Buying modern comic books as an investment?

I'm pretty sure you've all heard of people telling you that modern comic books are not worth anything. They all say that if you want to invest in comic books, buy high grade Silver Age comics. And I'm pretty sure you have seen tons and tons of modern comic books in bargain bins at your local comic shop. Well I'm here to tell you, stop listening to those people.

You see there is a reason why comic stores dump tons of modern comic books into their bargain bins. It's not that they're not good, although I have to say some are horrible, but thats not the point. They dump those books in there because...

1. Those are the damaged comics that they can't sell

2. The comics are overstocks, they ordered too many and need to free up space

3. The book is horribly written and/ or drawn and thus are sitting in their store for too long

4. The owner don't know what they are doing

However, these are not reasons why you should think modern comics are worthless. I can't tell you how many times a comic book was selling for only a few bucks only to have it turn out to be a huge moneymaker.

A few examples would be Walking Dead #1, Chew #1 and even though comics like Morning Glories #1 are not worth as much, keep this in mind. When Morning Glories #1 first came out it was selling for $20 on ebay. If you had bought five copies for cover price you could have made a nice tidy profit of around $70. And at one point it went up to $50, if you had five copies... well you can do the math.

Another example would be Severed which was recently published by Image. When the book first came out it was selling for $10 on the bay. It has settled down now, but if you had bought several copies for cover price, a quick flip could have made you a quick profit as well. I have rummaged through bargain bins and found stacks of books selling from $5 to $10 on the internet. But don't take my word for it, look into some of the books for yourself.

And yeah sure you can argue that its not that easy to find a comic that will be worth. But as it is with everything in life, you have to work to find out which ones. If you go around blindly buying comics, thinking you're going to retire on them you're in for a rough ride. As is the same as it goes with life.

Back issue comic book collectors who hates new comics

So I often hear back issue collectors complaining about the new comics. They always complain about the same things. The art is not good, the writing is not good and its not what old comics were. I have heard this not just from one collector but from many different collectors. Some have even gone into extremes of refusing to buy any modern comics. Now I have wrote before about how comic shop owners / dealers are killing the hobby. Well now I'm going to say this, if you think this way then you are killing the hobby.

You see, change in anything is inevitable. Comics is a very minor thing that changes through time, many other things, more important things, will also change through time. These things will affect your life drastically. If you can't accept a minor change such as the art of a comic book how are you going to live in a world thats constantly changing?

Back to the subject, comics have changed. Newsflash, yes comics has changed. Gone are the old ways of writing, gone are the old styles of art. Not everything out there is good but nor is it bad. You just have to pick and choose what you like. If you don't like it don't buy it, but don't shun all of them either. Buying new comics is not the easiest thing to do, you wait every month for one book to come out and you have to constantly follow the title. If you grow tired of it or if your taste changes simply buy something else.

The more comics you stop buying the more the comic book business will suffer. And the more they suffer the less comics they print. If everyone thinks this way not only will the comic book hobby suffer there might be a possible chance that the comic book hobby ceases to exist. And in case collectors don't know, the back issue hobby and the new issue hobby goes hand in hand. Because eventually those new comics become back issues.

How collectible dealers are killing the hobby.

Ok, this post can go anywhere really. Comic books, baseball cards, coins... simply insert here ________. I love going to a show or new hobby store to check out what I can find. The sheer awesomeness of a newly discovered store always excites me. When I walk in I like to absorb everything, the cards in the showcases, comic books hanging on walls, nicely antiqued tobacco tins in a curio...

Then the owner opens his mouth and everything falls apart. Its like having a dream about hitting the lotto jackpot and waking up only to find yourself on the cold ground. Really, why does store owners and collectible dealers act the way they do? They always blame the customers, not enough, too cheap, doesn't buy anything... the list goes on. But as a they say in psychology, you cannot see your own flaws, it takes others to point out your flaws. So the next time you (no not really you but a store owner) opens his mouth to complain, look in the mirror first.

Through my collecting years I believe I have seen it all. From the too friendly I wan't to kiss your butt so you will spend money to the I hate everybody so I'm going to treat you like garbage dealers in the hobby, I say this, shut your mouth and let the customer enjoy themselves in your store or booth.

I have seen owners toss comics halfway across the store simply because they want to. What makes you think we the customers want to see that? Those are the comics we may buy someday. I have seen owners be so pessimistic they pre-judge if a customer is going to spend money in their store. I have also seen owners charge absurd prices or don't give a damn about their customer's orders and neglect to give them what they want. In case these store owners don't realize, they need customers to hang around so they can stay in business.

These are the things I believe that makes any business work. Be kind, say hello, ask if they need help and thats it. Don't ask how much money the customer is carrying. Don't ask if the customer has a job, and lastly don't ignore your customers and talk to them only to check their bags. To all the store owner and staffs that do any of these things I just listed, I will say this to you. Close up your shop and stay the hell out of the hobby because you're giving the ________ collectible hobby a bad rap.

New York Comic Con, my first experience.

Today I wen to my first comic book con. One of the largest ones thats held annually in New York. It boasts tons of comics, video games, toys, artists and their artworks. But perhaps the most memorable moment was the fact that owner of Atlas Entertainment, Jason Goodman invited me to the con. Once I went into the center I was bombarded with all kinds of displays. Girls dressed in costumes, loud video games, a dance show, girls dressed in costumes... oh wait I said that already. :)

I spent the whole day looking at... comics. (what did you think I was going to say, lol) There were tons of comics from modern to copper to bronze, silver and golden age. There were many dealer names that I had seen on ebay there. There were tons of statues, toys, original artwork and of course the artists corner which had tons of artists.

I tried to control my spending... seriously I did... try. After walking around and looking at almost everything I decided to spend some money. $160 one day on comics, food and transportation. Normally I would say thats quite a bit but at a comic book convention? thats pretty good. I left the show feeling happy but tired. Been on your feet for six hours straight was a little tiring. But all in all I would say that if you have never attended a comic con you should go to at least one just for the experience

Buying old expensive comics, are they worth it?

So I've been a big time back issue buyer ever since I got back into comic book collecting. When I first got back in I decided to only focus on back issues. I bought tons of Silver, Bronze and Copper age comics, many of them for quite a bit too.

Whenever I looked at the comics the first thing I looked at was the corners. Are they sharp, dirty or frayed? And then the spine of the book. I would count the creases one, two, three is fine, four is too many. And finally the last thing I looked at was the price. I would ask myself "can I justify spending ten dollars on a comic" and most of the time the answer is yes. I would take it home change the bag and board so it would look nice and clean. Then I would stick it inside a box never to be touched again.

Now before you think I'm crazy let me explain. I'm a collector... so I'm only partially crazy, I mean comics were meant to be read right? But I started thinking, each time I opened that comic that is worth fifty dollars I take the chance of damaging it and decreasing the value. Weeks passed into months into a year and I kept doing this same thing over and over again. The other day I looked at my comic book collection and noticed that when it came to my back issues I have only read about ten percent of them. These are comics I have spent a good amount of money on, and here they were just sitting inside a white box looking pretty. Ok technically I can't see them but you know...

So from time to time I look on eBay to see how much my comics are selling for and noticed a very nice trend. The finished price seemed to be pretty strong. Comics I paid fifty dollars for are either selling at the same price or about twenty dollars higher. I have yet to sell a single book but I do get a warm fuzzy feeling (no not that kind!)every time I see a comic book of mine sell at a decent price.

I have recently started buying modern comics to read and am enjoying them. I still take care of them just in case they are worth money but the feeling of cracking open a comic to read makes me happy. But what about those old comics I have? They're still in those white boxes hiding in the corner of my closet. Some are worth more now than the day I bought them and some are still the same price.

So are old expensive comics worth buying? Well heres the answer and you may not like it. If you're a collector, yes. But if you're the kind of guy that buys a comic just to read then the answer is, no.

Are DC Reboot comics reaching new heights in violence?

Ok, so DC comics is coming out with new comics. They are supposed to be revamped and redone with better story, art and they're supposed to be a reset so they can clean up. I see they have tons of new titles coming out, some new and some old. And while I haven't read all of them I certainly have read quite a bit.

It seems that DC is trying too hard with the reset. I'm not saying that the books are not done well but at times it seems a little over the top. The blood splatters, barely naked girls, Starfire becoming a slut... I mean come on. Whats next? Superman dying again?

I like how the comics are coming out with new art and the writing is more up-to-date. But out of all the comics I've read it seems there are always people dying. Not superheroes but innocent civilians that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not like we've never seen people die in comics its just over the top in the new DC comics.

In some comics police officers are getting killed, special agents are hanging out in strip clubs and so on. Sometimes I wonder if the Comic Code is still in effect. I know that things change and that we live in the modern era now. But do we really have to feel like washing our hands after reading a comic book? Maybe DC should start publishing UG Comix from now on.

The DC comic reboot

So its kinda late since the DC reboot happened a few months back and the hype was well over with now. But when they announced the reboot plan I thought to myself "what do I care?" Well, when I saw the new DC comics sitting at my lcs (local comic shop) I decided to pick it up and check it out. Guess what...?

I am pleasantly surprised. The first book I read was Batgirl #1, my first thought was yay Barbara Gordon is back and my 2nd thought was oooh nice art. The book was very well written, and after I was done I started on my 2nd comic, Detective Comics #1. And to my surprise I enjoyed it as well. Again I liked the art and the writing was pretty good. By now I was thinking about trying for more comics.

It has been a month and all the DC reboot comics have been launched. Funny how a few months ago I thought "what do I care" to "I can't wait for the #2's". I now own about 15 of the comics and am buying them monthly. Now here's the real kicker, I used to be a strictly Marvel buyer. Now I find myself buying more DC than Marvel. Now don't get me wrong I still buy Marvel comics but strictly the back issues.