Undervalued Comics #38 – Community Recommendations 2020 #4
Continuing with the community recommendations, this is part 4 of the series.
This being part 4 of the series, it is pretty interesting how different collectors view books that are deem undervalued. This particular one emphasis such differences even more.
Fantastic Four #52
Date of Publication: 1965
Sale number: 300,000
Profit Potential: More than $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Black Panther
Fantastic Four #52 sure bring back memories as it is first set of undervalued silver age books I wrote on this blog. At that time, a VG copy is only $70-80 so it is an easy recommendation.
Fast forward 7 years later, a VG copy is now $200-300. At this price, it is probably one of the leading books in the 1965 era and there will be no benchmarks to use.
Instead, this book can only be considered undervalued if we compare against its future value. This is the tricky part as it can be any random number. Is it going to $500 for a VG copy or $700?
This is also why I usually do not feature books that are undervalued to its future value, rather than its peers.
Nevertheless, this is what the mewe member has to say: “He will continue to grow in popularity as he is featured in the MCU over the next phase.”
Uncle Scrooge #219
Date of Publication: 1987
Sale number: 78,935
Profit Potential: $101- $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of
This book is completely out of my comfort zone so I am leaving it to the member for his insights, which are reproduced below. I don’t even know what is a good benchmark for such books lol.
Undervalued relative to importance
“This is the 1st Disney Duck work for the Carl Barks heir apparent Do Rosa and because it’s not a superhero type book, it’s gets overlooked and undervalued in my opinion.
This book comes in Direct, Newsstand and a CPV. But the real claim to fame should be the “Brown Cane” variant. I have one myself but never see them offered on eBay or other collector outlets”
Fantastic Four #65
Date of Publication: 1967
Sale number: 327,000
Profit Potential: $101- $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Ronan the Accusser
Ronan is one of those characters that was used well during the annihilation series but never got super hot. He has appeared twice now on Marvel movies but prices do not seem to move. However, this Mewe member feels there is potential here.
Undervalued relative to importance
“Undervalued again due to the idea that it’s all about 1st Ronin but it’s actually the first Kree Race also. Plus for some inexplicable reason in Captain Marvel they used him again, granted the story took place in the past and it may just be to enrich continuity – but then again it may not.?
Undervalued relative to peers
Finding the right benchmark for Ronan is pretty hard. He is neither a hero or an out and out villain. I think the best candidate might be Fantastic Four #47, the first appearance of Maximus.
They are both not the leading characters and have some hint of evil within them.
| Price of 6.0 | Price of 8.0 | Price of 9.0 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fantastic Four #65 (1967) | USD 60 | USD 150 | USD 360 |
| Fantastic Four #47 (1966) | USD 100 | USD 140 | USD 400 |
The table shows that there is very little variation between them, indicating that Fantastic Four #65 is not undervalued relative to its peers.
Dirty Pair #1
Date of Publication: 1988
Sale number: No Information
Profit Potential: $51 – $100
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of Dirty Pair
This is a book I know every little about except it originates from Manga and has a niche audience. Recently, there was a recent Adam Hughes variant that got some heat.
Undervalued relative to importance
Unfortunately, the Mewe member also did not explain its significance and simply state this book is the first appearance of the Dirty Pair.
Undervalued relative to peers
For peer comparison, I have no knowledge of which book is the right one for the comparison. Lets hope the member will give us something more to go on after he read this.
Ex Machina 1
Date of Publication: 2004
Sale number: 28,550
Profit Potential: $101 – $200
Key strengths of this book
1. First appearance of
Brian K. Vaughan has some hits and misses in terms of speculation. His Saga #1 is doing very well but other titles like Paper Girl #1 isn’t so hot.
Undervalued relative to importance
Here is the this Mewe member has to say about the book:
“It seems low compared to some of BKVs other long-running titles. Even with reported movie deal it didn’t seem to bump up much.”
Undervalued relative to peers
Let us take a look if Ex Machina #1 is indeed undervalued relative to other Brian K. Vaughan’s books
| Price of NM | Price of 9.6 | Price of 9.8 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ex Machina #1 (2004) | USD 10 | No Data | USD 100 |
| Paper Girls #1 (2015) | USD 18 | USD 40 | USD 100 |
| Runaway #1 (2003) | USD 40 | USD 60 | USD 150 |
| Saga #1 (2012) | USD 180 | USD 250 | USD 350 |
Looking at the numbers, it seems that Saga #1 is the outliner. Most of Brian K. Vaugha’s books are roughly in the same ballpark, especially if we compare just the independent comics.
In fact, Runaway has already screened its TV show and its current pricing is probably the best one can hope for in terms of Ex Machina’s pricing.
This also speaks to the risk of investing in a particular creator’s works. You never know which title will be a hit and which ones will under perform.
Conclusion
This set of books was a bit tricky to evaluate. Some of it is due to my poor knowledge so I can’t really comment on it.
Some it are border line cases so it is not obvious that they are undervalued. Given there are other choices out these, I will stick with the books that is more obviously undervalued.
