Comic Book Investing - High Risks and Low Gains :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

A a few(prenominal) years ago, the popular media of the unify States focused on the comic book world for angiotensin-converting enzyme dramatic, tragic sheath - the death of pane of glass. After months of hype, the long-awaited death issue, demigod 375, was released, packaged in a black bag bearing a blood-red logo, complete with a black arm band. The books price immediately skyrocketed. Thousands of people who normally remunerative no solicitude to the comic universe swarmed local shops, driving the books abide by to upward of thirty dollars overnight. Over the next few weeks, the book could be fix with a price tag of as high as $100. Today, Superman 375 is valued in Wizard The Guide to Comics at a disappointing, anticlimactic ten bucks. What happened? To start, the book was printed in enormous quantities. After the first few weeks of sales, when new shipments of the issue arrived in comic stores, the books price began to drop. The long-term value of the book was also ad versely affected in two ways. First, Superman re played to the comic scene, alive and well, a mere four months later. This may take a shit been a surprise (or an outrage) to many of the non-collectors who purchased the book, but was not much of a shock to the average fifteen-year old Superman fan, well acquainted with the dead today, choke off tomorrow mentality of the genre. Finally, the black package or polybag, while supposedly knowing to preserve the book, was actually made of a cheap, slightly-acidic plastic that would eventually turn the issues once-white pages to a plaque-like brown. Thus, collectors were forces to decide between damaging their copy of Superman 375 by opening it or by keeping it in its corrosive wrapping. two paths ultimately led to a drop in the books value. Sadly enough, this crystallise of hype with no follow-through occurs on a near-monthly basis in the world of comics. Major publishing houses routinely emphasize the collectibility of their output, h oping to snag the attention of young collectors eager to validate their hobby by earning a s of cash on the side. The simple truth is that the vast majority of the comics that be produced today are highly unlikely to become valuable, mostly because of one simple, undeniable fact. Todays comics are published in enormous quantities. A characteristic issue of The Amazing Spider Man will have a print run between 300,000 and 500,000 copies.