One of the common trend I see for movie hype books is that both a character’s first appearance and #1 issue goes hand in hand, i.e. when the first appearance of a character shoots up, its #1 number tend to follow as well. There are plenty of such examples:

• Fantastic Four #45 and Inhumans #1
• Fantastic Four #52 and Black Panther #1
• Hulk 271 and Rocket Racoon #1
• Marvel Premiere #15 and Iron Fist #1
• and the list goes on

Knowing such trends, this week’s comic investing tip is about trying to grab #1 issues when everybody else is busy buying first appearances, especially when such first appearances are already sky high. This is one of the reason why I wrote an article in 2013, recommending you guys to buy undervalued Bronze Age #1 issues.  I remember buying lots of cheap #1 back then, including 17 copies of Shazam #1 at $30 each and 3 copies of Inhumans #1 for $5 each off Ebay. Guess what, both are now an easy $50 – $70 in VFNM condition.

Even now, I still think lots of #1 issues being undervalued, especially for characters who have strong rumors about making a movie appearance. Below are some picks you should consider:

Harley Quinn #1

Harley Quinn is hot right now. I would dare say she is now the hottest Modern age character (Deadpool is copper age) ever created. Her first appearance in Batman Adventures #12 is now reaching Walking Dead #1 level and shows no sign of slowing down. With all these buzz, I cannot imagine you can still buy her #1 issue for $30. This to me is a sign of being undervalued and overlooked, especially when the print run is only 62k. In contrast, her current series runs at over 90k print copies.

Check her Ebay listings here

Deadshot #1

Deadshot’s first modern appearance in Detective 474 is still affordable, which explains why this issue is not seeing the heat. However, once his first appearance dries up and the movie hype train on Will Smith gets going, this issue will get some attention. It is now a bargain bin book so I recommend you spend $5 and get a few copies, just in case.

Black Cat #1

Everyone is betting that a solo Black Cat movie will be announced, leading to Spider Man #194 going up in prices. Can you believe her #1 is still a dollar bin book? Even though it is a mini series but look at what Rocket Racoon #1 is going for before the GOTG movie. If you think Black Cat is going a big character, then you should definitely stock up on her #1.

Another related #1 issue you might consider picking her is this: Spider Man and Black Cat 1. It features a nice cover by Terry Dodson and is one that fans might grab in the future if the character becomes very popular.