Undervalued comics #19 – Hottest 10 bronze age comics for the past 3 months
Update July 2020: I have created new articles on undervalued bronze age comics. This one is for Marvel undervalued comics while this is for DC comics.
It is almost coming to the end of March, which marks the end of quarter one for 2016. In this quarter, which books have heated up and which is hot now? I try to answer this question by using data from Gocollect and selecting those that have significant market activities and have experienced at least a 10% growth in prices during the past 3 months.The purpose of using the short time period is to identify potentially up and coming new books, rather than books that have already been though the price hike.
Surprising, many of the well known Bronze keys such as Hulk #181 did not make the cut as their prices have been stagnant. Books such as Star Wars #1 and #42 have taken big dips in prices as well as past Marvel movie hits such as Marvel Premier #47 and Hulk #271.
Giant Sized X Men #1
Surprised to see this book here? Despite being a key, this is still a rather affordable book which might explain why folks are finally grabbing it. You can see more than 10% growth in many of the grades that are 7.0 and above.It is good to know classic books like this still can achieve healthy growth metrics in this era of movie fuel speculation.
Spider Woman #1
With the launch of her new series in 2014, Spider Woman has been gathering some collectors’ interest. In 2014, that was mainly focused on Marvel Spotlight #32. Seems like some of the attention is starting to shift to this book as you can see some good growth in certain grades. This book has a low starting base and probably has more growth left. One to watch out for.
Amazing Spider Man #194
One can say the recent success of Black Cat can be attributed to the Campbell covers. Despite this. it still amazed me to see some of these covers fetching higher prices than Black Cat’s first appearance in ASM #194. In 2016, sales volume for this book is lower than 2015 but prices are still climbing in most of the grades. In grades where there are declines, the drop is pretty small so that might be due to some bad auction results or Christmas period.
DC Comics Presents #26
An undervalued book that contains lots of important first appearance. I remember buying multiples of this book in 2014. It was so cheap then that it was criminal! Fast forward to 2016 and prices are still growing. While the dropping of the Teen Titans TV show is a hit to this book, the coming of Cyborg should keep interest high as we nears into the Justice League movie.
Avengers Annual #10
Rogue has always been a popular X-men and her first appearance is finally seeing some collectors’ interest. With most of the Bronze age X Men keys getting out of reach for collectors, this is an affordable key that is a solid buy especially in uber high grades of 9.6/9.8. You can see the volume is healthy and price gain is one of the highest among all the books here.
Marvel Premiere #15
This will probably be the next hot book in the Netflix series after Alias #1 and Hero for Hire #1 have already seen some solid growth. For a while back, prices actually declined as there was talks of az the series not going through. Fortunately, with renewed confirmation from Marvel, it looks like Iron Fist will become more talked about in the months to come.
Moon Knight #1
With Werewolf by Night #32 becoming an impossibly expensive book to buy in 8.0 and above grades, people are starting to turn to this book. Volume has been picking up and prices are to inch up. One to watch in the coming months especially if Moon Knight revives any kind of media related confirmation.
Iron Man #55
This book is still climbing despite being hot for a couple of years now. The heat is definitely weaker as evident by the lower sales volume. However for sales that manage to get through, prices are still strong and are growing. I expect it to pick it up as we get closer to Avengers #3.
Amazing Spider Man #129
Compared to GSX #1, the growth of #129 isn’t as strong across the grades but that is mainly because a lot of the growth has already taken place last year when news of Punisher appearing in Daredevil surfaced. Despite this, there is still some growth left in this book although it will probably be under 10% for most of the grades.
Doctor Strange #1
I believe this book would have perform better if there was no Doctor Strange #169. Unfortunately, the reality is there is such a book so interest in the first #1 issue is not as strong as it should be. While 9.6 are falling in prices, most of the grades are still holding strong, especially in 8.5 grade.
Thanks for sharing your findings!
Thank you for the list Aaron. Do you see this as a sell time for these books or are they just now starting to heat up? I have a hard time knowing when I should pull the trigger. I am not worried about hitting THE top as that is almost impossible to gauge, but I would rather move them later than earlier (obviously). Thank you again!
– Craig Coffman
Not yet for 70-80% of the books. On the other hand, books like IM #55 has pretty much run most of the course. There will likely be small increases if any.
Thanks! Once again, great info. What are your thoughts on signed stabbed copies? Are they worth speculating/collecting and do they really enhance value, based on the book/character popularity etc? I’m a HUGE Moonknight fan and I’m looking at a signed Moon Knight 1 (cgc high 9s) and wondering if it’s a good value or no…thoughts?
Signed copies definitely carries a premium. Usually, the original artist’s signature is worth the most. Have fun hunting!
Nice list! im stoked ,i have 6 of the books on your list with multiple copies of Rogues 1st ! Checkout my instagram under LowBrowCollectibles
Cheers junior
Nice stuff you have there Junior! The Black Cat and Daredevil #1 is especially great.
A word of advice. If you want to invest in late coppers like #361, like the 9.8s. This is will be where the game is played because there are so many copies out there.
Where do you find this data?
Sir, I’ve been looking at a few high grade slabbed MoonKnight #1s, (High 9) signed by Sienkiwicz, what do you think of their long term value? I know it’s a lottery ticket (and I a HUGE MK fan) but I would think Moon knight would be an excellent addition to Marvels Netflix series line (or at least be an interesting supporting or cameo character in one of their ongoing shows) should they seek to develop something for him. Either way, based on his popularity their has to be some investment potential. No?
It is. I highly recommended buying the highest grade you can afford. This book has a heavy print run but getting the high grades ensure you will face less competition and supply when you wants to sell. I actually highlighted this book in my 2014 article.
Hi, Im going to a convention next weekend and I would like to purchase some silver or bronze issues for a investment,in the area of $500 per book. Could you give me 5 issues that you think have room to grow?? thanks!