My take on things heating up has to do with the economy and entertainment.
A lot of people are afraid to put all their money into stocks right now. Corona has made things totally unpredictable and the stock market, for the most part, doesn’t make any sense.
Comics and sports cards are finite and more predictable right now.
I’m huge with Venom. The way I look at what’s happening with Venom is there is no end in sight when it comes to momentum. Cates and Stegman, Knull, The King in Black event, Venom 2 the movie, Sony and the MCU merging with Venom as the centerpiece to that, people frothing at the mouth for a movie with Knull, the momentum is literally limitless potentially for years.
Add this to the probability that we may be sitting at home as a country for potentially years, creating this major thirst for entertainment and a time-sink.
I own 41 Venom 3 9.8’s, I bought them all about a year ago and I’m not tempted in any way to sell them right now. This train is just getting started and has very little to do with stimulus and has a lot more to do with predictability, diversification, and enjoyment.
And as far as the economy goes, I think it’s going to tank. But, I think it will tank for mainly lower-income households and some small-business owners. A lot of middle-income and higher-income households are either unaffected, or in some cases, doing better with what’s happening. Thus translating to stability and growth for middle- and higher-tiered collectables.
IMO, the main cause was not having weekly books to pick up - that budget had to go somewhere and as others have said, people started picking up some of those “keys” that they hadn’t made time for in the past. Add in the stimulus checks and then once the run on books started you get some FOMO and you see the crazy trends for the last few months. I don’t think prices will fall a lot unless we hit another true recession where people need to start selling off books, but it will be interesting to see what happens as new books start coming out consistently. If we see crazy runs on other books similar to what we’ve seen with Miles and Peach.
2nd print Venom #19 brought to you buy the same people that bought out ruins of ravencroft carnage 2nd print from diamond and charging $27.95 on their hot tip
Yes. But I bought mine back in March. Seems like so long ago…sooo long, long ago…
Saw the potential back then…was waiting for TFAW to have a $1 or 75% off sale…but they never did so I grabbed a few at cover. My third I think I got from Midtown before that…
The quick rise in prices has a lot to do with folks (especially those new to the Hobby) suddenly deciding that they can make a quick buck off some material …
They are simply playing their sheep fiddles. A few 2nd prints legitimately caught heat, and now these groups are using it to their monetary advantage by buying out, then promoting these nothing books with mediocre, suspect speculation. It is a stain on our hobby, imo.
I have a few big books that I want to sell, but, I’m collecting a covid unemployment payment that I will get f*cked hard come tax time, if I sell too much right now. I’m back on payroll starting this week, so, my big book selling opportunity will open up very soon as I will no longer need to receive my weekly covid employment insurance. PS. As far as covid and trChumps lies about’ more testing means more cases of covid’. Yeah, that repeated lie. My country, today, performed the most tests in any single day since the pandemic started in March. Today, the same day we performed the most tests (31,000), we had the lowest number of cases of any day since the pandemic started (405). We have more testing and much less cases. So, there is that…
I never really paid too much attention to the positive cases…I look at hospitalizations and deaths as an indicator of how bad the situation really is…that’s what this quarantining is for…to not overwhelm the healthcare system. Because that’s when death rates will skyrocket.
My state (CT) was there three months ago, huge outbreak right from the beginning, mostly coming from NYC…hospitals were on the brink of capacity…it took the better part of that to get it under control. Wearing masks and keeping non essentials/high risk businesses shuttered was a big part of that. (Mostly) Everyone bought in. Even through all the protesting everyone was wearing masks and were respectful and demonstrations peaceful without serious incidents. It was amazing.
But seeing the rest of the country flounder because of the refusal to put on a mask is deflating.
What irony that a simple act of wearing a mask, a symbol of caring not for one’s own safety, but the safety of those around you, is pretty much the primary reason that this pandemic rolls on, and that simple selfless act not embraced by those who most want to put this behind us because its making them look bad.
As far as covid is concerned, those two/three things you mentioned are directly, intrinsically tied together with each other. Increasing positive cases = exponential spread = more hospitalization = more death. The percentages may vary from one group to another, but that equation above holds true for the most part.
Understood and you’re right…and increased testing is very important…robust testing and uncovering positive cases really help contact tracing. But getting the hospitalizations down is really the sign to me you’re on the other side of the curve. Transmission rate too…but I’m not sure how they calculate that…with contact tracing?
There is no stimulus anywhere else in the world to the degree it is in the US… the US is driving the current market and nowhere else, as soon as stimulus completely finishes the Comics increase will also…in the main
If you have material that currently will throw you a profit, and you are happy with that profit, and have no ties to the material personally, for your own collection, etc, then, IMO, sell and bank the money … this would hold true on any commodity …
Yes, I’m calling comics a commodity, because that seems to be the way the Market is treating many of them these days …
If you do sell, make some coin and are happy with it, don’t look back … don’t regret and don’t second guess yourself, ever …
First rule about flipping or selling comics, don’t get attached to them. The moment you fall in love with them, you’re now a collector. Buy low, sell high. Right now is the time to sell. There will always be more comics to buy and sell later…
