Uhhhhmmm...WHY??!!??

[MRP]

There's a big difference in spending 15 - 25 for a re-mego and $150 for a really bad reprint of a Batman story that you could get in a DC archive with 5 other stories for $50. They're not the same.

To you. But maybe not to someone else. It's still sentimentality driving the purchase. How much they spend or don't spend is a variable based on their means and willingness to spend it, but the reason behind the spending can be the same. Not everyone has your experiences tastes and biases, so why should they spend their money on collectibles the way you would? I balk at spending $30 on a ReMego (the new release prices for the FTC stuff) for a franchise I really like Jonny Quest) but that's because of my budget and my current situation. Fifteen years a go when my situation was different I had no qualms dropping $50 for a back issue I already had reprinted in a couple of different formats or for an Archive or Masterworks of books I already had. The means I had available affected the thought process behind purchases, but the drive behind wanting to make the purchase is the same.

When I was in 8th/9th grade, I desperately wanted that reprint of Tec 27 from Oreo but my parents wouldn't let me buy the cookies or send away for it. When I saw it at a con for $15 (not slabbed) many years later, I snagged it even though I already had another reprint of that book, because I had a sentimental want for that reprint because I couldn't get it when it was offered. At the same show I passed on a number of original Megos loose for $40-$50 each because I had owned them once and didn't have that drive to get something I had missed out on as a kid fueling the purchase. Today, I wouldn't spend $150 on a slabbed copy of that book and probably wouldn't spend $15 on a loose copy, but I might buy those Megos now because I am more sentimental for what I once had than I was back then.

Was I doing it wrong then? Am I doing it wrong now? Nope in either case, I was doing what I felt was right for me, and I didn't give a flying fig what any other collector thought about it. If someone wanted it and was willing to spend that much on it, and could afford it, good on them for getting something they wanted. Who am I to say if they should or shouldn't have. I don't know their experiences, their budget/means, or why they are looking for it.

-M

[Blue Meanie]

On the other hand I do remember Marvel saying when the industry blew up the 1st time that they would make comics collectible again by doing exactly what they are doing right now.

Hey, you know what, buy what you want as a collector. It's your money.

[MRP]

It bothers me because it's ruining the industry/hobby/reading. One feeds the other. Speculators feed Marvel/DC/Image etc. by all of those companies making variant covers, blowing up the universes, and more just so that it feeds right back to the speculators buying and selling. It's like a vicious circle. Speculation affects everything in the comic book industry. I personally am tired of being fed crap from these companies. It all starts with speculation in my opinion.

So all those ads in Bronze Age books form Robert Bell and Heroes World and others offering up lots of #1 issues to buy as investments weren't fueled by speculation? And all those kids buying 2 copies of X-Men in the 80s, one to read and one to bag and board weren't fueled by speculation? And the kid I went to school with who ordered a case of each cover of Man of Steel #1 when John Byrne came to DC wasn't fueled by speculation? And the people tracking all those sale prices that became the Overstreet Guide weren't doing so to fuel investment and speculation on the books so they could make more money off of it?

Speculation has been part of the hobby of comics from the beginning. It has fueled more sales of books and kept books in print for more than it has caused harm outside of the speculator crash of the 90s (and that was fueled by people in the hobby trying to take advantage of newcomers coming in moreso than anything). Variant covers fuel about 1/4 t 1/3 of current sales to retailers (we don't know how many of those sold to retailers make it to end customers because no one tracks that but the common wisdom is that retailers need to sell 4 out of 5 copies they order to make any profit). If you cut 1/4 to 1/3 of the revenue from Marvel and DC right now, they would not have a line of books to publish. Right now, the only thing keeping their publishing lines viable is the so called speculator market. There is no longer enough of a readers market for the floppy to sustain a publishing line because publishers spent far too long catering to hard core fans and not cultivating future generations of new readers and keeping books accessible in places where people who are not already fans shop. Speculation did not kill the comics industry, catering to hardcore fans and becoming over-reliant on the revenue stream of that aging and non-renewing customer base is what ruined the industry as a form of mass entertainment. The viscous circle is that hardcore fanboys only want books that appeal to them not the general audience but they don't buy enough to sustain the market without variants and such, but any attempt to gain new audiences loses the hardcore fanbase who are killing their own field of interest with their buying patterns and publishers are buying into it because they are more concerned with how big the piece of pie of the current marketshare they get is rather than on trying to build a bigger pie.

Some dude paying $150 for a reprint of Tec #27 is not the problem with comics today. Far from it. The problem with comics toda has been the buying pattern of the so-called fan customer base for the last 25 years.

-M

[Blue Meanie]

Hey...you can have page 1 from Amazing Fantasy 15 for only $522:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&toolid=11800&pub=5574962988&campid=5336850443&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FAmazing-Fantasy-15-CGC-Page-1-Only-1st-App-of-Spider-Man-1962-Original-%2F401264933483%3Fhash%3Ditem5d6d40fa6b%253Ag%253AbVQAAOSwUKxYbWwJ%26nma%3Dtrue%26si%3DpY86yIopd8yYT6Ip%25252B%25252FNcQWUb2ko%25253D%26orig_cvip%3Dtrue%26rt%3Dnc%26_trksid%3Dp2047675.l2557

[Earth 2 Chris]

If it makes you feel any better, that Batman Oreo comic (which I've had since it was first offered in the mid-80s) actually reprints the first Batman story from Tec #27, the 1st Robin from Tec #38, and the first Joker from Batman #1. So it's kind of like a thin, newsprint reprint collection, and not just that first Batman story and cover.

Chris

[enyawd72]

Speculation didn't ruin comic collecting. Crappy writing, art, and a general lack of creativity ruined comic collecting a loooong time ago.

[MIB41]

[PeterRR]

And how exactly do you know this? Who are you to determine what something is worth to someone else? You probably wouldn't pay $$$$ for a sealed model kit and then open and build it either.
And your comment about explaining to them "how" to collect reeks of arrogance. Sorry. There is no "right" or "wrong" way to collect. My dad thinks toy collecting is stupid. He wouldn't pay $1 for a mint carded Iron Man because he could care less. To him, it's just a toy and might as well be garbage. At the end of the day it's whatever makes that person happy, which is nobody else's business.

You're absolutely right. There is no right and wrong way to collect. What is something worth? You can't write a check toward a collectible. You can't deposit it in bank as money. Basically it's all worthless junk until someone puts a price on it. If nobody wants it then it's not worth anything. Today people spend thousands of dollars on sneakers. I wouldn't pay more then $60 a a pair of shoes. I sell a lot off different toys and some toys I don't really want to part with so I put a high price on it. If someone wants and paid my price I wouldn't feel too bad when I parted with it. When we have it we want to sell it for as much as possible. When we want it we want to pay as little as possible.

[Blue Meanie]

Some here are getting collecting confused with speculation. They are 2 completely different things. I agree with buying what you like. Collecting what you like. I've told that to a lot of collectors at Mego Meet. That is my first piece of advice to anyone that wants to collect ANYTHING. I have told anyone that has asked me about what they should buy that if they are trying to collect for investment (speculation) that they shouldn't waste their time. Put money in the stock market instead. Collecting isn't for them. This type of collecting is what I've termed as "Crash and Burn" collecting. Most times overpaying for "Common" items. Then *****ing and complaining that they can't get their money back on what they bought. This is why it bothers me as a collector. This is why I complain when I see stupid ******** like this auction I pointed out. People that have a passion for what they collect don't need that side/aspect of collecting. Creating a market where there was none is speculation. Big difference between collecting and speculating in my opinion.

[enyawd72]

But again, you don't KNOW that's what is going on here...you are in fact, SPECULATING. How's that for irony?

I've paid pretty much the same for several 1970's slabbed comics because I was tired of amateur graders claiming NM and getting books that were not.
I bought those books because they were sentimental to me. I already had beaters to read but wanted NM specimens to display. How do you know that's not what's happening here?

[huedell]

I'll also humbly add here the element: I don't find the element of "speculation" inherently offensive.

Some people just LIKE to speculate... gambling, investing... what-have-you.... and this applies to the genre of comicbooks (replicas or otherwise).

I mean, I understand these speculating people are throwing a wrench in the landscape, but that's life, right? No fandom exists in it's own bubble... least of all, an institution like comicbooks.

And, I've said it before.... I think ANY attention is good attention.... my take: Be worried when people STOP speculating on comics... ya know?