Collector’s Edge an investor’s paradise

Story and photos by SEAN SCHUETZ

If you’re unfamiliar with the current state of the comic book industry, you may not know what to expect from a comic book store. Okay, maybe you have the image of the comic shop owner that we grew up on from "The Simpsons" - that of the morbidly obese thirty-something bachelor, spouting the catch phrase "Worst ______ Ever."

But truth is stranger, and therefore more entertaining than fiction. A trip to Milwaukee’s Collector's Edge Comics reveals no morbidly obese nerd. There are no pizza faced kids; there is no evidence of stereotype. Instead, what is there resembles a proverbial commodities exchange.

Below the store lies a warehouse, matched by two other locations, containing over half a million comics. Why does Collector's Edge Comics possess such a cache? The answer is simple: they pride themselves on meeting the requests of their customers. Their claim is impressive: 95% of the time they will have any requested item. The remaining 5% is limited to new releases that simply sell out.

What makes Collector’s Edge so impressive? Aside from product availability, they keep accurate track of the values of each issue. This is where it begins to look like a stock market. When owner Steve Dobrzynski can predict which issues will rise in value as they come out, explain the basis for that value, and be overheard advising a customer which books he should purchase because they will rise in value, and thus be a good investment for his children, it begins to hum like the floor of the Nasdaq.

The key word here is investment. Steve runs his store the way he does because he sees this implicit fact. Apparently comic books are not just for reading anymore.

It’s amazing how the world of comic books has changed in the last twenty years. There are "Law and Order" and "CSI" comic books now. However, comic books have changed the world too, or at least Hollywood.

"More people who want to get into the movies are into comic books now. Because a movie is planned by making a storyboard. And what is a comic book but a storyboard. A filmmaker can bring a comic book to a producer and say, "This is what I want to do." We will see more comic book movies in the future." says Steve Dobrzynski

Oh, and what DOES make a comic book appreciate in value? "Firsts" is the buzzword. The first time something happens in a comic book, such as the first time a character appears in a series, that issue will increase in value. Why? Because a comic book is worth what someone else will pay for it. People demand those issues over the others. Like on Wall Street, a commodity is only as valuable as people THINK it is.