Comic Book Collections: Depreciating Fast

Well, it seems that the great comic book collecting craze of the 90s has hit an iceberg.

On the other end of the spectrum, almost any comic book store owner can supply eye-opening tales of depreciation. Walter Durajlija, an adviser for Overstreet and owner of Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ont., sold a copy of Uncanny X-Men No. 94 in 2010 for a record $26,500. Last year, that same comic sold in his store for only $12,000. “[My] last two sales [of X-Men No. 94] were $9,501 in February of 2013 and $8,089 three short days later,” he says. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. “Incredible Hulk No. 181 was getting $20,000; they now trade for $8,000.”


Unless you are buying the best of the best books like Action Comics #1, Spider-man #1, or Detective Comics #27 most comics are dropping fast. That Incredible Hulk #181 (first appearance of Wolverine) can be had on Ebay for $4950 right now. So even that $8000 that was mentioned in the article is now unattainable. Some of the reasons seem very plausible.

There are many theories for why comic collectibles have stopped being valuable. Some blame readily available reprints. “What drove the collectibility of the old comics was that they were once genuinely rare,” says Salkowitz. Others point to the grading system, which now requires that comics be encased in plastic polymer. “It really is a shady process that’s completely changed the marketplace,” says Santoro. And there’s reason to suspect that the Internet era has yet again worked its magic on prices: “In the ’60s, the only way to read these stories was to own the original issues,” says Salkowitz. “Now you can go on Pirate Bay and download a torrent of anything you want for free.”

The plastic polymer grading system is a big reason why I would not want to be involved in collecting in a big way. You pay $5k for a comic and you cannot even touch it or smell that old comic smell? You just file it away like a gold (I guess silver now) brick and forget about it. You can't read the thing or even just hold it in your hands without breaking open the polymer. That is so different then another antique you pay $5k for. If you buy an old chair you can at least sit in it.