Comics Going Bonkers

Comics
#1

I didn’t know how to start this, and I apologize if I seem to jump around.

A little about myself. I’ve been reading comics since about 1992 in high school. The launch of Image was a big draw for myself and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’m just your average person with about 40(ish) pulls and read the stories I enjoy each month. I love Batman and will typically read mostly anything written by Eric Powell or Jeff Lemire. Those are a couple of my favorites.

The reason I wanted to write today is because what in the world is going on with comics? Things are going nuclear and I’m hard pressed to remember a market this hot pretty much across the board. Maybe the only exception being all the hype in the early 90’s surrounding Superman, Batman, Image, and Valiant. However, I don’t mean for this to come across as when will the “bubble burst” like the 90’s. I’m not at all concerned about that and I’m primarily in this for the enjoyment and reading my books. Comics are my hobby and are used to escape reality for a moment.

However, I do actively watch and sometimes participate with online comic communities. Whether it be the old Google+ groups, Comics Heating Up, CBCS message boards, CGC message boards, CBSI site etc…. Comics Heating Up is by far my favorite community and I love/appreciate what Tony has built here. Mostly because of the culture and not everything has to turn into a dispute or argument.

Anyhow, I feel like I’m at a bit of crossroads. Not because I’m quitting comics (that’ll never happen) but just the crazy seller market right now. I’m sure there’s plenty of examples but this is what I quickly looked up in the past five minutes:

Venom #3 Cover A $200-$250 raw

Venom #3 2nd Print $80-$100 raw

Venom #3 3rd Print $400-$500 raw

ASM #4 Ramos Variant $300-$400 raw

ASM #4 Cover A $100+ raw

EOSV #2 Cover A 1st Print $450-$500 raw

EOSV #2 3rd Print $75-$100 raw

Ultimate Fallout #4 $300-$400 raw

ASM #300 $550-$625 raw

These are eBay SOLD prices within the past day or two. So, because I’m a reader I’m not at all interested in breaking any of my runs. However, because I’ve been speculating here and there for so long over the years, using the internet, I have an abundance of these hot books from all ages. Many of which I purchased for cover or less, or just a small premium years ago because they weren’t doing anything like today.

So, what’s causing all this? Is it because there hasn’t been too much new content recently? Is it because of stimulus money? Is it the political climate? I really don’t know but what I’m struggling with is the choice to sell or not. The books I used in my example are expensive for their own reasons but is there still more room for growth? What happens when Miles or Knull hit the screen? Are prices going to come crashing down until that happens or is this the new norm? I’d have to imagine things will settle a bit, but I’d like to think gone are the days you’re ever obtaining most of these for $100 or less.

I’ve always wondered what I’d do with all my books as I got older. I planned on giving most of them to my children, but this current market is something else. There are literally thousands upon thousands of dollars to be made right now. I’ll probably sell a few just to chase some books I never thought I’d own. Books like IH 181. I have the 180 but could never afford the 181. I think now might be the time to start working towards those goals.

I know this is a speculator site first but is anyone else struggling with this or thinking about today’s market? Is it too early to sell or is there seriously room for more growth? I’m so far ahead on most of these moderns simply because I paid so little for them at the time. Anything I paid current market for (at the time) as already been recouped as I usually purchase more than one copy of things depending on their current market. As an example, I purchased multiple Venom #3 Third Prints from TFAW at $3.39 per copy because of an article/tip on this site. I’ve only sold one (too early) at $159 just a week or two ago but it’s currently at $400-$500 raw now. This is a great example. Do I sell everything but one copy or do I gamble and see if it ever becomes a $750-$1000 book? It’s all a gamble as nobody will ever know. Too many times we’ve seen things just crash overnight (Sixth Gun lol) (love that series btw) so what are you all doing during these crazy times? Just make that money now? =)

Thank you for your time and I hope to see some replies. Be safe everyone!

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#2

Stimulus money, that’s the reason why people are buying these books and they are going up exponentially, but in the absence of stimulus money you’ll see them drop down considerably…just wait

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#3

The recent moderns have way lower print runs than anything 90s like 5% of 90s print runs. So Gwen, Silk, Miles, RiRi, Kamala, Knull are here to stay. The comic market stays healthy as long as people aren’t losing their houses. If people are in danger of losing everything then the sell and some one in the same situation sells for lower and so on and so forth. So we will see when the stimulus runs out but in all honesty looks like it will be renewed this coming week. Also all these movies and tv shows are renewing the interest of our generation in comics and creating a far larger fan base for the future than we could imagine like what Xmen cartoon did for us x1000000. Also Wall Street investors have taken note of comics with 100x gains in a week and anything real key and pricey will always stay strong. Soon silver age marvel will hit its 75 year mark and then be considered antiques and expect a even further distancing in those sa keys prices.

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#4

Stimulus money was spent months ago. Definitely not the reason for these spikes.

ONly reason I can think of, these are current trending characters that have a future in movies/tv shows. Except for ASM 300, thats just Venom being hot right now because of Cates.

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#5

I’m looking through my boxes and just ran across five perfect 9.8 Invincible Ironman #1 1:25 Dekal variants going $120 raw on eBay I’ll grade em out and get real big money soon. I definitely not complaining about spikes it was a bust when it came out lucky to get $15 then lol

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#6

I do understand the conflict and what you are saying. I struggle with this constantly. One of the things that tends to make me hold back anymore is that I’m constantly finding myself regretting the sale of any book.
I realize that books can also fall out of favor, but I keep choosing poorly and have solid books that have done much better after the fact. I suppose I should just be happy I made a profit…but, the human psyche is what it is.

I sold a TT#12 9.8 last winter as I really felt like it was a pretty good time and that it had capped…uggg…was I ever wrong.

At any rate, my current plan and method is this…I am now sending off two copies of any hot book I happen to have (that has significant value) for grading. I’m trying to focus on quantities of two as that way I get to keep one, and sell another and I’ll never truly feel a sense of loss.
For me, not having “the book” is more depressing than having sold it for a bit less at a certain point in time.

#7

I feel it’s a mix of stimulus money, and the extra $600 in unemployment. The $600 goes away at the end of this month, so expect drops come August.

#8

I don’t know…I think the stimulus money and unemployment is a boost for many, but generally, our country has plenty of money floating around.

Think of the cons and general comic industry before all of this. Think of the overall money being spent typically at cons and shows that isn’t. I was planning on going to Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in August…as were thousands of others across the globe. That money won’t be spent there…but it will be spent most likely elsewhere.

How much money would a person spend for a trip to San Diego Comic Con? I’ve never been but I’m guessing it isn’t a cheap experience. So you avoid the 3k on a trip there and buy a 2k book on ebay you have always wanted instead (just generalizing).

For the weeks that comic shops weren’t open…how much money was saved just in not buying weekly books?

Let’s also be brutally honest, comics can be an addiction. Pay the rent? Buy comics/toys/booze/whatever? Sadly, the latter often will take precedence.

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#9

I think for the most part the stimulus money is gone. I at least know mine is and I’ve been working this whole time.

I kind of think it has more to do with shops being closed for so long and no new books. There was very little info coming out on projects so people focused on back issues and the projects we knew about. For that 2-3 month period people focused on those few projects we knew about and characters getting ready to break out. I know during that time I was picking up Venom 3 9.8, Inv Iron Man 7 9.8, ASM 4 9.8, Etc…there wasn’t new news pushing those characters out of the spotlight.

Then when everything opened up again, people were going back to shops, and also the news cycle started kicking out new rumors again and I just think the passion increased for everyone at once. And things started to explode.

As to your selling question…the old wisdom is best time to sell is when a trailer drops. But I agree some of the prices we are seeing right now appears to even above those Trailer drop levels. It’s hard to say what the future brings.

If you’ve got multiple copies, keep one for yourself, sell 1-2, hold 1-2 if you think there’s more room and sell later.

A lot of the characters you mention are popping because of rumors that aren’t substantiated yet. So when those become clearer there may be another wave. Miles for example. If they announce a live action Miles movie, those books are going to pop again hard. Much harder then ITS 2. If he never gets a live action, we might be seeing a high. Riri, same thing if she gets that D+ show or if they put her in a movie. It’s really a character by character decision.

Assuming Cates keeps Knull in the storyline for the next 5 months (remember King in Black isn’t until December) it could see more gains. But with all the hype, I’m not sure how that storyline can live up to the hype, so you may see drops once it hits.

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#10

Con money also plays a big part in it. Couple grand for each con if you have to travel, so yes might as well drop that on ebay books

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#11

How much stimulus money did you gets actually get? The stimulus seems to have came and gone but the market is still :fire:. I believe people sitting at home with nothing to do, combined with the fact that they no longer spend expendable income on movies, or bars, or restaurants…it’s not just comic books. Every collectibles market has blown up. Sports cards is going bonkers too.
I think there has been an influx of people who rediscovered their childhood passions while sitting at home during quarantine. All my LCS’ were rammed yesterday with new faces.

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#12

You know how many times I’ve had people buy comics off me even on eBay and it’ll be like a Monday or Tuesday and they ask if it’s okay to wait until “payday” on Friday to pay? To each their own and I’m sure some just want to make the purchase when their account has more money but sometimes that’s just giving the clue that people are probably not managing their money very well and yes, the addiction of buying “stuff” is their higher priority.

I’m in the boat of, if I don’t have the cash on hand, I’m not out buying stuff. Need a new TV, I save up for the one I want (unless of course I already have the money and the bills are already paid).

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#13

I agree, I think it’s a combination of boredom, being stuck at home with the wide world of shopping at everyone’s fingertips.

I can only imagine the small amount of “comic book collectors” who are getting stimulus checks being unemployed is a very small percentage of the current heat on some of these comics.

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#14

All great points and thank you for the dialogue.

I was thinking last night after I posted…what if this is a glimpse into the future if printed were truly replaced with digital? May never happen or at least in our lifetimes. Just was thinking if things are this hot without new material, what if, no new printed material?

It’s like every time I check a random book for completed sales, they’ve just climbed even higher.

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#15

I used this on the main site couple days ago… but it does hold weight in why things go up in value over time.

#16

Not spending money on gas, trips, movies, restaurants, etc. It’s not the stimulus or unemployment. There is just nowhere else to put your money. Sure, you can stick more money into equities, but most people are hesitant like myself. My LCS owner told me that there has been a big run on the bronze age books since covid-19. I think a lot of people are investing more in comics right now. Personally, I don’t invest/resell comics; I just collect. I’m also saving an extra grand or two a week because I’m not able to do the things I enjoyed pre-covid. So, I can see why prices are driven up, but I’m certainly not going to pay them.

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#17

I had to fill my tank up yesterday for the first time in 3 months or so, from the small amount of misc trips to grocery store and vet. I usually only have to fill up once a month (work from home, actual work is only 3 miles away and kids school is only 2 miles away)… so yeah, over last 3 months I’ve saved around $60 in gas… :slight_smile:

#18

I’m at 4 months on the same tank of gas and I’m at half a tank. Usually I’m filling up every 2 weeks. Been honkering down eating tuna and beans while my new car is getting a sunburn :frowning:. Lost 20 lbs though.

#19

Definitely agree also the influx of cash is due to the lack of spending on other things.

Boredom, time to do more research, etc…I think things like the Key Collector and CovrPrice are also putting more info into more people’s hands driving prices on books. Look how fast things disappear then climb right after Key puts out an alert.

Anthony and Poyo, have you guys seen an increase in page views since the pandemic started?

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#20

It dipped pretty big during the first lock down but a steady rise since parts of the country started to reopen. The forums though have seen a huge increase in traffic, which we are happy cause we love keeping the discussions going and gives you all a voice as well, instead of waiting for articles to appear and comment on. :slight_smile:

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