In this “first appearance crazy” world of comic investment, it seems that 2nd appearances are being neglected. Once upon a time, 2nd appearances are deemed to be important, especially in the Silver age. You can see the old Overstreet top 50 list full of 2nd appearances. Nowadays, they are slipping in value while first appearances keep rising.

In this article, I am looking at the Bronze age 2nd appearance.

The table below shows the 2nd appearances of Punisher, Morbius, Ghost Rider etc and their current market prices:

Character	2nd appearance	Ebay 9.4 prices	First app VG prices
Punisher	Amazing Spider-Man #135	$495	$500
Luke Cage	Hero for Hire #2	$160	$150
Moon Knight	Werewolf by Night #33	$300	$380
Morbius	Amazing Spider Man #102	$360	$280
Ghost Rider	Marvel Spotlight #6	$200	$280
Blade	Tomb of Dracula #12	$200	$170
Iron Fist	Marvel Premiere #16	$100	$100

2nd appearances

On a simple glance, high grade 2nd appearances still are worth looking into as they can run up to as high as a few hundred dollars. When I am putting this article together, I expected ASM #135 to be the highest and the result turned out that way due to the popularity of Punisher.

• Price Ceiling: from these data points. we roughly have a sense of what is the pricing ceiling on Bronze Age 2nd appearances. Looking though the list,  $300 in 9.4 condition is not an impossible number for a 9.4 2nd appearance. Some books can even break this if the character is popular enough such as Punisher and Moon Knight. Not a bad ceiling for most comic book investors.

• Trailing Prices for Prediction: Most near mint copies of 2nd appearances will trail the prices of a CGC 4.0’s first appearance. If you notice the VG copies of a first appearance starting to move up, invest in a NM 2nd appearance. In some cases, a high grade 2nd appearance can even outperform a low grade first appearance.

• Undervalued: From the current price movement of first appearances, Marvel Spotlight #6 and Tomb of Dracula #12 looks to have the most potential for a price hike. They are currently about $100 off the $300 ceiling and their first appearances will be gaining new heights in the coming years.

Additional things to consider when investing in 2nd appearance

Here are additional factors that will come into play but is not see in the table above

• Liquidity risk: If you monitor the Ebay sales, you will know these 2nd appearance issues don’t sell as frequently except Spider Man #135, which has almost daily sales. This mean if you invest in them, be prepared to hold until the right buyer come along. Of course, if the whole 2nd appearance trend reverses itself and become more popular again, then you wouldn’t have to wait too long.

• Part of a run: One reason why the ASM related 2nd appearances are doing well because it is part of the well collected ASM run. Even without the 2nd appearance influence, collectors are already collecting these high grade copies as part of their Spider Man collection. This effect wouldn’t be as strong in other titles.

• Trend reversal: All the prices I mentioned here assumes that the current investing climate holds. However, there is a chance of renewal interest in the 2nd appearance due to (1) a general uptick in Bronze age books or (2) desire to own high grade 2nd appearance after the collectors have gotten their hands on the first appearance of popular characters. If that happens, I will see the price ceiling being lifted upwards to exceed the prices of VG condition first appearance books.

Ultimately, a 2nd appearance is a play on a particular character’s popularity. If you want to invest in this age, make sure the character is popular enough to support the general uptick in his or her books. Usually, this only applies to well recognized characters with a long history.