PSA: A guy at the comic shop in Phoenix said something about collecting that made me pause...

I was picking up my pull list yesterday and overheard a dad talking to his kid, maybe 10 years old. The kid was holding a new issue and the dad said, 'Just put it in the bag, don't even read it. It's worth more sealed.' I kind of froze... I get preserving a book, but telling a kid not to read a comic? That feels like the exact opposite of why we got into this. I've been collecting for about 15 years, and yeah, some of my books have value, but the best ones are the beat-up copies I actually read over and over. It made me wonder if we're raising a new generation of investors instead of fans. Has anyone else seen this kind of attitude shift at their local shop?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_taylor798d agoMost Upvoted

Investors over fans" is just smart collecting now.

william_carter8d ago

Look at the baseball card market from the 90s. People bought boxes as an investment, not because they loved the players. Now most of those cards are worthless because nobody actually wanted them. The same thing happens when art or sneakers get treated like stocks. The value disappears if the real fans leave.