Top Ten Silver Age Investment Comics of 2013

[Peter Loves Gwen]

I collect Overstreet guides and got my start from reading those in the mid 70's. I really like them and appreciate the work they did back then. But the Spidey story in ST Annual #2 is just a retelling of the first time he met the Torch, in ASM 1 before meeting the FF in their building.

 

I finally got to read that short story in the annual about three years ago. I enjoyed what it was, but it was only just a couple of minutes long battle. The Torch saw Spider-Man passing by in a suburban neighborhood, not the typical NY building scenes. He attacked SM and they tussled for just a short time. That was not a new fight in the annual, or a new Spider-Man appearance. I reread the ASM 1 pages that had that same scene in it, and it was just a few pictured scenes in that. The annual expanded that just a little to fill a more pages, with more dialog etc.

 

Overstreet is just wrong if they call that a new appearance. One event told multiple times or ways, is still just one event.

[jjonahjameson1]

I collect Overstreet guides and got my start from reading those in the mid 70's. I really like them and appreciate the work they did back then. But the Spidey story in ST Annual #2 is just a retelling of the first time he met the Torch, in ASM 1 before meeting the FF in their building.

 

I finally got to read that short story in the annual about three years ago. I enjoyed what it was, but it was only just a couple of minutes long battle. The Torch saw Spider-Man passing by in a suburban neighborhood, not the typical NY building scenes. He attacked SM and they tussled for just a short time. That was not a new fight in the annual, or a new Spider-Man appearance. I reread the ASM 1 pages that had that same scene in it, and it was just a few pictured scenes in that. The annual expanded that just a little to fill a more pages, with more dialog etc.

 

Overstreet is just wrong if they call that a new appearance. One event told multiple times or ways, is still just one event.

 

At the end of the day, ST Ann 2 is a pretty cool book to have, but since this thread is about the top ten Silver Age investment comics for 2013, I'd make that investment elsewhere.

[gadzukes]

I dont know much about these numbers but I have to think X-men 4 is trending way, way up now. I recently bought a beater copy (advertised as a 3.0) and thought I overpaid when I got it because it seriously looked no better than a 1.8. Listed at $155 BIN/OBO and it sold for $150 within 10 minutes. I know X-men 4 has always been a popular book but it's gotten so hot lately and will only get hotter going into 2015 when Avengers 2 comes out.

 

You don't see an awful lot of cgc copies of X-men 4 trading on eBay, but the raw copies, the beaters--these get tons of action.

 

I think you're right about this one. Xmen 4 wasn't even on my radar, but there has been alot more chatter about Wanda & Quicksilver making appearances in the next Avengers movie. I just checked out the GPA data and prices are really shooting up on these.

 

I had a really nice looking raw copy of this that I sold about a year ago. Maybe 6.0 to 7.0. Dang, I wish I had it back now. Stupid Stupid Stupid.

[gadzukes]

There was talk for a while that the Enchantress & Executioner would be in the next Thor movie, which would have made JIM 103 a pretty desirable comic for investment. Anyone know anything about that rumor? There hasn't been a lot of movement on that comic, but the price has been steadily rising in all grades.

[gadzukes]

There was talk for a while that the Enchantress & Executioner would be in the next Thor movie, which would have made JIM 103 a pretty desirable comic for investment. Anyone know anything about that rumor? There hasn't been a lot of movement on that comic, but the price has been steadily rising in all grades.

 

BTW, Thor 344- first appearance of Malekith (which is technically a Bronze book, but since we're talking about investing I thought I'd add it) has absolutely skyrocketed in price.

 

2 years ago you could get a 9.8 for as low as $30, now the last copy in 9.8 just sold for $225. That's a bigger return than almost any comic we've discussed on the thread here. This comic would probably not be a good long term investment, but there's a lot of raw 9.8s out there. If you could find a bunch for the right price I think some good flip money could be made.

[drbanner]

The fourth appearance of anything is NOT special.

 

Sorry, but the stratospheric prices for high grade copies of ASM #s 3-5 are clear indicators that the earliest Spiderman appearances of are great value to collectors.

 

Seriously?

 

ASM3 = first Doc Octopus

ASM4 = first Sandman

ASM5 = first Dr. Doom in ASM and FF Cross-over

 

The 1st 6 Spideys are all great books, esp 3, 4, and 6 IMHO as they are early Spidey appearances (obviously) and also introduce Spidey's key arch-villains that have stayed with the character for 50 years now. While I'm not sure Spidey 14 is as good of an "investment" as these 3, as a Hulk collector I love the book as it has an early Hulk appearance occurring between Hulk 6 and TTA 59, and has a great multi-page battle between Hulk and Spidey.

 

I think the Annuals all fall out of the mainstream collectors interest, and have a smaller pool of interested buyers than the regular series so they're a little esoteric compared to the keys and semi-keys that have been mentioned previously.

[Taco]

I need to stop studying for graduate school and start studying silver age comic books. This is all confusing when you were born in '88, started reading comics in '12, and started investing in '13. But again, I did just buy two low grade copies of FF52 last week so that's exciting.

[gadzukes]

I need to stop studying for graduate school and start studying silver age comic books. This is all confusing when you were born in '88, started reading comics in '12, and started investing in '13. But again, I did just buy two low grade copies of FF52 last week so that's exciting.

 

Yes, School bad.... Comic collecting good.... welcome to the dark side.

 

Congrats on your 2 lowgrade FF52s. You're already making smart decisions.

[BarryAllen]

I need to stop studying for graduate school and start studying silver age comic books. This is all confusing when you were born in '88, started reading comics in '12, and started investing in '13. But again, I did just buy two low grade copies of FF52 last week so that's exciting.

 

Yes, School bad.... Comic collecting good.... welcome to the dark side.

 

Congrats on your 2 lowgrade FF52s. You're already making smart decisions.

 

Don't forget to buy some DC too!

[DamageInc-migration]

I collect Overstreet guides and got my start from reading those in the mid 70's. I really like them and appreciate the work they did back then. But the Spidey story in ST Annual #2 is just a retelling of the first time he met the Torch, in ASM 1 before meeting the FF in their building.

 

I finally got to read that short story in the annual about three years ago. I enjoyed what it was, but it was only just a couple of minutes long battle. The Torch saw Spider-Man passing by in a suburban neighborhood, not the typical NY building scenes. He attacked SM and they tussled for just a short time. That was not a new fight in the annual, or a new Spider-Man appearance. I reread the ASM 1 pages that had that same scene in it, and it was just a few pictured scenes in that. The annual expanded that just a little to fill a more pages, with more dialog etc.

 

Overstreet is just wrong if they call that a new appearance. One event told multiple times or ways, is still just one event.

 

I'm going to guess that you are actually referring to FF Annual # 1 when you talk about Strange Tales Annual # 2 above. You description of ST Ann # 2 above does not match the book. The story in ST Annual # 2 is 18 pages long, introduced a new villain (The Fox), a new type of "cold" webbing, and has the first time Spidey and Torch meet at the Statue of Liberty, which became a classic. It also had new art - Kirby drew Spider-Man in that story (whoa!) and Ditko inked it - just like FF Annual # 1.

 

I think you may want to reconsider your drubbing of ST Annual # 2!

[kimik]

There was talk for a while that the Enchantress & Executioner would be in the next Thor movie, which would have made JIM 103 a pretty desirable comic for investment. Anyone know anything about that rumor? There hasn't been a lot of movement on that comic, but the price has been steadily rising in all grades.

 

BTW, Thor 344- first appearance of Malekith (which is technically a Bronze book, but since we're talking about investing I thought I'd add it) has absolutely skyrocketed in price.

 

2 years ago you could get a 9.8 for as low as $30, now the last copy in 9.8 just sold for $225. That's a bigger return than almost any comic we've discussed on the thread here. This comic would probably not be a good long term investment, but there's a lot of raw 9.8s out there. If you could find a bunch for the right price I think some good flip money could be made.

 

Wow. I will have to see if any of the copies I have are nice enough to slab now. It is benefiting from the movie hype just like DD #111 and many a book has in the past........

[Peter Loves Gwen]

I collect Overstreet guides and got my start from reading those in the mid 70's. I really like them and appreciate the work they did back then. But the Spidey story in ST Annual #2 is just a retelling of the first time he met the Torch, in ASM 1 before meeting the FF in their building.

 

I finally got to read that short story in the annual about three years ago. I enjoyed what it was, but it was only just a couple of minutes long battle. The Torch saw Spider-Man passing by in a suburban neighborhood, not the typical NY building scenes. He attacked SM and they tussled for just a short time. That was not a new fight in the annual, or a new Spider-Man appearance. I reread the ASM 1 pages that had that same scene in it, and it was just a few pictured scenes in that. The annual expanded that just a little to fill a more pages, with more dialog etc.

 

Overstreet is just wrong if they call that a new appearance. One event told multiple times or ways, is still just one event.

 

I'm going to guess that you are actually referring to FF Annual # 1 when you talk about Strange Tales Annual # 2 above. You description of ST Ann # 2 above does not match the book. The story in ST Annual # 2 is 18 pages long, introduced a new villain (The Fox), a new type of "cold" webbing, and has the first time Spidey and Torch meet at the Statue of Liberty, which became a classic. It also had new art - Kirby drew Spider-Man in that story (whoa!) and Ditko inked it - just like FF Annual # 1.

 

I think you may want to reconsider your drubbing of ST Annual # 2!

 

Hmm, if I did then I've recalled the wrong book, and I'm very sorry. I'll have to find the story again and reread it. It's been a long time since then and I hope I didn't mix up those stories, I don't like to mislead anyone or give people bad information. .

[DamageInc-migration]

I collect Overstreet guides and got my start from reading those in the mid 70's. I really like them and appreciate the work they did back then. But the Spidey story in ST Annual #2 is just a retelling of the first time he met the Torch, in ASM 1 before meeting the FF in their building.

 

I finally got to read that short story in the annual about three years ago. I enjoyed what it was, but it was only just a couple of minutes long battle. The Torch saw Spider-Man passing by in a suburban neighborhood, not the typical NY building scenes. He attacked SM and they tussled for just a short time. That was not a new fight in the annual, or a new Spider-Man appearance. I reread the ASM 1 pages that had that same scene in it, and it was just a few pictured scenes in that. The annual expanded that just a little to fill a more pages, with more dialog etc.

 

Overstreet is just wrong if they call that a new appearance. One event told multiple times or ways, is still just one event.

 

I'm going to guess that you are actually referring to FF Annual # 1 when you talk about Strange Tales Annual # 2 above. You description of ST Ann # 2 above does not match the book. The story in ST Annual # 2 is 18 pages long, introduced a new villain (The Fox), a new type of "cold" webbing, and has the first time Spidey and Torch meet at the Statue of Liberty, which became a classic. It also had new art - Kirby drew Spider-Man in that story (whoa!) and Ditko inked it - just like FF Annual # 1.

 

I think you may want to reconsider your drubbing of ST Annual # 2!

 

Hmm, if I did then I've recalled the wrong book, and I'm very sorry. I'll have to find the story again and reread it. It's been a long time since then and I hope I didn't mix up those stories, I don't like to mislead anyone or give people bad information. .

 

Ah, don't sweat it. Maybe this will help: http://www.comics.org/issue/17360/#134781

 

"This is an expanded retelling (6 pages) of a part of the story from Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Spider-Man vs. the Chameleon, pgs 2-4)."

[theamericandream]

Reading this thread was a good idea some good information

[BarryAllen]

Reading this thread was a good idea some good information

 

(thumbs u

[Beige]

FF 52

DD1

X-Men 4

JO 134

BatB 54

 

All capable of big improvement pricewise.

[Mishmashman]

Many might not agree with this, but TOS 57, even though it's seen a tremendous increase in the last two years still has a lot of room to grow. Consider that Hawkeye's popularity is expanding due to movie exposure and a popular ongoing title and, furthermore, that it's actually tougher to find in grade than DD1, and you have the makings of a sleeper. IMO, the only reason TOS 57 isn't just as valuable, if not more valuable, than DD1 is because collectors still hallow DD1 as an early Marvel key.

[Gatsby77]

Umm...and that Daredevil has had his own series continually published since 1964 while Hawkeye has been--at best--just a supporting character in the Avengers or West Coast Avengers.

 

In no way are the two books comparable.

[trmoore54]

I sold my X-Men 4 6.0 on October 7, 2009 for $275 (yes I keep records ). Has been selling for $350 to $400 in the last year...most recent GPA sale $480 June 2013 (could be an outlier... )...still, pretty steady upward movement...

 

Here's a pic pre-slabbing...

 

I sold my X-Men 1 7.0 for $4K on May 11, 2008. Buyer flipped it here on the boards about 6 months later for $5K ...has been moving for about $5400 to $6K in the last year...most recent GPA sale $6300 April 2013...

 

[BarryAllen]

Umm...and that Daredevil has had his own series continually published since 1964 while Hawkeye has been--at best--just a supporting character in the Avengers or West Coast Avengers.

 

In no way are the two books comparable.

 

I agree, DD is a more important and a larger character.

 

However, I do think that TOS57 is a good investment right now, but then again so is DD1.

 

Both still have large upsides IMHO.