Which comics are way underpriced ?

[VintageComics]

But what do I know, im 33 and an old fart already.

 

Man, when I was 33 I was playing street ball with college kids on basketball scholarships.

 

[Old Fashion PB and J]

ASM 1 destroys X-Men 1. The start of Marvels second longest running book, and most popular characters monthly. There are 50 spidey collectors to every X-Men.

 

Is that hyperbole?

 

No way. Maybe you don't know me yet, but I am NOT a spidey fan. I prefer X-Men, they got me into comics. But if you follow the market for back issues, spidey wins. X-Men are second in the Marvel Universe IMO.

 

I don't doubt the possibility that Spider-man outsells any single X-book, but literally by a factor of 50? Are you making this claim over all the X-books?

 

Really I think there are fair points to be made on both sides.

 

The X-Men name is an iconic label, and by far the most popular team in all of comics. X-Men 1 is the first appearance of that team. It has a legit first appearance of seven major Marvel characters. It spawned the the world of mutants, which became an extremely important part of the Marvel universe.

 

Mind you, Spider-man is the single most popular character in comics and his name recognition extends far beyond, even to pop-culture. He's right up there with Superman and Batman. But again, it cannot be ignored that ASM 1 is not his first appearance.

 

AF15 without a doubt should be destroying XM 1 price wise. But ASM 1? I agree with the poster who said perhaps it should outprice it, but not by as much as it does.

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

[VintageComics]

Spidey is as blue chip as it gets in comics, no two ways about it although Hulk #181 was the "wow" book at the con this past weekend even though I had two rows of ASM books on the wall and an ASM GRR in the showcase.

 

The ASM 1 GRR was the second most asked about book (many people thought it was the real thing) but it was placed two shelves below the Hulk #181 so that might have affected it's drawing power.

 

Had it been on the top shelf, I'm sure it would have garned just as much attention as the Hulk #181.

 

For some people, they just could not get past seeing anything else except for Hulk #181 though.

 

R.

 

 

[USArmyParatrooper]

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

 

Are you guessing or have you actually looked at numbers? If there was literally a 50-1 ratio of collectors Spider-man 1 would be killing X-men 1 way more than it already is. That is unless there's a huge discrepancy in population between the two books.

[jjonahjameson1]

Spidey is as blue chip as it gets in comics, no two ways about it although Hulk #181 was the "wow" book at the con this past weekend even though I had two rows of ASM books on the wall and an ASM GRR in the showcase.

 

The ASM 1 GRR was the second most asked about book (many people thought it was the real thing) but it was placed two shelves below the Hulk #181 so that might have affected it's drawing power.

 

Had it been on the top shelf, I'm sure it would have garned just as much attention as the Hulk #181.

 

For some people, they just could not get past seeing anything else except for Hulk #181 though.

 

R.

 

 

Roy, my buddy and I were at your booth while you were away, and we looked at a dozen Spidey books. We could care less about the Hulk 181, and didn't ask to see it.

 

By the way, your lady friend was very nice, and VERY knowledgable about the books. You had a great booth and I'm glad you setup at the show. You are the complete opposite of the grumpy, frumpy US dealers that usually setup at FanExpo.

[VintageComics]

Roy, my buddy and I were at your booth while you were away, and we looked at a dozen Spidey books. We could care less about the Hulk 181, and didn't ask to see it.

 

You don't know what you're missing.

 

 

By the way, your lady friend was very nice, and VERY knowledgable about the books. You had a great booth and I'm glad you setup at the show. You are the complete opposite of the grumpy, frumpy US dealers that usually setup at FanExpo.

 

Yeah, she's impressive. She went from zero knowledge about comics to being able to handle a busy crowd at a show in no time. She started collecting a few years ago.

 

Hope to be back next year.

 

[Old Fashion PB and J]

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

 

Are you guessing or have you actually looked at numbers? If there was literally a 50-1 ratio of collectors Spider-man 1 would be killing X-men 1 way more than it already is. That is unless there's a huge discrepancy in population between the two books.

I am sure many, many collectors of old already have their spidey 1s tucked away.

[USArmyParatrooper]

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

 

Are you guessing or have you actually looked at numbers? If there was literally a 50-1 ratio of collectors Spider-man 1 would be killing X-men 1 way more than it already is. That is unless there's a huge discrepancy in population between the two books.

I am sure many, many collectors of old already have their spidey 1s tucked away.

 

Which would put them off the market, depleting supply and driving up the price. Having 50-1 demand would create a price difference of many multiples. There's no way around that.

 

But but I'm not going to beat a dead horse arguing about specific numbers. Your point about having a greater numbers of SA Spider-man collectors is still a valid one.

 

Still, X-men one is a much more important comic from historic standpoint, and its role in shaping the Marvel universe.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

 

Are you guessing or have you actually looked at numbers? If there was literally a 50-1 ratio of collectors Spider-man 1 would be killing X-men 1 way more than it already is. That is unless there's a huge discrepancy in population between the two books.

I am sure many, many collectors of old already have their spidey 1s tucked away.

 

Which would put them off the market, depleting supply and driving up the price. Having 50-1 demand would create a price difference of many multiples. There's no way around that.

 

But but I'm not going to beat a dead horse arguing about specific numbers. Your point about having a greater numbers of SA Spider-man collectors is still a valid one.

 

Still, X-men one is a much more important comic from historic standpoint, and its role in shaping the Marvel universe.

 

Nope. Think about it. If there was no ASM 1 there would be no spidey ongoing. THAT is what makes it important. Not the content, the issue. As far as the content of the books importance, you are correct. X-Men 1 is more important then ASM 1.

[500Club]

Brubaker's DD destroyed anything the X-Men have been part of since the X-tinction agenda. Quote me.

 

Quoted!!

 

And agreed.

 

The X-Men are on track to pull a houdini. The stories stink, the artists are so-so. They need help, bad.

 

Exactly my point from above. It's tough to be enthusiastic about the X-Men when the stories have been poor for 20 years, the rare high point notwithstanding. I am old school like Roy, and I can definitely say I was more into both new and back issue X-Men when they were at the top of the heap creatively.

 

 

[jjonahjameson1]

 

The 50:1 ratio is with SA back issues.Solely based on SA Marvel collectors. It does not matter that it is Spideys 2nd appearance but #1 of the run. People like spidey better, I prefer X-Men (but the BA).

 

Are you guessing or have you actually looked at numbers? If there was literally a 50-1 ratio of collectors Spider-man 1 would be killing X-men 1 way more than it already is. That is unless there's a huge discrepancy in population between the two books.

I am sure many, many collectors of old already have their spidey 1s tucked away.

 

Which would put them off the market, depleting supply and driving up the price. Having 50-1 demand would create a price difference of many multiples. There's no way around that.

 

But but I'm not going to beat a dead horse arguing about specific numbers. Your point about having a greater numbers of SA Spider-man collectors is still a valid one.

 

Still, X-men one is a much more important comic from historic standpoint, and its role in shaping the Marvel universe.

 

Nope. Think about it. If there was no ASM 1 there would be no spidey ongoing. THAT is what makes it important. Not the content, the issue. As far as the content of the books importance, you are correct. X-Men 1 is more important then ASM 1.

 

If Spidey #1 and ASM in general wasn't such as success, there would be no X-Men, lame old team or otherwise. You can attempt to re-write the history of the Marvel Universe as much as you want, but it will not change the FACT that ASM #1 is more desireable and more important the X-MEN #1.

[Old Fashion PB and J]

Brubaker's DD destroyed anything the X-Men have been part of since the X-tinction agenda. Quote me.

 

Quoted!!

 

And agreed.

 

The X-Men are on track to pull a houdini. The stories stink, the artists are so-so. They need help, bad.

 

Exactly my point from above. It's tough to be enthusiastic about the X-Men when the stories have been poor for 20 years, the rare high point notwithstanding. I am old school like Roy, and I can definitely say I was more into both new and back issue X-Men when they were at the top of the heap creatively.

 

Jim lee and Silvestri were my favorites. I started reading during the Mutant Massacre as a kid. I will always have a soft spot for the book, but it is not found in my collection. Other than the 300 or so issues I have to figure out how to sell

[The Less Blob]

and let's face it, someone "from the outside" like my wife knows peter parker, aunt may and uncle ben (and has not seen the movies -- AND UNCLE BEN WAS ONLY IN ONE ISSUE!!!), know PP was from Queens, etc.

 

She don't know diddly about no x-men other than our son cannot have a costume with metal claws and that hugh jackman plays wolverine, captain picard plays the bald guy in the wheelchair, gandalf plays the guy with the silly helmet and hale berry plays storm (and only because one of her friends was nutso over storm)

 

she doesn't even remember that sookie stackhouse plays rogue (because she wasn't a hot gap toothed gal back then)

[The Less Blob]

Getting back on track, this is a great time for collecting if you have relatively modest goals. If you only want the best of the best key books it is a very expensive time. But you can go to a show with $100-$400 in your pocket (or spend that here) and come away with a lot of cool stuff that satisfies the 25 or 30 or 35 year rule and then some. Putting aside sports cards, where we have something similar going on with a lot of 60's - early 80's material* which is pretty cheap, and I guess records, which have crashed due to supply and lack of interest, how many other collecting type hobbies are this affordable?

 

* I am not really a sports card collector, but in the last 1-2 years I have put together a nifty little collection (shoe box size -- though i wear a size 13, so it's a big box) of vintage cards from the 50s - early 80's (I have a cut-off of about 1983) chock full of HOFers and other fine players I remember...nothing cost me more than $1, a lot of it was 50 cents or less. true, the internet has killed this stuff because WAYYYY more boxes of baseball cards have been found in attics and closets than boxes of comics and you can fit like 2000 cards in a shoebox pretty easily...not so much with comics. anyway, yeah, i'm rambling, but when it comes to space it is pretty neat that i can fit it in a shoe box...

[fastballspecial]

On the subject of X-men, that created the whole mutant world right? Mutants are an extremely important and integral part of the Marvel universe. That's one other thing that makes X-Men 1 an important book.

 

Really? The 194? The half killed off race?

 

The X-Men are self contained at this point. The left NY and live in CA now, stay in X-titles only. And the books are getting worse. I have to drop another of the titles, I just cant keep reading it.

 

The X-Men are on track to pull a houdini. The stories stink, the artists are so-so. They need help, bad!

 

Seriously. Brubakers DD destroyed anything the X-Men have been part of since the X-tinction agenda. Quote me.

 

You know Brubaker wrote Uncanny for awhile right?

 

[fastballspecial]

It still baffles me why ASM 1 destroys X-Men 1 price wise.

 

The first appearance of an extremely popular team, which includes the first appearance of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, the Beast, Angel, Prof X, and Magneto

 

vs.

 

NOT the first appearance of Spider-man.

 

Can anyone explain this?

 

There have been threads about this before. In general, if you collect Spidey, you want a Spidey #1.

 

When putting together a run of X-Men, a lot of folks only complete a run of new X-Men (GS1 and Uncanny 94 being the two big books).

 

More people collect Spidey than X-men, especially the old team, so demand for ASM 1 exceeds X-men 1.

 

Spidey 1 features the 1st Chamelon, 1st Marvel x-over (the FF), 1st John Jameson (later becomes Man-Wolf), and most important of all, 1st appearance of JJJ

 

 

You're probably as biased for ASM as I am for x-men but really?!?

 

Chameleon, man-wolf and JJJ compared to 1st Prof.X, Magneto, cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, beast AND Iceman?

 

I'm not saying ASM1 shouldn't be worth more than X-men1 but it's prettyuch twice as much. That seems a little too much to me. In my mind, they should be much closer

 

Please don't focus only on the last point of my previous response as if to dismiss the relevance of ASM #1. The other points are far more important.

 

ASM 1 destroys X-Men 1. The start of Marvels second longest running book, and most popular characters monthly. There are 50 spidey collectors to every X-Men.

 

Your kidding when you say that right? 50 to 1 seriously?

 

[sufunk]

Watching the auctions, imo the feeding frenzy level on SA auctions for the 5 major ongoing titles would go:

 

1) ASM

2) FF (CLOSE 2nd)

3) X-men(pretty close 3rd)

4) Avengers (DISTANT 4th)

5) DD( VERY distant 5th)

 

Again, i'm not questioning the superiority of Spidey but it still seems to me like X-men 1 is a pretty underpriced book in the 7.0-9.0 range imo

[BigLeagueCHEW]

Watching the auctions, imo the feeding frenzy level on SA auctions for the 5 major ongoing titles would go:

 

1) ASM

2) FF (CLOSE 2nd)

3) X-men(pretty close 3rd)

4) Avengers (DISTANT 4th)

5) DD( VERY distant 5th)

 

Again, i'm not questioning the superiority of Spidey but it still seems to me like X-men 1 is a pretty underpriced book in the 7.0-9.0 range imo

 

It's because it is treated pretty much like any other #1.

 

The characters that were introduced are .

 

Beast = okay your a hairy guy with muscles

Cyclops = okay you shoot a red beam out of your eyes

Marvel Girl = need I say more

Xavier = okay you can read minds

 

None of them are cool like Spider-man.

 

The team always changed and every other issue was a new mutant.

[USArmyParatrooper]

Watching the auctions, imo the feeding frenzy level on SA auctions for the 5 major ongoing titles would go:

 

1) ASM

2) FF (CLOSE 2nd)

3) X-men(pretty close 3rd)

4) Avengers (DISTANT 4th)

5) DD( VERY distant 5th)

 

Again, i'm not questioning the superiority of Spidey but it still seems to me like X-men 1 is a pretty underpriced book in the 7.0-9.0 range imo

 

It's because it is treated pretty much like any other #1.

 

The characters that were introduced are .

 

Beast = okay your a hairy guy with muscles

Cyclops = okay you shoot a red beam out of your eyes

Marvel Girl = need I say more

Xavier = okay you can read minds

 

None of them are cool like Spider-man.

 

The team always changed and every other issue was a new mutant.

 

I personally really like beast because he epitomizes mind and body. An kicking hairy beast who's also an articulate, scientific genius.

 

Obviously character choices are very personal, but apparently so is what draws you to a collector comic. For most it appears to be the character, but I personally put a lot of stock in the importance of the comic itself. When it comes to having impact on the entire Marvel world, few if any comics can hold a candle to X-Men 1.

[sufunk]

Watching the auctions, imo the feeding frenzy level on SA auctions for the 5 major ongoing titles would go:

 

1) ASM

2) FF (CLOSE 2nd)

3) X-men(pretty close 3rd)

4) Avengers (DISTANT 4th)

5) DD( VERY distant 5th)

 

Again, i'm not questioning the superiority of Spidey but it still seems to me like X-men 1 is a pretty underpriced book in the 7.0-9.0 range imo

 

It's because it is treated pretty much like any other #1.

 

The characters that were introduced are .

 

Beast = okay your a hairy guy with muscles

Cyclops = okay you shoot a red beam out of your eyes

Marvel Girl = need I say more

Xavier = okay you can read minds

 

None of them are cool like Spider-man.

 

The team always changed and every other issue was a new mutant.

 

I can see your point BUT you're forgetting 3 other 1st appearances in that book, Angel, Iceman AND Magneto. The rest may be pretty but nobody can tell me that Magneto isn't bad to the 10th degree!