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What happened to Spawn?

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What happened to Spawn?

Old 07-21-20, 08:25 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

The comic book I was going to at the time all these Image books came out was "selling out" of the #1 issues when they were released. In reality, these assholes were keeping boxes of them in the back and selling them one by one for $20 or whatever any gullible idiot was willing to pay at the time for the books. Some people fell on the bait but many others simply went to other store to get the same issue from the rack. I remember when that store went under, the store that bought them found thousands of Image #1 issues in the back along with thousands of X-Men #1 (1992), X-Force #1, Spider-Man #1, Darkhawk #1 and Bloodshot #1. Those guys were storing easily over $50K in books in the back instead of selling them and then they wondered why they went bankrupt.

Going back to Spawn, the store's idiocy of keeping these books in the back led my to go search for it somewhere else and I found a stack of them at a local K-Mart, with the newsstand barcode. I bought like 10 of them, gave several to my friends that had missed the book and kept 5.
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Old 07-21-20, 09:58 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

From what I remember, the newsstand issue of Spawn #1 was printed on a lower quality of paper than the DM edition, and seemed less desirable at the time.

I might try to dig my copy out of storage, but can't really bothered to at the moment. I think I kept it as a reading copy, so it's probably not in NM condition; probably more like VF.
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Old 07-22-20, 05:39 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

That's weird that the newsstand version is more valuable. I remember, I think a Spider-man #1, gold cover, was more valuable when it had a UPC bar code instead of the Spider-man face in the box. That's how silly the spectator market became. First appearance, limited gold embossed cover, stuff like that, I can understand the average reader wanting to pay more for something like that. But a UPC code...? How does that make the cover look better?

Anyway, I was hyped as kid for McFarlane's creator-owned project and bought Spawn #1 when it came out, DM edition. The art was amazing, and it felt like the beginning of a new era. It was a shallow time, but it felt like it was a new golden age for my generation. The writing wasn't that great, but I thought the overall result in the beginning of Spawn was entertaining. I still don't fully know what the hell was going on in Wild C.A.T.s or Cyberforce. Brigage, I don't even know why they were a team or how they got their powers. Were they mutants? Paid government celebrity heroes? Spawn was easy to follow.

I dropped out around the time McFarlane stopped doing the art. I tried to get back into it, but at some point the character just got gross. He was on a thrown of maggots or body parts, hardly wore his mask, and had the stupid meatball face with shoe-lace stitching. The guest writer issues (Sim, Gaiman, Moore, Miller) weren't very good, except the Dave Sim Cerebus one. That was great and still one of my favorite issues. Heavy handed and a little too self-congratulatory but still really fun. Even Superman made a guest appearance. Miller's issue was just stupid and he was obviously just cashing a check. Total trash. The Angela issue was okay but it didn't go anywhere, at least not for a while. Moore's was just weird. I felt like he was phoning it in too, but I'll have to re-read it.

I still think that McFarlane is one of the best comic artists and most of his illustrated Spawn run is pure eye candy. Even the coloring and lettering was on point.
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Old 07-22-20, 07:03 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by brayzie
That's weird that the newsstand version is more valuable. I remember, I think a Spider-man #1, gold cover, was more valuable when it had a UPC bar code instead of the Spider-man face in the box. That's how silly the spectator market became. First appearance, limited gold embossed cover, stuff like that, I can understand the average reader wanting to pay more for something like that. But a UPC code...? How does that make the cover look better?
Actually, the higher value for newsstand version makes perfect sense. For the most part, direct edition books are treated fairly well since they are going to stores that cater to collectors as well as readers. Newsstand editions on the other hand were treated like magazines, and they were placed on racks in a rush, without any regards to the condition they may get in and then lots of people read these newsstand books and put them back in the shelve. Usually, newsstand editions are much harder to find in higher grades because of this. Add also, that some of the newsstand books were only sold in certain regions or stores, for example, Star Wars 1 and 2 newsstand edition was only sold in select markets with a higher price of $.35, making both of these issues really hard to find. The Spider-Man Gold with UPC you mentioned was only sold at Wal-Mart in a 3 pack with other books and shrinkwrapped tightly. Because of this, that version of the book is one of the hardest to find, specially in high grade.
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Old 07-22-20, 04:08 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

As someone that tried as long as possible sticking with newsstand copies for their weekly fix, it was a nightmare getting mint copies. Most issues had stress lines on their spines even if everything else was perfect.
Old 07-22-20, 07:06 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Actually, the higher value for newsstand version makes perfect sense. For the most part, direct edition books are treated fairly well since they are going to stores that cater to collectors as well as readers. Newsstand editions on the other hand were treated like magazines, and they were placed on racks in a rush, without any regards to the condition they may get in and then lots of people read these newsstand books and put them back in the shelve. Usually, newsstand editions are much harder to find in higher grades because of this. Add also, that some of the newsstand books were only sold in certain regions or stores, for example, Star Wars 1 and 2 newsstand edition was only sold in select markets with a higher price of $.35, making both of these issues really hard to find.
Okay, I can see that. But how much physical difference is it? How does it affect the reading that particular issue or how it appears physically? As far as the cover goes, it's just a UPC code that obscures a bit more of the cover art. In my opinion, that's kind of an example at how crazy the spectator market got. If people collect that, I'm not trying to take anything away from their interest. Even me at the time I didn't want to buy the newsstand version of Spawn just because of the UPC code and I felt like it was somehow inferior, which was stupid because I never got a chance to get those ones in the comic shop.

The Spider-Man Gold with UPC you mentioned was only sold at Wal-Mart in a 3 pack with other books and shrinkwrapped tightly. Because of this, that version of the book is one of the hardest to find, specially in high grade.
Thanks for shedding further light on that. I wondered how it came about. I can see from a strictly collector stand point, how anything rare, however small, is something to search out. But it feels like, starting with the 90s, comic reading became "comic collecting" in the most financial sense. I was buying crap comics solely because they were #1s, thinking they were going to rise in value. And Wizard at the time was hyping up all these small little things in their price guide and "hot pick recommendations." It wasn't about quality stories, but this particular issue has a blue UPC code instead of white. There's a minor printing error on the first 100 copies which makes this a sound financial investment!

As an impressionable kid at the time I wasted time and money on comics just because I thought they were going to be valuable, and Wizard Magazine, the comic publishers and the comic shops exploited that. No wonder the industry imploded in the mid-90s.

I will say that Spider-man #1 and the following story arc was a fun time though. The cover felt like a big deal and the art was McFarlane at his absolute best. It was slow burn that didn't go anywhere though. Awful, awful ending. I ended up getting the rest of McFarlane's adjectiveless run and the following stories were even worse. At least #1-5 felt like a really good horror movie.

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
From what I remember, the newsstand issue of Spawn #1 was printed on a lower quality of paper than the DM edition, and seemed less desirable at the time.
I didn't notice that. The early Spawn issues was still on some kind of higher quality newsprint though, right? But the newsstand issues were a lower quality of that even? And later issues, I think starting with #9 were on glossy paper. I actually preferred the original paper. It felt more like a comic, while still feeling and looking better than the average Marvel/DC comic that had punched holes in the bottom. Image Comics had some of the absolute best coloring at the time.

Buying from the newsstand felt undesirable because of the spines and covers not being pristine, but in hindsight, I've always had more fun purchasing comics that way, than being in a comic shop where you're overwhelmed. Looking for comics on the spinner rack was a much more memorable experience because all the individual issues felt more special.
Old 07-22-20, 08:50 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Traditionally, newsstand and direct market versions of comics -- at least as long as the only difference was in what was in the UPC box -- have been the same. Dealers and collectors made no distinction between whether there as a Spider-Man head in the box or a barcode.

At some point a few years ago, Mile High Comics started charging double for newsstand editions. I'm unsure if they started the trend, or just followed it.

There was a time in the early 90s when Marvel started putting out two editions of their comics (or maybe it was just the X-Men line) where the Direct Market edition cost $1.95 and was printed on glossy paper, while the newsstand edition cost $1.50, was printed on lower quality paper, and came out several weeks later. This lasted about a year and both editions were made available in the direct market.

Also worth noting that, a few years ago when they were trying to reintroduce comics to the newsstand, Marvel (and maybe DC and Dark Horse, too) put out newsstand editions of certain comcis that cost a dollar more than their DM counterparts. I would wager that these versions are probably pretty scarce.
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Old 07-22-20, 09:00 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
Also worth noting that, a few years ago when they were trying to reintroduce comics to the newsstand, Marvel (and maybe DC and Dark Horse, too) put out newsstand editions of certain comcis that cost a dollar more than their DM counterparts. I would wager that these versions are probably pretty scarce.
I remember at Borders bookstore Captain America comics written by Ed Brubaker at the time were $1 more than the comic book store copies. I don't get why they'd try to make them mainstream again by charging them MORE than the comic shop versions. That only pissed me off and I decided not to buy from Borders at the time.

I do remember getting a newsstand edition of Whedon's Astonishing X-Men from 7-11 and it costing more. But it also had an issue of New Mutants or Mutant Academy on the reverse side.
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Old 07-22-20, 09:49 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
Traditionally, newsstand and direct market versions of comics -- at least as long as the only difference was in what was in the UPC box -- have been the same. Dealers and collectors made no distinction between whether there as a Spider-Man head in the box or a barcode.

At some point a few years ago, Mile High Comics started charging double for newsstand editions. I'm unsure if they started the trend, or just followed it.

There was a time in the early 90s when Marvel started putting out two editions of their comics (or maybe it was just the X-Men line) where the Direct Market edition cost $1.95 and was printed on glossy paper, while the newsstand edition cost $1.50, was printed on lower quality paper, and came out several weeks later. This lasted about a year and both editions were made available in the direct market.

Also worth noting that, a few years ago when they were trying to reintroduce comics to the newsstand, Marvel (and maybe DC and Dark Horse, too) put out newsstand editions of certain comcis that cost a dollar more than their DM counterparts. I would wager that these versions are probably pretty scarce.
Mile High was kind of a pioneer in making a distinction between the newsstand and the direct market versions, but the rationale was similar to what I said on my previous post about condition. Mile High also made the distinction because of the Whitman logo comics that were similar to newsstand editions and the fact that some of these newsstands had a Canadian version (priced only in Canadian dollars) or like the Star Wars, a 5 cent difference.

The newsstand editions that came out in the past 10-20 years have become a collectible due to several factors. For example, the Amazing Spider-Man 36 (9/11 issue) had an all black cover for the direct market but in the newsstand version the book has the UPC in front. Because of how it breaks the way the book was intended to be, it became appealing to collectors. Also, not many stores were carrying newsstand editions in the past 10 years. Only several bookstores like Borders, B&N, and Toys R Us had newsstand editions. (Don't think even airport magazine stores were carrying them) Because of this, some newsstand key issues have exploded in value like the first appearance of Miles Morales. Finding that book in high grade in the newsstand was almost unheard off.

Like almost everything else in this comic book world, this is also another thing collector's have created in the market. Some people like it, some people hate it. I for one, don't hunt these books, but if I come across them at reasonable prices I would buy them. For example, I found on a dollar box a newsstand second printing of Spectacular Spider-Man 189. This one has a gold hologram instead of silver and the newsstand barcode. The book is a ghost. I looked on ebay for years after finding it and never seen one. Haven't seen one at shows or other stores either. There's no record of it existing on any site, to the point that I had to manually add it to CLZ and take a scan of the book to put the picture in it. I can't even put a price on the book because there's nothing to compare it too.
Old 07-23-20, 12:10 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by brayzie
I remember at Borders bookstore Captain America comics written by Ed Brubaker at the time were $1 more than the comic book store copies. I don't get why they'd try to make them mainstream again by charging them MORE than the comic shop versions. That only pissed me off and I decided not to buy from Borders at the time.

I do remember getting a newsstand edition of Whedon's Astonishing X-Men from 7-11 and it costing more. But it also had an issue of New Mutants or Mutant Academy on the reverse side.
It comes down to the economics.

I may be misremembering, but I think the higher price for those newsstand editions was at the behest of the magazine distributors. They really don't like comic books because there are so many of them, and their low cover prices make them low-margin item that they don't want to deal with.

It does become a vicious circle, though. They are unprofitable at low prices, but the higher the price gets, the less attractive they are to consumers. This has been something the direct market has been dealing with since the early 90s, but when you throw distributors and returns to the mix, and nobody wins.

I know comic book fans fantasize about returning comic books to grocery stores and newsstands, but that ship sailed a long time ago. People forget that the direct market was started because the newsstand market for comics was drying up by the 1970s, and the creation of the direct market was born from that. The direct market, for all of its faults, is very good at getting comic books into the hands of those who still want them. And we would have never seen the diversity of the medium explode like it did if the industry was still tied to the newsstand distribution system. No Sandman. No Walking Dead. No Preacher. No Watchmen.
Old 07-23-20, 09:53 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
It comes down to the economics.

I may be misremembering, but I think the higher price for those newsstand editions was at the behest of the magazine distributors. They really don't like comic books because there are so many of them, and their low cover prices make them low-margin item that they don't want to deal with.

It does become a vicious circle, though. They are unprofitable at low prices, but the higher the price gets, the less attractive they are to consumers. This has been something the direct market has been dealing with since the early 90s, but when you throw distributors and returns to the mix, and nobody wins.

I know comic book fans fantasize about returning comic books to grocery stores and newsstands, but that ship sailed a long time ago. People forget that the direct market was started because the newsstand market for comics was drying up by the 1970s, and the creation of the direct market was born from that. The direct market, for all of its faults, is very good at getting comic books into the hands of those who still want them. And we would have never seen the diversity of the medium explode like it did if the industry was still tied to the newsstand distribution system. No Sandman. No Walking Dead. No Preacher. No Watchmen.
I believe the complaint about pricing also came from the LCS owners, Dennis Berger and Brian Hibbs in particular, who felt that having those books in newsstand would affect their business.

Yeah, this old timer mentality of books going back to grocery stores and pharmacies is just not going to happen. Starting with how many of these stores have magazine racks like they did before the 2000s? The only places I would put comic books outside of LCS is Target, Wal-Mart and movie theaters. Other than that, it's not going to work.
Old 07-23-20, 10:06 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
I believe the complaint about pricing also came from the LCS owners, Dennis Berger and Brian Hibbs in particular, who felt that having those books in newsstand would affect their business.

Yeah, this old timer mentality of books going back to grocery stores and pharmacies is just not going to happen. Starting with how many of these stores have magazine racks like they did before the 2000s? The only places I would put comic books outside of LCS is Target, Wal-Mart and movie theaters. Other than that, it's not going to work.
Dollar General and or Dollar Tree could be another potential source of hidden revenue.

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Old 07-23-20, 11:29 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by brayzie
Thanks for shedding further light on that. I wondered how it came about. I can see from a strictly collector stand point, how anything rare, however small, is something to search out. But it feels like, starting with the 90s, comic reading became "comic collecting" in the most financial sense. I was buying crap comics solely because they were #1s, thinking they were going to rise in value.
I was doing this back in the early-mid 1980s. At the time, there were a few #1 issues which skyrocketed in price such as limited series Transformers #1, GI Joe #1, etc ...

As an exercise in blind mindless speculation, I was buying all kinds of issue #1 of stuff I never would have otherwise read. In the end, the vast majority of these issue #1 titles didn't spike up in price. The only one I had which spiked up in price was limited series Punisher #1. Otherwise it was largely a waste of $$$$.
Old 07-23-20, 12:19 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by morriscroy
I was doing this back in the early-mid 1980s. At the time, there were a few #1 issues which skyrocketed in price such as limited series Transformers #1, GI Joe #1, etc ...

As an exercise in blind mindless speculation, I was buying all kinds of issue #1 of stuff I never would have otherwise read. In the end, the vast majority of these issue #1 titles didn't spike up in price. The only one I had which spiked up in price was limited series Punisher #1. Otherwise it was largely a waste of $$$$.
This always happened going back to the mid sixties. That's one of the main reason comic cons started and another reason as to why there was an explosion in the direct market. Along with trading cards, comic books have always been there in terms of collectability. Many people have always been buying to speculate on books. The difference in the 90's was that the media got involved and started boosting the market when issues of Action Comics 1 and Detective Comics 27 sold for hundreds of thousands on Sothesby auctions. Then the perfect storm of the creation of Venom, the Death of Superman, the creation of Image and the popularity in comic books led to the media saying that comic books were a better investment than stocks. All this lead to an increase in speculators who dropped out of the market once they realized that the return on investment wasn't worth it and that the media, not knowing about the topic, had led everyone to fool's gold. The funny thing now is that a lot of people from that era who couldn't afford those 90's overpriced books then are looking for them now and the 80's and 90's market had started to flourish again.
Old 07-23-20, 01:02 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Yeah, the direct market really took off with those Baxter editions DC put out, and them separating the storylines (which gave the prestige format direct market editions a lead time but also made it so that some stories were only in newsstand editions).

For years (not sure if it's still true) Archie had this sweetheart deal with grocery stores for those mini digest racks. That's why they were around when DC and Marvel had long been gone from them. As a kid, I remember a lot of my reading was those digests which were just reprints of stuff I would've never been exposed to otherwise.

The other thing I'll say about newsstand comics, especially when they were prevalent: it's not only the condition, but the fact that the print runs are erratic because every issue that doesn't sell withink the timeframe gets pulped (basically they tear off the front covers and are supposed to throw away the rest, which is what they do with magazines as well). That's part of the reason why the comic companies liked the direct market: no returnability.
Old 07-23-20, 01:53 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man

I may be misremembering, but I think the higher price for those newsstand editions was at the behest of the magazine distributors. They really don't like comic books because there are so many of them, and their low cover prices make them low-margin item that they don't want to deal with.

It does become a vicious circle, though. They are unprofitable at low prices, but the higher the price gets, the less attractive they are to consumers. This has been something the direct market has been dealing with since the early 90s, but when you throw distributors and returns to the mix, and nobody wins.

I know comic book fans fantasize about returning comic books to grocery stores and newsstands, but that ship sailed a long time ago. People forget that the direct market was started because the newsstand market for comics was drying up by the 1970s, and the creation of the direct market was born from that. The direct market, for all of its faults, is very good at getting comic books into the hands of those who still want them. And we would have never seen the diversity of the medium explode like it did if the industry was still tied to the newsstand distribution system. No Sandman. No Walking Dead. No Preacher. No Watchmen.

That at makes sense for the cover price. At the time though, it was like the final insult. I tried to give Ed Brunaker’s Captain America a chance. But Marvel was reducing the page count, the stories were extremely decompressed so reading of an individual issue was way too brief and unsatisfying and on top of that, the newsstand price was a dollar extra?? No thanks.

The DM was a good response but I wonder if comics had been able to grow and not been viewed as “kids stuff” because of the whole Burning Comics/Wertham/Comics Code controversy would we have gotten more diversity in the newsstand prior to the creation of the DM. Would American comic books not have been considered juvenile nerd literature?

And if Marvel and DC Comics has been more Crestor-friendly in the 80s, the spectator boom didn’t happen in the early 90s, and Jim Lee and friends didn’t defect, would the industry have been a little more healthy? I remember in the mid-90s, all the supermarkets had expanded their comic sections, from spinner racks to whole walls. But by that time there was so much crap, a lot of it wasn’t worth reading. And about the only diversity at the newsstand was that they added Spawn and Spawn-soon-offs to the usual Marvel/DC stuff. By the time I’m in high school, I see the same old, except this time...Spider-man is a clone, Superman is electric blue, Avengers are Reborn as Liefeld illustrations. And Spawn. No Vertigo stuff. Nothing different or exciting.

And for for sure comics aren’t coming back to the drug stores with magazine sections shrinking.
Old 07-24-20, 04:14 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Yeah, this old timer mentality of books going back to grocery stores and pharmacies is just not going to happen.
I started collecting because of comics at the grocery store. I would grab one or two to read while following my mom around.
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Old 07-24-20, 09:09 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by TheBang
I started collecting because of comics at the grocery store. I would grab one or two to read while following my mom around.
Me too, but that was in an era where grocery, pharmacies and department stores had a huge magazine area rack. The magazine business is truly dying and most stores only carry them in the racks during checkout. The other thing was that the books were $.75 to $1. Now, most books are $3.99.

The best way to get kids into comic books is simply to go full promotion on digital and through Scholastics. Still, digital needs to be priced lower since there's no physical copy.
Old 07-25-20, 10:29 AM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Then the perfect storm of the creation of Venom, the Death of Superman, the creation of Image and the popularity in comic books led to the media saying that comic books were a better investment than stocks. All this lead to an increase in speculators who dropped out of the market once they realized that the return on investment wasn't worth it and that the media, not knowing about the topic, had led everyone to fool's gold.
If I had to guess, was (vol2) X-Men #1 at the start of this bubble?
Old 07-25-20, 05:26 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by morriscroy
If I had to guess, was (vol2) X-Men #1 at the start of this bubble?
No, that would be Spider-Man 1 by Todd McFarlane, released a year before X-Men 1. Lot's of variants, issues polybagged for no reason whatsoever, lots of hype and people buying multiples for investment. The way that book sold, let to the creation of X-Men 1, which led to X-Force 1, which led to all of them leaving and founding Image.
Old 07-25-20, 06:26 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
... and people buying multiples for investment.
Back in the day circa early-mid 1980s, I remember a few then-local friends who would be buying two or more copies of each monthly issue of The Uncanny X-Men after #150 or so. Essentially they were betting on the value of these issues skyrocketing. At the time, back issues of The Uncanny X-Men #94 to around #142 or #143 were skyrocking in price.

Fast foward many years/decades later, these exact same issues of The Uncanny X-Men after issue #150 did not skyrocket in price at all. At best for copies in "pristine mint" condition, they more or less just tracked cpi inflation of the cover price over the years. Otherwise they are now largely dump bin fodder.
Old 07-25-20, 07:33 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
No, that would be Spider-Man 1 by Todd McFarlane, released a year before X-Men 1. Lot's of variants, issues polybagged for no reason whatsoever, lots of hype and people buying multiples for investment. The way that book sold, let to the creation of X-Men 1, which led to X-Force 1, which led to all of them leaving and founding Image.
When my parents took me to a new comic shop at the time the clerk or owner was trying to convince them to buy me Spider-man #1, saying how it was a collectible, it would be valuable, how it's such a big deal. They passed it to me and wanted to know if I wanted it. I was a big Spider-man, and got into the comic because of the McFarlane Venom issue, but I thought the actual story in this first issue was boring, in that not much happened, therefore, not to much entertainment/reading value. I tried to convince them not to get it saying that it looked "too violent."

This comic looked more interesting to me:

Unfortunately the cheaper newsprint, non-precious metal colored cover, and un-first issue status meant that I wouldn't be getting it. I ended up getting hooked on the "Torment" storyline, but years later I got a back issue of the Detective Comics "Dark Genesis" storyline and it's WAY better than McFarlane's tale.


Originally Posted by morriscroy
Back in the day circa early-mid 1980s, I remember a few then-local friends who would be buying two or more copies of each monthly issue of The Uncanny X-Men after #150 or so. Essentially they were betting on the value of these issues skyrocketing. At the time, back issues of The Uncanny X-Men #94 to around #142 or #143 were skyrocking in price.

Fast foward many years/decades later, these exact same issues of The Uncanny X-Men after issue #150 did not skyrocket in price at all. At best for copies in "pristine mint" condition, they more or less just tracked cpi inflation of the cover price over the years. Otherwise they are now largely dump bin fodder.
It seems that's how these things always work out. All those comics I bought purely because they were #1, the 100th issue, Death of-, -went insane and turned evil, -got back broken, etc, all turned out to be worthless. The comics I because I was actually interested in for the story turned out to be worth something.

Hellboy #1, and Grafik Muzik #1 for example.
Old 07-25-20, 07:35 PM
  #73  
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Red Hood
Then the perfect storm of the creation of Venom, the Death of Superman, the creation of Image and the popularity in comic books led to the media saying that comic books were a better investment than stocks. All this lead to an increase in speculators who dropped out of the market once they realized that the return on investment wasn't worth it and that the media, not knowing about the topic, had led everyone to fool's gold.
A couple of other clouds in that perfect storm were Valiant Comics and the collapse of sports cards.

Valiant Comics become "hot" and their early releases were scarce, which caused prices to skyrocket on almost all of the pre-Unity issues. And, then when people saw things Magnus Robot Fighter #1 (first appearance of Turok), Harbinger #1, Rai #3 and #4 (rarest early Valiant issues), and others, they started stockpiling new issues like crazy.

And the collapse of the sports card industry in the early 90s (was there a Baseball strike? Or just over-saturation?) led baseball card dealers to start dabbling in comic book retail and speculation.
Old 07-25-20, 07:48 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

As far as the Image guys defecting... I think overall most will agree that that was a good thing. At the time there were a lot of headaches with late books and copycat art, but if they had stayed they would have been catered to by Marvel and I think creatively it would have gone about the same, probably a little worse in those initial years. But Image morphed into something much bigger in terms of creator owned comics which led to a lot more diversity, both within and outside of the superhero genre (without Image we don't get stuff like ABC Comics, Planetary, Astro City, etc.)
Old 07-25-20, 08:00 PM
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Re: What happened to Spawn?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man
And the collapse of the sports card industry in the early 90s (was there a Baseball strike? Or just over-saturation?) led baseball card dealers to start dabbling in comic book retail and speculation.
Not to go too far off topic.

If I had to guess, the sports card bubble was driven by stuff like Wayne Gretzky's rookie card? (IIRC, from 1979).

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