The Comic Book World

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Hollywood film makers are looking for inspiration for their box office hits from comic books. It has become a recent trend to recreate the action found on the pages of a comic book onto a theatre screen. We all love the onomatopoeias that bring the action to life as we read through our favorite <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’);” href=”comic/”>http://www.mycomicshop.com”>comic books</a>. POW, THUMP, AARGH, KA-BOOM! However, the excitement is moved up a notch as you sit in a theatre with surround sound and a huge movie screen watching the bad guy suffer from an explosion and hearing the loud banging from the explosion.

In 2009, there are eight movies to be released that are about characters from comics such as Wolverine, Dragonball, Transformers, and Astro Boy just to name a few. In the past three years or so, some more recognizable movies were made about comic book heroes such as Spiderman, Batman, Superman, and who could forget Heath Ledger’s appearance as a villain in The Dark Knight. Comic book movies are some of the highest grossing films in Hollywood. The Dark Knight is the highest grossing film coming in at over one billion dollars, $1,001,921,825 to be exact. This movie was comparable, profit wise, to Titanic, The Lord of the Rings, and Pirates of the Caribbean. The second biggest gross opening day was when Spiderman 3 was released. Opening day for the film acquired close to $60 million. The total gross profit was $890,871,626. Even looking back as far as twelve years ago, Men in Black was released in 1997 and made $589,390,539.

Not only do comic book movies make a lot of money, they can positively affect, change, or launch an actor’s career into stardom. Heath Ledger was incredible in the Dark Knight as the Joker character. He had what producers call the chill factor, where you get goose bumps from watching him act, and won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild award, and a Bafta. Critics have been known to say that this role was career defining for him. Will Smith was proven to be a force in the film industry after his role in Men in Black. He became a leading man in Hollywood and starred in other box office hits such as Independence Day. He also starred in another comic book movie, Hancock. Robert Downey Jr’s career was brought back to life after he starred as Tony Stark in Ironman.

In a tough economy, we find ourselves looking to make a buck. We act like superheroes trying to fight this volatile economy. Well, why not look to the superheroes themselves? Comic books make for a great investment. They are lucrative and can be worth a lot of money. However, investing in comic books may not bring a big payoff right away. It can take fifteen to twenty years for a comic book to be valuable. Who would’ve thought that a childhood pastime would make you some money, and at the same time you get to have fun while purchasing comic books that bring some joy into your life.

Comic books are rising in value because of the increased popularity of them. Hollywood producers are making recognizable comic books heroes the stars of their movies. For people who are not familiar with the characters, they soon find themselves becoming more interested in them. Or people are reminded of characters they loved as a kid after seeing movies such as Ironman, Wonderwoman, and Superman. They are inspired to buy the comics after watching the movie.

Investing in comic books requires some work and dedication from the collector. They keep their value when they are in good condition and stored properly. There is also researched involved. How popular is the comic, what is the initial cost, what is the current value, how rare is the comic? You also have to decide what type of collector you want to be. There are different types of ways to be an investor for comics.

Investors simply care about the bottom line. They don’t have an emotional side attached with the comics and look to see how much money they can make from selling the comics. Another form of the investor is the person out to make some quick cash. This comic collector buys and sells in bulk tying to make fast money. Usually they are selling the most popular comics, not rarities. The EBay investor is closely related to the person trying to make some fast cash. They auction off their comic books on EBay. Usually they read the comics first and then sell them to get money back, but of course at a higher rate. Unlike the other investors they enjoy reading the comics and have some emotional attachment. Excitement not only comes from the comic but also the auctioning off of the book. Another type of investor simply looking at the bottom line is the inheritor. There is no sentimental value for the comics that were passed on to them. They want to get rid of the comics, but at the same time make a profit.

On the other hand, there are the emotional types of investors. To these types of people, there is sentimental value to the comics and they invest, trade, and purchase comics with value. The reader has the comics for their traditional purpose, reading. They don’t care about preserving the comic and enjoy the superheroes come to life as they read through the colorful pages of a comic. A step down from the reader is the part time reader. They enjoy comics but pick up and leave the hobby when it suits them. Last but not least, are the obsessive collectors. They dream, live, and breathe comic books. They categorize their comics, preserve the comics, and are the go-to guys for comic information.

Investing in comics has its rewards. Those rewards come in the form of money, joy, or excitement. Which collector are you and will you invest in comic books?