Why are Essentials and Showcase Presents so expensive?

[babyblob]

Its no secert that I love the Essentials and Showcase presents line. I talk about them all the time. They let me read some of the older issues that I cant afford as single issues back comics. I dont mind the black and white because I can get 20 issues for cheap. At least I thought for cheap but I am seeing a price tag on some of these for 80 to 150 bucks. For black and white reprints I just dont understand it. Can someone explain this to me?

[JAG2045]

Its no secert that I love the Essentials and Showcase presents line. I talk about them all the time. They let me read some of the older issues that I cant afford as single issues back comics. I dont mind the black and white because I can get 20 issues for cheap. At least I thought for cheap but I am seeing a price tag on some of these for 80 to 150 bucks. For black and white reprints I just dont understand it. Can someone explain this to me?

It looks like those are out of print after market prices from 3rd party sellers.

Originally Showcase presents were about 17.99-19.99 and Essentials were priced similar but both lines are no longer printed so if you want to collect them you have to check the secondary market and some people are trying to sell them at a huge markup (someone on Amazon.com is selling a used copy of Showcase Presents Tales of the Unexpected Vol. 1 for $6,475.96!!!)

You could try your local store or used book store to see if you can find them for sale price or below

[Balakin]

Its no secert that I love the Essentials and Showcase presents line. I talk about them all the time. They let me read some of the older issues that I cant afford as single issues back comics. I dont mind the black and white because I can get 20 issues for cheap. At least I thought for cheap but I am seeing a price tag on some of these for 80 to 150 bucks. For black and white reprints I just dont understand it. Can someone explain this to me?

because they are out of print and that inflates secondary market prices. Also bad news for you is that both lines are discontinued for a while now. Good news is both companies do affordable colour reprints now, although Marvel is the more consistent with the Epic line. DC doesn't have a specific name, they just do some collections here and there and the omnibus lines. The omnibuses starting from the golden age come out pretty regularly but those are the pricier options. They started to do paperback versions but not sure if those are still coming out.

[CrazyOldHermit]

They started to do paperback versions but not sure if those are still coming out.

The paperbacks are still released but as they're half the size of the omnis their stories progress at half the rate so they're falling further and further behind. It's why I decided to go for the omnis.

[VanWinkle]

When they stop printing editions like this, stores will eventually run out of them. After that, it gets harder and harder to buy copies off of people/stores. As time goes on, and fewer and fewer copies are in the wild, the price gets higher and higher, because these people are taking advantage of the fact that the book is now considered rare/hard to find. "Cover price" now becomes "market value."

[Toreador]

If you're talking about the 500 pages TPB try looking for some of them at hamiltonbooks.com and thriftbooks.com. You can pick up a few sometimes for under $10.

[Mormegil]

Even then a lot of used book stores are just doing to base their price on what they find online. My local Half Price Books had three different Showcase Presents books. Two of them were behind glass and $80-100 and the other was Adam Strange Showcase for $45. Which is insane.

[MRP]

If you have an Ollie's nearby, check there. Last Christmas when they had the huge DC buy out, they had a dozen or so different Showcases for about $4 each, and they got more DC stuff in this holiday season. Our local Ollie's still had a bunch of the Showcase volumes this holiday season ans still at about $4 a pop.

-M

[CrazyOldHermit]

Even then a lot of used book stores are just doing to base their price on what they find online. My local Half Price Books had three different Showcase Presents books. Two of them were behind glass and $80-100 and the other was Adam Strange Showcase for $45. Which is insane.

The idea of a Showcase being behind glass is hilariously ludicrous.

[MRP]

The idea of a Showcase being behind glass is hilariously ludicrous.

How is it more ludicrous than the idea of a disposable periodical being behind glass? When you get down to it, the idea of disposable periodicals being valuable collectibles worth millions of dollars is downright ludicrous, but it's a notion we have come to accept, and this is no different.

-M

[Noodle]

How is it more ludicrous than the idea of a disposable periodical being behind glass? When you get down to it, the idea of disposable periodicals being valuable collectibles worth millions of dollars is downright ludicrous, but it's a notion we have come to accept, and this is no different.

-M

I think it's more the idea that the Showcase and Essential lines were meant to be low-cost options for getting older issues instead of things like trades or an omnibus. So having them be expensive and behind glass defeats the nature of their creation. Single issue comics haven't been considered "disposable" in quite some time.

[CrazyOldHermit]

How is it more ludicrous than the idea of a disposable periodical being behind glass? When you get down to it, the idea of disposable periodicals being valuable collectibles worth millions of dollars is downright ludicrous, but it's a notion we have come to accept, and this is no different.

-M

The whole point of the Essentials/Showcases is they were extremely cheap books reproducing (in B&W) old material. Essentials becoming valuable is ludicrous because once you remove the cost advantage the appeal of them is largely mitigated.

Disposable periodicals becoming valuable makes much more sense, because their value doesn't contradict their purpose.

[MRP]

The whole point of the Essentials/Showcases is they were extremely cheap books reproducing (in B&W) old material. Essentials becoming valuable is ludicrous because once you remove the cost advantage the appeal of them is largely mitigated.

Disposable periodicals becoming valuable makes much more sense, because their value doesn't contradict their purpose.

Comics were intended as cheap disposable entertainment. Being valuable "permanent" collectibles is about as contradictory to their intended purpose as you can get.

-M

[CrazyOldHermit]

Comics were intended as cheap disposable entertainment. Being valuable "permanent" collectibles is about as contradictory to their intended purpose as you can get.

-M

It is, but it's understandable and thus not ludicrous. They were supposed to be cheap and disposable but in spite of that the creative minds behind them made them more valuable through the virtue of their creations, recognition of which was slow coming but eventually led to things like creators getting royalties on their books. Even though they weren't supposed to be valuable they were valuable with good reason. The publishers just didn't understand the value of what they were doing, and once they figured it out comics ceased to be cheap and disposable.

A cheap reprint that only exists to be cheap becoming expensive for no good reason is very different.

[MRP]

It is, but it's understandable and thus not ludicrous. They were supposed to be cheap and disposable but in spite of that the creative minds behind them made them more valuable through the virtue of their creations, recognition of which was slow coming but eventually led to things like creators getting royalties on their books. Even though they weren't supposed to be valuable they were valuable with good reason. The publishers just didn't understand the value of what they were doing, and once they figured it out comics ceased to be cheap and disposable.

A cheap reprint that only exists to be cheap becoming expensive for no good reason is very different.

Only if you keep rationalizing the nature of comics to justify them as collectibles. A commodity's value is determined by the relationship of supply and demand. If there is more demand for Essentials and Showcases than the remaining supply, their initial nature becomes irrelevant, as price will go up. Same thing that happened with comics as collectibles. The logic and economic mechanisms for the process are the same in each case. If one id ludicrous, they both are, and if one is not, neither is the other. Either their initial nature defines them and their potential value, or the market forces determine their value. You can't parse it so one is defined by market forces and the other by initial nature just to satisfy your own bias.

-M