Comics vs. stocks

[Trey Strain]

Do the people who invest in comics earn a higher average return than the people who invest in the stock market? Do they know something I don't know? Or are they typical irrational lottery players?

Does anyone know the answer to this?

[ed2962]

Generally no. If you start collecting comics thinking you're going to strike it rich, you're kidding yourself. You're probably better off buying treasury bonds or something.

[Kirby101]

While older comics have appreciated considerably, the return on comics after we all became "collectors" (around the bronze age) is small except for some key issues. Most comics today will lose value.
As an investment, any collectable can be highly volatile.
Prudent investment in a balanced stocks, bonds and savings is the better way to go.

[Trey Strain]

While older comics have appreciated considerably, the return on comics after we all became "collectors" (around the bronze age) is small except for some key issues. Most comics today will lose value.
As an investment, any collectable can be highly volatile.
Prudent investment in a balanced stocks, bonds and savings is the better way to go.

I wasn't considering investing in comics. I was trying to understand the strange phenomenon of comics companies being able to earn a fortune every time they print a #1 on a cover. I don't know of any other business that can make money so easily. It's like Cabbage Patch Kids that never stop pulling in buyers.

[Iron Maiden]

I wasn't considering investing in comics. I was trying to understand the strange phenomenon of comics companies being able to earn a fortune every time they print a #1 on a cover. I don't know of any other business that can make money so easily. It's like Cabbage Patch Kids that never stop pulling in buyers.

It's not only that it's the variants of #1 issues. I never really got that either. My LCS guy says if you are going that route, sell them quickly because they will eventually lose value.

Then there's the extra expense of getting your comic officially graded, modern books being 1975 to the present cost $18 per book. It's a tiered system and the price goes up from there for the really rare comics.

Probably one of the most valuable modern day titles is if you happened to buy Walking Dead #1. There were a small amount of those printed, around 10,000 I think. No one expected the level of success via the TV show.

I guess you can take a chance on buying a #1 on a new series and see how it goes. Probably creator owned too. Hickman just had a new launch that reportedly sold out, Black Monday Murders. They are going to a second printing on that according to his tweet.

[Kolimar]

Do the people who invest in comics earn a higher average return than the people who invest in the stock market? Do they know something I don't know? Or are they typical irrational lottery players?

Does anyone know the answer to this?

I think they're more like people that invest in fine art stuff. It's not so much about making money as it is about owning a valuable object with a coolness factor that can be sold for more money in the future if necessary.

[Paradox]

Trey Strain confuses me:

I wasn't considering investing in comics. I was trying to understand the strange phenomenon of comics companies being able to earn a fortune every time they print a #1 on a cover. I don't know of any other business that can make money so easily. It's like Cabbage Patch Kids that never stop pulling in buyers.

Why do you think they make a "fortune"? Last I knew profit margin on comics wasn't very high at all. They make a bit more than they usually do, but I doubt it reaches "fortune" levels.

[Trey Strain]

Why do you think they make a "fortune"? Last I knew profit margin on comics wasn't very high at all. They make a bit more than they usually do, but I doubt it reaches "fortune" levels.

Look at the sales every time they start over with the renumbering. They explode!

[Iron Maiden]

It sort of feeds itself. There might be some comic book speculators out there who gamble on thinking any #1 issue is valuable but I really doubt that is true anymore. Creators aren't debuting a new character with every #1...with Marvel they are mostly relaunching the same character(s) these days. There are variants with different artists but I never understood that myself. It used to be that the LCS could only get a variant by ordering a set number of the standard covers. For example if you wanted a variant cover that was drawn by *hot artist A* you had to order say 10 copies of the regular cover to get one variant. It could be higher than that, sometimes 25 or 50 issues of the standard cover. I notice now in the Diamond Previews they sometimes allow the comic shop to order a specific variant.

[codystarbuck]

Look at the sales every time they start over with the renumbering. They explode!

That's relative to regular sales, not comparable industries. In terms of units sold, comics are pretty puny and have been for a generation. You had a few speculator driven aberrations in things like Spider-Man #1, X-Men #1, Superman #75, that pushed into a million (or several million) units sold; but, estimates of the marketplace had it pegged at about an average of 500,000 actual readers. That is, people who regularly bought and read comics. It didn't take much math to realize that supply outstripped demand and the value plummeted, when the speculators bailed. These days, 100,000 units is considered a major hit. Ten years ago, it put you more in the middle or lower end; 20 years ago (maybe closer to 300 it got you cancelled or in danger of it.

Golden Age comics have tremendous value as collectible pieces, due to history and scarcity. So few survived in any decent condition. Silver Age comics survived in far larger volumes and anything from the Bronze Age onward is readily available, apart from low print run early issue of big hits, like the first issue of Bone or the first printing of the TMNT. With digital alternatives, the only ones who really trade in comics are the older fans, and they are a dwindling number. Give it a generation and I suspect comics will become more like the rare book world, where only special collectors and dealers are involved.

As for investments, the only people who have made money in it are those very select few who lucked into serious collections of Golden Age material and resold it at a massive profit, like the Mile High Collection.

[Sharkerbob]

Do the people who invest in comics earn a higher average return than the people who invest in the stock market? Do they know something I don't know? Or are they typical irrational lottery players?

Does anyone know the answer to this?

As with all things in life, the least satisfying answer is probably the truest one.