#comicsarebooks

This would seem easy to grasp considering it is in the very description of the things.
But leave it to humankind to miss the point, and to ignore the purpose and benefits of a thing,
fixate on something arbitrary like collectability and to utterly suck the joy out of something.

Hello.

Today we talk about a problem that affects a major portion of comic book consumers.
Most of which can be summarized by these oft heard utterances:
"They're gonna' be worth something..."
"I don't let my kids read them"
"I'm saving them for...."
"they're still in the plastic"

I don't wish to discourage someone's joy or hobby it avoids the crucial points that:
comics being the descendant of both the comic strip and the pulp magazine, they were always intended to be read.

But somewhere along the line at the end of the 70's ..
then came the comics specialty stores,
and along with them came plastic bags, PVC, mylar, lucite...preserved for future generations.

COMICS ARE BOOKS!

the old ones are valued/valuable because everyone threw them away,
the new ones are all protected and will ensure that the appreciation of value doesn't happen

this comes the CGC company and their offspring...
offering "Premium Grading Services" and ironclad returns on your investments
and suddenly $3 books out this week are slabbed and restickered at $100 bucks.

it's a false market based on speculation
and with my own eyes i have seen flawed and suspect grading,
even some things that could be considered as dishonest.
as someone who has graded books and worked in comic shops for a good part of 20 years i find it offensive that these services are regarded as authoritative.

no one at Chapters/Indigo/Borders gets harangued daily with questions about prospective long term resale value or even fields questions about whether or not a book is 1st print.

COMICS ARE BOOKS!

the value is in the reading. literacy is still a concern in this world
and there are progressively less people who are properly literate.....
as the world shifts more and more to videos...Youtube and if they're lucky a TedTalk or two..
we need books in hands. it has to start with  kids... conditioning them to enjoy and desire the experience of reading, the mental discipline and experience of assembling the information within without it being diluted and spoonfed thru Newsfeeds, RSS, GIFs and vid clips.

READ COMICS!

books need to be in our hands, our backpacks and pockets.
they need to be on our shelves and nightstands.

COMICS ARE BOOKS!

American comics have come a long way to catch up with Europe and Japan in terms of quality and to effectively quarantine them, keep them out of readers hands

READ COMICS!

perhaps the tide is a turning....
just today we gave a talk at a local school about graphic novels and comics that coincides with their Graphic Novel Week and Book Sale. I was truly enthused by the excitement and energy these kids have for the stuff. they asked lotsa questions, took down shopping list notes, thumbed thru the books and beckoned each other back and forth to scope out one book or another,
And not one of them asked how much it would be worth in 5 Years,

Ah......satisfaction.

READ COMICS!