If you want to see a horde of comic
book aficionados rivaling the Mongols howling with blood lust. Just
type in these three key words; comics the 90s. You will be engulfed
in blistering rants about the Dark Age of comics. From 1990 to a
little past 2000 virtually every comic blogger will tell you it was
the worst period in comic history. The reasons are varied ranging
from too many gimmicks to massive over printing. The culprits are
viewed with as much contempt as the villains that smashed their way
on to the pages of that era's comics. At the top of the list Marvel,
DC, Image and of course Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld.
Now I don't make any claims to being a
human comic encyclopedia. But I've been a reader and collector since
I was a kid in the sixties; the Amazing Silver Age. Back then I paid
$15.00 for Amazing Spiderman #1. Everyone thought me mad, a good one
goes for $15,000.00 now. 90s vintage comics were ground breaking in
many ways and the frenzy over them was justified. Just like Marvel
stories from the 60s, so sooner or later a lot of those 90s
characters will reemerge. Actually they already are.
The Bronze Age followed from 1970 to
roughly 1985 or as I like to call it the age of Conan. I sold my
Savage Sword of Conan # 1 for a hundred bucks and regretted it ever
since. Many great characters and stories emerged out of this time. In
fact over printing was a problem then as well as in the 90s. The
thing is we have more people now. Once a comic issue is printed they
stop, not so with babies we keep making them. Asian kids love comics
and we have the internet now. Screw over printing.
Even back in the Golden Age when
Superman was only able to leap, they had their comic crash.
Comics
are always popular for a while then worthless for a while, but they
always come back bigger than ever. From 1993 to 2008 my family ran
Kool Kollectables Comics in Las Vegas, Nv. That's right during the
Darkage.
I currently hold about 300,000 books in
a secret bunker. So I know a little something about comics and the
dreaded Darkage of the 90s sometimes referred to as the Age of
Chrome. So called because publishers were taking advantage of all the
hot tech available to them. Chrome covers were all the rage. So too
was foil, embossing, 3D holograms, wraparound foldout and die cuts.
Some of the sexier books sported leather and lace it was as much
about the kool covers as it was the content.
It is also true that changes in
distribution and other factors gave rise to a wave of friendly
neighborhood comic shops and a few years later most were belly up.
Even the powerhouses Marvel and DC were on the ropes. Scores of Indie
publishers flourished for a time then blew up in mid air. Many one
shot companies detonated on the launch pad. It was a volatile time.
And yet it was as wonderful and exiting as any epic crossover staring
the X-Men.
You'll hear a lot about the glitzy
sparkly shiny gimmicks and all the insane multiple covers. Personally
being a long time collector of the shinny and sharp I saw the foil
3-D chrome die-cut wrap around cover craziness as pretty damn Kool.
So did all the complainers those books sold like gold at a dental
convention.
Was the collector market over sold and
flooded with too many books? You betcha but how could you stop it?
When gold was discovered in the Yukon prospectors flooded into muddy
boom towns and many sank in the mud and never recovered, but a few
hit the mother load. Then there were folks that kept their wits about
them and diversified. The 90s were marked by fad frenzy, every other
month some new craze had gripped the country. Pogs, Magic the
Gathering, Vampire the Masquerade, X-Men, Pokemon, this list goes on.
Remember the hula-hoop craze? No of course not but your granny does
she was one of millions to twirl that nutty contraption around her
waist and shake her booty. Well my point is that I saw a hot young
hoopster on You Tube hooping some pretty incredible moves that your
granny never thought of. See everything comes back around and around
and around... OK you get it.
With each new gold strike shops opened
up specializing in just comics, games or cards and soon vaporized
just as quickly. At KK we sold everything and road every wave as it
rolled in. This was very difficult because we got stuck with a lot of
Merch. But we held on and eventually someone would come buy up a
bunch of back stock. If you couldn't hold out you got trapped when
the roof fell in on you. Ultimately, we sold our buildings when the
real estate boom was at its peak. We sold out just before the big
crash of 08. So whether it's comics, real estate or the stock market
the trick is getting out of the crumbling mine shaft with what gold
you can carry before the cave in. As to all those collector/investors
with back stock. Here's what I know from paying attention to history.
Every thing makes a come back. You can
dump your load and take a loss but some clever entrepreneur will buy
low.
Then he'll wait until Hollywood shoots another kick ass movie or a block
buster TV show based on yet another iconic comic title, then flash
your … I mean his shiny collection and snag a tidy profit. It's all
happening right now so get ready to make your move.
