Investing for the Future?

Here's an interesting column from Newsarama.

It seems that as stocks are plunging, somebody is investing in back-issues of comics.

Here's the sort-of interesting thing about Back-Issues. Theoretically, there's a limited and dwindling supply. There are only so many copies left in existence of, say, "Jimmy Olsen #134". Unless someone finds a comic miser with an endless warehouse where he's keeping literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of copies of the comic, the rarity of the comic is part of the price point. You cannot grow or mine more Jimmy Olsen #134. You cannot manufacture more Jimmy Olsen #134. One thing that can decrease is the number of people who want a copy of Jimmy Olsen #134.

And, of course, copies of Jimmy Olsen #134 are deteriorating. They are being kept off the market by Jimmy Olsen collectors. They are being destroyed as comic shops suffer damage in hurricanes and floods (Houston's Westheimer location for the superlative "Bedrock Comics" took a huge beating during Hurricane Ike, in which a HUGE portion of their back issue stock was destroyed.)

In theory, then, Silver Age comics, in particular, hold value pretty well despite tumultuous economic times, and are much more likely to go up than down in value.

What we know now, versus what we thought in the mid-90's, is that not every issue is a collector's item. No matter what sort of holographic cover, or trading card is stapled inside, a bagged and boarded comic is only a bagged and boarded comic of, at best, dubious value. Only time will decide what is a collector's item.

But, before you throw a stack of comics in the recycling, as I did circa 1999, check to make sure none of them are worth $100, as I later learned one of my comics was valued(Lady Death #1). Go figure.*

Anyway, its interesting to hear investors are making a run on Silver Age comics. I don't have much in the way of a Silver Age collection as its very cost-prohibitive, but compared to a single share of, say, Initech, it's not that bad. It's just not going to make you a profit so much as be a fairly safe place to put your money for a while. Off the market, the comics will probably retain value (especially Silver Age, which is a very different market than modern or Bronze). Like anything else, however, if the investors re-flood the market... it's going to drive costs down. Which is nice for the collector, but for the dealer, its not going to be great.

That's not to say that those misers aren't out there with warehouses full of comics. They darn well may be. You hear a lot about estate sales where comics come up, and it can be anything from a shoebox full of moldy Archies to a storage space full of Silver Age classics. And, I hate to say it, but as collectors die, need a cash influx, etc... those collections will continue to rotate to some degree.

I don't lose a lot of sleep over it, but I do worry that if I croak tomorrow, Jamie and my parents are going to just drop off my whole collection in a dumpster behind Target. At minimum, I'd hope they would drop everything off at Austin Books so SOMEBODY could make a profit off the collection (note to Austin Books... that's a respectable run on New Gods and Mister Miracle... throw them a few bucks in the case of my untimely demise, okay?).

Unlike stocks, T-bills and pork bellies, there's not too much of a regulatory commission for the value of comics. So its something of a pure economic model. Find the price point of a back-issue by whether or not you can actually sell it to somebody (anybody) at that cost. Supply and demand in its simplest form. And maybe that's why so much of the back-issue market has gone to eBay, where you can see the transaction in real time. Kind of fascinating. But, as a total pain for the retailer, its done on a literally comic-by-comic, or run-by-run basis. And that's a lot of work to manage. Thus the built in S&H fee on so many comics.




*The comic is no longer worth that amount, but hit that selling point about seven years ago.

It seems redundant these days to announce that change is afoot at League HQ, but, yes, once again, it seems to be the case.

My professional life seems to have zagged and then zigged, but that's stuff I don't want to talk about until the dust settles, so pardon my silence on that for the time being.

Meanwhile, we're tearing up all the carpeting and linoleum on the first floor tomorrow, which means I'm sitting in the middle of an empty room on the floor. Local Leaguers will know the League HQ living rooms couches, coffee table, etc... all of that is in the garage.

Thanks to the power of dogs, we've made an executive decision to go stained concrete. And to paint.

Anyhow, by this time next week, I expect the place will look completely different, and no more will I look at the carpet and weep. Instead, I'll endlessly be sweeping up dog-fur clusters.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO KAREBEAR

Jamie and I had some scheduling difficulty today... so you want to know what kind of person KareBear, my mother, is?

She got up at 4:30 AM, hopped in the car and drove all the way to Austin and helped oversee the movers who were moving our junk into the garage. That, people, is insane. And for anyone who ever wonders who they should pick to have on their side when push comes to shove...? You pick who you're going to pick. I pick my mom.

I owe her so huge, I can't get my head around it.

Anyhow, I got up at a respectable hour today, so I'm tired and am cashing in my chips.

Art Spiegelman in Austin

Austin readers may be interested to know that Art Spiegelman, creator of the award-winning Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers (a stunning piece of work, whether you agree with Spiegelman's politik or not), will be appearing Tuesday at Book People.

He's got a new book out and he's there for a signing. I'm not expecting a reading because, you know... comics.*

7:00 PM at Book people on the 7th.




*I once narrated an entire issue of Superman to a co-worker via closed-circuit head-sets. The funny part was when I had mercy and stopped half-way through, there was this pause, and then she asked "...so then what happens?" So I finished the comic and describing the pictures therein. A terribly gratifying moment.

Superman on the Church Organ

Steven sent this:



From the YouTube page:

Organist Sean Jackson plays the theme from Superman on the organ at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City.

There are some themes so well known, you just can't mess with them. Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek, Bond, Pink Panther... when you remake the movie, you better consider how you're going to fit the theme in.

Superman Returns re-used Williams' Superman score, as has Smallville to tremendous effect in the episodes featuring Christopher Reeve before his death. And while not everyone is a huge Superman nut... 30 years on and people still know that theme. And it warms the heart to see folks give it up for the organist and Williams' music.

Something for WB to consider.

I don't want to dismiss Mr. Jackson's work here. Wow! That's a lot of music to translate to the organ, and he did it with the right spirit.

I should mention: When Jamie, Steanso, Peabo, Randy and I met up with JimD in Beaumont for a screening of Superman at the Jefferson Theater, THEY had an organist who, I believe, also gave the Superman theme a whirl. We wound up talking to the guy for a while after the movie. Terrific gentleman.

Thanks, Steven!

Four Super-Films For Super Cheap!

I was looking at something unrelated on Amazon and I stumbled across this.

You can order a 4-pack of the Chris Reeve Superman movies for $14.00. If you've got kids who haven't seen any Superman movies, or if you've just never bothered to add the Superman movies to your DVD library... this seems like a heck of a deal. (That's 492 minutes of Superman awesomeness... quite a bargain if you ask me.)

My guess is this is WB's way of clearing their warehouse full of Superman DVD's as Blu-Ray takes over, but why not let WB's overstocking be your super windfall?

Legos

You know what I miss? Legos.

Technically, plural for Lego is still Lego, but in 33 years of my life, I think I've pulled that off, maybe, five times. So, we shall refer to lots of Lego as Legos.

The Admiral made a comment to me not too long ago that I played with Legos right up through high school, and I was all "oh, that's crazy, no I didn't."

But, everytime KareBear had kids in the house, she'd haul out my Legos, and I'd find myself sitting on the ground assembling Legos into space ships right through graduation.

I understand there are adult collectors of Legos who make magnificent Lego sculptures, but I find them sort of cost-prohibitive, and I threw in with Action Figures v. Legos long ago (I have shelves and shelves of Super Friends, for those of you who don't know). And moving Legos is a total pain. But I sort of miss sitting on the floor and trying to build an intergalactic star cruiser.



We never had Legos like some other families who would roll out these amazing piles of pieces, but we had a pretty good set up. I would make whatever the kit suggested once or twice, and then make my own stuff. That always seemed the point to me... to follow the basic instructions so you could understand how it fit together, and then go off and do your own thing with the parts.

With Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones Legos out there these days, I bet kids have a field day. Add in the standard moon-scapes, rockets ships, airports, etc... Well, it's a slippery slope before you're living in a house constructed on tiny pieces of plastic.

And some of the other options... I mean, look... Build the Taj Mahal from Lego. How cool is that? Or the Death Star?

This set called "Star Justice" is pretty close to the kind of stuff I liked as a kid. But, look how totally expensive that is... Man, I feel for you parents trying to properly outfit your kids with Legos. No wonder The Admiral and KareBear were always working so hard... to keep us knee deep in Legos, it seems.

Anyway, no Legos for me. I don't think Jamie wants a million plastic pieces scattered everywhere. But whenever I see ads in print or on TV, I do start thinking of what you could build with the pieces to the new sets...

Not Much to Report

Went down to Somnio's this evening to see the Mono E rock out. They sounded pretty darn good, and I was pleasantly surprised by the menu and food at Somnio's.

Aside from that, today was pretty busy with work-related stuff. Perhaps more on that next week.

I did not watch the VP debate. If you did, goody for you.

Anyhoo, it'll be Friday when you're reading this, and people always seem to disappear by end of week, so...

I dunno.