In the days leading up to San Diego Comic-Con we spoke to industry professionals who work in the field of auctioning and brokering sales of comic books, original art, and related collectibles. They shared their opinions on the state of the comic market and expectations for the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. Here is ComicLink founder & CEO Josh Nathanson’s opinion:
Scoop: Do the present inflation worries have you concerned, and do you think it’ll have any impact on comics?
Josh Nathanson (JN): The present inflation situation does not have me concerned about the side of the comic book market that we specialize in, which is investment-quality comic books and original artwork. There has never been a period since ComicLink launched (1996) that inflation has adversely affected our sales or have led to decreased sales prices. If anything, more collectors view the material we sell as a hedge against inflation, and a hedge against the stock market fluctuations, which as you know have been markedly down this year. Comic books are much more stable investments over time, and not as tied to the macro economy in such a linear way. As alternative investments, when money flows out of the stock market or real estate, it can land here. When stocks are rising in value, money is also taken off the table to park in alternative investments. Either way, our market wins.
Comic books have not always gone up in a straight line and they sometimes peak for a while then continue. The macroeconomic environment at worst may cause a pull back by a small percentage (10 or maybe 20% for some comic books while others just continue up). But they always have resumed their uptrend. This is as healthy as it gets for any investment that I have seen. The only time the comic book market pulled back considerably in the last 27 years was an event that was intrinsic to the vintage comic book market, when a very large collection was released in ultra high grade, and there was not enough money out there to absorb it at previous price levels. This was in 2012. It took a few years for the prices to come back, but they did, and then roared to new highs. The market is much more resilient now (less vulnerable to such a situation) as there are far more deep pocket buyers than there were at that time to keep prices stable. The market supply of material has been relatively constant over time with demand increasing at a more accelerated rate than supply. Keep in mind, I'm talking about the vintage investment-quality market of certified comic books and original artwork as well. I am not making a comment about the lower priced raw comic books which can be adversely affected by overproduction, such as what we had seen for books overproduced in the 1990s, for instance.
Scoop: How do you see the marketplace at the moment?
JN: The marketplace remains very healthy with what I would call legacy collectors continuing to seek out examples to fill in their collections. It is fascinating to me, and indicative of strength of this hobby that even despite recent high price rises, there has been no significant net increase in these collectors wanting to sell. Meanwhile, we continue to see an influx of new buyers into the hobby.
Scoop: What are your personal expectations for Comic-Con?
JN: I’m taking my 13-year-old son for the first time, and this is what I am most excited about. He’ll get to see what it is that his Dad, and his Dad’s company does there, and meet some of our long-time clients, some of whom are old friends, who I am also looking forward to connecting with. Just getting him to see the vibe of the place will be special. Business-wise, I expect that there will be less activity due to the fact that the Torpedo Con in LA was an option that some collectors and dealers decided to attend in place of Comic-Con. Unfortunately, they canceled the con recently and unexpectedly, leaving many collectors without an opportunity to attend any convention in the area. Still, we have a strong Featured Auction launching this summer, and I expect that we will bring a decent amount of additional interest to it at the show.
