Never Underestimate the Power of Pop Culture

The influence of pop culture can be a powerful thing. When you are talking about the world of comic books, that influence can turn into a stirring storm of popularity that results in some truly high prices. At its heart, the comic book world is an entertainment business meant to dazzle, inspire, entertain, and display the talents of some of the most creative people in the world.

However, there is a second side to the industry that many people associate with it—collectibles. After all, comics have a limited print run, which translates into scarcity. Like any great collectible story, when that scarcity is combined with issues that get tossed, damaged, stored improperly, or generally destroyed, the number of copies of a certain title can vastly diminish. All of this underscores the limited supply.

Pop culture can light a character or property on fire. A television show, a movie, a cool animated series, or whatever your particular entertainment poison might be, has the ability to drive a character into the consciousness of the public as a whole. This process creates more fans. If those fans decide to pursue the comic book part of the equation, demand increases. All the while, supply stays pretty much the same.

While a certain part of that supply supposedly dries up when collectors have placed their comics into bags and boards and put them awaynever to be seen again, those issues can resurface in later years and often do. Of course, depending on how bright the fire of demand is, that can result in some terrific prices.

Think about it, if everyone kept a pristine copy of Action Comics #1, and there were millions available, would the book still be worth hundreds of thousands (and often millions) of dollars? Probably not, because it would be easy to get. So why is Action #1 worth a ton of cash? Why is Detective #27 legendary? What about Amazing Fantasy #15? They are first appearances for sure, but they are first appearances of Superman, Batman, and Spiderman. The pop culture hat trick of richness.

The characters where everywhere, and that’s kind of the point. Take a look at the current pace of pop culture. Five, maybe six years ago, the Flash was a difficult title to sell. Pop a hit television show onto the airwaves, and poof, any issues featuring the Scarlett Speedster are incredibly difficult to come by. The list goes on and on, but any little boost in popularity can have a dramatic impact on prices.

The caveat is that it can decades for that boost to happen. New Mutants #98, the first appearance of Deadpool, was the most valuable issue of New Mutants for years. The Deadpool game and movie happened, and a $70 book was elevated into the $300 to $400 price range. That being said, there is a New Mutants movie coming out, which has ignited interest in that series.

There are comic book series that follow the further adventures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, and more, there are also series that fill in the gaps of popular television series, Flash and Arrow, and even the Vampire Diaries. Heard of show called The Walking Dead? Yeah, that comic book series is incredibly collectible (read: expensive).

Like all collectibles, values can fade. Like some fads, values can dive quickly. In some cases, those values can be salvaged, in others, well, not so much. Pop culture is a fickle girl or guy to take to the big dance, and comic book collectors know this and comic book dealers, successful ones anyway, have made their lively hood on it.

Just like every other aspect of business, timing is everything. Quality is everything. However, entertainment endures. There is a reason why comic books can trace their ancestry back nearly a century, they are fun. The blip of movies, TV shows, shirts, and toys, are all small hits on the radar of history. All it takes is one hit to drive something huge, it’s all about being relevant.

So never underestimate the power of pop culture, because that can be something that leaves collectors of any level really appreciating their collections for the long and short term. Having fun, well, that’s the plus side of any hobby and business, because chasing those issues is what really makes it a good time. Meeting some cool and interesting people along the way? Well, every industry has its bonus.