Overstreet 50 bronze age comics key issues
Here is a list of top 50 bronze age comics key issues from the Overstreet.
The Overstreet top book list is actually one of the factors that contribute to the desirability of books. It becomes a checklist that collectors like to refer to constantly and hence almost becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Anyway, I love these kind of lists.
The only thing I am bummed about is that the Bronze Age list has only 10 books, unlike the Silver age which has 50 books. Usually, breakout books will come from outside the top 10 so that is something I want to know. Since it is not provided, I guess I have to do the hard work myself 🙂
In the following list, I looked through all the major bronze age keys I know and ranked them according to the NM- value, like what Overstreet will do. The only difference is I am leaving out the price variants. I personally think they are a different category so I am not lumping them together with regular issues. FYI, these are the 4 issues I left out from the #47 issue of Overstreet
– Star Wars #1 (35 cent variant, ranked #1)
– Iron Fist #14 (35 cent variant, ranked #2)
– Uncle Scrooge #179 (Whitman variant, ranked #8)
– Star Wars #2-4 (35 cent variant, ranked #10)
After taking out these 4, the books after ranked #6 below will be from my own research. If there is any errors or books I missed, please let know in the comments section.
Note: Numbers in bracket at the Census column represents total supply from 9.2 and up i.e including 9.4, 9.6, 9.8 and 9.9.
Bronze age comics key issues
| Rank | Issue | Overstreet Value (NM-) | Nov 17 Ebay Prices | 9.2 Census |
| #1 | Incredible Hulk #181 | $3,500 | $4,100 | 619 (1,500) |
| #2 | Cerebus #1 | $2,800 | No data 8.5 – $1,600 | 4 (9) |
| #3 | Green Lantern #76 | $2,700 | $2,300 | 76 (135) |
| #4 | House of Secrets #92 | $1,800 | No data 9.0 – $2,600 | 56 (132) |
| #5 | Giant-Size X-Men #1 | $1,600 | $1,600 | 426 (1370) |
| #6 | Amazing Spider-Man #129 | $1,500 | $2,100 | 741 (1830) |
| #7 | Iron Man #55 | $1,400 | $1,700 | 239 (630) |
| #8 | X-Men #94 | $1,400 | $1,200 | 338 (692) |
| #9 | Werewolf By Night #32 | $1,250 | $2,100 | 182 (420) |
| #10 | DC 100 Page Spectacular 5 | $1,200 | No data 7.0 – $250 | 3 (6) |
| #11 | Hero for Hire #1 | $1,200 | $2,100 | 108 (260) |
| #12 | Marvel Spotlight #5 | $1,150 | No data 9.0 – $1,000 | 148 (265) |
| #13 | Batman #227 | $900 | $1,020 | 46 (120) |
| #14 | Batman #251 | $900 | $950 | 104 (310) |
| #15 | All Star Western #10 | $850 | No data 8.0 – $440 | 30 (74) |
| #16 | Batman #232 | $800 | $950 | 146 (440) |
| #17 | Detective #411 | $800 | No data 9.0 – $500 | 22 (59) |
| #18 | Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 | $800 | $1,214 | 64 (151) |
| #19 | Marvel Preview #7 | $750 | No data 9.4 – $900, 9.0 – $500 | 23 (65) |
| #20 | Amazing Spider-Man #121 | $725 | $750 | 359 (859) |
| #21 | Incredible Hulk #180 | $675 | $700 | 246 (620) |
| #22 | Tomb of Dracula #10 | $625 | $900 | 174 (340) |
| #23 | Marvel Premiere #15 | $600 | $400 | 262 (770) |
| #24 | Detective Comics #400 | $600 | No data 9.2 – $870 listed | 48 (110) |
| #25 | Conan, the Barbarian #1 | $575 | $405 | 306 (800) |
| #26 | Amazing Spider-Man #101 | $575 | $800 | 131 (316) |
| #27 | Amazing Spider-Man #122 | $575 | $500 | 307 (507) |
| #28 | Batman #234 | $500 | No data 9.0 – $500 | 64 (194) |
| #28 | Night Nurse #1 | $500 | No data 8.5 – $300 | 13 (47) |
| #29 | Marvel Feature #1 | $475 | $400 | 116 (283) |
| #30 | Green Lantern #87 | $450 | $600 | 78 (253) |
| #31 | Marvel Spotlight #2 | $435 | $400 | 60 (138) |
| #32 | Amazing Adventures #11 | $425 | $235 | 63 (167) |
| #33 | Ghost Rider #1 | $425 | $400 | 192 (500) |
| #34 | Savage Tales #1 | $400 | $600 | 33 (115) |
| #35 | Iron Fist #14 | $400 | $350 | 426 (1450) |
| #36 | Marvel Preview #4 | $385 | $400 | 66 (360) |
| #37 | Swamp Thing #1 | $385 | $320 | 201 (470) |
| #38 | Batman #222 | $375 | No data 9.0 – $300 | 27 (63) |
| #39 | Tomb of Dracula #1 | $360 | $240 | 141 (474) |
| #40 | Shazam #28 | $350 | No data 9.4 – $400 | 37 (152) |
| #41 | Batman #237 | $340 | No data 9.0 – $250 | 58 (169) |
| #42 | Avengers #93 | $340 | $330 | 56 (112) |
| #43 | Daredevil #131 | $340 | $500 | 230 (720) |
| #44 | Forever People #1 | $325 | $340 | 104 (340) |
| #45 | X-Men #101 | $325 | $430 | 348 (1130) |
| #46 | Marvel Premiere #1 | $300 | $450 | 114 (280) |
| #47 | All Star Western #11 | $300 | No data 9.6 – $395 | 21 (84) |
| #48 | Strange Tales #169 | $300 | $300 | 41 (127) |
| #49 | Superman #233 | $300 | $450 | 45 (104) |
| #50 | Batman #238 | $285 | No data 8.0 – $100 | 11 (16) |
How to use the data
- Spot the next top 5: From the table, we can see the top 5 ranked by recent Ebay sales is actually Hulk #181, Cerebus #1, Green Lantern #76, House of Secrets #92, Werewolf by Nights #32/Hero for Hire #1 (tied). With the exception of Hulk #181, all the remaining books have much lower supply as represented by the census. Using this, it is likely that the next book that is joining this top 5 in terms of prices will be books with similar supply condition and contains first appearances, i.e.: Marvel Spotlight #5, Jimmy Olsen #134 and even Tomb of Dracula #10.
- Discover price momentum: Which books have exceeded their Overstreet value? If yes, are they at the starting point of the price momentum or already at the peak? Answering these questions will let you see the books that are going to appreciate quickly in value within the next 1-2 years. Price momentum is, in fact, a powerful method to spot books that are on the rise. I will touch more on this strategy in a future article.
- Bargain buys: If you are a value type of investor who likes to buy established books then this table can reveal bargain buys. Due to either lack of movie hype or changing buying preferences, there are some books which are selling below guide. Some of these books have strong fundamentals and might make a comeback after some time. If you have a long holding period and are looking for books nobody is paying attention to, this is for you.
Key observations
- First appearances continue to rule the market. Books in the table above that has no first appearances are experiencing much slower growth. Books with great covers, 2nd appearances,death issues, premiere issues etc all are not growing at the same rate as those with first appearances. Whether this is something that will change over time is hard to tell but right now, focusing on first appearance is a safer bet.
- In terms of rarity, DC comics definitely has less supply in terms of high grade copies but has less titles in the top 50 despite this. Only Batman keys are doing very well, with multiple issues occupying the list. Other characters such as Vixen, Firestorm, , Killer Frost, Jason Todd are not hot enough to even enter the Top 50.
- Biggest jumpers: Here are the ranking of books that experience the biggest upward deviation from their Overstreet values. The first table below ranks books by percentage increase. The second one ranks by dollar value increase. While most of the well known keys will not give explosive growth like 100-300%, but 50-75% is also nothing to be ashamed of. The added advantage is that most of these keys have a floor pricing, meaning you wouldn’t lose much money even if the investments don’t panned out.
| Rank | Issue | Percentage Increase | Dollar Value Increase | Last Year |
| #1 | Hero for Hire #1 | 75% | $900 | |
| #2 | Werewolf By Night #32 | 68% | $850 | |
| #3 | House of Secrets #92 | 55% (estimated) | $1000 | |
| #4 | Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 | 50% | $400 | |
| #5 | Marvel Premiere #1 | 50% | $150 | |
| #6 | Superman #233 | 50% | $150 | |
| #7 | Savage Tales #1 | 50% | $200 | |
| #8 | Tomb of Dracula #10 | 44% | $275 | |
| #9 | Amazing Spider-Man #129 | 40% | $600 | |
| #10 | Amazing Spider-Man #101 | 39% | $225 |
- Biggest jumpers Part 2: Below is the table ranked by absolute dollar increases. It is not surprising to see HOS #92 taking the top spot as it is really one of the hottest book for 2017, with strong dollar value growth. With such strong growth, it is unlikely that the same book will be ranked top again next year.
- The key question to ask: which book will replace HOS #92 to have the strongest dollar increase for 2018? The answer will be one of those books listed below that have strong percentage growth but have not experience the same in dollar value yet. In other words, they have ‘room’ to grow into.
| Rank | Issue | Percentage Increase | Dollar Value Increase | Current Price |
| #1 | House of Secrets #92 | 55% (estimated) | $1000 | $2,800 |
| #2 | Hero for Hire #1 | 75% | $900 | $2,100 |
| #3 | Werewolf By Night #32 | 68% | $850 | $2,100 |
| #4 | Amazing Spider-Man #129 | 40% | $600 | $2,100 |
| #5 | Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 | 50% | $400 | $1,200 |
| #6 | Tomb of Dracula #10 | 44% | $275 | $900 |
| #7 | Amazing Spider-Man #101 | 39% | $225 | $800 |
| #8 | Savage Tales #1 | 50% | $200 | $600 |
| #9 | Marvel Premiere #1 | 50% | $150 | $450 |
| #10 | Green Lantern #87 | 33% | $150 | $600 |
New Entries for Overstreet Top Bronze Age Comics 2018
Based on current eBay prices, there are already some bronze age keys that already qualified in next year’s 2018. This is not an exhaustive list as I can’t humanly keep track of every single book that went up in 2018.
- Mister Miracle #1
- Mister Miracle #4
- Demon #1
- New Gods #7
- Avengers #83
Conclusion
The market is not always efficient. When you looked deep enough, there will be always be holes and gaps that you can exploit via buying the right books. Hopefully. this article has given you something to think about when it comes to investing Bronze age comics.
Excellent work! Thanks for offering another investment/speculation tool.
Glad you find it useful!
Thank you for all of your work here! I am currently working on Bronze age keys. Right now i have a little less than half of these. So i have some work to do! Fun fun!
Sure be a fun journey 🙂
Great article Aaron with very good insight. Always great to see many books in my collection on investing list like this.
Then you will have the envy of many 🙂
Just to make sure the books listed are just a guess on what might go up. there is a possiblity that another unknown book with movie possiblities might come out of nowhere can hit and run up that is what make collecting fun!
You’re back!!!
I was worried you were gone forever. ?
You have one of my favorite comic sites. Some other ones that I read have recently shut down and it is getting difficult to find decent ones worth following.
Can’t wait for your next article.