The Basics Of Investing In Comic Books
Investing in comic books? Comic books? Investments? Some people are still clueless to the investment potential of these brightly coloured roughly rectangular pieces of modern literature. But they only need to look up how much the first Superman comic is selling for or how much the first Batman issue is worth for them to quickly understand that there is money to be made investing in comic books.
Given the fact that more and more movies are being made around comics characters and storylines, the value of comic books will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Now, are you interested in investing in comic books? They are truly part of our cultural landscape as much as a Van Gogh or a Picasso. Of course, some cultural snobs will find the idea of equating Batman or The Flash with Degas or Pollock laughable, but we are comparing them based solely on their investment quality.
The truth is investing in comic books has come a long way. Remember, that most comic books first started off costing 5 or 10 cents. Now, many are worth thousands to millions of dollars. Not much different from a Van Gogh’s value when Van Gogh was still alive. It is a well-known fact that Van Gogh sold only one painting when he was alive. Now, his work is worth millions.
Before you head out to your closest store to start investing in comic books, keep the following comic book investment tips in mind.
If you’re investing in comic books then condition matters
There is a big difference between a poor condition comic book and one in mint condition. Unless you are dealing with an otherwise very expensive book, shoot for mint copies as much as you can. The farther back in time you go, the more you can afford to take a risk in lower condition books. However, the closer you get to the present time, the more you should insist on mint condition items.
Story matters
When trying to determine which comic books will go up in value, pay attention to the story line. In particular, be on the lookout for issues where new characters make an appearance or the origin of a popular character is explained. In the rare chance a character is killed, you might want to pick up some copies just in case the comic publisher does the unlikely and refuses to resurrect the character.
Art matters
When looking at investing in comic books pay careful attention to the artist. Certain artists are collected for their particular style or reputation. Neal Adams is one example of a highly collected artist. Of course, artist’s reputations come and go with particular comic art tastes and this might impact comic book valuations.
