I finally leaned over the edge a bit too much and jumped in.

It has been a long time now and I have to admit. When The Walking Dead first came out, I had missed it. It was at a time I was not into comics, and by the time I got into comics this was a comic that had a resell value in the triple digits, And since I had just gotten back into comics, I was not going to spend that much on a modern comic. Boy, I should have learned more quicker. I also have to admit my collecting mentality was not as broad as it is now, compared to when I got back into collecting.

Well lets have a bit of a flashback moment. About three weeks ago I was home and bored. I was surfing the internet and saw that Netflix had a free months trial, So I decided to join to see what I could get to watch for free. Turns out it wasn't a whole lot, but it also turned out, they had The Walking Dead season one and two. Been a fan of horror, zombies, vampires and the such I decided to check it out. Man was I hooked, first it was ok one more episode and I'm going to sleep. Then it was well its only one in the morning and I don't have to wake up until late for work.

The next thing I knew I was finished with season one. Albeit it was a short season I jumped right into season two. When I was done with what Netflix offered I quickly searched for season three online. It turned out there are many online sites just offering TWD for free. I knew quickly I was in trouble, I blasted through the entire season three in one week.

So you may be asking, what does this have to do with the comic version of TWD? Well, now that I'm completely addicted to TWD and season four does not begin until later this fall. I decided to start reading the comics.

I also found out I am really late to this series. As of right now TWD comics is up to issue 109 with some earlier numbers been fairly valuable. So in order for me to catch up all the way from number one, I will either have to shell out lots of money or buy the collected versions. Knowing me, one day I'm going to sell a kidney to get the first thirty issues... well not really. But as for now I have turned into a complete TWD addict, and will be foraging into the herd to find out the story of the comic book version.

Market report on comic books

We have all heard of collectors complaining about the hobby burst in the 90's. And we still hear about the old time collector complaining about how comic books aren't good like they were back in the days. There are many more doomsayers in the comic book collecting industry. But before I get further into comic books let me say a few things.
"Misery loves company." And when one person complains to another, the other person eats it up.
"Its easier to see the glass as half empty than half full" We are bought up in a pessimistic world. Why? simple, its much easier. And when things don't go the way we want to we simply blame the next person.
"Negativity will always overrule positivity" Its a simple human trait, most people tend to focus on what went wrong rather than what went well. The value of ten comics can go up but if one comic book drops in value the collector would rather focus on that one.
Okay back to comics, it seems that the market on comics have steadied itself. Over the years many modern comic books have gained or maintained a healthy value. The Walking Dead, Morning Glories, Thief of Thieves and some other comics have all maintained a steady market. Though sometimes we see a price drop, early issues are constantly in demand.
Next comes the movie comic book tie-ins. When the Avengers movie was announced many silver age Avengers comics got a small bump in price. When certain characters were announced in new movies, the first appearance of that character usually went up in value.
Want more examples? Batman Adventures #12, NYX #3, Vengeance of Bane #1 have all increased in value over the years. So to the people that says the comic book hobby is going down the drain, perhaps we should tell them to stick their head in the drain first.
I also want to point out. Many people that collect other things tend to think that comic books are a bad market. While its not the best, its certainly pretty healthy and when you buy comics to read and enjoy it outweighs the investment part. I also want to add, been a collector of many other things I have noticed that comic books have been outperforming many other collectibles in the secondary market.

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.