Things I Have Learned While Working at a Comic Book Store
Shawn Daughhetee#1: A comic’s true value is in reading it.
I have a small bit of advice for all of you: Buy comics because you enjoy reading them. Simple, right? Don’t buy comics you don’t enjoy reading and don’t buy comics because you think they will be worth money in the future. Both of these things lead to you becoming disenchanted and disgruntled with comics. Too many people read comics out of some weird sense of obligation and this limits their ability to expand their horizons and get into other comics that they might actually enjoy. Also, too many people speculate on comics often to the detriment of the industry. Buy a certain cover because you like it, not because you think you can flip it or because you think it will be worth even more later on. Chances are that comic will go down in price over time.
I love reading comics. My comic collection is priceless to me and only to me. If I were to walk into a comic book store today and try to sell my entire collection of comics (eight short boxes) I don’t think I would even get $100. I could probably make more money if I sold it on ebay, but who has that kind of time? I don’t care that my collection isn’t worth anything. I bought those books to read and enjoy and that is precisely what I have done.
Your comics are only worth anything if they are at least 30 years old and still relevant today (i.e. Spider-Man, X-Men and the like). Romance, Hot Rod, Army, and Archie comics from that time period can be worth money but they are super hard to sell. A book isn’t worth anything unless someone is willing to buy it. There is such a specific market for those books that it is hard for a retailer to sell them. If you have books that are more current, like from the 80s and 90s, those are hard to sell because they were so heavily printed that the market is absolutely flooded with them. Therefore, they are pretty much worthless.
If you do want to invest in comics start buying key issues of books in at least fine, but preferable very fine condition. You want a clean, crisp comic that is appealing to the eye. You also want resell value. That is you want a comic that people will still want in ten or twenty years. Chew #1 might be going for a lot right now but how much will it be going for in five years? But, if you buy a copy of Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of Wolverine) chances are it will go up. That is not to say Chew #1 is not an investment, but it is a risky investment. Furthermore, I wouldn’t recommend investing in variants. Prices of variants almost certainly decrease. There are very few exceptions.
Chances are you won’t be able to put your kids through college or earn enough money to retire by investing in comics, so why not enjoy walking into the comic book store and picking quality books that you can’t wait to get home and read. Weed out the crap and you will be a much happier person. Cause trust me, there are plenty of good comics out there to keep you busy.
Reader Comments (2)
Excellent post Shawn! I totally agree with you. Only buy new books for your own enjoyment!!
One of the hardest things I have to do in the store is regularly tell folks that the the comics they have collected for the past 10-20 years have little to no monetary value. The only value is the story the books contain. It is very sad to see thier looks of disappointment. Especially in todays economy, I have vists every week from folks hoping to make a lot of money, only to hear the sad reality.
You are also very correct on what you should collect if you are only interested in the investment aspect. Collect the proven books, it is possible to get lucky with random speculative purchase but this is very uncommon.
Collecting comics is a great hobby as long as you go into it with your eyes wide open!
Excellent post!
I was telling people interested in "investing" in comics to do this very thing in the 90's when I was fighting in the Comic Store trenches myself.
If you want to invest I'd recommend high grade Bronze Age books. Yeah, there's a ton of them...but how many have you seen in NM?