Simonson Thors

[druss84]

First off, this is my first post. My names Dan, I collect mainly bronze/copper Marvels and I'm from Northern Michigan. Reviewing some posts I notice a lot of people here are fans of the Simonson Thor run (which are some amazing stories, love the Malekith series personally). Anyways, I was wondering if any of you think some key copper runs such as this and maybe even Byrne's run on the Incredible Hulk were undervalued? Is there a reason these runs stay valued around $4? I know that Thor 337 can be worth a lot in high grade CGC, but the other issues are worth practically nothing.

[thehumantorch]

Hi Dan, welcome to the board. I would imagine these runs are inexpensive because there are lots of copies floating around. Perhaps you should look into picking up some of the original art from this era. It's pretty cool to own a page or two of art from your favorite books and know nobody else has that same page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cd4ever]

I think it goes back to the old theory that by the late 70's/early 80's, comic collecting and the values they were fetching became pretty widely known and mass hoarding began. So books like these, the Simonson Thors, Byrne FF and Hulk, even later Miller DD's are just too common and too well collected and kept in nice shape to demand real money.

 

And before anyone jumps in to tell me hoarding began in the late 60's or even earlier, yes I know. But I'm talking the average everyday collector picking up 10 copies of Thor 337 or Secret Wars 1.

 

 

[thehumantorch]

I think it goes back to the old theory that by the late 70's/early 80's, comic collecting and the values they were fetching became pretty widely known and mass hoarding began. So books like these, the Simonson Thors, Byrne FF and Hulk, even later Miller DD's are just too common and too well collected and kept in nice shape to demand real money.

 

And before anyone jumps in to tell me hoarding began in the late 60's or even earlier, yes I know. But I'm talking the average everyday collector picking up 10 copies of Thor 337 or Secret Wars 1.

 

 

Hoarding did start in the late 60's and prices on those hoarded books are finally starting to creep up. They were pretty darn cheap for thirty some years. Plus there are fewer comic collectors joining the ranks and the overall number of collectors is shrinking.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Welcome to the Board, Dan

[Skynwalker]

I think it goes back to the old theory that by the late 70's/early 80's, comic collecting and the values they were fetching became pretty widely known and mass hoarding began. So books like these, the Simonson Thors, Byrne FF and Hulk, even later Miller DD's are just too common and too well collected and kept in nice shape to demand real money.

 

And before anyone jumps in to tell me hoarding began in the late 60's or even earlier, yes I know. But I'm talking the average everyday collector picking up 10 copies of Thor 337 or Secret Wars 1.

 

To add to that, hoarding plus increased production by the early to mid 80s really keeps them from being worth much. 9.8s do pretty well as a rule in those runs (especially DD 158-170) but not always.

[druss84]

Thanks to all that replied. The hoarding makes absolute sense as I remember the mentality with the Spawn #1's and Spider-Man #1's. I guess I never figured that the market was like that during the mid 80s. What I'm surprised about is that the "hoarded" issues weren't issues such as ASM 252, or even Hobgoblin stoires like 249, 250 and 251 vs. Thor 337 or Hulk 314.

[s-man]

WTTB! (thumbs u

[Topnotchman]

Many dealers were buying extra copies for future sale, if they thought they could sell 35 copies, they often intentionally ordered 50 copies, 15 extra. The main Marvel runs and #1 issues were the most common being over ordered during the 1980's. Dazzler #1 anyone? Even the Wolverine Limited was a big hoarded book. Yet that sold through and you have to pay a premium over cover price for those issues. There is always the breakout books in the Spidy run that were hoarded but sold through. All the Hobgoblin issues have a great resale value. Yet there are a lot of Spidy's in the 262, 264, 267, 268, that I have seen half long boxes even last year. With the ASM run poor covers and a lack of a good villain, means poor resale value equals lots of books still sitting in warehouses.

[cortez]

Welcome to the Boards Dan

 

I'm Cortez from Southern Michigan (Formally from Northern Michigan)

 

I agree that the Simmonson Thors are way undervalued.

 

Within the last year and a half I've come accross some fine condtion issues.

 

These are really up to par.

 

LMK if you'd like more info on them

 

 

Later and Greater

 

Cortez

 

(email at nashcomics@hotmail.com)

[Silver Surfer]

I had almost a complete run of these and about 80-100 BA Thor's in 9.8 that I sold over a year ago, I thought I was the only one that collected these at the time. They are not undervalued simply because there are so many nice raw copies that haven't been graded yet but to me these are some of the most incredible reads off all-time.

[druss84]

Definitely some great reading, Silver Surfer. I almost have the complete Simonson run (the 337-370ish run). Anyone have the original Simonson run when he was just the artist? I might start that run after I finish the 337+ run. Are the stories as good and is it worth collecting?

[Silver Surfer]

Yup the early Thor issues were very good, had a bunch of pedigree copies of various issues that were all sold but right now I still have a nice raw pence set of most of them. Do a search of some my old posts and check out some of the issues I had. Also, I just remember I offered to send them all to Comiclink for one of their auctions but they didn't think there was enough value in them to be worth listing. From a dollar and sense point of view I can't say I disagreed with them but it would have been nice to showcase if nothing else.

[RockMyAmadeus]

Simonson's Thor, which runs the gamut from brilliant (#337-340, #360-363) to not so bad (the rest) is not undervalued. Not much from the 80's is undervalued, unless by undervalued you mean "not appreciated like they should be."

 

The reason has already been mentioned: mass hoarding. Sad, but true.

 

The good thing....the spectacular thing, really...is that because of this, entire generations of people can afford to enjoy these as they were meant to be enjoyed in their original form.

 

26 years after Thor #337, you can still find a really sharp NM copy for $10, maybe less. The rest of the run? $1 for #338-340, and as little as 25 cents for the rest.

 

You certainly couldn't say the same for JIM #83 27 years after IT debuted:

 

1962 price = 12 cents

 

1989 OPG (yeah, I know it's 27 years, but it's close enough) = $580

 

increase of roughly 482,333%

 

1983 price of Thor #337 = 60 cents

 

2008 OPG = $9

 

increase of only 1400%

 

So...enjoy it! There's a whole treasure trove of cheap 80's books that are spot on brilliant, and very much worth getting.

 

 

[druss84]

As great as the SImonson run was, the Thor's directly after that were more or less disappointing. My Thor collection started with the 337+ Simonson run, I will likely start getting the Simonson art issues (260-271) and then fill in the hole between those and 337.

[druss84]

Just finished my copper age Simonson run with a $1 buy of issues 380 and 382. Thanks to Skynwalker for help with run (really great issues from him)! Now on to Simonson's Bronze stuff...