I collect what I like, but always try to get a good price on it. I think half the fun of collecting is the hunt to find something. I have several full runs ( Spiderman, Web of Spiderman, Flash vol2, etc ) that I know I'd probably lose money on them if I sold them, but it was the fun of going places, meeting new people, tracking things down was well worth it. To me it's a hobby, and any hobby costs money.
You have a great video here because you are being honest, helpful and transparent, so unlike most others' postings. Most ppl want to only show their successful stories and make sure they "look good". Your sharing I'm sure was not fun to do, but as a seasoned comic fan, I appreciate your story.
I wouldn’t worry about loses really. If generational amnesia occurs as I suspect… Bronze Age thru modern may be worthless quicker than we know. We will all be facing the reality of a generation that cares little for old paper. As the years draw on, memory of the good old days of the MCU fade… we will be facing true generational wipeout of perceived value of old comic books. I see a day when comics are a novelty of a bygone age… maybe hanging up decorating the wall of some nostalgia themed restaurant.
I strongly believe this. There are younger generations that have no real interest in comics themselves. The characters, yes. When those of us that grew up collecting die off (sorry to be so morbid), who is there to buy this colored newsprint at such high rates?
@@Stickygooseidk I see a lot of gen z people interested in comics in my area like definitely not as many as the older people but not a small percentage either
Thanks for being so transparent its tough to look back at something you invested in and have taken a loss I sure havent taken account yet. But in the process of paring down and will for sure take a huge hit
@@jeffstanley6013 What? lol Movies 100% effect value of the book whether the character has been popular for decades or not. Of course it's so popular it won't ever be worthless, but movies usually fluctuate the price of books for a while. My theory is if this movie precedes new X-men movies then this book may never see a "dip" for a while. Now may actually be the best time to buy this book.
@@Ghostin93 Not in Wolverine's case. The character has already been in 9 movies; Deadpool 3 will be the 10th in 25 years. At this point, one more movie isn't going to have any significant impact on 181's value, because it's not like the general public isn't already well aware of the character.
Good video -- appreciate your honesty. Not many on RUclips can admit to these mistakes. I would reiterate that PATIENCE is probably the most important virtue in this hobby. Regarding buying new books off the shelf: my hold slot is very limited at my LCS. They are part of my entertainment budget and nothing more. I view my relatively minimal new comic purchases like I do seeing a movie or buying a novel to read -- money spent that I will never recoup. Thankfully, I never got caught up in chasing the 9.8 game. I could go on about how silly investing in 9.8 moderns is, starting with there is no discernable difference between a 9.8 and 9.6.
2 separate thoughts, 1 stay away from influencers n key collector, it’s basically a pump n dump, cause it’s funny how they magically have the books that jump to sell on eBay n whatnot. Buy cold n smart and ask yourself where will this book be in 5 or 10 years. 2ndly currently I wouldn’t call you a collector but an investor. You don’t talk like a collector when you complyabout making runs n complaining about the value or price paid. There’s a fine line between the two and I would say you don’t care about collecting anymore but the value of your collection and what you can get from it, there’s no comic love in that
I think a lot of collectors are right there with you. I knew there was going to be a correction in pricing from 2021 and that the economy was going to take a turn for the worse. However, I still started doing a lot of buying in mid-2022 thinking the prices wouldn't drop much lower than they had already (I was very wrong). I am now very upside down on many key and blue chip books including Hulk 181, Amazing Spiderman #1 and #129 to name just a few. I am into collecting and not into flipping, so I am into this for the long haul. Hopefully, things will get better, it just may take 10 years or more.
@@Stickygoose Yeah, it's a long time. The economy issue is a BIG problem that isn't going to fix itself overnight. All the flippers and people that jumped into comics that stimulated the price jumps have moved on, causing the market to become a bit stagnant. It's going to take a long time to overcome, if at all. For the real collectors... we just need to stay the course and take the current bad and hope for the good to come again.
I would also say... just be cautious of how much you're spending on what you're buying. Buy what you like, but things are still trending in the wrong (going down) direction. We both bought Hulk 181s at the wrong time. I can get an 8.0 right now for what I paid for a 5.5. But, Hulk 181 is still a good book to have regardless.
@@rodnicker love your attitude and appreciate the "STAY THE COURSE" mantra. I don't think the upward swing isn't that far away. When things are bad, we always seem to think a "funk" lasts longer than what we actually encounter. I'm a previous broker with Edward Jones Investments and I had a guy with 250K of Publix (grocery store) stock laughing at me that I've been recommending TESLA stock. When it dropped to about $108, I kept buying in (January 2023). He has been silent and hiding because while his stock "split" from $45 bucks, the Tesla stock has appreciated almost 150% since he laughed at me. Right now is an amazing time to accumulate all the big books as we may not see these "floor" prices ever again.
It's better to spend $4 on a pre-ordered book that you'll enjoy than miss out and having to spend several hundred dollars to get back on track. The best collections are often built on simple happenstance.
If you a collecting the run to enjoy it then it's good. But he is coming from the point that you loose most your money right when you buy a new book off the shelf. 99% of new books will be in dollar bins in a year. I personally stopped buying new books a few years ago and put that money into high grade silver books never looked back.
Brutally honest my friend. Great advice for people who LOVE this hobby. Thanks for sharing. I'm at the crossroads of maintaining my pull list or dropping it entirely. Good news is that I only collect what I read. So I'm not chasing any spec books upon release. But as you say with new books costing $4 - $7 each they are like a car driven off the lot in value in the days and weeks after release. So it's getting increasingly hard to justify buying floppy copies. Which makes me sad since I LOVE my LCS and enjoy being around comics and comic shops.
I got lucky, I sold my Avengers 1, Marvel Spotlight 5, F.F 49 to name a few if about 15 books I sold I the height of pandem collector boom. I have since reacquired them all back but made 10 grand more than the total cost of biying them back. It was pure luck ( needed to finance a new front deck) just turned out that I sold at a peak we wont see again for a long time.
Great video, and totally agree with what you said, especially around the 2 key things speculators don't realise: 1. Prices only shoot up if demand is much greater than supply. This means buying comics that everyone else is buying will NEVER get you a profit 2. As Thor Love & Thunder has proven, a first appearance in a movie doesn't necessarily mean prices will go up for that hero/heroine's comics
collecting comic books isn't always about financial investment. I collect silverage, bronze age books the same way as someone who collects vinyl records. I love taking care of them, displaying them, taking great care to bag and board them and amateur grade them myself. I probably have about 300 silver age comics and shelves upon shelves of TPBs. When I go into a an independent comic shop it reminds me of what old music shops were like. Honestly, some days I'll just unbag some of my favourite books from.the 60s and 70s and just admire them.
This realization will come to many collectors in the coming months/years. In a way, the dealers are the predators and the buyers are the prey. Dealers love collectors who suffer from FOMO and movie spec. I bought my comic book collections between 1974-1985. No movie spec influencers existed then. And I still have every comic, never sold one of them.
Thanks for the video sticky goose! I remember a lot of these influencers with huge comic hauls every week during the pandemic boom and I think back know and realize 1. These people lost thier asses on all those books 2. Did this person just Recommend buying this book at its absolute height!!….. a lot of these people still make videos and give advice..having no clue what they are talking about with the comic market.
Watching this video, it makes me think that a lot of people learned nothing from the 90's comic book crash. Buying new books thinking it's an "investment" is just dumb. Comics are a disposable buy. You buy them to read and that's where your money goes. It's like paying money to watch a movie. That money is gone. You keep the comic to re-read later and for sentimental reasons, and that's the way you should think about it. Only sometimes do comics become valuable, but usually because they are old and/or rare. Everything else is pure gambling (oh, sorry, I mean "speculation"). I still have all my comics from my youth because I kept them in meticulous condition so I could read them over and over and maybe, maybe... maybe one day a few of them might be worth something. At that point, I'd leave them to my kids. That's the way I think about it, and it's worked out well for me. I have some comics that are actually worth something, but if I had been everything that came out hoping to make money in a year or two... I'd be broke long ago.
I go to the same comic shop I did when I was 12 years old and I'm 41 now. Everything I bought was done so at cover price. I have never purchased a comic outside of the shop with a few online exceptions and I've never bought slabbed comics nor had any of mine slabbed. I complete full runs and not just keys. Soon I will sell off some full runs I didn't like to get back issues I'm missing for other titles.
No offense to you personally, but I'm happy as hell that the spec boom is coming to a fiery crash and all the speculators are losing their butts. I've been collecting comics for over 50 years and I have basically had to ignore most Marvel purchases the past three years. It has been so bad that the spec boom infected even the most basic Marvel series. I collect Two-Gun Kid. Only 3 issues away from having the complete series, one of which is #77. Used to be a five dollar book and the only reason I didn't have it was because I was waiting for one to turn up in decent shape. Black Panther movie comes out and the thing is suddenly a $300 dollar book because in contains a "Panther prototype"! Absolutely nothing to do with the Black Panther or his creation, at all. Nothing! Thankfully, the price is coming down pretty quickly but it's still going to take time before I'll pay, maybe $20 max, for a nice copy. But I will. Patience. One thing I am noticing about new comic prices, even though I only buy the facsimiles these days, is that while prices are coming down on a lot of the movie spec books, this variant covers mumbo jumbo is still rolling right along. When reality for that debacle comes to roost, and it will, there is going to be a whole new crash. I see videos on here with "speculators" having entire walls covered with cgc variant covers of random issues of random titles they paid $xxx for.....not good. I realize the 90's was 30 years ago, but it's not ancient history. Same thing happened back then.
This sucks dude sorry to hear that. The way I collect I consider every dollar I spend on comics is a dollar burned forever, and I’m never unhappy. FOMO sucks but I made extremely strict rules for what books I can buy and it keeps my collection based on what I want and not what is worth money.
Superb review of the current hobby of comic collecting. I love that you share your experiences...it lets the viewer know that mistakes can be and have been made. Keep up the great content!! Books I bought off the stand back in the day...Marvels New Universe...X-terminators and some of those 80s B&W comics i.e Fish Police Yikes!!
Ive been collecting since 1988 when i was 8 and haven't stopped. Glad i kept all my comics in great condition. But i did one thing consistent, i bought only amazing spiderman comic books. I still kept reading through friends about other comic book series (my best friend was collecting ironman before he became an A list super hero.) And got knowledge slowly on what would stick out and what was just garbage. On a very rare occasion if i saw a cover i liked, or if there was an artist i liked doing another series, i might buy the first issue of sais series and then stop, all yhe while continuing my amazing spiderman collection. Fast forward now. Im proud of my collection, i have very little duds in it. And by slowly buying when thearket is down was the best thing inever did back in the mid to late 90s. So to summarize buy what you love without the idea of selling it for later. Because if you don't and make bad purchases, those comics that were meant to being joy will just be in your possession making you frustrated and annoyed by it's presence.
Collecting anything as an investment is a gamble. Personally, I was an early 90s comics speculator. I bought dozens of copies of Spider-man #1, X-men #1, X-Force #1, the Image comics, etc. I wisely (in hindsight) sold those at 3 to 10 times their retail value to other speculators, even though I didn't know at the time we were in a bubble. I still will never recoup the overall money I spent on comics.
Learning for your mistakes is good, learning from others mistake is way better. Do your due dilligence always, and never think you know more then someone who as got way more experience than you.
So many people must have run away screaming from investing in comics in the past year or two. The market will be correcting itself for some time to come.
I started reading and collecting in 1979, I only bought what I wanted to read and I kept them in real good shape because I stored them in bags and boards and long boxes. I sold long and short boxes two different times, back in 1990 and 2012. I stopped reading comics for about 4 years then started back up, I do not buy keys I’ve owned before matter of fact I rarely buy keys at all. I buy what I like to read again and certain artists covers if the price isn’t outrageous. Back in 2020 that new Werewolf By Night came out and I missed that particular 4 issue mini series and we all know at one point the prices were ridiculous right, we’ll fast forward to last week and I won an auction for the complete mini series for $3.25 so now I can read for the first time Werewolf By Night and even if I don’t care for the story it didn’t cost a lot.
Interesting video, just reinforces my decision to stay out of the speculation/investment aspect of the hobby. I gag a little at the idea of spending more than $5 a book. Consequently, tho, when the day comes when I’m done, all I’ll be able to do with it is dump the whole thing at $50 per long (if I’m lucky), or set up at a flea for a summer and see how much I can make by putting out a line of dollar boxes.
I sold a raw UF4 for $578 + shipping, I bought it for $0.16 .. 2023 summer .. ive sold some amazing issues the last few years. Youve gotta vet harder, and sticknto the rules❣️ Other finds ive sold & have: • batman 227 Neal Adams $8 • xmen 18 kirby $1 • Death of Elektra $0.50, sold $300 • Saga 1 $3 • 1st Beta Ray, mjolnir $0.50 2023 • DD & Thor key runs 75+ books $40 • 2x Ironman 101 for $1 • Ms Marvel Pichelli $0.50, sold $50 • RED hulk 1 $0.50, sold $100 • ULTIMATE spiderman $0.50, s $150 ♤ we try not to hoard too many non key books. So my CGCs are growing, and my CGC worthy collection of books, is growing. I love this abandon vulture 😂 2025 is coming, and books will be up🎉
I've been thinking about this video since I watched it a few days ago. Seeing prices coming back to earth, it's not a bad time to get into (or back into, in my case), collecting comics and a lot of other things that bubbled during the pandemic. Having said that, I'm grateful for this video because it is a real pump the brakes moment. A great reality check. Thank you for sharing.
That’s why I only buy books I want, because I don’t care if they become more valuable, that’s a nice by product if they do, but I enjoy the process of finding them, organizing them, looking at their covers and reading them when I like. I buy books with my favorite characters, stories and artist covers. Also, completing runs with issues that have little value actually makes them more valuable when they are part of a completed set, so if you ever need to sell them, it becomes much easier too.
Appreciate the true words. I have also experienced some of these issues. We both went to the same school. But - I am way better now and won’t make the same mistakes again. Unless you inherit a collection - There are costs that you just don’t want to admit. Thank you!
I pre-ordered immortal hulk #1. Didn't get it b/c they didn't have enough copies. The next time I saw the book it was $80 dollars. I was pissed cause now I needed to pay $75 more. To make the situation worse, it was a CGC. So now not only did I need to grossly over pay for a book, I can't even read it now. I'm still pissed!
I wouldn't count "a loss" as a book that was high during the boom, and now settled back to where it should be because if you sold, you'd probably have bought another book in that same timeframe, even if a grail, that book would have decreased as well. Price paid vs. current value is the only true marker of gain/loss.
What a GREAT video - I just recently (4 months ago) started buying comics again. No slabs - just raw books - I started collecting “worthless” titles bc I like the covers (Lois Lane #45-137 - Superboy #100-250 - Adventure Comics #300-400 and modern Star Wars titles) Mostly $5 to $15 books on WhatNot- probably 200 books - no keys. I probably can’t get $1 a book back. I think your video will Finally get me to stop going down this disastrous path. $2500 costs worth probably $200. Thank you for this video and for this wake up call. ☎️
OMG, wahwahwah. Are you a collector/reader, investor, dealer or a flipper? You have to decide what you are before you can give your collection a value. I buy early bronze, silver, and late gold. I buy what I like and read them. I am trying to complete runs and I collect mostly DC comics. I have overpaid at times for a comic that is hard to find and I am holding it in my hand. In my opinion modern comics are never going to hold value because ten years from now there will be many copies of any particular comic graded at 9.8 and no market for them. Just check out the amount of graded comics in the shops that you can buy today for less than the price to get them graded.
This is the pain a lot of people felt when buying during the last 3 years at the crazy times. Definitely a lesson for all in avoiding speculation or at least not letting it get carried away the way it did.
I think you should buy comics cause you love them, not because you love money! The word “invest” has ruined comic collecting for those of us who actually love the comics themselves. Go put your money into stocks or real estate if you want returns. Comics are supposed to be for enjoyment, not retirement. I have a huge comic collection. I don’t care what it’s worth to the world. It’s not for sale and I love having them. You should be proud of your collection! It’s awesome! If you would have bought a car with all of that money it would be worth way less than half what you paid. Do it for enjoyment or don’t do it at all!
The pandemic inflated prices. I dont focus on prices in my collection. I buy mostly to keep. When i decide i might sell i start looking and if its gone down a bit no big deal ill wait to sell. Unless im starving and need money real bad this stuff never affects me.
I pretty much stopped collecting in mid 80s. So bronze, silver and golden age my favorite era of comics. I still pull some out to look at every now and then or go to a comic store. I used to think 50, 60, 75 cents was expensive for new comics af fhe time but wowzer do new ones ever cosf and arm & leg now. Plus back in my day most comics where bought just for reading, where so fragile paper and mishandled that lots eventually wrecked making remainder of print run more scarce. Today's newer comics seem more geared to just collecting which doesn't really appeal to me.
well, market will turn around. If you plan to hold for 20-40 years or longer, pass it down which is what I am going to to do then it doesnt matter. They will be worth much more for my kids when they are my age in 30 + years
As a collector I follow a model of buying what I like and I’m never disappointed… when you spec buy you can’t fall in love with books and you can’t be greedy if you see a profit you have to let it go because when the movie or series drops and it’s a dud the books will drop like a rock and now you are stuck…ESPECIALLY…ESPECIALLY CHASING the 9.8….I’m sorry but their is no big payoffs in this business unless you have Superman 1 or Batman 1…my collection is probably worth 90-95% of what I payed for it because I buy on the dip.. collect responsibility people and good luck….
I feel your pain big time. At this point I feel like I can't win. Last summer I sold a bunch of stuff, mostly graded comics, to buy a dream book of mine in Incredible Hulk 181. The stuff that I sold was at a loss but not horrible. I bought a 7.5 white pages copy of IH181 for $7000 which was $7420 after state tax was added. That book is now worth $5000. It has dropped $2000 in a year despite the fact that we know we're getting Wolverine in the MCU and he's even wearing the yellow costume. I paid $3000 all-in on my Ultimate Fallout 4. As you said it barely clears half that now. Those are just two examples. I could go on and on. I still own a bunch of raw modern comics that I need to sell and I know that I'm going to lose big doing that. Getting into comics has been a losing proposition for me. I still want to collect but on a much more scaled back version.
Gotta approach buying comics first as entertainment and because you like or enjoy or love it. You can't approach any modern off the shelf book as any sort of short, medium or long term value
Great, honest info. I myself am into coins (graded & raw) and ok there because of what I collected and when. I sold my 1960's, 1970's, and early 1980's BB cards in late 2020 and took the $. Did well there but I know someone into comics. This is where I don't have the knowledge. Been to a couple of shops with him and to one show and its a bit overwhelming without knowledge of the hobby.
@@Stickygoose Hope you get too. Would be interesting to see. I'm learning comics now due to someone I know who is big into them. Not collecting (yet anyway). Wish I saved what I bought as a kid.
The value is the enjoyment you get from the hobby. I love reading so a Book, Manga or Comic Book is worth the money. Granted I could sell my Manga for full price on eBay and get my money back. Comics are like a car, once it leaves the shop it drops in value!
This video caught my attention, kudos. Sorry that you lost $ on comics, you're right, never buy comics as a speculator. Waiting is the best option, if you stay in the comic book world, eventually you will come across the books you really want. It's a fools journey thinking this hobby is a buy & flip business, because only the buyer has the power. No matter what you think a book is worth, if you don't have a buyer willing to spend that money, you have nothing. Collect comics for the love of comics and you'll never be disappointed.
Great video. I’m a recent sub, to StickyGoose. I concur w/ everything said in this video. PSA: We Collectors all collect differently. My walk is best summed up as: 1) I do not buy Spec. 2) I do not currently buy ‘collections.’ 3) I buy only individual comics, or sets of 2’s, no more than a 4 set. 4) I bide my time and save my $ for particular 🔑 and Grails. 5) I never buy a Key online, from any seller who only post 1-photo, and refuses to upload and/ or email me a few more photos. Regardless of what they’re selling. If a single comic book issue cannot increase its long term value due to its content, a chromium / Gilded/ Golden / Platinum frosted cover is not going to sustain that upward trajectory over the coming years. 6) I do not buy multiples of variant covers of modern / current comics that are junk stories. Actually, I do not buy these current Marvel or DC comics. Independents-yes. Marvel and DC-No. 7) I’ve watched comic book buyers simply buy “the cover.” A bad precedent in the hobby, which is a little ridiculous, and when said obsession is seen up front and close - it boarder’s on stupidity. 8) I know this: Very few comic book purchases, will not loose some of their value. Even grails do. I follow and practice the Sunk Cost Fallacy. 9) The Sunk Cost Fallacy. It is “when we’ve invested time, money, or emotion into something, it hurts us to let it go.This aversion to pain can disoriented our better judgement and cause us to make unwise investments.” ( Source: thethinkingshop.org ) In our case, comic book purchases, but is applicable to stocks and other investment vehicles. 10) Know what your in comics for. Are you a reader / collector only? Are you in it as a spec business? Or, are you into asset preservation, with no time restrictions? Figure that out about yourself, and it will make this hobby / business a much more enjoyable and relaxing ride. Good luck. - Thank you.
UF 4 is one of the most volatile books I've ever seen. Depending on the grade, one day it's worth thousands and another it's worth hundreds. It yo-yos more than I would have thought possible, based on the popularity of the character.
Hey, sticky goose, my son loves your channel so I thought I’d give it a look. I like the video, but you’re only looking at it in terms of the value of the possessed book. I buy lots of big and small books and I enjoy having them, displaying them, and all the friends and activities it has led to. The joy they give me is far more than my stock portfolio and other investments. I look at even a 50% drop as a win considering all the joy I’ve gotten out of it. Joy over time is worth money albeit a little hard to quantify. If someone is in it solely for speculation, and return on investment, then everything you say is totally true
The only nit that I'll pick with this video is your comments on buying new books off the rack. It's really not logical to go into buying a series of new books and then expecting them to maintain (or even appreciate) in value. That's not how economics works. A comic isn't a collectible just because it's a comic. A comic is a collectible because there is 1. demand for the comic, and 2. a supply that is lower than the demand. Brand new comics should ONLY be purchased for reading and because you enjoy reading them. Speculating on new comics is a fools errand.
@@Stickygoose Oh, I hear you, and in some respects I'll agree. Unfortunately, the reality is that MOST comics that have been published since the 80s (maybe 90s) are worth literally nothing. Yes, there are plenty of examples of books that have appreciated in value (some tremendously) but there are so many more that are worth less than cover price now. I have hundreds (at least) of books sitting in boxes that are like this. Now, I enjoyed reading them, so I'm not mad about it. I bought them because I wanted to read them, I did read them, and I kept them. They just never became popular and therefore never gained value. The story might be different if they were all slabbed 9.8s, but the reality is that, even though they are all bagged and boarded, I did read them and they are definitely not 9.8s anymore. Comics as an investment-only hobby is a tough game. Comics as an art form that can be read and enjoyed is expensive but rewarding. All comes down to deciding how you want to approach the hobby.
Yep, I was thinking the same as you. I'll probably stop buying new books in favor of dollar bin picking. Your voice is rare truth. People need to hear this. It's an addictive hobby. Following. I need to hear sanity sometimes.
I'm in a kind of odd state with my collection because I've held onto it for so long that many of the books that were worthless for decades now have some value. We all take a bath on some books. And it's impossible to know the future. Just have fun with it & try not to get into too big of a hurry buying books. My most recent bath was I paid cover price on the Walking Dead trades, but got to the point where I just wanted those books out of my house. So I sold them for about 5% of cover to dump them.
I don't consider my weekly new comic buys as a loss. I'm buying them to read because I don't want to wait for the trade to come out. I have a few bigger books I've bought that are down a little, but not a whole lot. They weren't apex books, just slabbed copies of awesome covers or keys that I'm happy to hold on to for a while.if you're a speculator, you gotta buy at the right time and not chase, then you need to take profits
Great video. Ive been collecting comic books since the age of 11 years old. Got myself a great collection and one thing I hope when I buy a comic book is the storyline. READ THEM UP! As for worth on a book, its nice if someone is willing to purchase it at the asked price.
I definitely have some regrets buying runs of books. All those four or five bucks add up, and when you consider how little story there is in an individual issue of modern comics, you just don't want to think about how much money you spent and what else you could have got for that money. The worst thing is the amount of space they take up in your house, keeping them in near mint condition in bags and boards just in case some day they do become worth something.
Yeah I am right there with you I have lost on a few books, but I have won on a few as well. The biggest thing like you said is timing and not letting the FOMO dictate any purchases. Now with the Hollywood strikes going on we know there are going to be huge delays in new content that is going to hit for a time so I am interested to see how it affects the comic book market when you take move and tv spec out of the equation at least for a time.
hmm. I just got back into collecting comic books. As someone who works in finance I would think the comic book market moves in trends like the stock market but the problem is liquidity issues when the markets starting to drop. I personally prefer liquidity when it comes to investments therefore I limit my spending on comic books. I know a lot of modern books are overlooked but they do introduce new characters making them good speculative books in the long run. I normally dig for them in $1 bins when comic book stores are trying to get rid of their inventory.
I stay buying books of shelves..mainly read independent comics too so i know theyll probably never gain value lol..i spend about 75-100$ a month ..but i do enjoy readiing them i just know the value aint there after i purchase them
i only buy modern keys...the whole run isnt worth the 4-10 dollar cover price....i read the comics i want to read free online...i spend enough money on exclusives and such... i feel i deserve to read the comic run if i pay 40 dollars for a cover on one of the issues in the run ... i also have my favorite artists and i do buy their artwork and support them
This has happened across all collectibles because people did a large amount of buying during the pandemic peak. You're not alone. Lots of price corrections back to a more normal state. Plus, if the economy hits a recession in the next few years, you may see them dip more.
golden age books have pretty much held their value because they are so scarce. most batman 1-100 only have 100-200 graded in each issue. there's 17,000 graded ASM 129s, so it's easy to see why certain books plummeted.
Hmm I am already seeing this happen locally in comic book stores. Although major key issues are still high priced in their inventory they are showing signs of a slow down in the general business. I only look through the $1 bins and I am surprised at the gems I am able to find. A lot of them are modern key issues that were thrown in there because they were inventory the shop couldn’t sell when they were new releases.
With the pandemic collectible coins took off too. So far ok and no pull back on what I collected over the years but have watched some buddies take hits on modern coins and American Silver Eagles.
i stopped collecting and investing in 2019 and then started up again earlier this year. had no idea about the comic bubble until i started seeing videos on youtube about it. unreal how high things had gotten and where they are now
NEVER collect anything if you’re doing it as an investment. Collect what you enjoy, and if you make money on some things. Great. MOST of the time timing the market in collecting is extremely tough.
Great Vid, Don't be so hard on yourself though, especially on thinking of the losses of the what if you sold at peak market, generally there is peaks and troughs on all books. Moderns are pretty risky business in my opinion. Bronze and Silver over 5 years periods tend to bounce back even when we are seeing a lot of adjustments from the 2021 market. Unfortunately OOP books are something that can always crop up again, something i never invest in is omnis just cause i'd want to take of the selophane and read, almost everything i buy is floppies in bundle/runs, its generally better value a lot of the time, and can limit any losses if you intend to ever sell again, unlike me the hoarder.. lol :D Greetings from Scotland
I like exclusive covers and ratios and I absolutely have to stop buying them. In 10 years time who is going to be looking for a random Spider Gwen ratio variant? Obviously there is the caveat if that variant happens to be slapped on a major key but for the most part its a pc item. I'm with you on that Thor run being awesome, but I just picked up 3 graphic novels rather than chase the floppies. Don't be so hard on the New Mutants in the 1st 25 issues you have 1st appearances of, Magma, Selene, Douglas Ramsey, Warpath, Legion Warlock, Demon bear & Illyana becoming Magik.
@@richardolney1822I’m a Mutant ratio guy, I don’t buy key’s anymore because I have no interest, seems like that’s all anybody talks about keys! But I figure with so many people slabbing books maybe my raw keys and ratios will find it’s niche in the future.
Great video! I think I've gotten better on timing on when to invest on major key books. I admit there were times that I was speculating hard on some books and also being hit with the FOMO bug, especially with MCU properties. But now, I agree with you 100% on focusing on the keys that have held their value and relevancy for years. I even entertain low grade copies (with some caveats of course) if the price is good. One recent example was me purchasing a Sub-Mariner 1 at 6.5 for around $200. Prior to the release of Wakanda forever, this book in that grade was in $450-550 range because of heavy spec on Namor's introductory role in the MCU. After the movie was released, this book (along with other Shuri keys) just dropped significantly.
I just never understood the idea of collecting for value. I collect a comic because I want to own it, not to sell it. That's the opposite of collecting. Comics as some sort of investment and flipping game is just a completely different activity.
Yeah DC and Marvel are cannibalising the omni market... They need to slow down the reprints. Some creators like Remender I'd never buy a hardcover from after saying he'd never do another HC of it then releasing it a few years later...
I don't think anyone should get into the grading game! I feel you are setting yourself up for heartache! and in my opinion, grading is just that, opinion based to an extent! I only collect what I like, and what grabs my attention. I don't get wrapped up in trying to buy simply for an investment standpoint! if you get caught up in that game, you will go down a rabbit hole that will be hard to get out of! I buy what I like, and only at good prices, and I don't try to collect whole series or runs of books. I have even bought books that are not in the best of shape simply because I like the subject matter and artwork on the cover. I'm not trying to collect every single thing I see, and I am trying to keep my collection small!
I stopped buying new books years ago. I’m lucky in that 90% of my 2,000 books came from when I was a kid in the 80/90’s. I collected for the art and never opened them so they’re in perfect condition. I just shop for keys now.
Good to hear I’m not the only one. Sometimes that fomo bug on a book you’ve been wanting get you and you pay prices you normally wouldn’t. At the end of the day tho if it’s a book I plan on keepin til the end I don’t beat myself up to much about it
Good video wish there had been more of this while the hype was on, I knew this would happen. Many did and didn't speak up. Some of us didn't buy many books the last 3 years was very frustrating for those of us that have been reading and collecting for a long time waiting it out. At the end of the day this is all going to be detrimental to the hobby. I hate being negative this hobby is a mine field though at least there are modern tools for new folks entering.
If you buy what you truly like, you never have a worthless book. Buying what you don’t like is where speculation begins… and too much speculation leads us to exactly where the market is now. The good news is, it will eventually come back around if you are patient. The bad news is, most people aren’t.
@@Stickygoose I have collected for over 40 years… and I owned a comic in the 80s/90s (during the boom and collapse). If history is any tell, it will all cycle around again at some point. Something to consider is that the recent collapse has current circulations at an all time low… so, on the off chance that any of these recent characters become the next big thing somewhere down the line (like 10-15 years from now), odds are the related key books will be extremely rare (and insanely expensive). To put the rarity in perspective, there are more CGC Graded copies of Hulk 181 in circulation than are even printed for most modern comics. Who knows what tomorrow’s sensation will be… but it’s food for thought.
Hearing people say “buy what you like” is like telling someone to use lube before grabbing their ankles. If you got into the hobby during the pandemic, there is no way a reasonable person can feel safe buying now. It’s all movie hype and influencers pushing prices (turd bags like comic Tom, etc). Take your money and invest in a safe mutual fund.
I collect what I like, but always try to get a good price on it. I think half the fun of collecting is the hunt to find something. I have several full runs ( Spiderman, Web of Spiderman, Flash vol2, etc ) that I know I'd probably lose money on them if I sold them, but it was the fun of going places, meeting new people, tracking things down was well worth it. To me it's a hobby, and any hobby costs money.
If you’re buying things you want you’re doing it right
I agree 100 percent! its the thrill of the hunt for me too!
Well said brutha!
If you're not enjoying the destination, that's less important if you enjoyed the ride to get there 🤷🏽♂️
Positive!
You have a great video here because you are being honest, helpful and transparent, so unlike most others' postings. Most ppl want to only show their successful stories and make sure they "look good". Your sharing I'm sure was not fun to do, but as a seasoned comic fan, I appreciate your story.
I appreciate that!
I wouldn’t worry about loses really. If generational amnesia occurs as I suspect… Bronze Age thru modern may be worthless quicker than we know. We will all be facing the reality of a generation that cares little for old paper. As the years draw on, memory of the good old days of the MCU fade… we will be facing true generational wipeout of perceived value of old comic books. I see a day when comics are a novelty of a bygone age… maybe hanging up decorating the wall of some nostalgia themed restaurant.
I strongly believe this. There are younger generations that have no real interest in comics themselves. The characters, yes. When those of us that grew up collecting die off (sorry to be so morbid), who is there to buy this colored newsprint at such high rates?
Gen z will only collect funko pops
Oh I hope so imagine how many runs I will be able to collect that I’d never dream of :)
@@Stickygoosetheir on the way out!
@@Stickygooseidk I see a lot of gen z people interested in comics in my area like definitely not as many as the older people but not a small percentage either
Thanks for being so transparent its tough to look back at something you invested in and have taken a loss I sure havent taken account yet. But in the process of paring down and will for sure take a huge hit
I will always be honest
I really want a Hulk 181, do you think now is the time or should I wait for Deadpool 3 to die?
I'd suggest buy it now. Wolvie is a popular enough character that movies are not going to have any serious impact on the book's value.
@@jeffstanley6013 What? lol Movies 100% effect value of the book whether the character has been popular for decades or not. Of course it's so popular it won't ever be worthless, but movies usually fluctuate the price of books for a while. My theory is if this movie precedes new X-men movies then this book may never see a "dip" for a while. Now may actually be the best time to buy this book.
it depends on the grade imo, if you are in the market for a higher grade 181 id say now, but its hard to tell
@@Ghostin93 Not in Wolverine's case. The character has already been in 9 movies; Deadpool 3 will be the 10th in 25 years. At this point, one more movie isn't going to have any significant impact on 181's value, because it's not like the general public isn't already well aware of the character.
Now is the time to buy hulk 181 no question
Good video -- appreciate your honesty. Not many on RUclips can admit to these mistakes. I would reiterate that PATIENCE is probably the most important virtue in this hobby. Regarding buying new books off the shelf: my hold slot is very limited at my LCS. They are part of my entertainment budget and nothing more. I view my relatively minimal new comic purchases like I do seeing a movie or buying a novel to read -- money spent that I will never recoup. Thankfully, I never got caught up in chasing the 9.8 game. I could go on about how silly investing in 9.8 moderns is, starting with there is no discernable difference between a 9.8 and 9.6.
It’s all rainbows and butterflies with most of these guys
Appreciate the honesty stickygoose, I think many of us have a similar comic collecting journey, so could really relate. Thanks!
No problem!
2 separate thoughts, 1 stay away from influencers n key collector, it’s basically a pump n dump, cause it’s funny how they magically have the books that jump to sell on eBay n whatnot. Buy cold n smart and ask yourself where will this book be in 5 or 10 years. 2ndly currently I wouldn’t call you a collector but an investor. You don’t talk like a collector when you complyabout making runs n complaining about the value or price paid. There’s a fine line between the two and I would say you don’t care about collecting anymore but the value of your collection and what you can get from it, there’s no comic love in that
I think a lot of collectors are right there with you. I knew there was going to be a correction in pricing from 2021 and that the economy was going to take a turn for the worse. However, I still started doing a lot of buying in mid-2022 thinking the prices wouldn't drop much lower than they had already (I was very wrong). I am now very upside down on many key and blue chip books including Hulk 181, Amazing Spiderman #1 and #129 to name just a few. I am into collecting and not into flipping, so I am into this for the long haul. Hopefully, things will get better, it just may take 10 years or more.
That’s a long time haha
@@Stickygoose Yeah, it's a long time. The economy issue is a BIG problem that isn't going to fix itself overnight. All the flippers and people that jumped into comics that stimulated the price jumps have moved on, causing the market to become a bit stagnant. It's going to take a long time to overcome, if at all. For the real collectors... we just need to stay the course and take the current bad and hope for the good to come again.
I would also say... just be cautious of how much you're spending on what you're buying. Buy what you like, but things are still trending in the wrong (going down) direction. We both bought Hulk 181s at the wrong time. I can get an 8.0 right now for what I paid for a 5.5. But, Hulk 181 is still a good book to have regardless.
@@rodnicker love your attitude and appreciate the "STAY THE COURSE" mantra. I don't think the upward swing isn't that far away. When things are bad, we always seem to think a "funk" lasts longer than what we actually encounter. I'm a previous broker with Edward Jones Investments and I had a guy with 250K of Publix (grocery store) stock laughing at me that I've been recommending TESLA stock. When it dropped to about $108, I kept buying in (January 2023). He has been silent and hiding because while his stock "split" from $45 bucks, the Tesla stock has appreciated almost 150% since he laughed at me. Right now is an amazing time to accumulate all the big books as we may not see these "floor" prices ever again.
It's better to spend $4 on a pre-ordered book that you'll enjoy than miss out and having to spend several hundred dollars to get back on track. The best collections are often built on simple happenstance.
If you a collecting the run to enjoy it then it's good. But he is coming from the point that you loose most your money right when you buy a new book off the shelf. 99% of new books will be in dollar bins in a year. I personally stopped buying new books a few years ago and put that money into high grade silver books never looked back.
@@loumonoph From an investment perspective, I agree with you.
I don’t preorder my shop made it extremely difficult
@@Stickygoose That honestly sucks
Hulk 181 was a off the rack new comic book as is every comic book ever printed. So to not buy new books makes no sense to me.
Brutally honest my friend. Great advice for people who LOVE this hobby. Thanks for sharing. I'm at the crossroads of maintaining my pull list or dropping it entirely. Good news is that I only collect what I read. So I'm not chasing any spec books upon release. But as you say with new books costing $4 - $7 each they are like a car driven off the lot in value in the days and weeks after release. So it's getting increasingly hard to justify buying floppy copies. Which makes me sad since I LOVE my LCS and enjoy being around comics and comic shops.
Hey long time no see. Your videos are excellent btw
@@Stickygoose Thanks Daniel. You’re a great voice for the comic community. Hope you and your family are well. 🖖🏻
Buy what you like and you'll never go wrong.
You should collect what you like because you want it. Collecting to make money is the wrong way to go.
Preach
I love your honesty and humility. I now subscribe to your channel.
I got lucky, I sold my Avengers 1, Marvel Spotlight 5, F.F 49 to name a few if about 15 books I sold I the height of pandem collector boom. I have since reacquired them all back but made 10 grand more than the total cost of biying them back. It was pure luck ( needed to finance a new front deck) just turned out that I sold at a peak we wont see again for a long time.
Great video, and totally agree with what you said, especially around the 2 key things speculators don't realise:
1. Prices only shoot up if demand is much greater than supply. This means buying comics that everyone else is buying will NEVER get you a profit
2. As Thor Love & Thunder has proven, a first appearance in a movie doesn't necessarily mean prices will go up for that hero/heroine's comics
Honestly if something is tied to a movie now I have no interest in it
collecting comic books isn't always about financial investment. I collect silverage, bronze age books the same way as someone who collects vinyl records. I love taking care of them, displaying them, taking great care to bag and board them and amateur grade them myself. I probably have about 300 silver age comics and shelves upon shelves of TPBs. When I go into a an independent comic shop it reminds me of what old music shops were like. Honestly, some days I'll just unbag some of my favourite books from.the 60s and 70s and just admire them.
This realization will come to many collectors in the coming months/years. In a way, the dealers are the predators and the buyers are the prey. Dealers love collectors who suffer from FOMO and movie spec. I bought my comic book collections between 1974-1985. No movie spec influencers existed then. And I still have every comic, never sold one of them.
I agree, no more movie Spec for me. I don't even look at a character if a movie for that character is announced. I search for other books.
@@wegotissues5486the movies are starting to lose their luster now. The heyday is over. Collecting will go back to the actual comic fans now. Finally!
You were Very wise not to ever sell your comics! Unfortunately I sold mine multiple times. And I deeply regret it!☹️
Some people will never accept it
Thanks for the video sticky goose! I remember a lot of these influencers with huge comic hauls every week during the pandemic boom and I think back know and realize 1. These people lost thier asses on all those books 2. Did this person just Recommend buying this book at its absolute height!!….. a lot of these people still make videos and give advice..having no clue what they are talking about with the comic market.
I think some people went bankrupt
Watching this video, it makes me think that a lot of people learned nothing from the 90's comic book crash. Buying new books thinking it's an "investment" is just dumb. Comics are a disposable buy. You buy them to read and that's where your money goes. It's like paying money to watch a movie. That money is gone. You keep the comic to re-read later and for sentimental reasons, and that's the way you should think about it. Only sometimes do comics become valuable, but usually because they are old and/or rare. Everything else is pure gambling (oh, sorry, I mean "speculation"). I still have all my comics from my youth because I kept them in meticulous condition so I could read them over and over and maybe, maybe... maybe one day a few of them might be worth something. At that point, I'd leave them to my kids. That's the way I think about it, and it's worked out well for me. I have some comics that are actually worth something, but if I had been everything that came out hoping to make money in a year or two... I'd be broke long ago.
I go to the same comic shop I did when I was 12 years old and I'm 41 now. Everything I bought was done so at cover price. I have never purchased a comic outside of the shop with a few online exceptions and I've never bought slabbed comics nor had any of mine slabbed. I complete full runs and not just keys. Soon I will sell off some full runs I didn't like to get back issues I'm missing for other titles.
Oh wow!
I have no regret buying runs. Never selling or getting rid of my comics. All bag boarded and keep with my retro games collection.
I collect comics for the love of it . I don't collect looking to profit from it.
No offense to you personally, but I'm happy as hell that the spec boom is coming to a fiery crash and all the speculators are losing their butts. I've been collecting comics for over 50 years and I have basically had to ignore most Marvel purchases the past three years. It has been so bad that the spec boom infected even the most basic Marvel series. I collect Two-Gun Kid. Only 3 issues away from having the complete series, one of which is #77. Used to be a five dollar book and the only reason I didn't have it was because I was waiting for one to turn up in decent shape. Black Panther movie comes out and the thing is suddenly a $300 dollar book because in contains a "Panther prototype"! Absolutely nothing to do with the Black Panther or his creation, at all. Nothing! Thankfully, the price is coming down pretty quickly but it's still going to take time before I'll pay, maybe $20 max, for a nice copy. But I will. Patience. One thing I am noticing about new comic prices, even though I only buy the facsimiles these days, is that while prices are coming down on a lot of the movie spec books, this variant covers mumbo jumbo is still rolling right along. When reality for that debacle comes to roost, and it will, there is going to be a whole new crash. I see videos on here with "speculators" having entire walls covered with cgc variant covers of random issues of random titles they paid $xxx for.....not good. I realize the 90's was 30 years ago, but it's not ancient history. Same thing happened back then.
The 90s are repeating as we speak
This sucks dude sorry to hear that. The way I collect I consider every dollar I spend on comics is a dollar burned forever, and I’m never unhappy. FOMO sucks but I made extremely strict rules for what books I can buy and it keeps my collection based on what I want and not what is worth money.
I truly appreciate the honesty!
That’s the motto of the channel
Superb review of the current hobby of comic collecting. I love that you share your experiences...it lets the viewer know that mistakes can be and have been made.
Keep up the great content!! Books I bought off the stand back in the day...Marvels New Universe...X-terminators and some of those 80s B&W comics i.e Fish Police
Yikes!!
Glad you enjoyed it
In my opinion , collecting anything for investment is a mugs game.
Ive been collecting since 1988 when i was 8 and haven't stopped. Glad i kept all my comics in great condition.
But i did one thing consistent, i bought only amazing spiderman comic books. I still kept reading through friends about other comic book series (my best friend was collecting ironman before he became an A list super hero.) And got knowledge slowly on what would stick out and what was just garbage.
On a very rare occasion if i saw a cover i liked, or if there was an artist i liked doing another series, i might buy the first issue of sais series and then stop, all yhe while continuing my amazing spiderman collection.
Fast forward now. Im proud of my collection, i have very little duds in it. And by slowly buying when thearket is down was the best thing inever did back in the mid to late 90s.
So to summarize buy what you love without the idea of selling it for later. Because if you don't and make bad purchases, those comics that were meant to being joy will just be in your possession making you frustrated and annoyed by it's presence.
Collecting anything as an investment is a gamble. Personally, I was an early 90s comics speculator. I bought dozens of copies of Spider-man #1, X-men #1, X-Force #1, the Image comics, etc. I wisely (in hindsight) sold those at 3 to 10 times their retail value to other speculators, even though I didn't know at the time we were in a bubble. I still will never recoup the overall money I spent on comics.
appreciate your honesty on this video!
Always!
I spent prob over 4-5k on university textbooks over the years....all worthless now haha
I appreciate your honesty as someone getting back into the hobby after 15 years or so.
Learning for your mistakes is good, learning from others mistake is way better. Do your due dilligence always, and never think you know more then someone who as got way more experience than you.
My attitude when it comes to modern comics now days is... “they dont make em like they used to”
Modern stories are actually pretty good
So many people must have run away screaming from investing in comics in the past year or two. The market will be correcting itself for some time to come.
I started reading and collecting in 1979, I only bought what I wanted to read and I kept them in real good shape because I stored them in bags and boards and long boxes. I sold long and short boxes two different times, back in 1990 and 2012. I stopped reading comics for about 4 years then started back up, I do not buy keys I’ve owned before matter of fact I rarely buy keys at all. I buy what I like to read again and certain artists covers if the price isn’t outrageous. Back in 2020 that new Werewolf By Night came out and I missed that particular 4 issue mini series and we all know at one point the prices were ridiculous right, we’ll fast forward to last week and I won an auction for the complete mini series for $3.25 so now I can read for the first time Werewolf By Night and even if I don’t care for the story it didn’t cost a lot.
My hulk 181 is a 7.0 and I lost a bit. Enjoy your videos,
Thanks for watching
Interesting video, just reinforces my decision to stay out of the speculation/investment aspect of the hobby. I gag a little at the idea of spending more than $5 a book. Consequently, tho, when the day comes when I’m done, all I’ll be able to do with it is dump the whole thing at $50 per long (if I’m lucky), or set up at a flea for a summer and see how much I can make by putting out a line of dollar boxes.
I sold a raw UF4 for $578 + shipping, I bought it for $0.16 .. 2023 summer .. ive sold some amazing issues the last few years. Youve gotta vet harder, and sticknto the rules❣️
Other finds ive sold & have:
• batman 227 Neal Adams $8
• xmen 18 kirby $1
• Death of Elektra $0.50, sold $300
• Saga 1 $3
• 1st Beta Ray, mjolnir $0.50 2023
• DD & Thor key runs 75+ books $40
• 2x Ironman 101 for $1
• Ms Marvel Pichelli $0.50, sold $50
• RED hulk 1 $0.50, sold $100
• ULTIMATE spiderman $0.50, s $150
♤ we try not to hoard too many non key books. So my CGCs are growing, and my CGC worthy collection of books, is growing. I love this abandon vulture 😂 2025 is coming, and books will be up🎉
I've been thinking about this video since I watched it a few days ago. Seeing prices coming back to earth, it's not a bad time to get into (or back into, in my case), collecting comics and a lot of other things that bubbled during the pandemic. Having said that, I'm grateful for this video because it is a real pump the brakes moment. A great reality check. Thank you for sharing.
now is a great time to buy
That’s why I only buy books I want, because I don’t care if they become more valuable, that’s a nice by product if they do, but I enjoy the process of finding them, organizing them, looking at their covers and reading them when I like. I buy books with my favorite characters, stories and artist covers. Also, completing runs with issues that have little value actually makes them more valuable when they are part of a completed set, so if you ever need to sell them, it becomes much easier too.
Fair enough!
To be honest, I have woken up in the middle of the night stressing over all of the money I've spent on my collection. I feel for you man.
Appreciate the true words. I have also experienced some of these issues. We both went to the same school. But - I am way better now and won’t make the same mistakes again. Unless you inherit a collection - There are costs that you just don’t want to admit. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing!
the last Punisher run lol
Im back into collecting. Can someone explain why 9.8. 9.6 is near mint and a fraction of the cost.
I pre-ordered immortal hulk #1. Didn't get it b/c they didn't have enough copies. The next time I saw the book it was $80 dollars. I was pissed cause now I needed to pay $75 more. To make the situation worse, it was a CGC. So now not only did I need to grossly over pay for a book, I can't even read it now. I'm still pissed!
Love that run
I wouldn't count "a loss" as a book that was high during the boom, and now settled back to where it should be because if you sold, you'd probably have bought another book in that same timeframe, even if a grail, that book would have decreased as well. Price paid vs. current value is the only true marker of gain/loss.
What a GREAT video - I just recently (4 months ago) started buying comics again. No slabs - just raw books - I started collecting “worthless” titles bc I like the covers (Lois Lane #45-137 - Superboy #100-250 - Adventure Comics #300-400 and modern Star Wars titles) Mostly $5 to $15 books on WhatNot- probably 200 books - no keys. I probably can’t get $1 a book back. I think your video will Finally get me to stop going down this disastrous path. $2500 costs worth probably $200. Thank you for this video and for this wake up call. ☎️
Be careful on whatnot. I think it is a negative thing for the comic book community because of this very reason
OMG, wahwahwah. Are you a collector/reader, investor, dealer or a flipper? You have to decide what you are before you can give your collection a value. I buy early bronze, silver, and late gold. I buy what I like and read them. I am trying to complete runs and I collect mostly DC comics. I have overpaid at times for a comic that is hard to find and I am holding it in my hand. In my opinion modern comics are never going to hold value because ten years from now there will be many copies of any particular comic graded at 9.8 and no market for them. Just check out the amount of graded comics in the shops that you can buy today for less than the price to get them graded.
One thumbnail I depicted myself as an actual baby check it out
This is the pain a lot of people felt when buying during the last 3 years at the crazy times. Definitely a lesson for all in avoiding speculation or at least not letting it get carried away the way it did.
I think sticking to the Bronze Age and older keys. Like major characters is the way to go.
And get them now after the dip
Grails and major keys.
Agreed
Still dipping for most books. Will be lower in 2025.
I think you should buy comics cause you love them, not because you love money! The word “invest” has ruined comic collecting for those of us who actually love the comics themselves. Go put your money into stocks or real estate if you want returns. Comics are supposed to be for enjoyment, not retirement. I have a huge comic collection. I don’t care what it’s worth to the world. It’s not for sale and I love having them. You should be proud of your collection! It’s awesome! If you would have bought a car with all of that money it would be worth way less than half what you paid. Do it for enjoyment or don’t do it at all!
The pandemic inflated prices. I dont focus on prices in my collection. I buy mostly to keep. When i decide i might sell i start looking and if its gone down a bit no big deal ill wait to sell. Unless im starving and need money real bad this stuff never affects me.
Never know what can happen in life
@@Stickygoose Yup. It's best to prepare for the worst these days
I pretty much stopped collecting in mid 80s. So bronze, silver and golden age my favorite era of comics. I still pull some out to look at every now and then or go to a comic store. I used to think 50, 60, 75 cents was expensive for new comics af fhe time but wowzer do new ones ever cosf and arm & leg now. Plus back in my day most comics where bought just for reading, where so fragile paper and mishandled that lots eventually wrecked making remainder of print run more scarce. Today's newer comics seem more geared to just collecting which doesn't really appeal to me.
well, market will turn around. If you plan to hold for 20-40 years or longer, pass it down which is what I am going to to do then it doesnt matter. They will be worth much more for my kids when they are my age in 30 + years
As a collector I follow a model of buying what I like and I’m never disappointed… when you spec buy you can’t fall in love with books and you can’t be greedy if you see a profit you have to let it go because when the movie or series drops and it’s a dud the books will drop like a rock and now you are stuck…ESPECIALLY…ESPECIALLY CHASING the 9.8….I’m sorry but their is no big payoffs in this business unless you have Superman 1 or Batman 1…my collection is probably worth 90-95% of what I payed for it because I buy on the dip.. collect responsibility people and good luck….
I feel your pain big time. At this point I feel like I can't win. Last summer I sold a bunch of stuff, mostly graded comics, to buy a dream book of mine in Incredible Hulk 181. The stuff that I sold was at a loss but not horrible. I bought a 7.5 white pages copy of IH181 for $7000 which was $7420 after state tax was added. That book is now worth $5000. It has dropped $2000 in a year despite the fact that we know we're getting Wolverine in the MCU and he's even wearing the yellow costume. I paid $3000 all-in on my Ultimate Fallout 4. As you said it barely clears half that now. Those are just two examples. I could go on and on. I still own a bunch of raw modern comics that I need to sell and I know that I'm going to lose big doing that. Getting into comics has been a losing proposition for me. I still want to collect but on a much more scaled back version.
Now is the time to buy though haha
I did buy a FF5 about a month ago.
Don't buy common books. Buy books that have genuine scarcity. There are way too many Hulk 181s out there.
Yeah stuff like Hulk 181, ASM 194, 129,300, etc there are thousands of them out there.
Gotta approach buying comics first as entertainment and because you like or enjoy or love it. You can't approach any modern off the shelf book as any sort of short, medium or long term value
Great, honest info. I myself am into coins (graded & raw) and ok there because of what I collected and when. I sold my 1960's, 1970's, and early 1980's BB cards in late 2020 and took the $. Did well there but I know someone into comics. This is where I don't have the knowledge. Been to a couple of shops with him and to one show and its a bit overwhelming without knowledge of the hobby.
My father in law has a massive coin collection would love to show it one day
@@Stickygoose Hope you get too. Would be interesting to see. I'm learning comics now due to someone I know who is big into them. Not collecting (yet anyway). Wish I saved what I bought as a kid.
I was a collector pre to everyone grading. I rarely lost money. 1991-2000. 1/8 of overstreet was the standard.
Different times lol
The value is the enjoyment you get from the hobby. I love reading so a Book, Manga or Comic Book is worth the money. Granted I could sell my Manga for full price on eBay and get my money back. Comics are like a car, once it leaves the shop it drops in value!
Well said!
Comics are down allover they are just a hobby not an investment and should be treated as such .
This video caught my attention, kudos. Sorry that you lost $ on comics, you're right, never buy comics as a speculator. Waiting is the best option, if you stay in the comic book world, eventually you will come across the books you really want. It's a fools journey thinking this hobby is a buy & flip business, because only the buyer has the power. No matter what you think a book is worth, if you don't have a buyer willing to spend that money, you have nothing. Collect comics for the love of comics and you'll never be disappointed.
Glad it caught your eye
Great video. I’m a recent sub, to StickyGoose.
I concur w/ everything said in this video.
PSA: We Collectors all collect differently. My walk is best summed up as:
1) I do not buy Spec.
2) I do not currently buy ‘collections.’
3) I buy only individual comics, or
sets of 2’s, no more than a 4 set.
4) I bide my time and save my $ for particular 🔑 and Grails.
5) I never buy a Key online, from any seller who only post 1-photo, and refuses to upload and/ or email me a few more photos. Regardless of what they’re selling. If a single comic book issue cannot increase its long term value due to its content, a chromium / Gilded/ Golden / Platinum frosted cover is not going to sustain that upward trajectory over the coming years.
6) I do not buy multiples of variant covers of modern / current comics that are junk stories.
Actually, I do not buy these current Marvel or DC comics. Independents-yes. Marvel and DC-No.
7) I’ve watched comic book buyers simply buy “the cover.”
A bad precedent in the hobby, which is a little ridiculous, and when said obsession is seen up front and close - it boarder’s on stupidity.
8) I know this: Very few comic book purchases, will not loose some of their value. Even grails do. I follow and practice the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
9) The Sunk Cost Fallacy.
It is “when we’ve invested time, money, or emotion into something, it hurts us to let it go.This aversion to pain can disoriented our better judgement and cause us to make unwise investments.”
( Source: thethinkingshop.org )
In our case, comic book purchases, but is applicable to stocks and other investment vehicles.
10) Know what your in comics for.
Are you a reader / collector only? Are you in it as a spec business? Or, are you into asset preservation, with no time restrictions?
Figure that out about yourself, and it will make this hobby / business a much more enjoyable and relaxing ride.
Good luck.
- Thank you.
Welcome aboard
@@Stickygoose Glad I found this channel, glad to be here..!!
UF 4 is one of the most volatile books I've ever seen. Depending on the grade, one day it's worth thousands and another it's worth hundreds.
It yo-yos more than I would have thought possible, based on the popularity of the character.
Because there are literally thousands of 9.8s
I'm keeping my UF4 in its polybag I think there could be less polybag examples than 9.8 examples??
Great video as always. That is excellent advice for everybody. Thank you for your honesty and keep up the great work. 😎
Send me your info on email or Instagram. I’m gonna send you some books
Hey, sticky goose, my son loves your channel so I thought I’d give it a look. I like the video, but you’re only looking at it in terms of the value of the possessed book. I buy lots of big and small books and I enjoy having them, displaying them, and all the friends and activities it has led to. The joy they give me is far more than my stock portfolio and other investments. I look at even a 50% drop as a win considering all the joy I’ve gotten out of it. Joy over time is worth money albeit a little hard to quantify.
If someone is in it solely for speculation, and return on investment, then everything you say is totally true
its given a lot of us the opportunity to get books that were unaffordable
I bought my collection over a 30 year period so If I get half for it in one shot, works fine.
You did well
The only nit that I'll pick with this video is your comments on buying new books off the rack. It's really not logical to go into buying a series of new books and then expecting them to maintain (or even appreciate) in value. That's not how economics works. A comic isn't a collectible just because it's a comic. A comic is a collectible because there is 1. demand for the comic, and 2. a supply that is lower than the demand. Brand new comics should ONLY be purchased for reading and because you enjoy reading them. Speculating on new comics is a fools errand.
When I buy 50 bucks worth of books I expect them to be worth more than 1 dollar lol
@@Stickygoose Oh, I hear you, and in some respects I'll agree. Unfortunately, the reality is that MOST comics that have been published since the 80s (maybe 90s) are worth literally nothing. Yes, there are plenty of examples of books that have appreciated in value (some tremendously) but there are so many more that are worth less than cover price now. I have hundreds (at least) of books sitting in boxes that are like this. Now, I enjoyed reading them, so I'm not mad about it. I bought them because I wanted to read them, I did read them, and I kept them. They just never became popular and therefore never gained value. The story might be different if they were all slabbed 9.8s, but the reality is that, even though they are all bagged and boarded, I did read them and they are definitely not 9.8s anymore. Comics as an investment-only hobby is a tough game. Comics as an art form that can be read and enjoyed is expensive but rewarding. All comes down to deciding how you want to approach the hobby.
It takes a big person to be self-effacing and non-egotistical. I wish that others had your positive attitude too. Great job.
Thank you kindly!
Yep, I was thinking the same as you. I'll probably stop buying new books in favor of dollar bin picking. Your voice is rare truth. People need to hear this. It's an addictive hobby. Following. I need to hear sanity sometimes.
It’s all rainbows and butterflies on other channels
A good lesson of comic speculation. Imagine if you just bought gold how much you would've made
Great video buddy.
I'm in a kind of odd state with my collection because I've held onto it for so long that many of the books that were worthless for decades now have some value. We all take a bath on some books. And it's impossible to know the future. Just have fun with it & try not to get into too big of a hurry buying books. My most recent bath was I paid cover price on the Walking Dead trades, but got to the point where I just wanted those books out of my house. So I sold them for about 5% of cover to dump them.
I don't consider my weekly new comic buys as a loss. I'm buying them to read because I don't want to wait for the trade to come out. I have a few bigger books I've bought that are down a little, but not a whole lot. They weren't apex books, just slabbed copies of awesome covers or keys that I'm happy to hold on to for a while.if you're a speculator, you gotta buy at the right time and not chase, then you need to take profits
I just can’t justify that weekly expense
Great video. Ive been collecting comic books since the age of 11 years old. Got myself a great collection and one thing I hope when I buy a comic book is the storyline. READ THEM UP! As for worth on a book, its nice if someone is willing to purchase it at the asked price.
That is awesome!
I definitely have some regrets buying runs of books. All those four or five bucks add up, and when you consider how little story there is in an individual issue of modern comics, you just don't want to think about how much money you spent and what else you could have got for that money. The worst thing is the amount of space they take up in your house, keeping them in near mint condition in bags and boards just in case some day they do become worth something.
same
Yeah I am right there with you I have lost on a few books, but I have won on a few as well. The biggest thing like you said is timing and not letting the FOMO dictate any purchases. Now with the Hollywood strikes going on we know there are going to be huge delays in new content that is going to hit for a time so I am interested to see how it affects the comic book market when you take move and tv spec out of the equation at least for a time.
We have all took some hits
hmm. I just got back into collecting comic books. As someone who works in finance I would think the comic book market moves in trends like the stock market but the problem is liquidity issues when the markets starting to drop. I personally prefer liquidity when it comes to investments therefore I limit my spending on comic books. I know a lot of modern books are overlooked but they do introduce new characters making them good speculative books in the long run. I normally dig for them in $1 bins when comic book stores are trying to get rid of their inventory.
I don't buy keys or graded books for the sake of profit. I only buy books that I like.
I stay buying books of shelves..mainly read independent comics too so i know theyll probably never gain value lol..i spend about 75-100$ a month ..but i do enjoy readiing them i just know the value aint there after i purchase them
Thank you for your honesty. Keep up the great work!
Thank you! Will do!
i only buy modern keys...the whole run isnt worth the 4-10 dollar cover price....i read the comics i want to read free online...i spend enough money on exclusives and such... i feel i deserve to read the comic run if i pay 40 dollars for a cover on one of the issues in the run ... i also have my favorite artists and i do buy their artwork and support them
Dont buy for value ever. Buy what u love
This has happened across all collectibles because people did a large amount of buying during the pandemic peak. You're not alone. Lots of price corrections back to a more normal state. Plus, if the economy hits a recession in the next few years, you may see them dip more.
golden age books have pretty much held their value because they are so scarce. most batman 1-100 only have 100-200 graded in each issue. there's 17,000 graded ASM 129s, so it's easy to see why certain books plummeted.
Hmm I am already seeing this happen locally in comic book stores. Although major key issues are still high priced in their inventory they are showing signs of a slow down in the general business. I only look through the $1 bins and I am surprised at the gems I am able to find. A lot of them are modern key issues that were thrown in there because they were inventory the shop couldn’t sell when they were new releases.
With the pandemic collectible coins took off too. So far ok and no pull back on what I collected over the years but have watched some buddies take hits on modern coins and American Silver Eagles.
i stopped collecting and investing in 2019 and then started up again earlier this year. had no idea about the comic bubble until i started seeing videos on youtube about it. unreal how high things had gotten and where they are now
If? We’re balls deep in recession already 😂
NEVER collect anything if you’re doing it as an investment. Collect what you enjoy, and if you make money on some things. Great. MOST of the time timing the market in collecting is extremely tough.
Right on
Great Vid, Don't be so hard on yourself though, especially on thinking of the losses of the what if you sold at peak market, generally there is peaks and troughs on all books. Moderns are pretty risky business in my opinion. Bronze and Silver over 5 years periods tend to bounce back even when we are seeing a lot of adjustments from the 2021 market. Unfortunately OOP books are something that can always crop up again, something i never invest in is omnis just cause i'd want to take of the selophane and read, almost everything i buy is floppies in bundle/runs, its generally better value a lot of the time, and can limit any losses if you intend to ever sell again, unlike me the hoarder.. lol :D Greetings from Scotland
I like exclusive covers and ratios and I absolutely have to stop buying them. In 10 years time who is going to be looking for a random Spider Gwen ratio variant? Obviously there is the caveat if that variant happens to be slapped on a major key but for the most part its a pc item.
I'm with you on that Thor run being awesome, but I just picked up 3 graphic novels rather than chase the floppies.
Don't be so hard on the New Mutants in the 1st 25 issues you have 1st appearances of, Magma, Selene, Douglas Ramsey, Warpath, Legion Warlock, Demon bear & Illyana becoming Magik.
They look cool but that’s about it
@@richardolney1822I’m a Mutant ratio guy, I don’t buy key’s anymore because I have no interest, seems like that’s all anybody talks about keys! But I figure with so many people slabbing books maybe my raw keys and ratios will find it’s niche in the future.
Great video! I think I've gotten better on timing on when to invest on major key books. I admit there were times that I was speculating hard on some books and also being hit with the FOMO bug, especially with MCU properties. But now, I agree with you 100% on focusing on the keys that have held their value and relevancy for years. I even entertain low grade copies (with some caveats of course) if the price is good.
One recent example was me purchasing a Sub-Mariner 1 at 6.5 for around $200. Prior to the release of Wakanda forever, this book in that grade was in $450-550 range because of heavy spec on Namor's introductory role in the MCU. After the movie was released, this book (along with other Shuri keys) just dropped significantly.
It takes time to learn the timing haha
I just never understood the idea of collecting for value. I collect a comic because I want to own it, not to sell it. That's the opposite of collecting. Comics as some sort of investment and flipping game is just a completely different activity.
Might have to sell one day for a rainy day
Yeah DC and Marvel are cannibalising the omni market... They need to slow down the reprints. Some creators like Remender I'd never buy a hardcover from after saying he'd never do another HC of it then releasing it a few years later...
I don't think anyone should get into the grading game! I feel you are setting yourself up for heartache! and in my opinion, grading is just that, opinion based to an extent! I only collect what I like, and what grabs my attention. I don't get wrapped up in trying to buy simply for an investment standpoint! if you get caught up in that game, you will go down a rabbit hole that will be hard to get out of! I buy what I like, and only at good prices, and I don't try to collect whole series or runs of books. I have even bought books that are not in the best of shape simply because I like the subject matter and artwork on the cover. I'm not trying to collect every single thing I see, and I am trying to keep my collection small!
very few channels talk about this, and it is very common for that to happen, nice video
Glad you think so!
I stopped buying new books years ago. I’m lucky in that 90% of my 2,000 books came from when I was a kid in the 80/90’s. I collected for the art and never opened them so they’re in perfect condition. I just shop for keys now.
Good to hear I’m not the only one. Sometimes that fomo bug on a book you’ve been wanting get you and you pay prices you normally wouldn’t. At the end of the day tho if it’s a book I plan on keepin til the end I don’t beat myself up to much about it
I agree with that
Good video wish there had been more of this while the hype was on, I knew this would happen. Many did and didn't speak up. Some of us didn't buy many books the last 3 years was very frustrating for those of us that have been reading and collecting for a long time waiting it out. At the end of the day this is all going to be detrimental to the hobby. I hate being negative this hobby is a mine field though at least there are modern tools for new folks entering.
Problem is I learned along the way
If you buy what you truly like, you never have a worthless book.
Buying what you don’t like is where speculation begins… and too much speculation leads us to exactly where the market is now.
The good news is, it will eventually come back around if you are patient. The bad news is, most people aren’t.
This is all true
@@Stickygoose I have collected for over 40 years… and I owned a comic in the 80s/90s (during the boom and collapse). If history is any tell, it will all cycle around again at some point.
Something to consider is that the recent collapse has current circulations at an all time low… so, on the off chance that any of these recent characters become the next big thing somewhere down the line (like 10-15 years from now), odds are the related key books will be extremely rare (and insanely expensive). To put the rarity in perspective, there are more CGC Graded copies of Hulk 181 in circulation than are even printed for most modern comics. Who knows what tomorrow’s sensation will be… but it’s food for thought.
Hearing people say “buy what you like” is like telling someone to use lube before grabbing their ankles. If you got into the hobby during the pandemic, there is no way a reasonable person can feel safe buying now. It’s all movie hype and influencers pushing prices (turd bags like comic Tom, etc). Take your money and invest in a safe mutual fund.
bahahahahaha
I only buy Keys, Low Print Runs and Rare Variants cause those will hold there value and I can just read whatever comics I want online.
You’re doing well