OAAW 83's potential to be a top 5 SA key?

[Sqeggs]

It's a cool book, but war collecting is a niche category compared to superhero books, though the difficulty in finding it in high grade adds to it's mystique. Personally I find non-superhero stuff interesting, and would take a copy over contemporary DC superhero keys, but that's mainly because I have little interest in silver DC keys to begin with. But for the community at large, I don't see the book ever having the demand that costumed character keys have.

 

In addition it's not a clean "key", for years the book to have was #81, that's changed recently but what with the proto-types and uncertain status of #81 and #82 in the origins of Sgt. Rock, I don't see #83 becoming a top 10 SA key any time soon.

 

Pretty much sums it up. There are a lot of GA books and some other SA books that are "historic" and scarce but you need a substantial number of collectors who actually want the book or a substantial number of investors who see the book as having growth potential. War books are much too narrow a collecting niche for OAAW 83 to compete with the mainstream superhero books.

 

I'll throw out another SA "key": Lois Lane 1. No graded copies above 8.0. Obviously not a first appearance but a DC SA no. 1 of a character who seems more relevant than Sgt. Rock. I own one of the 8.0's. I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting for it to run up in value.

[bronze johnny]

It's a cool book, but war collecting is a niche category compared to superhero books, though the difficulty in finding it in high grade adds to it's mystique. Personally I find non-superhero stuff interesting, and would take a copy over contemporary DC superhero keys, but that's mainly because I have little interest in silver DC keys to begin with. But for the community at large, I don't see the book ever having the demand that costumed character keys have.

 

In addition it's not a clean "key", for years the book to have was #81, that's changed recently but what with the proto-types and uncertain status of #81 and #82 in the origins of Sgt. Rock, I don't see #83 becoming a top 10 SA key any time soon.

 

Pretty much sums it up. There are a lot of GA books and some other SA books that are "historic" and scarce but you need a substantial number of collectors who actually want the book or a substantial number of investors who see the book as having growth potential. War books are much too narrow a collecting niche for OAAW 83 to compete with the mainstream superhero books.

 

I'll throw out another SA "key": Lois Lane 1. No graded copies above 8.0. Obviously not a first appearance but a DC SA no. 1 of a character who seems more relevant than Sgt. Rock. I own one of the 8.0's. I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting for it to run up in value.

 

 

Yes, but unlike Lois Lane 1, 83 is already an established top 20 OSPG SA book.

[RockMyAmadeus]

It's a cool book, but war collecting is a niche category compared to superhero books, though the difficulty in finding it in high grade adds to it's mystique. Personally I find non-superhero stuff interesting, and would take a copy over contemporary DC superhero keys, but that's mainly because I have little interest in silver DC keys to begin with. But for the community at large, I don't see the book ever having the demand that costumed character keys have.

 

In addition it's not a clean "key", for years the book to have was #81, that's changed recently but what with the proto-types and uncertain status of #81 and #82 in the origins of Sgt. Rock, I don't see #83 becoming a top 10 SA key any time soon.

 

Pretty much sums it up. There are a lot of GA books and some other SA books that are "historic" and scarce but you need a substantial number of collectors who actually want the book or a substantial number of investors who see the book as having growth potential. War books are much too narrow a collecting niche for OAAW 83 to compete with the mainstream superhero books.

 

I'll throw out another SA "key": Lois Lane 1. No graded copies above 8.0. Obviously not a first appearance but a DC SA no. 1 of a character who seems more relevant than Sgt. Rock. I own one of the 8.0's. I'm not going to hold my breath while waiting for it to run up in value.

 

 

Yes, but unlike Lois Lane 1, 83 is already an established top 20 OSPG SA book.

 

Cerebus #1 is a Top 10 Bronze Age book.

 

We've discussed ad nauseum why that is...it's not because the character is popular...it's because the book is scarce.

[jjonahjameson1]

There's no question that OAAW 83 is a top 20 Overstreet SA key. Here are some reasons why this top 20 key has the potential to move up the ranks into the top 5:

 

- as a war key, 83 appeals to a much smaller group of collectors than those in the much larger superhero market.

 

- even within the smaller SA war keys market, 83 is scarce- there just aren't enough copies out there to satisfy war key collectors.

 

- the scarcity of 83 increases exponentially as this war key evolves into an "overall SA key" that appeals to SA key collectors outside of the smaller group of those collecting war books. As things stand right now, 83 has not fully evolved yet into a major SA key in the minds of non-SA war key collectors.

 

- What happens when an already scarce book becomes sought after by collectors beyond the current universe of war genre collectors? What's interesting about 83 is that even a slight increase in demand has the potential to drive the price up quickly due to the fact that it is the scarcest SA key.

 

Top 10 is in 83's sight.

 

Top 5, maybe?

 

Thanks for any insight,

 

John

 

Aside from Showcase 9, I would prefer to have any of the other Top 20 Silver Age books over the OAAW 83, and once I picked up copies of them, I would gets duplicates and triplicates of the others before even considering a copy of OAAW 83, simply for many of the reasons other posters indicated.

[Bronty]

well, that's just sounds like personal preference... many others feel OAAW 83 is a great book.

 

One thing that hasn't been discussed is that its also got the ST 110 disease with the character not being on the cover. That doesn't really help. Throw a classic kubert rock on the front cover of that comic and it sells for more, flat out.

[Gatsby77]

Um...we're not disputing that OAAW 83 is a great book.

 

But for long-term return, you are _far_ better off spending $2,200 on a CGC 4.5 Avengers 1 or CGC 7.0 Daredevil 1 than a CGC 4.0 copy of OAAW 83.

 

And that's noting that the Avengers & Daredevil books are common as dirt and that you'd be overpaying for the Avengers 1 by about 10%.

 

Because Disney.

 

No way OAAW cracks even the Top 10. Seriously, which books in the top 10 would it displace?

 

And forget FF # 2, which should drop off the top 20 soon. At a minimum FF # 4 (which would be # 22 on the list if OAAW were properly placed there this year) is going to explode the moment they show Namor in a trailer.

[Bronty]

Um...we're not disputing that OAAW 83 is a great book.

 

But for long-term return, you are _far_ better off spending $2,200 on a CGC 4.5 Avengers 1 or CGC 7.0 Daredevil 1 than a CGC 4.0 copy of OAAW 83.

 

And that's noting that the Avengers & Daredevil books are common as dirt and that you'd be overpaying for the Avengers 1 by about 10%.

 

Because Disney.

 

No way OAAW cracks even the Top 10. Seriously, which books in the top 10 would it displace?

 

And forget FF # 2, which should drop off the top 20 soon. At a minimum FF # 4 (which would be # 22 on the list if OAAW were properly placed there this year) is going to explode the moment they show Namor in a trailer.

 

You may have missed my previous posts - I've been arguing against top ten myself. I agree that there is no way it cracks that list.

[jjonahjameson1]

well, that's just sounds like personal preference... many others feel OAAW 83 is a great book.

 

One thing that hasn't been discussed is that its also got the ST 110 disease with the character not being on the cover. That doesn't really help. Throw a classic kubert rock on the front cover of that comic and it sells for more, flat out.

 

Well of course part of it is my personal preference and its is this self-ssame preference that dictates where my dollars go.

 

While I did enjoy reading the Big 5 war books many years ago, I was never, ever inclined to pick up OAAW 83. The other Top 20 SilverAge books...I've owned them all at one time or another.

 

If people want to discuss which SA book is undervalued and should really rank higher in Overstreet, then look to Adventure 247, and to a lesser extent B&B 28 (already experienced a significant run up)

 

Then again, who knows what movie rumours will trigger the next Silver Age run-up

[Bronty]

sadly, so true!

[ComicConnoisseur]

why would war books catch fire? i don't see Sgt Rock or Sgt Fury anywhere in DC/Marvel's 5 year movie plan which seems to be the only thing that attracts attention these days.

Good point. Sgt. Rock needs exposure in modern mainstream for him to take off. Also let`s hope if Sgt. Rock has a modern revamp it is good. I heard a rumor Hollywood was going to stick Sgt.Rock in outer space if he appears in any of the movies!

[Bronty]

that's the other thing. Even if he gets a movie it will be a DC movie and we've seen how those generally turn out (batman excepted)

[ComicConnoisseur]

It's a cool book, but war collecting is a niche category compared to superhero books, though the difficulty in finding it in high grade adds to it's mystique. Personally I find non-superhero stuff interesting, and would take a copy over contemporary DC superhero keys, but that's mainly because I have little interest in silver DC keys to begin with. But for the community at large, I don't see the book ever having the demand that costumed character keys have.

 

In addition it's not a clean "key", for years the book to have was #81, that's changed recently but what with the proto-types and uncertain status of #81 and #82 in the origins of Sgt. Rock, I don't see #83 becoming a top 10 SA key any time soon.

It`s still confusing.

[BarryAllen]

[Illustrious]

So, is this the thread where we post our copies now?

 

[BarryAllen]

So, is this the thread where we post our copies now?

 

 

Nice copy.

[Illustrious]

Nice copy.

 

It's a coverless copy with a repro cover.

[BarryAllen]

Nice copy.

 

It's a coverless copy with a repro cover.

 

 

 

[Bronty]

My first thought was 'is that even real'

 

Looked too good to be true

[BarryAllen]

My first thought was 'is that even real'

 

Looked too good to be true

 

 

 

[gadzukes]

I haven't followed Sgt Rock since I was a kid in the 70s. But I always loved him.

 

I found an OAAW 83 in a garage sale find and sold it before I really knew how hard it was to find. Wish I had it back now.

 

Did DC ever modernize Sgt Rock like Marvel did with Sgt Fury?

Will we ever see "Colonel Rock agent of S.T.O.N.E." (Strategic Targeting Of National Enemies)