You could do worse in this recession than by making money selling off your old comic books. So says the National Post.
From the story...
Peter Dixon, owner of Paradise Comics in Toronto, says the past year has been his best for sales.
The last 10 or 20 sales of Amazing Fantasy #15, the first appearance of Spider Man, have set new price records over the past few months, says Mr. Dixon, adding he's just sold a copy of The Incredible Hulk #181, the first appearance of Wolverine, for US$5,400. The price has since climbed to US$6,100, likely fuelled by publicity surrounding this weekend's movie opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Like valuable coins, stamps and sports cards, the most prized comic books are those that have been examined, graded and sealed by an independent, third-party grading service and pronounced to be in near-mint condition.
As a point-counterpoint, there's a piece in the Independent called "Comic Books Left Out in the Cold."
From that particular story...
Publishers increased their print run to cope with demand, and even the collectors finally became sick of the faddish variant covers, according to Lou Ryrie, assistant store manager at Forbidden Planet in London. "It is about supply and demand. There was a lot of overprinting and some collectors just became a bit jaded," she said.
The mid-Nineties marked a tough time for the industry. As many collections plunged in value, independent publication houses hit the rocks and even Marvel was forced into bankruptcy in 1996. Now, the comic book is back in vogue and parts of the market are growing strongly. Yet the economics have changed, especially as eBay has widened the network of dealers.
Comics are less viewed as the "books of a generation". Ms Ryrie said: "Your average monthly comic book, once it has passed 12 weeks on the shelves, isn't worth the paper it is printed on. If it hasn't been bought by then, it is unlikely it ever will be."
No comments:
Post a Comment