Except that with lottery you still have an actual but very small change to get rich. Modern comics are never going to become expensive because there are so much copies around.
You are apparently using a definition of "so much*" that I am previously unfamiliar with.
The BEST-selling regular comics rarely top 100,000 copies printed.
When you look at indie titles where most of them have fewer than 30,000 copies printed, many with less than 10,000 copies.
And those are just the top 300 comics. There are thousands of titles each year that appear and disappear without selling over 4000 units.
The keys to comics happiness are two:
1. Read everything that you buy. 2. Buy only what you like.
Buying comics as an investment is a fools' game. Thousands of "professional" stores went under in the 90's thinking their 1000 copies of Spawn #1 were going to be worth a fortune someday. I sell them out of my 3/$1 bins these days. Now THAT comic has "so much* copies" around.
I know of modern comics with print runs of 20 or less. Not variant covers either, total print run of the entire contents, not reprinted in any way anywhere. The odds of them becoming valuable are beyond slim, but I recently sold a copy of Fiasco Dead@17 for a four figure sum. Now if a movie ever actually happens I'll be kicking myself for letting it go so cheap.
I keep saying the same thing about all the science fiction paperbacks and used video games I keep buying. If they don't appreciate massively in twenty years then they are USELESS to me.
My mutant power is apparently liking things that will never appreciate in value. The upside is the fact that I like it, so I'm happy just to have it. While I've always liked Batman and X-Men and other stuff that is a little more likely to have the kind of widespread interest that drives prices, I only actively collected Robotech and Akira. I do have a mint copy of the first printing of the trade of Killing Joke, but I think I missed the window on that one, at least for a couple more decades.
Reminds me of a time on Have I Got News For You, where they quoted Ahmadinejad about how a 'soccer-predicting' octopus in Germany was a symbol of all that was wrong with western civilisation. Andy Hamilton, on the panel, said:
I feel the same way about lottery numbers.
ReplyDeleteExcept that with lottery you still have an actual but very small change to get rich. Modern comics are never going to become expensive because there are so much copies around.
DeleteYou are apparently using a definition of "so much*" that I am previously unfamiliar with.
DeleteThe BEST-selling regular comics rarely top 100,000 copies printed.
When you look at indie titles where most of them have fewer than 30,000 copies printed, many with less than 10,000 copies.
And those are just the top 300 comics. There are thousands of titles each year that appear and disappear without selling over 4000 units.
The keys to comics happiness are two:
1. Read everything that you buy.
2. Buy only what you like.
Buying comics as an investment is a fools' game. Thousands of "professional" stores went under in the 90's thinking their 1000 copies of Spawn #1 were going to be worth a fortune someday. I sell them out of my 3/$1 bins these days. Now THAT comic has "so much* copies" around.
* many
"You are apparently using a definition of "so much*" that I am previously unfamiliar with."
DeleteYou are apparently a douche bag.
I know of modern comics with print runs of 20 or less. Not variant covers either, total print run of the entire contents, not reprinted in any way anywhere. The odds of them becoming valuable are beyond slim, but I recently sold a copy of Fiasco Dead@17 for a four figure sum. Now if a movie ever actually happens I'll be kicking myself for letting it go so cheap.
DeleteAH! An anonymous person called me a name on teh internets!
DeleteI guess I'll just give up, close my store, and go hide in a cave now.
(BTW, the line quoted was a Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference.
Delete"Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.")
If you're buying comics with the intent to make a profit... you're gonna have a bad time!
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the attitude Comic Book companies were intending to foster with all their collectible options the last two decades?
ReplyDeleteSurely, it wasn't some sort of cynical money grab?
DUH. It's easy to tell which comics are going to be valuable. Just buy everything with a variant cover, especially if it has foil or a hologram.
ReplyDeleteI bought a ton of them back in the early 90s, and now I'm drinking Dom Perignon on my fabulous yacht with my rich celebrity friends.
I keep saying the same thing about all the science fiction paperbacks and used video games I keep buying. If they don't appreciate massively in twenty years then they are USELESS to me.
ReplyDeleteMy mutant power is apparently liking things that will never appreciate in value. The upside is the fact that I like it, so I'm happy just to have it. While I've always liked Batman and X-Men and other stuff that is a little more likely to have the kind of widespread interest that drives prices, I only actively collected Robotech and Akira. I do have a mint copy of the first printing of the trade of Killing Joke, but I think I missed the window on that one, at least for a couple more decades.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a time on Have I Got News For You, where they quoted Ahmadinejad about how a 'soccer-predicting' octopus in Germany was a symbol of all that was wrong with western civilisation. Andy Hamilton, on the panel, said:
ReplyDelete"In a way, isn't he right?"
This guy clearly wasn't buying comics twenty years ago or else he'd be lamenting the disappearance of Wizard magazine
ReplyDelete