Undervalued Comics #36 – Community Recommendations 2020 #2
This is part two of the recent community undervalued comic recommendation activities. You can read part one here.
Part 2 highlights books that have more fundamental value due to their historical significance. Some of the books have been highlighted by me before so that I will just point them to those articles to avoid repeating myself.
Similarly to part one, names of the contributors will not be revealed for privacy reasons.
Undervalued comics that have been featured before
Here are a list of recommendations from members that have already been covered on this blog before. Members’ reasons are featured in parenthesis below:
Tales to Astonish #63 – Undervalued comics #31
“Cgc 8.0 sell for under $300, compared to X-men 12 releases the same year an 8.0 sells for almost $1500. Obviously X-men title has a higher value, but I think even if you went further comparing hulk caliber characters arch-enemies against the leader over and over the leader would come up under valued”
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1 – Modern keys to invest in using the PSM model
“Low sales for an issue 1 (38k), in just 5 years Lunella already has about 100 appearances so she’s involved in the universe, character is a favorite of the younger crowd and this could fit well with Disney Plus and a Young Avengers type team. There’s a hard to find variant for her 1st app and a 2nd print (and even a 3rd print I believe, plus a hip hop).”
Luke Cage #1 – Undervalued comics #34
“1st black comics character to get his own series (Marvel or DC). When Luke Cage is introduced into the MCU this book will increase significantly.”
Watchman #1
Date of Publication: 1986
Sale number: 250,000 – 350,000
Profit potential: less than $50
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Watchman
Watchman has always been an interesting book. It is definitely important to the comic industry and has been widely recognized as so.
It had a movie and even got a new TV show at HBO.
Yet, despite all these, the prices of the book never reach a feverish pitch like what we are seeing now with the modern books. One reason could be the large supply compared to other books like Sandman or Preacher.
Hence, the biggest question in my mind is this: if all these positive developments cannot push this book, what will? Is the current value a full realization of the book’s potential?
I welcome comments and thoughts on this.
Hulk Vol 2, #1
Date of Publication: 2008
Sale number: 133,895
Profit potential: $51-$100
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Red Hulk and A-Bomb
Hulk Vol 2, #1 is pretty hot recently, after rumors started on his appearance in MCU as part of the Thunderbolts. Currently, it sits around $50 but this Mewe member think it is still a good undervalued buy.
My biggest reserve is the sale numbers. At 133,895, Hulk Vol 2, #1 is not a small supply book by any definition. Can the Red Hulk be popular enough to smash through this ceiling? (pun intended)
Detective Comics #11
Date of Publication: 1971
Sale number: 199,000
Profit potential: More than $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Talia al Ghul
This Mewe member made an interesting argument about Talia. She is connected to Daiman Wayne. Any future use of him will surely invoked Talia as well.
This book has heated up before and has cooled down somewhat. So much so that we can asked whether this book can be fit into what I wrote about very fine copies of early bronze age crossing the 1k mark.
| Issues | Total copies in 9.0 (8.0) and above | Price Value (8.0) (CGC Census) | Price Value (9.0) (CGC Census) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detective Comics #411 (1971) | 156 (311) | USD400 (80) | USD 550 (77) |
| Jimmy Olsen #134 (1970) | 303 (641) | USD380 (175) | USD800 (109) |
| Green Lantern #87 (1971) | 428 (708) | USD 400 (65) | USD 600 (79) |
From the table, this book is pretty much on part with Green Lantern #87 and lacking behind Jimmy Olsen #134 in the 9.0 grade.
If we just benchmark Detective Comics #411 to other DC comics, then the growth potential is probably less than 100%. However, #411’s lower supply should be in its flavor if Talia gets hot.
However, if we use Marvel books as benchmarks, then the potential is much higher. However, only House of Secret #92 and Green Lantern #76 have come close to matching what Marvel keys has achieved so using Marvel is always on the optimistic side.
Superboy #68
Date of Publication: 1958
Sale number: No Information
Profit potential: More than $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Bizzaro Superboy
This community member has written extensively on why Bizzaro is undervalued, which I have reproduced below in the “undervalued relative to importance” section.
My only challenge: is this the right Bizzaro that we love?
According to wikia, the Bizzaro who appeared in Superboy #68 was known as Bizzaro Superboy and appeared only 4 times. The Bizzaro 1 who appeared in Action Comics #254 made 76 appearances pre crisis and is the one who appeared in all the silver and bronze age comics.
I understand the market has already decided on Superboy #68 but Action Comics #254 seems more undervalued.
Undervalued relative to importance
Below is what the member has to say about this book:
“First Bizzaro Superman. Growing up this was one of my favorite Superman villains. At some point I think he will have a resurgence and appear somewhere in a series or movie. It’s not a hard book to find but it’s a hard book to find in good shape. I am going with the skate where puck ain’t right now for this one.”
Undervalued relative to peers
For value comparison, lets look at other Superman villains who were introduced in the silver age. This will let us see whether Superboy #68 is undervalued relative to them.
| Price of 2.0 | Price of 4.0 | Price of 6.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Superboy #68 (1958) | USD 300 (22) | USD 650 (80) | USD 2,000 (38) |
| Adventure Comics #283 (1961) | USD 180 (3) | USD 250 (21) | USD 600 (33) |
| Action Comics #242 (1958) | USD 800 (23) | USD 1,500 (43) | USD 6,500 (22) |
The table shows some interesting observations. Superboy #68 is currently right between Adventure Comics #283 (General Zod) and Action Comics #242 (Brainic).
If you compare to #283, Superboy #68 is already well above it, thus indicating that it might not be undervalued. However, if you compared against #242, Bizzaro is under valued by a factor of 2.
Supply wise, there is no big differences. In fact, the total copies submitted for Superboy #68 is the highest among the 3 issues.
Conclusion
This concludes part 2 of the community recommendations. There are at least 2-3 more parts coming so do keep a look out for them in the coming weeks.
