That 'convention expert' guy at my local shop was flat out wrong about the 1990s speculator boom

Last month at Golden Age Comics in Denver, this older collector kept telling new fans that the speculator crash of 1993 killed comics for good. He swore that Valiant and Image books from that era are worthless and always will be. But I remember walking into the same shop three years ago and watching a kid pay $200 for a raw copy of X-O Manowar #1 in near mint. Prices on those books have doubled in the last 18 months according to GPA analysis. Has anyone else noticed that the doom-and-gloom guys always ignore actual sales data?

3 comments

3 Comments

pat_murray538d ago

Oh man, you nailed it. That "expert" crowd loves pretending the 90s market never recovered, but they ignore the actual numbers. I watched a raw copy of Bloodshot #1 go for $150 at a show last summer, and those books were dollar bin fodder for years. The thing is, collectors who grew up on those titles are now in their 30s and 40s with real money to spend. They want the stuff they couldn't afford as kids, so prices on key Valiant and Image first appearances keep climbing. Those old guys are stuck in 1994, plain and simple.

wren2307d ago

$150 for a raw Bloodshot #1? That's insane, I remember those in quarter bins.

nancy_king297d agoMost Upvoted

Those old guys are stuck in 1994" - exactly @wren230, that's the whole problem with market gatekeeping.