One minor thought on the grading issue... When you buy a copy off of the shelf now, you know immediately that it's value is zero. Grading has killed the collector who would take care of their bought copy, which in turn is the reason why older copies had any value at all, because it became the duty of the consumer to protect the copy themselves.
I have no doubt that this has hurt sales, which caused a raise in prices to compensate, which also hurt sales. Which alienated the casual buyer, and priced out kids, which hurts future sales.
I agree that grading should only be for comics considered 'classic'. Maybe 30 years and older, so each year a new crop is available to be graded, and prices will again rely on the ability of the consumer to preserve the issue.
__________________
"By Grabthar's hammer ... what a savings."
|