From: hpky@gauguin.cc.rochester.edu (Hanan Polanski)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.xbooks
Subject: Re: Next polybagged run
Date: 23 Jul 92 02:37:46 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York

In <Brt1pw.Jo7@cs.psu.edu> petonak@chem.psu.edu (Paul Petonak) writes:

>What do you mean by a saturation point? There are currently only three ways
>to collect comics for value....

>Getting back to the original article, yes, I agree, however, I think the 
>saturation point has hit to a certain extent. Take for example Punisher 
>appearances. These were the rage for a while. Now, the interest has died 
>completely, current cameos/appearances are not doing as well, and I notice
>frequent 'markdowns' on Punisher issues when I visit my usual stores. This 
>seems to be happening to some other characters/books as well. 

>Again, what exactly you mean by 'saturation', I don't know. Yes, there is a
>lot of nonsense going on (multiple covers, bagged runs) which causes a lot of
>speculating and bulk buying. This definetley does nothing for long term value
>as there are so many issues floating around, so the market is saturated in
>that way. With all the stuff that is hitting the market these days (afore-
>mentioned nonsense) people don't have extra money to spend so back issues 
>(recent and older) are devalued, so the market is saturated in that way as well. 

I'm sorry that my wording was unclear.  I may have been trying to 'over-extend
a metaphor'. What I meant was essentially the ideas you presented in the above
paragraph.  (How many different issues of X-something will someone be willing
to buy in order to get all 750 X-something-Super-Spectacular-Mega-Awesome cards?
I-)

>It would be very interesting to see what effects a comic market 'crash' would
>have. None-the-less, I DO NOT think it will have any affect on Golden or
>SIlver age markets.

Again, I'm sorry. I was NOT referring to a 'general comic market crash'. I only
meant a 'multi-cover/multi-card comic market crash'.  I think the more general
'crash' you refer to is less likely, as there is much less 'casual' investment
in the Old Classics. (There I go again. 'casual' investment == "what can I buy
that will make money fast, without having to go into any sort of analysis of
whether it's good art or bad art...")

Yes, Virginia, you *can* make money by investing in comics.... BUT as Paul
noted, it generally takes *TIME* and often *luck*!!  
Just because Marble Comics Industries (tm) expects Wampum-Man #1 to
sell more copies than <insert your own metaphor here>, and hypes the
bejeezus out of it, and gives it 7 different covers, there is *still* no
guarantee that it will be worth anything in five years! (Anyone out there
remember Howard the Duck {the comic, not the movie} I-) )

(I know Howard the Duck never used more than one cover, so don't start!
I was just using it as an example of a comic that was HOT when it first
came out, and went nowhere. {Hey, I *liked* Howard the Duck, so don't start!})

>Paul

					James Willer email to jmw1388@cs.rit.edu
{The opinions above are probably NOT those of
 Hanan Polansky. I don't know. I never asked.}

 
>P.S. WOuld LOVE to see this thread continue....

P.S. I Would LOVE to continue it...