Thoughts, opinions on collecting comics?

[MattH]

Looking for opinions on collecting? Wiser from a long term investment perspective to collect older Superman / Batman issues or save money and purchase higher end issues such as Spiderman 300, FF 52, Black Panther etc. just trying to figure out whether wiser to spend same amount of money on several silver age comics or one important issue. Thanks!

[Bl00dwerK]

If you enjoy collecting do it for that reason. Don't try and do it as an investment...

[MattH]

If you enjoy collecting do it for that reason. Don't try and do it as an investment...

I DO enjoy it regardless, but when making the larger $ purchases i want to be smart. Example being ive been collecting Superman (1939)150-160, however am wondering peoples thoughts about scrapping the individual issues and using the same amount if money on 1 comic vs several

[Cap10nate]

I wouldn't expect any books from early nineties through today to raise in value over the long term except for very significant issues since so many people collect and read a book once before bagging and boarding them causing and extreme surplus of high quality books on the market. There may be short term bumps that you could flip a series if it is doing well and people are trying to find issues, but not in the long term.

Even for older issues, I think that future prices will be consistent with what they are today. Something from the early 1960s has had over 50 years to develop a market price. I doubt that the value of these books will even outpace inflation. With the internet, anyone can research a book to see if it is worth something so it is hard to find a good deal on a book to be able to hold it financial gain. Purchase the books for display and enjoyment and hope that you break even if you ever decide to sell them.

[robreedwrites]

I wouldn't expect any books from early nineties through today to raise in value over the long term except for very significant issues since so many people collect and read a book once before bagging and boarding them causing and extreme surplus of high quality books on the market. There may be short term bumps that you could flip a series if it is doing well and people are trying to find issues, but not in the long term.

Even for older issues, I think that future prices will be consistent with what they are today. Something from the early 1960s has had over 50 years to develop a market price. I doubt that the value of these books will even outpace inflation. With the internet, anyone can research a book to see if it is worth something so it is hard to find a good deal on a book to be able to hold it financial gain. Purchase the books for display and enjoyment and hope that you break even if you ever decide to sell them.

I agree with this. I doubt many books are going to see a significant increase in value unless the people currently holding onto the worthwhile copies suddenly decide to damage a few of them to make the better copies even more rare.

[Pat Thomas]

Silver Age high grade keys are the most reliable in holding their value. I think we are almost to a point that some of the bronze age comics are going to go through
some growth too, because of nostalgia by people my age. It was during this time when people started to realize the potential value of comics and started handling
them with more care and bagging them, etc. Most everything that's come out since probably can't sustain a long-term value increase because there are so many
NM copies. There have been a few exceptions, though, and people keep paying the high prices, so we will see. As far as what you are collecting, if you're attempting
a full Superman run and there are some keys that are affordable to you and you really want some nice books, then get them. Come back and get the filler comics
next trip. It's a nice feeling to receive a package that has a beautiful high grade key in it, but you don't get the fun of going through a bunch of books and don't fill
many holes in your collection either. When I was working on Amazing Spider-Man & Avengers, I was buying all the common issues like crazy. When it came to the
books that were $50 or more, I was patient to find deals. I found many books with great eye appeal at very good pricing that way. But when I ran across one like
that, I snatched it up then. Anyway, that's how I did it. Hope that helps.

[ThiefHookUps]

I agree with the above. If you're looking to collect comics in the short term then you ride the trends. I bought every issue of Walking Dead (and multiple copies of some issues) for a $1 each a few years ago from a shop closing up and then resold each of them for $56 - $1000 once the show was popular. I'd like to say I'm a brilliant visionary of future trends, but I just got lucky that I wanted those books to read and didn't love them enough to keep them when they got popular. But ten years from now I'd never be able to sell random issue #56 for over $100. I think 90's-present is all trends. And you'll get that with your higher end issues like Spider-Man #300-type books but on a much more stable level since their worth, interest, and value have already been established. I'd go with collecting those kinds of books if it's for value purposes. If you just collect a bunch of older Batmans, the ones that are already higher end will increase in value, and the surrounding issues will sit around with little increase (unless a first appearance character in one of them becomes popular). There's more room for an increase between what you paid and what the comic will be worth if you cherry pick. If I buy ten random early issues of Spider-Man and none are higher end issues, they're not going to be increasing in value much AND they'll be harder to resell at a price I want. The higher end issues will continue to rise as what’s made them popular in the first place is very unlikely to change and they are also more likely to contain characters/things that will become more popular later on as these issues are generally better known than the non-higher end books. Those are my thoughts anyway. Hope they made sense!

[MattH]

I agree with the above. If you're looking to collect comics in the short term then you ride the trends. I bought every issue of Walking Dead (and multiple copies of some issues) for a $1 each a few years ago from a shop closing up and then resold each of them for $56 - $1000 once the show was popular. I'd like to say I'm a brilliant visionary of future trends, but I just got lucky that I wanted those books to read and didn't love them enough to keep them when they got popular. But ten years from now I'd never be able to sell random issue #56 for over $100. I think 90's-present is all trends. And you'll get that with your higher end issues like Spider-Man #300-type books but on a much more stable level since their worth, interest, and value have already been established. I'd go with collecting those kinds of books if it's for value purposes. If you just collect a bunch of older Batmans, the ones that are already higher end will increase in value, and the surrounding issues will sit around with little increase (unless a first appearance character in one of them becomes popular). There's more room for an increase between what you paid and what the comic will be worth if you cherry pick. If I buy ten random early issues of Spider-Man and none are higher end issues, they're not going to be increasing in value much AND they'll be harder to resell at a price I want. The higher end issues will continue to rise as what’s made them popular in the first place is very unlikely to change and they are also more likely to contain characters/things that will become more popular later on as these issues are generally better known than the non-higher end books. Those are my thoughts anyway. Hope they made sense!

Thanks! I believe i'll start concentrating on specific issues rather than trying to just collect a whole series.