The comic book shop in Austin I visited had two completely different crowds

I went to this place on South Lamar last Saturday and noticed half the people were digging through dollar bins for old 90s X-Men issues while the other half were all fighting over the new variant covers. Which side is actually keeping the hobby alive, the bargain hunters or the speculators?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_burns25d ago

Man the speculator crowd is what keeps those doors open. I watched a dude drop $200 on variant covers of some new #1 that'll probably be worthless in six months. Meanwhile the dollar bin guys will stand there for an hour flipping through old comics and spend maybe $15 total. The shop owner knows who brings in the real money. Same thing happens at my local shop on Wednesdays. The guys grabbing new releases and variants are why they even order stock in the first place. The bargain hunters are fine for atmosphere but they aren't paying the rent.

iris92725d ago

Speculators are absolutely keeping the industry alive, not the bargain hunters. Dollar bin diggers are just reliving their childhoods for cheap while the speculators are the ones actually spending real money on new books and driving up demand for fresh creators. Without that hype, comic shops would just be dusty old libraries with no new blood coming in.

murphy.aaron25d ago

Dude, it's the same thing with vinyl records honestly. People act like crate diggers are saving music, but the labels only press new stuff because flippers and collectors drop serious cash on limited editions. Those $40 reissues are what pay the bills, not someone picking up a scratched copy of Rumours for a buck.