Advice Needed Re: My Marvel & DC Comic Collection From The Early 70’s 0

[Jobbo]

Hi all,

I’m not a comic collector as such, but when I was a kid growing up in the UK in the early 70’s (yes, I really am that old) I did buy & still have a freezer size trunk full of mostly old Marvel & DC comics.

The thing is (& this might be a good time for any avid comic collectors out there to look away) the trunk has been sitting & still sits, in my Mother’s dusty, cold attic, unopened for the past 40 years.

I’ve no idea what state or condition the comics are in. I mean. I could open the trunk a find it’s now just one big block of paper mache (which I guess would make a nice coffee table) but it’s only recently, after seeing some of the prices that first editions & certain issues go for, that I’ve realised that I could be sitting on a gold mine .. or it might just be a coal mine, depending on what state the comics are in.

Which finally leads me to my question, are first edition comic books that are in (& this is just a guess) a readable but worn condition worth anything? .. & by that I mean a lot more than say, a couple of dollars to $30 each?

The reason I’m asking is because I’ve been looking online & issues like first edition X-Men, Hulk, Avengers etc, do ring a bell with me, I recognise all the covers, but after 50 plus years you’re memory plays tricks on you, so I’m not sure if I recognise them due to osmosis, or I remember reading them as a kid & they’re actually in the trunk.

Now the obvious answer would be to just open the damn trunk, which I do intend on doing, but it will require some effort. My Mother lives almost two hundred miles away & altho I could go uo there & into the attic with a torch, but there’s literally hundreds of comics in the trunk to sort through .. & if some of them are worth more than say, $30 each, I rather do it properly, hire a van, get the trunk back to London & take my time.

So basically, after all that waffle, are first edition X-Men, Hulk, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil .. um .. Captain Britain, Howard The Duck (yes, I know I’m starting to scrape the barrel) that are in poor, to fairly poor condition actually worth anything? .. If the answer is, yes, poor, to fairly poor first editions can still fetch say, hundreds of dollars (upwards) each, then I’ll be up there like a shot.

Oh, I’ve just remembered, there’s probably some Dan Dare comics / annuals in there as well from when my Dad was a kid.

Anyhoo, you get the idea .. answers on a postcard please & thanks in advance for any help.

Edited January 25, 2020 by Jobbo

[comicginger1789]

Welcome to the boards!

I think before anyone can really answer much, you need to open up that trunk. If you have a copy of X-Men #1 or Avengers #1 and it is tattered and worn and maybe evens stained and pieces are falling off the cover BUT it is still all there and readable, yes you have a book that still has value. 

I would access the trunk and go through and take some pictures. Aim for the oldest stuff (anything with 10-15 cents on it) first plus some general pictures of what is there. This will give us here a chance to see what you have (generally) and the condition (take a pic of a rough looking book and some nicer ones). From there, myself and others here can give ya a grade, perhaps even a value and guide you to the best course of action so you and the comics are happy.

Hope this helps!

[Krismusic]

yeah hard to say depending on what comic it is some can have some serious value.. you wont know till you go through it... I would suggest creating a excel or list of the books then doing some research as eBay sold prices or go collect even some low condition books can sell for a lot, but of course this takes time and money so its up to you if you have the time and want to go through the entire trunk or if you want a quick buck.. you can take it to a dealer or comic shop but they will more than likely offer a lot less than individually selling. 

Selling takes some time if your doing it yourself as you have to get familiar with grading, use a grading service like CGC as the grade affects the value tremendously.

Best of luck

[shadroch]

Are they American comics or their British cousins? In any event, Marvels and DCs from the 1960s have value in almost any condition. Speculation is meaningless until we see a list or photos.

Edited January 27, 2020 by shadroch

[Jobbo]

Thanks for all the replies & advice .. & of course, all of you are right, I do need to open the flippin’ trunk & have a good rummage.

As for if they’re American comics, or their British cousins .. Living in the UK, back in the early 70’s, I used to get my Marvel & (some) DC comics delivered from the newsagent once a week, so I take it they’re British.

I didn’t occur to me back then (& to be fair, I was only 8 at the time) but I take it that means that there are American & British versions of the same issues / comics knocking around .. & I’m guessing that the American versions are worth a lot more?

[theCapraAegagrus]

16 minutes ago, Jobbo said:

Thanks for all the replies & advice .. & of course, all of you are right, I do need to open the flippin’ trunk & have a good rummage.

As for if they’re American comics, or their British cousins .. Living in the UK, back in the early 70’s, I used to get my Marvel & (some) DC comics delivered from the newsagent once a week, so I take it they’re British.

I didn’t occur to me back then (& to be fair, I was only 8 at the time) but I take it that means that there are American & British versions of the same issues / comics knocking around .. & I’m guessing that the American versions are worth a lot more?

Not necessarily.

Of the very few European variants I have looked at, they were all more expensive than the American version. So, USA copies are not more valuable by default.

[shadroch]

My experience with 60s Marvel and DC UK editions is they sell for substantial discounts than their US copies. Perhaps in super high grade they bring more but most collectors don't want these. 

At some point, Marvel started publishing separate UK magazine's, often in B&W. 

[revat]

53 minutes ago, theCapraAegagrus said:

Not necessarily.

Of the very few European variants I have looked at, they were all more expensive than the American version. So, USA copies are not more valuable by default.

 

19 minutes ago, shadroch said:

My experience with 60s Marvel and DC UK editions is they sell for substantial discounts than their US copies. Perhaps in super high grade they bring more but most collectors don't want these. 

At some point, Marvel started publishing separate UK magazine's, often in B&W. 

I think it all kinda depends on what specifically people are talking about.

If you show me 90% of non-key midgrade books from the 70's-80's, I'd might pay $2-$3 (or not purchase at all) for a most of those comics, and might pay like a buck or two more if it was a UK copy, just because I don't already have one, and I don't think that's unique to me.  So that's 50% to 100% more for 90% of comics in midgrade, which is probably where 90% of those comics are in terms of grade.  Now a buck or two might not mean much to most people, especially if you had ship overseas to buy it, but it really does depend on the question you're asking and the circumstances.

 

Are keys usually cheaper for foreign copies?  Usually, but what percentage of comics are keys?

 

[Jobbo]

Hmm, yeah, I’ve just done some research & apparently, Marvel formed their own British publishing group, starting with The Mighty World of Marvel (which rings a bell) in 1972. So they will all be, or mostly be, the British versions .. altho, I don’t remember any of them being in B&W.

If I remember correctly (& I could be wrong) each issue had The Hulk, Fantastic Four & Spiderman in them & then later on, I think Daredevil also made an appearance.

It’s funny, but I had forgotten (until I just did some research & saw all the different titles) that there will be other stuff in the trunk like Planet of the Apes, Dracula Lives, Iron Fist, The Savage Sword of Conan etc.

Like I said, I’ve definitely got first editions of Captain Britain (which I think is worth something) & Howard the Duck (yeah, I know, not so much) but it’s whether or not there’s other first editions in there as well. I’m almost certain there is, but .. !?!

Anyhoo, stay tuned .. altho it will be at least a couple of weeks before I can get up there & open the trunk.

Thanks again for all your help.

[William-James88]

On 1/25/2020 at 2:48 PM, Jobbo said:

 

So basically, after all that waffle, are first edition X-Men, Hulk, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Daredevil .. um .. Captain Britain, Howard The Duck (yes, I know I’m starting to scrape the barrel) that are in poor, to fairly poor condition actually worth anything? .. If the answer is, yes, poor, to fairly poor first editions can still fetch say, hundreds of dollars (upwards) each, then I’ll be up there like a shot.

 

The really expensive comics featuring those characters is mostly from the 60s. Hulk, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, and Avengers from the 70s are only worthwhile if they are in really nice condition. I used to work in a collectible store and someone brought in a similar looking collection and since they were all in not great condition (so lots of folds and the like), the owner didn't think there was anything to offer that would be worth the trouble of going through it. They will not fetch 100s of dollars.

The ones that might be worth something are some of your x-men comics. if you have Uncanny x-men 101 for instance, that would be worthwhile to dig up and sell, same for giant size x-men. Captain Britain 8 would be worthwhile to get too. 

Your best bet, is to buy a price guide (overstreet price guide available on amazon) and there you will see which exact comics are worthwhile.

[Glassman10]

much depends on the way they were stored, how the temperatures varied in that attic tomb and how many would be .12Cents and not .20 cent issues. The older marvel simply pull better prices but condition is everything in all but the rarest instances and those go back to about 1962.  Comics from 1962-1969 bring nice prices.  Pence variants as they are called did bring lower sales than US pricing.  It doesn't sound urgent to open the box so perhaps the next time you are over here, you could dig into it, but expect that to turn into a far longer evaluation of the trunk.