I have just one question:

WHY??!!!

What makes a comic book — no, not even a whole comic book, but just the cover art — worth $7.5 million dollars? That’s right — $7,500,000 U.S. dollars. And specifically this:

At least, that’s what Heritage Auctions is estimating it could bring at its upcoming auction.

Now, I am not a comic book aficionado. I haven’t read one since I was about nine years old. They were pretty simplistic back then — Superman, Wonder Woman, Archie — and we loved them. We couldn’t wait for the next issue of each one; we’d read them a few times, and then they went into the stack for the paper drive. That was during World War II, and we collected everything for the war drives. After the war, we simply threw them away.

Really . . . who had space to save everything? And why would you? It was just paper. And later, when I had children of my own, who would have thought to save the Barbies, the GI Joes, the Hot Wheels, those hideous Cabbage Patch dolls, or the even uglier Trolls that belonged under a bridge? And save the boxes? How could you do that? You bought them for your kids to play with, not to stash on a shelf in case they might someday be worth something. That would have been ridiculous.

But some people did, and still do. They collect everything. And when it becomes overwhelming, those people are called hoarders. They’ve even become the subject of a really depressing TV series. But somewhere in some of those hoards there could be an item or two worth some real money. I mean . . . millions!

But how do you know? And where do you draw the line on collecting? I’ve never been that lucky. I collect books, because I love them. And music CDs, because I love music. They’ll never be worth more than the original price. I did collect the U.S. State coin series, and they’re estimated at a bit more than face value; but they’ll never make me rich. I have a few items — a signed, numbered lithograph by a now-dead artist, for example — that could net me a few thousand dollars. But $7.5 million?

Ha!!!

So, okay. So I’m not that lucky . . . or, apparently, that smart. But I go back to my original question: Why? Why is something like a comic book cover worth that kind of money to a collector? Who decides those things? And are they really a good long-term investment, or could they one day become just more junk? I watch Antiques Roadshow, you know; I’ve seen how some items can depreciate.

So with my luck, or lack of it, I’ll stick to proven winners, like gold. That is, if I can ever afford to buy it.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/10/24