, at their 20 cent cover price. 

That January, minimum wage went up to $2.10, but comics were soon 25 cents so my purchasing power actually went down. 

At $15, your son can only buy two or three new comics per hour.

[the blob]

2 minutes ago, shadroch said:

My first job, I made $1.85 an hour and worked about ten hours a week. A hours work allowed me to buy 9 Marvels, at their 20 cent cover price. 

That January, minimum wage went up to $2.10, but comics were soon 25 cents so my purchasing power actually went down. 

At $15, your son can only buy two or three new comics per hour.

He has no interest in spending the $15 on comics, which have far outpaced inflation. He'll read comics, if i buy them for him, He will spend $60 on a new video game that he will play for 1,000 hours. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 4/16/2021 at 3:49 PM, the blob said:

He has no interest in spending the $15 on comics, which have far outpaced inflation. He'll read comics, if i buy them for him, He will spend $60 on a new video game that he will play for 1,000 hours. 

$70 for the new generation of video games.

[the blob]

39 minutes ago, Angel of Death said:

$70 for the new generation of video games.

I have only heard "dad I will give you $60 in cash if you let me use your credit card to buy ___"

[theCapraAegagrus]

7 minutes ago, the blob said:

I have only heard "dad I will give you $60 in cash if you let me use your credit card to buy ___"

Must not have a PS5 or One XBox One X Box (or whatever it's called) yet.

[namisgr]

On 4/12/2021 at 4:27 PM, Comic Pingu said:

I guess let me simplify it a bit, if you had between 15k-25k in savings and no other significant financial responsibilities, would you be buying mid to high grades off the blazing market?

No.

I'd take out maybe 10-20% of the savings for buying comics.  The bulk of my savings would be invested with a long-term horizon in mind - for me that would mean a couple of mutual funds that invest primarily in equities and a little in bonds and hard assets.  The rest would stay in the bank in an FDIC-insured account as the rainy day fund.

Over time, there's always the option of adding to each pool (comics, mutual funds, bank savings) as you make more money relative to your expenses.  But I still wouldn't wander much from the original allocation.

As to what comics to buy?  I agree with those who've recommended you buy what you most like.  The future prices of any and all genres of comics especially in the intermediate to long term are wildly unpredictable, and to me don't seem like a stable and dependable investment vehicle.  But you can never go wrong with owning comics you get a charge out of searching, finding, reading and owning.

Who's giving this advice?  I started regularly reading and collecting comics bought off the rack in 1972, and by the early 1990s was going after high grade Silver and Bronze age back issues, more aggressively as time went on and finances allowed.  While I've spent the past decade selling off those back issues and much of the original collection, I still own some comics that were bought when brand new nearly 50 years ago.  The market prices have ebbed and flowed many times, and I'm glad to have chosen to allocate savings mostly to traditional wealth building vehicles over this time frame, but the enjoyment of reading, seeking out, and collecting comics never went away.

Edited April 19, 2021 by namisgr

[the blob]

1 hour ago, Angel of Death said:

Must not have a PS5 or One XBox One X Box (or whatever it's called) yet.

PS 4 and PC. The PS 5 isn't happening. Allowing this into our childrens' lives was one of the stupidest mistakes I've ever made. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

18 minutes ago, the blob said:

PS 4 and PC. The PS 5 isn't happening. Allowing this into our childrens' lives was one of the stupidest mistakes I've ever made. 

Most things are good in moderation. There was a time in my life when I did play video games far too often (8+ hours/day). However, I often do deep dives into hobbies when I truly get into them (it was an NHL game).