Dogsupreme

Anyone collect the LEGION OF SUPERHEROES? I am collecting the silver age copies (I am saving up for a copy of 247) but getting them in high grade is tough! Not expensive compared to other books but hard to find! I have never seen a raw copy of ADVENTURE 300 in 9.2 or above and I've been collecting for 30 years. However, they seemed to have almost disappeared in the bronze age and then BAM they re-appear at the tail end and into the copper age.

I've lost track of them since the mid-1990s. Are they still doing LEGION comics? Anyone remember the Keith Giffen years?

I just got a collection of high grade copper age Legion and started reading them again and man they are really awesome. I had forgotten how good they were. I am surprised they never caught on like X-MEN or TEEN TITANS.

I agree with those that say comics are not really an investment. They do not have the liquidity that precious metal, commodities and stocks have. I would not recommend comics as a long term investment, HOWEVER, there is no question that had you bought high grade bronze age 10-15 years ago you would see a significant return on some key issues or current hot issues. Ask yourself, why is this? SUPPLY AND DEMAND. A lot of bronze age comics, like the GOLD and SILVER age were still considered DISPOSABLE entertainment and a lot simply did not survive the decade in HIGH GRADE. It is my belief that it was not until the 1980s that comics were being looked at as an true collectible and investment (with the rise of the direct market and comic stores). I think things jumped the shark during the whole DEATH OF SUPERMAN debacle and the start of IMAGE COMICS.

In the case of BRONZE AGE comics there is still a lot of great potential out there if you are willing to look. The thing is getting what you like and if you are willing to hold on to it for 10-15 YEARS! Comics is a hobby for me and not an investment vehicle. Its nice to see that comics I collect go up in value but that is a bonus and not the primary reason for me to have bought the comic. Right now I am collecting obscure 1st appearances as my main thing in super high grade. Things like: OMEGA THE UNKNOWN, SKULL THE SLAYER, RAGMAN, JEMM SON OF SATURN, ARION, ARAK, AMETHYST PRINCESS OF GEM WORLD, NEW GODS, MR. MIRACLE, DEMON, OMAC, KAMANDI, DEVIL DINOSAUR, SHOGUN WARRIORS, MICRONAUTS, KULL, MARVEL MONSTER titles (WEREWOLF, DRACULA, MUMMY, FRANKENSTEIN, etc), MARVEL PREMIERE, MARVEL TEAM-UP, MARVEL FEATURE, MARVEL 2 in 1, WHAT IF, PHANTOM STRANGER, BLACK ORCHID, MANHUNTER, DC 1st ISSUEs, HUMAN FLY, STEEL, ALL STAR COMICS, BRAVE and BOLD, etc. Lots of great potential. Stick to HIGH GRADE copies whenever you can. I go through $1-$2 boxes and I ALWAYS find nice stakes of BRONZE AGE comics in FN and up. I never pass up any comics with a 20¢ cover price. I even look at non-BIG TWO. I will buy HIGH GRADE Charlton, Atlas, etc if they are a $1 or $2 and sometimes they are even 50¢.

The trick is to collect what you like and what you are willing to hold on to.

Here some of my recommendations:

MY GREATEST ADVENTURE #80

TALES OF SUSPENSE #52, 57

DR.STRANGE #169

STRANGE TALES #135

SGT.FURY and his HOWLING COMMANDOS #1

MARVEL SUPERHEROES #12,13,18

ADVENTURE COMICS #300

SUPERBOY #68

SHOWCASE #30

I just noticed that Marvel did a "Archie" style book called CHILI that is also a red head. Someone at Marvel must really like red heads (I have to admit a bias as well).

I love John Severin! A very under rated artist!

I think a high grade FF #48 would be a good investment or a mid grade FF #5. If they ever do a decent FF movie these should shoot up.

3 hours ago, Kevin76 said:

You mean the Phantasm?  Yeah, her first appearance is in The Batman The Animated Series Movie Adaptation 

Thank you. Should be easy enough to track down.

1 hour ago, VegasJeff said:

Just curious, how many years did it take for your books to go from $500 to being worth $10k+?

It's actually quite easy if you invested in the right books. Just for fun I pulled my OVERSTREET from 2003 (not quite 10 years ago but it was the most recent one I could find at arm's length). Here are some prices for 6.0 copies of certain key silver age then:

AMAZING SPIDERMAN #14      $480

ACTION #252     $417

DETECTIVE #359     $36

STRANGE TALES #110     $309

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #32     $27

HULK #181     $210

BATMAN ADVENTURES #12     $3

AMAZING FANTASY #15     $3789

AVENGERS #1      $681

AVENGERS #57     $30

BATMAN #232      $33

BATMAN #251     $21

NEW MUTANTS #98     $5

X-MEN #1     $1737

BRAVE and BOLD #28     $1155

and that's a small sample of if you bought these books in mid-grade condition.

I agree! Some of the best stories are the western, romance and sci-fi titles. Even humor titles like NOT BRAND ECHH, PLOP, and ARRGGH! had great art and stories. FORBUSH MAN FOREVER! I've always liked TWO GUN KID and RAWHIDE KID. Also, who can forget PATSY WALKER who somehow worked her way into Marvel Superhero continuity. Didn't she eventually become HELL CAT?

I love seeing these old covers! You are right about Two Gun Kid #60. I have never seen a copy until now. I wonder what a high grade copy would go for.

Gotta give Marvel credit. They'll try anything once!

What better name can you ask for?

Before she became a TEEN TITAN!

What's great is that since no one cares about them I am able to get them pretty cheap. However, they are hard to find since a lot of dealers carry very few westerns. I often find a lot of them in the bargain bins.

Anyone have any love for the non-hero Marvel comics? I've been picking up Marvel westerns (the "Kid" comics) and romance comics on the cheap but they are incredibly hard to find in high grade.

Buy what you like is always a good rule. If you are buying for investment then buy stocks.

With the NEW MUTANTS movie coming what issues should I keep an eye out for in the wild? Most are in the $1 bins for now except for #1, 87, 98 and even 100 is getting some spikes.

Just got these back from CGC recently.

Does anyone know what comic PHANTASM first appearance in comics or print from the BATMAN ANIMATED SERIES?

For the longest time I never knew this was a Jack Kirby creation. Mainly because he did not do the cover. This is a very under-rated Jack Kirby creation and is actually very cool character. Also, issue 1's are EXTREMELY hard to find in true mint. It's that damned black cover.

Jack Kirby's up dated version of the NEWSBOY LEGION?

One of the weirdest of the Marvel characters....

22 hours ago, electricprune said:

Oddly enough, yes. He was used many years later in the Marvel Western universe, at least. Someone can verify probably, but I believe he was killed off in a super hero book.

It's odd that Marvel kills off these characters before their time.

3 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

Minus the Spider-Ham backup stories

I did not know there were SPIDER HAM stories in there Odd place to put them Were they all new or re-prints as well?

Marvel Premiere #41. Marvel's STAR TREK? Would love to see them in Guardians of the Galaxy.