The shift from serious collectors to variant cover speculators feels huge since 2019

Tbh I remember walking into my LCS in 2018 and everyone was talking about story arcs and writer runs, now it's all 'what's the print run on this virgin cover'. The ratio of actual readers to flip-and-sell guys has totally flipped in like 4 years. Do you think the speculator bubble is gonna pop like it did in the 90s, or is this just the new normal for comic fans?

2 comments

2 Comments

luna_wells5726d ago

The speculator crowd is definitely louder now but I think you're overstating how many actual readers are gone. My LCS still has a pull list that's mostly people following runs by guys like Ram V or Al Ewing... the variant chasers are just more visible because they post everything online. Print runs are way lower than the 90s too, so even if a bubble pops it won't crater the entire industry like before. That said, seeing a $50 virgin cover of Spider-Man #1 that nobody actually reads is pretty wild. Maybe the real shift is just that comics are more of a collector's item now than a reading medium...

reeseanderson26d ago

My LCS started tracking pull boxes vs. variant pre-orders back in 2021 and it showed about 60/40 in favor of readers at the time. By late 2023 that had flipped to maybe 45/55. The bubble won't pop like the 90s because print runs are way smaller now, but you'll see a slow bleed out as flippers realize they're sitting on books that won't hold value. @luna_wells57 makes a good point about print runs being lower, but I still see guys dropping $80 on a Peach Momoko cover of a #1 they'll never read. Best advice is ignore the FOMO on those variants and just stick with what you actually want to read.