I received the following in an e-mail from a Comic Book Secrets member, “comics are dead in the water.”

And do you know what?

He’s right…partially.

It’s easy to see his point. Average condition, common, non-key comic books are selling for small fractions of the values listed in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. You could usually always get them at a discount, but now things are much worse. Collectors looking to finish runs of comics under NM can get comics for about 10% of guide with very little work (I show subscribers how to do it for free).

But…

An Amazing Fantasy #15 in CGC 9.4 just sold for over $1 million. That is anything but “dead in the water.”

It’s a tale of two cities in comic book land. On one hand we have a thriving market setting new records, and on the other we’re setting records – record lows that is. That doesn’t mean comics are dead, the supply and demand curve is adjusting to the new realities in the market, but now we are armed with far better information and easier, worldwide access to comics.

Depending on who you are these are exciting times. Collectors – now is the time to put together runs at far lower prices than ever before. If you are an investor, watch out, who knows when the next record price will be set.