Back in the ‘60s, when you didn’t bother to clean up your room and your mom carried out her threat and pitched that comic book you’d left laying on the floor, she probably didn’t realize how her actions would contribute to an astonishing element of inflation in our culture, but the scarcity of certain “graphic novels” is creating amazing opportunities today.
It was announced this week that over $1 million has been paid for a comic book that featured the first appearance of Spider-Man.
According to the Associated Press, a collector has paid $1.1 million for a near-mint copy of “Amazing Fantasy” No. 15, that shows Spidey’s first appearance.
“ComicConnect.com chief executive Stephen Fishler told The Associated Press Tuesday that the Silver Age issue, first published in 1962, was sold Monday by a private seller to a private buyer.
“It’s not the highest price ever paid for a comic book. That honor goes to Action Comics No. 1 with Superman on the cover, which went for $1.5 million.
“But Fishler says the price paid is the most for a Silver Age era book.
“The cover shows Spider-Man clutching a villain in one arm and swinging from his web with the other. It originally sold for 12 cents.”
That same 12 cents in 1962 could have paid for a gallon of gasoline, and just think, that would “only” be worth $3.40 today — well, closer to $4, depending on what part of the country you live in.
Sort of puts things in perspective.
OK, it really doesn’t.
Most of us will go the rest of our lives without even considering the purchase of a rare comic book. We just about have to purchase gas or start walking.
What is the connection?
In a free market, a commodity is worth what someone will pay for it.
What Americans saw in the past was that when they reacted to increasing prices at the pump by cutting out unnecessary driving, gas sales slumped and the price followed.
If Americans want to reign in the price at the pump, they need to discipline themselves to drive — and to buy — less.
It works better than expecting the federal government to do something.
We ought to know by now, that’s not a good solution.
— Chuck Smith