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Collector Maritimer private msg quote post Address this user
I 'took a break' from comics in 1995 although not from all the speculating and gimmicks that were going on. I was tired of reading basically the same stories I had read in the 60's and 70's. It just seemed at the time DC and Marvel were regurgitating much of their previous material. I returned to the hobby in 1999 when Abnett, Lanning and Coipel were working on Legion Lost. That was a good story. I sort of left again in 2012, having given the New 52 a chance and being sorely disappointed when I realized DC had thrown away my two favourite franchises, the Legion of Super-Heroes and the JSA. Rebirth brought me back again but I have a feeling I'm going to be really let down by Mr. Bendis when he relaunches the LSH. I'll have to wait and see about the JSA.

I mailed out my latest submission today to CBCS Canada, Adventure Comics #300, Forever People #1, New Teen Titans #2 and Crisis On Infinite Earths #1. No pressing and no signatures, just a test drive to see what I get. I'm not expecting any 9.8's but I put a range on each one so it will be interesting to see how close I am.
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I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans. esaravo private msg quote post Address this user
I can definitely relate to most of your stories. Here’s mine. I started buying comics from newsstands as a kid around 1967/1968. At first, I only bought DC’s and the cover price was 12 cents (although about a year or so later, they went up to 15 cents). I didn’t bother with Marvels until around 1975, when I started going to comic book shows to buy back issues. I was pretty much buying almost every new comic I could afford by the early 1980’s. But cover prices kept increasing, and by the mid-1980’s I started losing interest. I got married in 1986, and by the late 1980’s, I was pretty much done with comics. Marvel’s ridiculous overproduction of Spider-Man #1 in 1990 and X-Men #1 in 1991 told me it was definitely time to quit. I sold off a few things (regrets, I’ve had a few), but luckily kept most of my collection. The last books I remember buying in the 1990’s were Spawn #1-4 from a dealer (and I probably paid more than they are worth now). I don’t even own a Superman #75! After lying dormant for many years, my collecting urge returned with a vengeance around 5 years ago. Although I have had some lapses, like when I bought a bunch of DC’s New 52 crap, I have tried to set goals and keep my focus on only a few things (instead of trying to have EVERYTHING). I still see too many shiny things that tempt me (I am only human!), but hope I am actually reducing the number of comics I own.
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Masculinity takes a holiday. EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user
Pricing is a function of supply and demand. It's not a moral issue, particularly in something as discretionary as comic books. When a LCS dealer commits to buy 100 issues of a comic the only people they owe anything to are the regular customers who have also made a commitment through the Pull List. Beyond that they should be selling the books for whatever the market will pay. If they are selling for $3.95 when the market is $40, someone who has never supported their shop before is likely to walk in and buy all remaining issues. The LCS has more justification than anyone for getting full current market value for the speculation books, they make the commitment and they pay the overhead to keep the shop open. Bubbles in general are almost exclusively caused by buyers. Very rarely is a bubble the result of suppliers intentionally restricting inventory.
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous! sportshort private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by EbaySeller
Pricing is a function of supply and demand. It's not a moral issue, particularly in something as discretionary as comic books. When a LCS dealer commits to buy 100 issues of a comic the only people they owe anything to are the regular customers who have also made a commitment through the Pull List. Beyond that they should be selling the books for whatever the market will pay. If they are selling for $3.95 when the market is $40, someone who has never supported their shop before is likely to walk in and buy all remaining issues. The LCS has more justification than anyone for getting full current market value for the speculation books, they make the commitment and they pay the overhead to keep the shop open. Bubbles in general are almost exclusively caused by buyers. Very rarely is a bubble the result of suppliers intentionally restricting inventory.


you are correct in what you say but none of that changes the fact that exorbitant pricing does not allow for new people, children mainly, to enter the hobby. until they grow up and have jobs of their own and generally speaking it's too late to introduce them to the hobby. Again, when comics where not only direct, no drug store raised their prices of popular books, they just ordered more so that they could make more money. I really do understand what you're saying but it only speed the comic hobby doom train along.
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Beaten by boat oars Studley_Dudley private msg quote post Address this user
I don't see many children entering the hobby, which is unfortunate. The MCU is so popular, yet it seems there are no kids heading to the stores with their grass cutting money to buy comics. These are just my own observations. I talk to shop owners and they say the same thing. Kids aren't buying comics. They see a ton of kids and families on Free Comic Book Day and that's the only time they see these folks until the next FCBD.
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PLOD theCapraAegagrus private msg quote post Address this user
Kids aren't buying comics for a couple of reasons:

1. All of the good ones are too expensive (20th century stuff).
2. People seem to be relatively unaware of collected editions.

Even if people were highly-aware of paperback editions, etc, even some of those are inflated beyond reasonable prices!

All of the old people continue to raise prices do to the health of cinema and TV, due to greed, not realizing that it's pricing youth out of the collecting hobby (which directly affects the reading hobby).
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Collector Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user
Dudley, that is a sad but true comment. Kids are lining up to see the movie but are not buying the comics. I have tried turning my nephew onto comics and there is no interest. I was one of those kids who cut grass, delivered newspapers and enjoyed spending a hard earned quarter on a Thor or Avengers comic. Back then a comic story line often concluded in one issue which I preferred at the time. Let's face it $4-$5 for a comic is ridiculous! Nuff said.
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous! sportshort private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc_Cop
Dudley, that is a sad but true comment. Kids are lining up to see the movie but are not buying the comics. I have tried turning my nephew onto comics and there is no interest. I was one of those kids who cut grass, delivered newspapers and enjoyed spending a hard earned quarter on a Thor or Avengers comic. Back then a comic story line often concluded in one issue which I preferred at the time. Let's face it $4-$5 for a comic is ridiculous! Nuff said.


I'm going to inject a story I told on another thread (sorry if you've already read this). a bus driver lady found out i collected comics and she and her kids love the superhero movies, she asked me "do they still sell comic books? i never see them anywhere". she was surprised when I told her they did but now you have to go to a comic book store to get them. she said, "I didn't know there was such a thing as a comic book store". Boom! hence the problem. Attention publishers, put the comics back in regular stores at a reasonable price or doom the hobby.
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Collector CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user
@sportshort I agree, and I think that may have been the reasoning behind the Walmart DC titles. $4.99 for 100 pages isn't completely unreasonable. And that's how I got my first comics as a kid - convincing my mother or grandmother to buy me one when we were in a grocery store or drug store.

On the other hand, the few times I've been in a Walmart they've been sold out. Whether that's books being bought by kids or the entire lot getting sold to someone trying to flip them for $10 each on ebay I can't say. I'm afraid it's the second.
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Collector moodswing private msg quote post Address this user
Kids don't buy much of anything anymore. They download/pirate everything,are not into toys and don't read. It is all social media and their phones. Oh and video games.
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Masculinity takes a holiday. EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by moodswing
Kids don't buy much of anything anymore. They download/pirate everything,are not into toys and don't read. It is all social media and their phones. Oh and video games.


I'm not sure it's about the cost. Kids today probably have more spending money than any time in history. But I totally agree that they have free entertainment options coming at them from all directions. When I was 13 there were like 5 TV shows a week that were intended for my demographic. Beyond that it was books and comics. Today they have endless hours of games and programming that is aimed directly at them.

My kids loved Spider-verse, they saw it in the theater and rented it on demand. They can sing Sunflower by heart. So at Christmas I bought my 12 year old the first Miles Morales TBP. Even when it's free he can't get engaged enough to get past page 10...9 months later. I told him to give it away at school, but he doesn't know anyone who would read it...even though they love Miles Morales. But he could spend a whole day watching knuckleheads on Youtube doing stupid shit.
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Collector michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user
You guys all make excellent points about why kids no longer read comics. I agree that without a significant overhaul to the distribution system the situation is unlikely to change. Also agree that today’s kids are much more tuned in to YouTube and video games. My eight year old grandson spends a significant portion of his time watching YouTube. Mostly he is interested in watching other people play video games and getting ideas how to improve his game. He does, at least, have some interest in actually reading books. He is very interested in the Dog Man series, which is a mixture of text and comics. Pretty sure he has read them all. Although he has shown next to zero interest in the older comics I have given him, ranging from Richie Rich to Spider-Man, he did enjoy the more modern comics I picked up for him that are based on cartoons he is interested in, such as “Regular Show”. I don’t see him ever becoming a regular comic book reader mainly because he doesn’t frequent any place that sells them. Even if there was something that came along that he would absolutely love, he wouldn’t even know about it unless I happened to buy it for him or someone recommended it on YouTube.
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Collector Hcanes private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Studley_Dudley
I don't see many children entering the hobby, which is unfortunate. The MCU is so popular, yet it seems there are no kids heading to the stores with their grass cutting money to buy comics. These are just my own observations. I talk to shop owners and they say the same thing. Kids aren't buying comics. They see a ton of kids and families on Free Comic Book Day and that's the only time they see these folks until the next FCBD.


Probably because the kids cannot afford to blow $7.99 on the latest 1st issue or new over arching cross over event like Absolute Carnage.

I remember as a kid I could get several comics off the rack at the PX without breaking the bank.
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Collector moodswing private msg quote post Address this user
Yeah, comic industry has priced kids out and a lot of adults too.
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Collector X51 private msg quote post Address this user
The marketing of comics was a science up until the late 80's. Publishers today don't know how to make a comic compelling. The covers were used to instill suspense and curiosity when I was a kid. Now we get characters standing on ledges staring at the reader.
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I live in RI and Rhode Islanders eat chili with beans. esaravo private msg quote post Address this user
When I went with my adult son to see the second Ant-Man film, there was a dealer set up in the lobby of the theater with tables covered with piles of the True Believers comics and super-hero action figures. I thought it was a good idea, since the True Believers are pretty cheap, and most have great stories and art. I did see a few parents buying some copies for their kids.

When I was a kid, there were easily 5 or 6 stores that sold comics within a mile or so of my house.
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Collector Maritimer private msg quote post Address this user
Hcanes makes a great point. I've already talked to the owners at my LCS that the $3.99 U.S. price point is my line in the sand. That translates to roughly $5.00 Canadian and even with a membership discount, books add up in a hurry. When the price of a regular comic moves to the inevitable $4.99 U.S., That will probably be it for me. I refuse to buy DC and Marvel's 9.99 'Specials'. I'm a pensioner now and have to be way more selective in what I buy. I think once we Boomers are gone that will be it for the comics industry as we know it. We seem to be the target audience.
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous! sportshort private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maritimer ...We seem to be the target audience.[/quote


At the price they charge for comics today, you are so right!
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PLOD theCapraAegagrus private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maritimer
...I think once we Boomers are gone that will be it for the comics industry as we know it. We seem to be the target audience.

I am not a Boomer, but I have been suspecting this for a few years. Most older people seem to disagree, for some reason (probably hoping that the dwindling of their generation is not the cause of their comics losing value in the future).
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Collector Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user
Not to sweat it Capra! That's like saying since persons from the 1940's have died and now their golden age books will loose value.
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Collector Doc_Cop private msg quote post Address this user
By the way, who ever started this thread, thank you. I have been enjoying it. Nuff said..
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous! sportshort private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doc_Cop
By the way, who ever started this thread, thank you. I have been enjoying it. Nuff said..


@theCapraAegagrus might be right to some degree, without knowing the future I’m going to take some wild guesses. Right know prices are being driven by the movies and people like us/me that are trying to buy books they couldn’t afford earlier in life (chasing their youth? Maybe). Without the kids getting into the hobby, who will be around to hunt and keep these book? Sure some will never go down in value as they are part of history. For instance I’ve heard that golden age Funny Animal comics have fallen out of favor with collectors (Don’t really know). Why is that? I think it’s because the folks that grew up with them have passed on. Again, i am just guessing.
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PLOD theCapraAegagrus private msg quote post Address this user
There will always be relative value for some comic books. Based on the extremely low quantity of GA Superman and Batman, there likely won't ever be very affordable copies of them. Other stuff however, like Marvel SA, could be hovering around their peak value right now. Supply will never be higher, but where will future demand come from...?

Kids reading less books, buying less comics, and eventual superhero fatigue = relative 'crash'. That's why I vehemently advise against 'investing' in comic books. Buy what you'll love even if it's worthless ($$$$$-wise) someday.

I personally look forward to the day that I'll be able to buy some old stuff at affordable costs.
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I hear their hourly rate is outrageous! sportshort private msg quote post Address this user
@theCapraAegagrus said "I personally look forward to the day that I'll be able to buy some old stuff at affordable costs."

I wish it were now!
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