"Comics probably worthless" article

[demonhunter]

I think the piracy of comics in digital form is killing value of comic books.

Furthermore, modern generations do not view comics as a collectible that is worth a lot of value.

To them, it's a medium of entertainment just as other forms such as video games, movies, etc. It is to be consumed and that's it. Not for collecting and to be kept in pristine condition.

[Simplyrob]

i saw this article also. the writer chose the absolute worst time of the hobby to focus on. in the 80's and 90's, the "collectible" frenzy was at its peak. hell, i even remember buying multiples of many of those early Image books. i remember when Rai #0 came out, my shop had a limit of 1 per customer. however, within this hobby, there are still gems, but, they are a needle in a haystack. early Walking Dead books are still fetching crazy money. higher grade silver age books are fetching crazy money, both graded and ungraded.

i was talking to my LCS owner about this very topic earlier this week. he said only a handful of his regular customers actually buy their comics to keep, the rest are buying on speculation. the lenticular thing is a great example. what lenticular thing, you say? exactly. think about it. the DC lenticular thing was only a month ago and now many of those books are back to cover price already. i think this sorta thing is definitely hurting the hobby. ive tried to stay away from lots of new books, i guess i just buy what looks interesting, but, ive been ramping up my silver age collection. those books, i know, ill at least make my $ back when the time comes to flip them.

i think if investing in comics is what one really wants to do, they need to be very careful in choosing an era, title, or theme to run with. the last 2 years ive been buying early GOTG appearance books. i should be getting a number of them back from CGC next week. i think those will give me a solid return on my $ if i sell them at the right time. all about where the $ goes. now that TWD is gonna be returning for a 5th season on television, thatll give the comics a little more longevity. not sure ill hold onto mine that long, but, still.

[Lord Loki]

Wlaking dead, Deadpool , Some Batman and spidey are the only books holding and/or going up now.

[ratchet]

Originally Posted by Lord Loki

Wlaking dead, Deadpool , Some Batman and spidey are the only books holding and/or going up now.

Marvel Silver age seems to be increasing in prices

[built2shred]

Biggest issue is so many people collect that the market is flooded... Every once in awhile something will become popular like Walking Dead because of the TV show which generates a lot interest in the comics but even then your still not talking a lot of money.

I can see 1st issues being worth some money like the New 52.. some of those will sell for $50 or so, up to $200+ if their signed and CGC.. But overall I don't see comics really being worth anything except for a few really rare exceptions...

Except for some signed comics I have, I really don't have much of a collection.. I have a digital subscription so I just get them on my Ipad.. saves space and keeps everything in one spot if I want to re-read something.

[Dan_Lebou]

I'm sure that ret-conning and all these restarts wiped out the value of a lot of comics when major events suddenly become meaningless, and continuity went out of the window.

[Underdog07]

Wait, the older rare key best condition books are worth the most? Overprinted hot books do not maintain their immediately artificially enhanced value?

I am shocked.

[Vince-Vell]

Glad i sold off all of the ones in my collection that fetched good money. Now i only have 4 long boxes left of comics that are worthless but i love them and their stories. So while they are worthless on the market they are valuable to me to read over and over again.

[ReplicantSavior]

Originally Posted by demonhunter

I think the piracy of comics in digital form is killing value of comic books.

Furthermore, modern generations do not view comics as a collectible that is worth a lot of value.

To them, it's a medium of entertainment just as other forms such as video games, movies, etc. It is to be consumed and that's it. Not for collecting and to be kept in pristine condition.

I didn't know there was high piracy of comics. I think it's rampant with Japanese manga.

But the modern generation does see everything as content. Many here are like that I've noticed in some of the videogame threads. Play a game once and done. In the case of comics, read it and done.

Originally Posted by built2shred

Biggest issue is so many people collect that the market is flooded... Every once in awhile something will become popular like Walking Dead because of the TV show which generates a lot interest in the comics but even then your still not talking a lot of money.

I can see 1st issues being worth some money like the New 52.. some of those will sell for $50 or so, up to $200+ if their signed and CGC.. But overall I don't see comics really being worth anything except for a few really rare exceptions...

I think Walking Dead was a low print comic too. I think I read that #2 had an even lower run than #1.

I think people collecting in the 90s grew up with the idea that comics would be worth a lot. I read them because I liked them. Even if they became valuable I didn't plan on selling them. Unless I didn't like the stories. Example those hyped Image comics. I sold all of those except for Jim Lee's Wildcats.

The whole idea of comics as investments is just bad. Anything can be an investment.

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by demonhunter

It is to be consumed and that's it. Not for collecting and to be kept in pristine condition.

I would disagree, the problem is too many are collecting them in pristine condition. When you have a market flooded with say the issue where spider-man dies the comic is pretty much worthless. I saw a guy selling 3 boxes of brand new issues of that comic he wanted like $1k for it, had something like 100 copies in each box. How can anything be worth something when there are so many copies of it.

For me the point of collecting a comic is to be able to hang something rare on your wall to show off. When everyone and his brother has a copy of it, it's just not that special. thus the monetary value of it is pretty much zip.

I can go on Ebay and pretty much buy any comic from the 80's, 90's 2000's for around a $1 each. Just way to many people collecting them.