Comic Book GAF-Are comics worth it anymore?

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TrAcEr_x90

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So after buying my weekly comics (just walking dead/batman and robin this week) I started to wonder are my comics worth anything anymore?? I have been collecting since the early 90s. I came into it all very young and went straight for Xmen Age of Apocalypse run and Spawn. I just have boxes and boxes of comics, all bagged and boarded. I got the good etiquette from working at a comic store when i was 14. After last weeks Ipad reveal and downloading some of those free marvel comics on psp I am left wonder. Will my comics start to depreciate. I am wondering if I should try to sell them, and then I wonder.....would I even be able to. I am so attached to them.

Any big comic collectors? What do you guys think with the new digital revolution going on.
 
If you're in it for collecting you should probably get out, but if you're a fan of certain characters and stories and the worlds they live in you'll enjoy them no matter the format.

The physical copies will remain physical so someday they may be worth something. For example, the Internet availability of Action Comics #1 will not depreciate the actual treasure. Alex Ross sells art from published comics for thousands of dollars. The closer to the actual work you get, the more valuable it is.

The real collectible comics were the ones when they were a self-perpetuating artform with unique ideas rather than platforms for other media projects. There's so much wrong with comics today I don't know why you'd collect them, as there is not much worth in the pages themselves.

Many comics are still worth reading, but they are also reprintable, reformattable, and retcon-able it doesn't really matter. They are for reading and enjoying now.

Maybe you can find some megafan who'd buy them someday, I guess.

What kind of books do you have would you consider big collectibles?
 
Digital products will have a very small impact on a collectible products price, so you don't have to worry about your comic plunging in value.

The question I can't answer though is if they had any value to start with :lol
 
Eventually, you grow up and out of the collector/fanboy phase where you bag and board everything and read 50 comics a month. "Why the fuck do I have Alvin and the Chipmunks vs Lady Death #1?" You'll grow into the phase where you just buy TPBs with interesting stories and stop keeping track of the new explanation as to why Ben Grimm's skin is never drawn the same way twice or how Superman and Lois have secks or if Wolverine is uncut.

...or you'll find yourself thirty five years old and first in line at the local convention, looking at your cheese puff stained hands as you wave bye to your mother who dropped you off. And the first thought that will come to your mind, will be how you need to remember to get new bags and boards to protect your comics from your cheesy fingers.
 
The trolling begins.

With the nature of comics today, there really is no value but I don't think that is a big deal. People mock comic collectors, but think of all the stuff people collect. DVD, Video Games, Music, etc etc none of them really have value unless they are long out of print.
 
you don't buy comic books to make yourself rich, and you sure as hell don't buy a 500+ dollar shitter companion to read what you enjoy on paper already.
 
evil solrac v3.0 said:
you don't buy comic books to make yourself rich, and you sure as hell don't buy a 500+ dollar shitter companion to read what you enjoy on paper already.
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wait.....we don't do that?

I guess I wasted my money on this then.
s6nm9g.jpg
 
evil solrac v3.0 said:
highlighted the wrong word. although this intrigues me. does it warm up the seat?
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I know, I was being silly :)

If it did that would be awesome.
 
MisterHero said:
What kind of books do you have would you consider big collectibles?
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My complete run of Ultimate Fantastic Four...:lol

If your collecting with the goal of making money, just stop. If you want to get into "collecting" because you actually want to read the stuff, go for it as there's plenty of good stuff to get into in a wide variety of genres.
 
From speaking to guys at my store, it seems anything printed in the last 20 years or so is pretty worthless, they're worth cover-price or less. There are always rare comics though, and they'll always be worth money but comics is no longer about investment, it's that kinda attitude that nearly killed the industry in the 90s.

Read the books you like. Store them away if they're good enough to read again. They're only worth the entertainment they can provide. I have books I keep and books I bin, it's like the difference between DVD box sets and soap operas IMO.
 
Drkirby said:
Digital products will have a very small impact on a collectible products price, so you don't have to worry about your comic plunging in value.

The question I can't answer though is if they had any value to start with :lol
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Well...I started in the 90s, so probably not much. But since I was a very good collector I have complete runs of a ton of a series. I was a big fan of michael turner so I have pretty much everything he has ever done. Full witchblade series.

I never got into golden age or silver age and thats where I heard the value is.

My most valuable are probably The walking dead #1 and battle chasers #1 chromium edition. Although im not sure if that is still worth as much as it used to be.

I guess there isn't reallly a place that would be so many comics at once, maybe mile high comics here in colorado, so it would all have to go on ebay.
 
Mistouze said:
My complete run of Ultimate Fantastic Four...:lol

If your collecting with the goal of making money, just stop. If you want to get into "collecting" because you actually want to read the stuff, go for it as there's plenty of good stuff to get into in a wide variety of genres.
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Ever since I was little it has been a little of both, but as I have gotten older I have gotten more into just getting trade paperbacks. Yet I still spend the same money on the same issues and bag and board them. Maybe because im older now but I am just seeing it as wasted money, or money I could get back.
 
Rorschach said:
Eventually, you grow up and out of the collector/fanboy phase where you bag and board everything and read 50 comics a month. "Why the fuck do I have Alvin and the Chipmunks vs Lady Death #1?" You'll grow into the phase where you just buy TPBs with interesting stories and stop keeping track of the new explanation as to why Ben Grimm's skin is never drawn the same way twice or how Superman and Lois have secks or if Wolverine is uncut.

...or you'll find yourself thirty five years old and first in line at the local convention, looking at your cheese puff stained hands as you wave bye to your mother who dropped you off. And the first thought that will come to your mind, will be how you need to remember to get new bags and boards to protect your comics from your cheesy fingers.
Click to expand...

I didnt see thsi before, but yeah... im 26 and this is basically me. I just figure i can save so much by just buying a trade.

Should I get out now, and try to sell what I have? Anyone actually sell their comics? Could you cut the cord of childhood attachment?

It is also one of those things of thinking I could give them to whatever kids i have someday. Something to pass down.

Of course I have student loans, itd be awesome to cut some of that out.
 
The problem with comics in value is that you need to find someone that would buy those comics to be "worth" the price. They are also WAY to expensive to collect these days. I stopped collecting in late 2005, sold off most of my collection and kept some "worthless" runs like Backlash 1-32 & Darkhawk 1-50, I loved those books... I collected comics from 1984 - 2005. Nothing really had much value as a whole, I sold Web of Spider-man 1-129 for a decent sum.

I'll never part with my Green Lantern Vol. 3 Collection :-)
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
I didnt see thsi before, but yeah... im 26 and this is basically me. I just figure i can save so much by just buying a trade.

Should I get out now, and try to sell what I have? Anyone actually sell their comics? Could you cut the cord of childhood attachment?

It is also one of those things of thinking I could give them to whatever kids i have someday. Something to pass down.

Of course I have student loans, itd be awesome to cut some of that out.
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The age of being able to quickly turn around comics for a substantial profit is LONG gone.
You may eventually make a bundle on the ones you have, but we're talking when your kids (or maybe even their kids) are ready to go into college.

You may as well keep them at this point if they have sentimental value and as something to hand down later on.
 
Comics are worth dick.

There's a weird little insular market if you slab them and have them graded through CGC, but man that is a hassle I have no interest in dealing with.
 
If you like reading then and enjoy keeping them,then there's value to having them...I can't buy them like I used to,but I'll still get a graphic novel to check out and the only one I've been buying constantly is Ultimate Comics Spider Man
 
Outside of collection pre-90s stuff, it seems pretty pointless to collect comics these days, unless you're doing for the love of the format. When I got back into comics in the early 00s, I started buying floppies, and quickly realized I had no appetite for the bag/board/box routine I used to do. And when that whole CGC thing started, you pretty much couldn't get anything for a book unless it had been slabbed by them, at least from what I saw.
 
BenjaminBirdie said:
Comics are worth dick.

There's a weird little insular market if you slab them and have them graded through CGC, but man that is a hassle I have no interest in dealing with.
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I had this idea of getting my entire Green Lantern Vol 3 CGC graded... then realized that I'd never be able to read them again and it would cost ~ $2,000!!!

Yeah, only the real early stuff is worth anything... anyone remember in Coyote Ugly how that guy used Amazing Spider-Man #129 as $$$ like it was common knowledge or something. Even at that time it was worth maybe $500 - $1000 at most, and he basically destroyed it during the movie... grabing it and mishandling it... I always thought it was funny.
 
I'm recently felt the same way as you OP.

It just not worth it to collect anymore, especially now that I'm out of school and growing older. I just doesn't make sense to me to spend 4 dollars on 5 minutes worth of entertainment. Especially since the impulse to go bag and board them and keep them in pristine condition, makes it really hard to ever re read them.

Has anyone tried Marvel's Digital Comics subscription?
 
I've got a TON of old superhero comics from the early 90s, and I'm thinking about selling them. Never go back and read them anyway, and don't have much of a desire to. Thinking of going through my collection and dropping the stuff I don't want (read: the majority of it).

I'll probably regret it later, but honestly, if it comes down to it most of that stuff is available in trade anyway. All I buy these days is Conan and other random non-superhero stuff that peaks my interest, so I'll likely go back through my collection at some point with those guidelines and drop the 99% of my stuff that isn't one of those.

I've probably got 4 or 5 longboxes in a closet full (not counting trades that are out on a shelf), and while I'm sure that pales in size to many other people here it's a lot of space taken up for crap I'm never going to read again.
 
I think the general consensus is that everything from the 90's is more or less worth nothing now, with some exceptions.

Now, I'm at the point where I buy trades.

I have an old friend who draws for Marvel and I buy his stuff. On the thought that eventually, my purchases will directly support him getting a McRib.
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
So after buying my weekly comics (just walking dead/batman and robin this week) I started to wonder are my comics worth anything anymore?? I have been collecting since the early 90s. I came into it all very young and went straight for Xmen Age of Apocalypse run and Spawn. I just have boxes and boxes of comics, all bagged and boarded. I got the good etiquette from working at a comic store when i was 14. After last weeks Ipad reveal and downloading some of those free marvel comics on psp I am left wonder. Will my comics start to depreciate. I am wondering if I should try to sell them, and then I wonder.....would I even be able to. I am so attached to them.

Any big comic collectors? What do you guys think with the new digital revolution going on.
Click to expand...

The Journey is the reward. Don't collect shit with the pipe dream of it making you rich some day.

Additionally, why in the fuck would printed materials depreciate if they were replaced with digital content?

Fewer copies in physical circulation = Higher rarity = Morons that pay stupid amounts of money for collectibles willing to spend more for it.

Although the pure evil side of me hopes digital media completely devalues everything. Fuck collectors and speculators.
 
Rorschach said:
Eventually, you grow up and out of the collector/fanboy phase where you bag and board everything and read 50 comics a month. "Why the fuck do I have Alvin and the Chipmunks vs Lady Death #1?" You'll grow into the phase where you just buy TPBs with interesting stories and stop keeping track of the new explanation as to why Ben Grimm's skin is never drawn the same way twice or how Superman and Lois have secks or if Wolverine is uncut.

...or you'll find yourself thirty five years old and first in line at the local convention, looking at your cheese puff stained hands as you wave bye to your mother who dropped you off. And the first thought that will come to your mind, will be how you need to remember to get new bags and boards to protect your comics from your cheesy fingers.
Click to expand...

Did you remember to get the bags?
 
Monroeski said:
I've got a TON of old superhero comics from the early 90s, and I'm thinking about selling them. Never go back and read them anyway, and don't have much of a desire to. Thinking of going through my collection and dropping the stuff I don't want (read: the majority of it).

I'll probably regret it later, but honestly, if it comes down to it most of that stuff is available in trade anyway. All I buy these days is Conan and other random non-superhero stuff that peaks my interest, so I'll likely go back through my collection at some point with those guidelines and drop the 99% of my stuff that isn't one of those.

I've probably got 4 or 5 longboxes in a closet full (not counting trades that are out on a shelf), and while I'm sure that pales in size to many other people here it's a lot of space taken up for crap I'm never going to read again.
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Depends if you want the hassle of cataloging and selling them, but I think you should just give old unwanted comics away. Find a kid you know, speak to their parents and dump 200 issues of whatever on him. The kid will think it's christmas x1000 and you'll have saved a lot of time and effort. Win/win. (unless you have something awesome and rare, in which case never let children touch them! :lol )
 
I bag and I board and I store my comics like a good boy, but I give no thought whatsoever to their future value or any potential investment. People sometimes ask me how many comics I own, or how much they're worth, and I tell them I don't know because I DON'T CARE. I buy comics because I enjoy reading them and talking about them with others who enjoy reading them. And as long as I continue enjoying them, I'll keep buying them -- it's that simple.

Beyond that, does anything else matter?

As for the digital thing, as convenient as it may be to have a collection you can take anywhere, I like having a physical record of my purchase in my hands. Comics, music, DVD, video games, whatever -- I'm not too keen on the digital revolution. For my hard-earned money give me something I can hold.
 
ChiTownBuffalo said:
I think the general consensus is that everything from the 90's is more or less worth nothing now, with some exceptions.

Now, I'm at the point where I buy trades.

I have an old friend who draws for Marvel and I buy his stuff. On the thought that eventually, my purchases will directly support him getting a McRib.
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Yeah, and 90s on up are what I have, but I mean damn, last I looked walking dead #1 was in triple digits and was continuing to rise. One comic like that makes up for like 30 - 50bunk ones.

I know there are programs to catalogue comics, but do any of them have the funtionality to show other people what you have, and they can offer to buy them?
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
I didnt see thsi before, but yeah... im 26 and this is basically me. I just figure i can save so much by just buying a trade.

Should I get out now, and try to sell what I have? Anyone actually sell their comics? Could you cut the cord of childhood attachment?

It is also one of those things of thinking I could give them to whatever kids i have someday. Something to pass down.

Of course I have student loans, itd be awesome to cut some of that out.
Click to expand...

No offense dude, but your collection isn't worth a lot since most of it is post 90's. Also, selling it on ebay would be near impossible because the shipping costs would literally be more expensive than the comics themselves.

Check craigslists, etc and you will be in for a shocker. There is a HUGE twice-a-week convention in Los Angeles that I have been going to for the past ~15 years. In the 90's, comic books dominated the place. Today, I think they have half of one measly aisle for comics. Each vendor has BINS and BINS of $.10 and $.50 comics from the 90's. And no one touches those. I seriously think that with the exception of issue #1's, variants, and the occasional super rare issue, most comics from that era have a market value of 20% cover price.

Your best bet is to list the valuable stuff singly on ebay and then try to dump the rest locally for super cheap. Hell, compile a list and bring it to Mile High.
 
Spike Spiegel said:
I bag and I board and I store my comics like a good boy, but I give no thought whatsoever to their future value or any potential investment. People sometimes ask me how many comics I own, or how much they're worth, and I tell them I don't know because I DON'T CARE. I buy comics because I enjoy reading them and talking about them with others who enjoy reading them. And as long as I continue enjoying them, I'll keep buying them -- it's that simple.

Beyond that, does anything else matter?

As for the digital thing, as convenient as it may be to have a collection you can take anywhere, I like having a physical record of my purchase in my hands. Comics, music, DVD, video games, whatever -- I'm not too keen on the digital revolution. For my hard-earned money give me something I can hold.
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You don't think of all the money you'd save by buying a trade?
 
Collecting for speculation purposes killed the industry. I quit largely due to the crazy proliferation of variant covers and all that shit in the early 90s. I remember when X-Men got relaunched and they had five different covers with different backup material in each one, and I thought "fuck this shit" and didn't buy any. Or when X-Force launched bagged with cards in each. My best friend bought copies with each card and then one to open and read. I gave him so much shit for that.
 
suffah said:
No offense dude, but your collection isn't worth a lot since most of it is post 90's. Also, selling it on ebay would be near impossible because the shipping costs would literally be more expensive than the comics themselves.

Check craigslists, etc and you will be in for a shocker. There is a HUGE twice-a-week convention in Los Angeles that I have been going to for the past ~15 years. In the 90's, comic books dominated the place. Today, I think they have half of one measly aisle for comics. Each vendor has BINS and BINS of $.10 and $.50 comics from the 90's. And no one touches those. I seriously think that with the exception of issue #1's, variants, and the occasional super rare issue, most comics from that era have a market value of 20% cover price.

Your best bet is to list the valuable stuff singly on ebay and then try to dump the rest locally for super cheap. Hell, compile a list and bring it to Mile High.
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I learned a looooooooooong time ago. Those prices you see in Wizard don't mean shit when no one actually buys the comics from you for that price.
 
I'm sure some hardcore collectors who bag and board their comics would have a fit looking at my comic book stashes throughout my life. I can't remember a point during my childhood where half of my comics weren't missing covers. I only pick up trades now and I keep them in well enough condition, I wouldn't even think of selling most of them.
 
TrAcEr_x90 said:
You don't think of all the money you'd save by buying a trade?
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I certainly do, and that's why I "wait for the trade" sometimes, on event comics like Wednesday Comics, or series like Chew or Fables. But as I also said, I like talking about the comics I read, and it's hard to do that when you're waiting on a graphic novel or hardcover that's eight months away.

Imagine what the Gaming Discussion side would be like if everybody adopted a "waiting for the trade" mentality, every thread would begin with LTTP.
 
Shiv47 said:
Collecting for speculation purposes killed the industry. I quit largely due to the crazy proliferation of variant covers and all that shit in the early 90s. I remember when X-Men got relaunched and they had five different covers with different backup material in each one, and I thought "fuck this shit" and didn't buy any. Or when X-Force launched bagged with cards in each. My best friend bought copies with each card and then one to open and read. I gave him so much shit for that.
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I worked in a Comic store during "The Death of Superman" nothing like that ever since... I think they had a 7 million print-run and they still went for $25 - $50 that month. In the store I worked @ the owner would hold all those special-prints for a few weeks... then sell it for 400% of the cover price. It was terrible...

These business men would come in once in awhile and we held aside comics for them each week... it was like a mini-stock market. They had print-outs of their collections and CMV prices... and loved how they "made $$$ from nothing" Then came time to sell these comics and the owner only wanted to pay 1/2 of CVM this is when it all went to shit... when the speculators invested and couldn't actually sell their "fortunes"
 
Yeah, I really need to jump on when my comics are worth more. I think once I get a listing of what I have, when movies come out or whatever, ill know if i have something that the value will go up.

My walking dead #1 is probably my most valuable that I know of. I keep wondering if I should hold on to it any longer? With the tv show about to come out, I'm thinkin ill wait.
 
The most valuable comic I have is Avengers #7, I think. Last I checked it was around $100. That said, I collect comics for the sake of collecting them. I don't care about selling them, or their values, so I get quite a bit out of modern comics.
 
I stopped "collecting" and bagging and boarding after the comics crash.

Now I read em, and give them to my younger cousins. Trades I still care about and keep in great condition like all my books.

Not the biggest fan of digi-comics but the iPad should change that. Its not the LCD screen that makes it hard to read. its the desk position I have to sit in to read em. Once I have my iPad its back to laying on the couch.

That said, I won't give up weekly comics until they are gone. Paper uber alles IMO.
 
I still bag/board but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth all the time/money. I mean, I spend $150 a month anyway on comic books. That's almost $2,000 over a year that just is GONE. Over the last year I've only bought maybe 5-10 books that are worth $20 or more now.

I'm probably going to stop buying new books except for TPB's and focus on growing my 70's collection. I love old horror comics, and I've got a few gems there that are worth a pretty penny.
 
I collected while growing up, initially just because I thought that maybe they would be worth something, but later on really started enjoying the stories themselves.

The habit eventually got to be way too expensive and I gave it up.. While I loved reading them, spending $30/week, 4x a month to keep up with all of my favorite books was a pretty big investment. Storing them is also a pretty big hassle.. I was one of the hardcore collectors that had to have everything bagged and boarded and stored in long boxes. Those things are a pain to move and clean around.

If Marvel and DC would put out a REAL digital distribution system with comics viewable online at the same time as they are released in print for a reasonable monthly subscription rate, I'd be all over that. Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is a complete joke, with issues missing all over the place and generally not being released until 6+ months after the printed versions. I don't think DC even has a digital option at this point (and if they do, they need to fire their marketing department because I've never heard of it).

But to answer your question, it all depends on whether you can afford the hobby and mind the books taking up the space. If these are not factors for you and you enjoy reading, keep on keeping on. If you collect them solely as a means of investment, bail out. Your money would be much better served in a mutual fund.
 
I was thinking at first to get my comics bound but I think it'll cost way too much.

Someone once told me that their friend sold certain story arcs on ebay and then bought the trade paperback for library storage which I thought was cool.
 
I don't fuck with anything other than trades although i do miss the print ads, they have their own charm and i like looking through old comics and seeing ads for shit like milk and Mortal Kombat games.:lol
 
Almighty_Chocobo said:
I collected while growing up, initially just because I thought that maybe they would be worth something, but later on really started enjoying the stories themselves.

The habit eventually got to be way too expensive and I gave it up.. While I loved reading them, spending $30/week, 4x a month to keep up with all of my favorite books was a pretty big investment. Storing them is also a pretty big hassle.. I was one of the hardcore collectors that had to have everything bagged and boarded and stored in long boxes. Those things are a pain to move and clean around.

If Marvel and DC would put out a REAL digital distribution system with comics viewable online at the same time as they are released in print for a reasonable monthly subscription rate, I'd be all over that. Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited is a complete joke, with issues missing all over the place and generally not being released until 6+ months after the printed versions. I don't think DC even has a digital option at this point (and if they do, they need to fire their marketing department because I've never heard of it).

But to answer your question, it all depends on whether you can afford the hobby and mind the books taking up the space. If these are not factors for you and you enjoy reading, keep on keeping on. If you collect them solely as a means of investment, bail out. Your money would be much better served in a mutual fund.
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its been a rollercoaster all these years for sure. When I first started it was going to find back issues to finish out collections and having to pay a bit extra on single issues. Then I got into a rythm of buying double #1s and having like almost every Image series in my box. Then i stopped cold turkey when i started college. Got back into it but tried to be selective with what I collected. After Marvels Civil War and the death of captain america I realized how much I dont like marvel comics anymore. Ive cut my list to like maaybe 2 comics a week, i mostly just follow my favorite artists now....Humberto Ramos, Adi Granov, Chris Bachalo, Ashley Wood etc.... but really I've wittled my collecting to these comics

Batman and Robin
Spawn
Haunt
Image United

And I still feel so empty ever since joss Whedons run on astonishing xmen ended.

So I guess 16 bucks a month isnt too bad. But still, I think I would like to get rid of what I have, the room it takes up, and the monely cost is never ending. I just always feel like Ill sell something that will be worth alot down the road.
 
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