"Will go up."
Sometimes when we buy large comic collections, we’ll come across comics that still have price tags from other stores and sellers affixed to the plastic bags. Occasionally, our reaction to these prices tags is “they tried to get ten bucks for that?!” but usually we just ignore them, peel them off the bag, replace the bag entirely, or whatever needs to be done as we’re processing the new acquisitions.
When I saw this particular issue of X-Man in one collection we picked up a couple years back, I decided against removing the tag for…well, no good reason other than I was amused by the idea that some dealer, somewhere, thought that X-Man #18 was a sure thing investment.
I wonder how many other comics this dealer sold in this fashion? I wonder how many comics this dealer promised his customers “sure, it’ll go up in price, honest!” And just so we’re on the same page…the price increase implied (and that these customers were surely expecting) was certainly several times the cover price, maybe even into the $50 or $100 range, not the more-likely 25 or 50 cent back issue mark-up.
As a result, how many angry customers did the dealer have to face later on when they realized that most of the comics they bought with the promise that they’d “go up” didn’t increase in price very much at all? Or, more likely, how many of these customers left the comics hobby altogether, feeling burned on these “investments?”
That’s why, when customers ask me for “investment” advice, I tell them to buy comics that they’ll like, that way the comics will always be worth something to them. I make no guarantees of future financial performance.
By the way, the most recent edition of the Overstreet Price Guide has this issue of X-Man priced at $2.50 in NM condition.
