Foreign comics are a very exciting part of the comic book community! They offer a lot of great things such as discovery, affordability, beautiful variants, multiple series in single issues, the thrill of the hunt, and much, much more.
Many people are finding out that they love foreign comics once they try them and there are a lot of factors that bring people into the foreign comic community. Some people start with cover sets, some start for investment reasons, some start to discover more about another country, some want more affordable options for some of the bigger keys, some start looking for something new after feeling some burnout from American comic collecting, and there are many more reasons people start collecting foreign comics.
Foreign comics are the fastest growing segment of the comic book community and have seen steady and consistent growth for years now, even while the American market has been going through a large correction. Foreign comics aren’t seeing that correction because they are still largely undervalued and more people are joining this amazing community every day.
Foreign comics also offer something that just doesn’t really exist anymore in American comics: the Wild West appeal. We are still finding new keys all the time and there are still so many unknowns in the world of foreign comics that we are likely to still be finding new things with them for years to come. There is nothing quite like the feeling of opening a foreign comic you just got and finding a key panel you recognize that wasn’t listed in the description. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are still publishers out there to be discovered!
When you start collecting foreign comics, it is important to understand a few key parts that are different from the American market. The first is the lack of comprehensive sales data and full details about all the comics. While sales data is getting better as more people join the foreign comic community, the sales data is still substantially less than most are used to having access to with American comics. Because of this, it is a good idea to use a little caution when starting out. Don’t spend a lot of money on one foreign comic just because one person tells you it is worth it, or just because they show you a sale they claim was for a lot of money. Talk to multiple people in the community, ask around, 99% of the people in the community are great to work with and don’t want to see anyone get scammed or misled, especially when you’re just starting out. The community is amazing, make it your main source of information and pricing while you are learning about foreign comics.
Another difference is the expectation of condition. In American comics, most have the perception that they only want high grades and lower grades aren’t really worth chasing in most cases. In foreign comics, we have a saying that mid grade IS high grade and it’s not an exaggeration. Most foreign comics were not printed as collectibles and were treated as reader copies. Most of your older foreign comics, especially from the 1980s and back, are going to be impossible to find in a 9.8 condition. In most cases, especially the bigger keys, anything around a 5.0 or higher is considered a big win. Now with newer foreign comics, you can be more condition critical, but just realize how much that does not apply the farther back you go. Low grade foreign comics should still be loved and sought after, and many times it will be your only option when looking for the more scarce ones.
Another difference is in the search for foreign comics. With American comics, you can usually find several copies of anything you’re looking for in just a few minutes online, but that is hardly ever the case with foreign comics. Learning your way around auction sites in other countries will help a lot, just realize most of them do not offer the same buyer protections that you are used to having with American sites so be careful. A lot of sellers in other countries won’t even ship to the USA, so always do your due diligence when searching for them. This is another area where you should really embrace the foreign comic community and ask around when you are looking for foreign comics. Many foreign comic collectors don’t maintain a large inventory of available foreign comics for sale in online listings, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have them and they will work with you to help you find what you’re looking for.
And finally one of the biggest differences in foreign comics: the investment potential. Most will agree that the American market peaked around late 2021/early 2022 and is going through a large correction and the majority of collectors don’t expect it to regain those highs for several years and are settling in for the long haul. This is not the case at all with foreign comics and they have been on a steady and continuous rise for years now, but at healthy growth patterns instead of the rapid artificial high spikes the American market saw due to what most call “the mcu effect”. Foreign comics are just starting to find their place in the market and you can compare them to a subset of American comics that went through a similar trajectory: the newsstand editions. Until about 5 years ago or so, newsstand editions were largely shunned by collectors, just like foreign comics still are with the majority of comic collectors. All it took for newsstands to see their place in the market and community change though was simply an increase in the awareness of their rarity and desirability. There were no new printings of them, no new variants, just people learning about them and their scarcity and the market quickly caught up to the rising demand for them. Foreign comics are by large even scarcer than newsstand editions are, and in almost every case they are much more appealing to the eye with some amazing artwork and variants that bring a lot more appeal than just a change in the corner box on a cover.
It is not unreasonable at all to think that many foreign comics will be worth more than their American counterparts once the market is fully aware of their beauty, desirability and scarcity. The foreign comic market is seeing many of the same indicators that newsstands started to see early in their awareness phase, and a lot of collectors are starting to recognize that and have started collecting these amazing pieces of comic history. Some foreign comics are already outselling their American counterparts, and more and more examples of this are highly likely as the market continues to gain awareness of them.
DISCLAIMER: All information presented is simply the opinions of those at HotKey Comics. We are not trained professional financial advisors and you should always seek the advice of a professional before making any financial decisions.
