Why one comic book collector suddenly became so obsessed with the Atlas decade before Marvel

I remember as a 12 year old wondering why book value for a Tales of Suspense #1, the series that would introduce Iron Man, bring Captain America back into solo action , and eventually lead to his own series was so undervalued.

I even remember thinking how obscure the issue probably was, and where would you even go to get one. It seemed nobody even cared about the early pre-superhero Atlas issues before they became Marvel Comics , and people did not seem to value comics as collectible back then, so most were probably trashed by mom when Jimmy discovered girls. Fast forward 20 years and it turned out I was right because I am still wondering the same thing. Only now we have the internet and I have money to throw around.

I spent about a year trying to find a nice copy of Tales of Suspense #1 that was both in my price range and presented well. Not sure why I became so committed to this issue. Most likely the challenge of finding one led to me becoming obsessed. Also the launch of the series seems historic and important, not to mention the great sci-fi cover, and the fact that it was old and scarce in any grade.

One lonely night on eBay, one popped up. The pictures made it difficult to determine what condition it was in. The sellers did not know a lot about grading but said it was in good condition. I asked for some more pictures which were a little better, but not much.

It had a buy-it-now price of 999.00 so I decided to watch it for a couple days. About 7 people bid it up to about 250 when I decided to steal it away. Yes I paid 999! Was I regretful? Sure! Did I overpay? Maybe! Was I happy when it came? YES!

Turns out the guy who found it was a painter who was painting an abandoned house in California and found the copy inside with a bunch of other old comics. He said this was the only one in good condition so he took it. Apparently, he held on to it for about 20 years until he put it on eBay. Timing is everything with getting the best price for a comic. Who is looking for what and when. Thankfully for this man, he found me.

The comic book arrived a day and a half later and it had great colors, very little spine stress. A perfectly centered cover missing from a lot of higher graded copies, no major rips. It was beautiful. I sent it away to get pre-graded and pressed by Matt Nelson of Classics Incorporated, who agreed with my initial assessment that I had a beautiful CGC 6.0 Fine copy and a FMV of around 2000 (Smart guy who knows how rare they are!). Mid-grade of a hard to find book...I was living the dream!

Turns out CGC must of been having a bad day and gave it the dreaded 5.5 grade....but I actually did not mind all that much. Turns out, I looked at a couple ToS#1 6.0s on Heritage Auctions that have sold in the past and mine presented way better. I really wish CGC would compare a comic they are grading to the same past copies they have graded for consistency, but it is clear they do not. I digress.

The other hard to find Atlas key issue that I drooled over when I was young was Journey Into Mystery #1 Summer of 1952, a classic horror cover and super hard book to find. One popped up on eBay in 4.0 condition for 995.00. Price seemed high, but again, these rare copies never come up, so I grabbed it. So happy I did. No ugly spine stress marks on a tough black cover...just some minor yellowing on the back cover and a hard to see old piece of tape covering a small rip in the spine. Presents super well! Again, the series that would launch and become Thor, and continue until today with cool stories. A classic title from Marvel was all mine!

Some final thoughts....

Overstreet severely undervalues these early Atlas #1 Pre-Marvel issues. ToS1 CGC 9.0 sold for $10,000 recently compared to book 9.2 assessment of 4200.

The NM conditions of the #1s do not seem to exist and are scarce in any grade let alone VF/NM. The market knows this or soon will.

They are in growing demand by a number of seasoned collectors as prices steadily rise from GPanalysis.com

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