Undervalued comics #22 – cheap bronze age comic book speculation (1970 and 1971)
Been a long time my friends. I have been very busy with my niche sites as they are making me lots of money! LOL! While that is good for my bank account, it means comics have to take a backseat. Also, finding undervalued comics is getting harder, especially when I am not into variants as much as the other spec sites. Fortunately, a good friend at our G+ community reminded me that there are still lots of Marvel first appearance characters that are cheap i.e below $50 or less. These are mostly C class and below characters. However the recent Ego spike as well as the whole GOTG experience taught us that some characters are just a good comic or movie away from seeing some price actions. 
So, starting from this article, I am going to focus on 2 years at a time, starting from 1970, and all the way to 1980. I initially wanted to put all these info into an ebook and sell it but what the heck, you guys can have it for free!
Background on 1970 to 1971 Marvel
There isn’t any big introductions that happen in 1970. Conan was probably the biggest Marvel property. The next in line is probably Sunfire from the Xmen team. That is how sad 1970 is for first appearances! 1971, in contrast, can be said to be the starting of a wonderful period where we see lots of new creations and characters who are still relevant today. Examples include the likes of Mocking bird, Morbius and Squadron Supreme.
Background on 1970 to 1971 DC
Relative to Marvel, DC had more undervalued characters from this era that isn’t so obscure. One reason is of course due to Marvel’s popularity, which lead to investors/speculators looking harder into its catalogue for undervalued comics. In the 1970 group, none is more famous than Darkseid. With him scheduling to make an appearance in the upcoming JLA movies, expect Jimmy Olsen #134 and Forever People #1 to continue to heat up. I have recommended the latter in this article so I shall not repeat it here. Like Marvel, 1971 was a great year for DC first appearances as we saw a bunch of really cool characters such as the New Earth folks like Big Barda, John Stewart as well as Batman’s foe, Ra and Talia Al Ghul taking center stage. Surprisingly, there are more cool characters that are still affordable so they made it to the list below! So, which cheap Bronze age marvel debuts are available from 1970 and 1971? See the chart below! Reminder: these are C class characters so risks are inherently high. Essentially, we are buying lottery tickets here. Most of these characters will make you scratch your heads.
| Marvel Character | Issue | Assessment | |
| Arkon | Avengers #76 | One unexplored MCU genre is sword and sorcery. Conan and Arkon would have places in this world if Marvel decides to do it. Game of Thrones, Marvel style, anyone? | |
| Doc Samson | Hulk #141 | A character who has never had his own series and mostly plays a background role. Will he ever play in the higher league? | |
| Jarella | Hulk #140 | The sub atomic world might have a chance to surface given Antman’s theme. One such kingdom is that of K’ai, which Jarella is the queen. | |
| Red Wolf | Marvel Spotlight #1 | Red Wolf almost made it when he got his own series last year. As a result, this book actually saw some action then. Unfortunately, the series was canceled and interest dropped. Will he make a comeback? It is not impossible. All we need is a good writer… | |
| Infinity | Thor #185 | I was never a big fan of cosmic characters because it is hard for fans to relate to. The case of Ego had proven me wrong so here is Infinity’s first appearance. Side note: cover is pretty awesome! | |
| DC character | |||
| Vox | Teen Titans #26 | A teen titan character is always interesting to look out, similar to Xmen characters. You never know when he will pop out again, especially considering this age of racial diversity in comics. | |
| Orion, Solis, Metron, High Father, Kalibak | New Gods #1 | It is unbeliebable that this book is still so affordable at 7.0 and below grade. Considering it contains 5 major first appearances, it is definite worth a purchase IMHO. | |
| Champions of Angor | Justice League of America #87 | 3 for the price of one, I will take it. Frankly speaking, I got no idea whose guys are but it is cheap enough so…. |
There you have it. C or even D class characters that you can pick out for cheap. Some, like New Gods #1, are actually quite investment worthy while others are purely dependent on the roll of the dice. Nevertheless, it is always to buy a first appearance.
Come back next week for part 2 where I examine new characters from 1972 to 1973 from both Marvel and DC.
Hi,
What’s your thoughts on a CGC sweet spot? The price differences between 9.6 and 9.8 for most pre-2000 hard to find issues can’t be very, very significant.
Do you believe in the 9.8 hype? Thoughts on how to determine what makes sense? Often times it seems you can get 2-3 copies of a 9.6 for the price of one 9.8.
Thanks!
For moderns, most collectors think it is 9.8 or nothing. However, there is a strong correlation in prices between 9.8 and 9.6, especially when the former is scarce. Usually, a 9.6 is half of a 9.8 so you can adjust your purchase accordingly.
Thank you!
I tend to agree. Though I’m a novice, I haven’t bought anything post 1984 that hasn’t been a 9.8.
For pre that, I think I may stick with 9.6 unless an opportunity presents itself.
However I’m being picky on the white pages, as it seems that’s an odd sticky issue for man.
I really enjoy your blog, keep it up!
Thanks!
what do you think about the possible Warlock cocoon in GOTG?
Adam warlock will be key in the post infinity war MCU
After all the speculation, Jonas Kaufmann made his role debut as Otello at The Royal Opera – an impressive, if not unqualified, success.