Thing is SportSC4 most comics publishing companies have learned from the 90s and don't do the huge production runs like they used to do at that time. Now most publishers do a lot less publishing, basically they'll fill the comic shop's orders and maybe do a few extra, that's about it. I see less & less of the foil stuff (if any) on new comics and most good comics out now rely on good artwork & a good storyline. Some examples are Batman's HUSH series, 100 Bullets, Freemind, and a few others.
Oops, I meant to keep that in the context of comic book companies in the '90s. It has gotten (much) better lately.
Outta curiosity what do you guys think about Manga? IO'm sure if you are some avid comic reader you are bound to have atleast look at a few issues considering in all the bookstores I go to there are always comics next to manga
Manga is ok but there isn't a lot of it that I read personally. They did a few issues of Cowboy Bebop (total of 4 I think) 2 of which I picked up and they were supposed to release more but I haven't seen any more. Personally I prefer manga in its animated form in movies & TV shows and I prefer the drawing styles of Batman & Spider Man for comics.
I'm in the same boat. I collected comic books as a kid and am now trying to unload them. So I bought an issue of Wizard and in excel I compiled the value of each issue. The total came out to be around $1600! I've been trying to sell the set for $300 and no luck so I'll try selling it on ebay.
I put up the excel page on this page so people can see for themselves
I put up the excel page on this page so people can see for themselves
FeathersMcGraw
Diamond Member
- Oct 17, 2001
- 4,041
- 1
- 0
Supply and demand. Back when everyone thought that comic books were hot investments (hello, gold-foil variant covers), there was a ridiculous amount of supply, and enough people buying who thought that in ten years, they'd be able to cover their kids' college tuitions. Now stores have inventory of these issues, and so do collectors, and it's pretty obvious to both that they're not going to be able to liquidate them for significant gains.
There are still occasional low-print run books which surprise and become hits. I noticed first issues of Green Arrow, Joss Whedon's Fray, and Hero all sold quickly and necessitated second printings (which drove up the price of the first printing issue #1), but I certainly can't think of any recent series which are uniformly high in value (Sandman?). When you're finding VG to NM grade issues of Watchmen in dollar bins, you know the industry is in trouble.
Why is 302 listed for $55? Nothing special happened in that issue. Typo perhaps?
I like using comicspriceguide.com. For some reason, I always felt like Wizard hyped up comics too much... plus I'd like to know about these shops where the comics seemed to sell for 3x times what they did at the stores I used to go to.
Personally, I think you should hold on to all of those X-Men comics. Strangely, you seemed to have missed out on a few good issues.
Woohoo
I have X-men Alpha and Omega, that I bought awhile back. Both in Perfect Condition
Worth about 60+ bucks each.
I knew they wee gonna be worth something later down the road.
I have X-men Alpha and Omega, that I bought awhile back. Both in Perfect Condition
Worth about 60+ bucks each.
I knew they wee gonna be worth something later down the road.
sygyzy
Lifer
- Oct 21, 2000
- 14,001
- 4
- 76
You now what is funny is that now that there are no longer collectible comics, all the prices have gone up. Cover price is no longer $1.95 or $2.50. They are like $5.00. Or have things changed? What is the average cover price for a plain non-special issue (random number...) #15 of any modern comic?
I got my X-men alpha and Omega special for like 6 dollar cover price.
That was several years back.
Im glad mine went up.
OK, the expert is here. Having just got back form the San Diego Comic Con last month (c'mon, no one here can call me a nerd), I can say that comics are alive and well. No, I don't really get into the new stuff, I mainly collect older stuff (40's-70's). But some people on here don't know what they're talking about!
Let me respond to a few things I read on here. First of all, the comic market is not dying. Comics are still highly collectible. It's just that the focus has changed. In hindsight, collectors scoff at the crap put out in the early 90's. The hobby got so big, it was inundated with non-collectors (hence so many non-collectors in this thread talking about Image and Valiant comics). The market was oversaturated and that crap is worthless today. But there have been many modern comics that have seen great value. I sold my copies of Ultimate Spiderman #1 for $30 back in 2000, and they sell for $100 today. (Again, probably overpriced due to movie hype.) The popularity of comic book movies like Spider-man and X-Men have really pumped up the comic industry.
The focus today has shifted to graded comics. The grading company CGC pretty much has a monopoly on grading, and CGC comics graded 9.6 and up are selling for quite the premium. Many critics (like myself) say it's a speculator market, much like the early 90's Valiant/Image crap, and the market will one day fall on it's face. But people are paying hundreds of dollars for 9.8 and 10.0 copies of comics that are less than a year old. So to say that comics are no longer collectible is absurd. In my realm of collecting, Gold and Silver age, prices are on a steady incline, and always have been. And CGC-graded copies of those older comics can even get more expensive (CGC 9.8 Hulk #181 that lists for about $1000 in "mint" sold for $19,000).
So here are my tips for people trying to sell their comics:
- Don't use Wizard as a price guide. Everyone in the hobby laughs at Wizard prices. The best price guide is Overstreet, and those prices can be inflated for modern books. They don't price less than cover price, but much of the 80's & 90's crap sells for way less than cover. The best guide is to search eBay.
- The guy with the "$1600" worth of comics, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. The X-Men are good, but don't expect to get anywhere near those prices. Those values (let alone being inflated Wizard values) are for NM books. NM pretty much means flawless. So if you can see the slightest flaw (and I mean SLIGHTEST...like a very tiny bend on a corner, or a stress line on the spine from reading), it's probably not NM and sells for less. My brother is currently selling a bunch of those comics (mainly old Spawns), and is happy when he can sell a lot on eBay for an average of $1/comic.
- Sell on eBay, not your local dealer. If a comic "lists" for $10 in Near Mint, yours is probably Very Fine and lists for $7. People are more likely to spend 80% of guide for a NM, but 50% of guide for a VF. So the dealer can sell your $7 comic for $3.50. So he might give you $1 for it. (That was a simple example, and does not relate to the $1/comic statement I made about eBay.) Why sell to a dealer who is going to profit after selling to the end customer, when you can sell to the end customer yourself? Just include huge scans (no ipix hosted pictures), and sell on a Sunday night. You'll get what the comic is worth. Sell in lots if you have 90's crap.
Let me respond to a few things I read on here. First of all, the comic market is not dying. Comics are still highly collectible. It's just that the focus has changed. In hindsight, collectors scoff at the crap put out in the early 90's. The hobby got so big, it was inundated with non-collectors (hence so many non-collectors in this thread talking about Image and Valiant comics). The market was oversaturated and that crap is worthless today. But there have been many modern comics that have seen great value. I sold my copies of Ultimate Spiderman #1 for $30 back in 2000, and they sell for $100 today. (Again, probably overpriced due to movie hype.) The popularity of comic book movies like Spider-man and X-Men have really pumped up the comic industry.
The focus today has shifted to graded comics. The grading company CGC pretty much has a monopoly on grading, and CGC comics graded 9.6 and up are selling for quite the premium. Many critics (like myself) say it's a speculator market, much like the early 90's Valiant/Image crap, and the market will one day fall on it's face. But people are paying hundreds of dollars for 9.8 and 10.0 copies of comics that are less than a year old. So to say that comics are no longer collectible is absurd. In my realm of collecting, Gold and Silver age, prices are on a steady incline, and always have been. And CGC-graded copies of those older comics can even get more expensive (CGC 9.8 Hulk #181 that lists for about $1000 in "mint" sold for $19,000).
So here are my tips for people trying to sell their comics:
- Don't use Wizard as a price guide. Everyone in the hobby laughs at Wizard prices. The best price guide is Overstreet, and those prices can be inflated for modern books. They don't price less than cover price, but much of the 80's & 90's crap sells for way less than cover. The best guide is to search eBay.
- The guy with the "$1600" worth of comics, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. The X-Men are good, but don't expect to get anywhere near those prices. Those values (let alone being inflated Wizard values) are for NM books. NM pretty much means flawless. So if you can see the slightest flaw (and I mean SLIGHTEST...like a very tiny bend on a corner, or a stress line on the spine from reading), it's probably not NM and sells for less. My brother is currently selling a bunch of those comics (mainly old Spawns), and is happy when he can sell a lot on eBay for an average of $1/comic.
- Sell on eBay, not your local dealer. If a comic "lists" for $10 in Near Mint, yours is probably Very Fine and lists for $7. People are more likely to spend 80% of guide for a NM, but 50% of guide for a VF. So the dealer can sell your $7 comic for $3.50. So he might give you $1 for it. (That was a simple example, and does not relate to the $1/comic statement I made about eBay.) Why sell to a dealer who is going to profit after selling to the end customer, when you can sell to the end customer yourself? Just include huge scans (no ipix hosted pictures), and sell on a Sunday night. You'll get what the comic is worth. Sell in lots if you have 90's crap.
Any book store. Barnes, Borders, Waldenbooks, etc. Be sure to get the 33rd Edition (2003). Again, it's mostly useful for older books. Since it's published annually, it doesn't keep up with the recent fluctuations of modern books. Your best bet for Modern books is a completed search on eBay.
grading is where it's at, but the problem is to get a comic graded you better be damn sure it's worth something or the grading will end up costing you more than the comic is worth.
The reason why I think most comics are worth crap is the because it's a global market now. The supply is high because eBay brings the world's supply to your door step, simple as that. Before eBay if your comic store didn't have a comic you wanted, you're out of luck and hence would pay more for it.
The reason why I think most comics are worth crap is the because it's a global market now. The supply is high because eBay brings the world's supply to your door step, simple as that. Before eBay if your comic store didn't have a comic you wanted, you're out of luck and hence would pay more for it.
Yeah I have that collection that Wizard states is worth $1,600 but I definitely realize that I'm not gonna sell it for anything close to that! I'm trying to unload them for whatever I can get for them. I bought them to read, not to make a profit on!
I agree with you, at least of the ones that I've seen. Have that issue along with all of the HUSH series up to current. The story is getting quite interesting.
Rob9874, thank you for taking time to educate us. I totally agree with you that Wizard's price is pretty much like Blue book price for cars. The way i gauge my comic price is thru ebay and exhausting online resource. I can't afford to have my comic rated since it's not 20 yrs old. But I do know my comic books are all in good condition and can easily be mistaken as new, thanks to the cardboard and plastic cover.
Comic life is pretty interesting, every one of them came from one big printing factory and delivered to the store. Then its fate is decided by the buyer. Some has very high resale value but most of it became thrash.
Comic life is pretty interesting, every one of them came from one big printing factory and delivered to the store. Then its fate is decided by the buyer. Some has very high resale value but most of it became thrash.
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