Most Valuable Newsstand Comics From Copper Age
Here is the top 10 most valuable newsstand comics in 9.8 grade that are published during the Copper age.
While newsstand comics are more common in the Copper era relative to the Modern age, getting in 9.8 is still going to be a challenge. Most of them are handled badly by newspaper stands, with lots of spine ticks and creases.
As this 9.8 newsstand market develops, the list below should give you an idea on how much they are worth currently.
Honorable Mention: Uncanny X-Men #221
Date of Publication: 1987
Sale number:
Value: $380
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Mister Sinister
X-Men #221 has been slowly creeping in price. I suspect this is due to the new X-Men series which Sinister has been featured almost everywhere.
The average selling price for a regular 9.8 is around $270. In contrast, the newsstand 9.8s have been steadily increasing to $370-$400 range. This represents a newsstand premium of around 30-50%.
10: Batman #428
Date of Publication: 1988
Sale number:
Value: $350
Key strengths of this book
1. The Death of Robin
Batman #428 caused quite a sensation when it was first released due to the death of robin. Although the death has since been reversed, collectors still have fond memories of this book.
Sales of the regular versions of this 9.8 is around $270. From this, the newsstand premium is about 30-40%, which is not as significant as others on this list.
9: Amazing Spider-Man #306
Date of Publication: 1988
Sale number:
Value: $390
Key strengths of this book
1. Homage cover to Action Comics #1
This book is on this list purely on the strength of its newsstand premium. Although it has a nice homage cover, there is nothing else that makes this book special.
Direct editions of Amazing Spider-Man #306 in 9.8 is selling for $100. This $400 sale is 4X of that price tag. That is how much the buyer is willing to fork out to own a newsstand version of this book in 9.8.
At the supply level, this book in newsstand 9.8 is not commonly on Ebay. You cannot find one for sale at any time, unlike some of the other books on this list.
8: Transformers #79
Date of Publication: 1991
Sale number:
Value: $450
Key strengths of this book
1. Second to last issue; hard to find
Tied with number #7 on this is Transformer #79. This is the second to last issue of the series, which has much lower print run than the earlier issues. As a result, 9.8s are harder to come by, especially in newsstand editions.
A similar sale in April of a regular version goes for $150. In comparison, this sale of $450 is about 3X more, which means it has a pretty high newsstand premium.
However sales data for this book in 9.8 is pretty scarce so there might be wild fluctuations in its value. Let see if this book can continue to stay on the list in the next update
7: Marvel Secret Wars #8
Date of Publication: 1984
Sale number:
Value: $450
Key strengths of this book
1. Origin of alien symbiote
Talk about popular. The Spider-Man black costume is going to take up this and the next 2 slots of the list!
The 9.8 newsstand edition of Marvel Secret Wars #8 has a moderate premium over its direct editions. The latter is selling for $300 on average while the newsstand usually command 50% more.
Compared to #8, the lower newsstand premium might be due to this book having more newsstand 9.8 available.
6: Amazing Spider-Man #252
Date of Publication: 1984
Sale number:
Value: $600
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of black costume
While the value might seems high, Spider-Man is actually one of the worst newsstand 9.8 on this list.
One, there is plenty of newsstand 9.8 on Ebay so it is not rare.
Two, because of the above, prices for the newsstands 9.8 is exactly the same as the direct versions.
Hence, Spider-Man #252 is just a particularly valuable book, not because it is a newsstand.
5: Spectacular Spider-Man #101
Date of Publication: 1985
Sale number:
Value: $650
Key strengths of this book
1. Cover art
Spectacular Spider-Man #101 doesn’t have any first appearances but its gorgeous black and white cover is all that is needed.
The market has not always recognized the newsstand premium for this book. In March 2020, it was still selling for around the same price as the regular, which is around $350.
In May, prices started to shoot up. The latest sale was in June and ended with a $678 price tag from an auction. Collectors were fighting over this book!
4: G.I.Joe #26
Date of Publication: 1984
Sale number:
Value: $700
Key strengths of this book
1. Origin of Snake Eye
The upcoming Snake Eye movie is heating up his books, including this one as well as GI Joe #1 and GI Joe #21.
Using Ebay, it seems that this book does not have many 9.8s available for sale. A newsstand version is even harder to come by, which might explain this high sale number.
The regular version of this book was selling for $140 in Apr but a current auction is already beyond $200. It should settle for between $400-500. In this case, the newsstand version has a premium of around 50-60% over the regular.
3: Hulk #340
Date of Publication: 1988
Sale number:
Value: $800
Key strengths of this book
1. Iconic cover
Hulk #340 has one of the most copied covers, losing perhaps to Amazing Spider-Man. This tells you how iconic this cover and why it is able to command such a high price, newsstand or not.
Regular versions have been selling between $600-800. In this case, there isn’t any strong newsstand premium attached to this book. I wonder if that represents an investment opportunity as the market is not recognizing the scarcity of the newsstand version.
2: Uncanny X-Men #266
Date of Publication: 1990
Sale number:
Value: $900
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Gambit
With such a high print run, you will have thought that a 9.8 newsstand will be easy to come by. Apparently, it is not as plentiful as one thought. Most of the time, there is 0 or 1 copy of a newsstand 9.8 of this book at Ebay at any one time.
Prices have went up fairly recently. In March/April, the same book was going for $650-680. The current price means it has grown by 30% over a period of 2 months.
In comparison, a regular version of a X-Men #266 9.8 is commanding about $450. This means there is a 100% newsstand premium that we are seeing for this book.
1: New Mutants #98
Date of Publication: 1991
Sale number:
Value: $950
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Deadpool
Despite having the highest priced newsstand 9.8 on this list, New Mutants #98 won not because it is a newsstand. It is the highest priced simply because the book itself is the highest priced book in the list.
When you compared the $950 price tag with regular versions, there is actually almost no newsstand premium for this book. In this case, it is similar to Hulk #340 in terms of presenting a good investment opportunity?
Rankings by newsstand premium
The above list was ranked according to absolute values. However, this can create a situation whereby a book is high on the list not because it is a newsstand but because it is a valuable book, like New Mutants #98.
If I re-rank result based on newsstand premium, the list will look as follows:
- Amazing Spider-Man #306 – 4X newsstand premium
- Transformers #79 – 3X newsstand premium
- Uncanny X-Men #266 – 2X newsstand premium
- Spectacular Spider-Man #101 – 90% newsstand premium
- G.I.Joe #26 – 50-60% newsstand premium
- Marvel Secret Wars #8 – 50% newsstand premium
- Batman #428 – 30-40% newsstand premium
- New Mutants #98 – 10-20% newsstand premium
- Hulk #340 – 0% newsstand premium
- Amazing Spider-Man #252 – 0% newsstand premium
From the list, it is clear the supply plays a very important role. For comics with the the highest newsstand premium, their supply of newsstand 9.8 is very limited, if you go by the times they got listed on Ebay.
In contrast, books like Amazing Spider-Man #252 have plenty of newsstand 9.8 at any point in time on Ebay.
The only exception is Hulk #340. It doesn’t have that many newsstand 9.8 but there is also no premium. Perhaps the market hasn’t recognize this yet, which means there is a good opportunity to buy a newsstand at the same price as a direct.
The important question is whether the rest of the hard to get newsstand 9.8 will follow the likes of Spider-Man #306 in terms of having a higher premium. If so, we might see some very good returns if we start to hoard them now.
Sandman 8 karen berger editorial nott a newstand but copper and impossible to find. Along with Sandman 75 2nd print
No luck finding a xmen 266 9.8 newsstand. Any ideas? Please email. Thanks
Hi Rick
That is always the challenge for 9.8 newsstand. You can’t even buy one if you have the money.
The only way is probably to set up ebay alerts and monitoring all 9.8 listings. Hopefully one will pop up soon.