Getoutandstayout

It appears that a 3.0 AF #15 sells for around $16K or so from what I see online. I personally think that this comic will only keep going up in value every year, much like Action #1. Any speculation on where this comic (a 3.0, for example) might be, price-wise, in, say, five years? $20K? More? Less?

4 minutes ago, HighVoltage said:

Yes - FF #5 is really rocketing up. Seems like it has had some heat for a couple of years now.

It would take one heck of a movie/media/something to get Namor over the top of the good Doctor.

Doom has also been heavily speculated on as the next 'Thanos/mega-villain' for whatever the MCU might be building toward.

There have been many Doom appearances that have risen in price the past year or two.

Agreed. It's inevitable that Doom will make another MCU appearance. If Disney can make him right this time, well, you know what will happen to FF #5. I just hope I can get a copy before that happens.

2 minutes ago, HighVoltage said:

It's all about the speculation!

People have to find the 'new blood' to roll the dice on.

Hulk #181 and Avengers #4 both in a little bit of a holding pattern for now.

 

FF #2 through #5 have all had a nice trend up.

Sub Mariner #1 has also jumped quite a bit.

I've noticed that even with all the speculation going on over FF #4, it still hasn't overtaken FF #5 - the first Dr. Doom. I'd love to have that one (again). You can't get even a 3.0 for less than $2500 now. It's really going into the stratosphere.

2 minutes ago, littledoom said:

You can't put a price on hype... It's a tougher book to find than Hulk 181 that's for certain .. even tougher than Avengers 4 I would say

I bought a mid-grade FF #4 back in '90 or so for about $75, then like an id-iot sold it a few years later for some magic beans. Still kicking myself over that.

3 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

Absolutely, I  buy every x94 I can find.

I saw a mid-grade X-Men 94 at a used bookstore last year for $200, and since I had sold mine long ago, I snapped it up. It's maybe a 6.0-7.0, and I'm mighty glad I have it in my collection again. It sits next to my 4.5 GS X-Men #1 that I picked up last year for $850. :>))

On 7/16/2020 at 10:18 PM, Wolverinex said:

I LOVE the cover.  So dynamic. If you buy a GSX1,  often you will buy the 94 to complement it.  If you can't afford GSX1, you can buy 94. 

Lastly, its the first  Chris Claremont X-men story beginning his legendary run. 

It's like getting an Amazing Spider-Man #1 if you can't have Amazing Fantasy #15. And the first new X-Men in the regular title is definitely a key, even if it's not their 1st appearance. And with the new X-Men inevitably coming to the MCU, and with a new generation of superhero lovers wanting to get their first appearances, the price is going to keep going up and up.

A couple of suggestions.

FF #48 or a high grade #49.

Avengers #4 (always a solid choice)

GS X-Men #1 (get ready - it's gonna explode)

Spider-Man #4 (a key; 1st Sandman and a very early Spider-Man, always an excellent choice)

I'm scratching my head over the skyrocketing price of FF #4 and the first Silver Age Sub-Mariner. He's not even made an appearance in the MCU yet, and already this book has passed Hulk #181 in value, as well as Avengers #4. It's crazy. What if his movie appearance is a dud? I can understand a spike in price, but not this Krakatoa.

I know a lot of this rise is comic speculation, but still, Wolverine has been around for 20 years in the movies; his first appearance should be solidly ahead of FF #4. About two years ago I almost got a 3.0 FF #4 for $1K. Now I'd pay double that. I've never seen a book increase in price so high so fast.

26 minutes ago, bc said:

Not sure about significantly increasing in value. That would require a greater demand. Both have a had slow but steady increase in value over time.

Let's take a look at each by some numbers:

• TOS#1 has a total of 186 Universal graded copies currently in the Census
• TTA#1 has a total of 144 Universal graded copies currently in the Census (22% less than TOS#1)

For your specific grade ranges (3.0-4.5):

• TOS#1 has a total of 79 Universal graded copies currently in the Census (about 42% of the total of 186)
• TTA#1 has a total of 72 Universal graded copies currently in the Census (50% of the total of 144) (about 9% less than the total for TOS#1)

From some GPA data:

• TOS#1 is going for around $661 / $720 / $1500 / $1009 in 3.0 / 3.5 / 4.0 / 4.5 (a total of 58 transactions recorded since 2002)
• TTA#1 is going for around $850 / $1100 / $921 / $1200 in 3.0 / 3.5 / 4.0 / 4.5 (a total of 47 transactions recorded since 2003, about 19% less than the TOS#1)

From a cover appeal perspective you have Kirby vs Heck 

Both issues debuted in January 1959.

So TTA#1 is a little less frequently slabbed & sold and tougher to find in higher grades. They both hover within the same respective price range at your grade levels - each has an outlier or two. The Kirby cover on TTA#1 might be enough to make that the clear decision for some if it came down to one OR the other.

As mentioned earlier, without a pickup in demand, these won't be competing in value with their superhero peers. Not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but realistically there is currently an adequate supply and demand ratio to cause a gradual increase in value. If demand would increase even a bit , these books would prove to potentially be in league with their superhero peers due to the lower supply. Gonna guess that many of these books are locked away in "black hole" collections (mine are) which implies that any significant value increase will likely only draw out a small fraction of the potential books to market. 

My vote would be to pick up the nicest looking TTA#1 you can get for your allotted amount if you have to pick just one. Grab the TOS#1 down the road, there's more of them available & brought to market. Then pray like the rest of us PHM junkies (I think we are called "hodlers" in stock market slang) for the demand to explode

-bc

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all that info.

I know good investment is all about supply and demand. But how often do you go into a comic shop (or even to a show) and see either TTA #1 or TOS #1? I don't think I've ever seen one in a LCS - only at a big show or online. You'd think that the low supply and even a moderate demand would have made these issues comparable to, say, a Hulk #181 or GS X-Men #1 which have an overabundant supply. But it seems that regardless of supply, a solid investment comic boils solely down to demand these days. High demand/low supply (for example, Avengers #1) and you get sky-high prices; high demand/high supply (i.e. Hulk #181) and you still get high prices. The movies really are driving up the issues with first appearances, seemingly regardless of supply. Too bad they aren't doing Tales From The Crypt-like movies based on these PHM issues.

I was seriously thinking of springing to get a lower grade copy (3.0-4.5) of either Tales Of Suspense #1 or Tales To Astonish #1. I love the PHMs and these are certainly keys, IMHO. Does anyone see either of these two continuing to rise in value significantly in the future?

On 4/13/2020 at 12:41 PM, sfcityduck said:

With all due respect, this post shows a major amount of ignorance about collector's of DA's generation.  They aren't buying books to show them off.  They are buying books, and then keeping them secret.  It's an entirely different mentality that predates CGC by decades.  These guys share their books, which they truly view as holy grails, only with folks who they personally know and value.  In DA's case, we know that both Borock and Fischler have seen the book and graded it 9.2-9.4.  If that's not good enough for you, then you are too wet behind the ears.

If competition is your purpose in collecting, then all I can say is that DA has already won.  Top Action 1, Detective 27, Superman 1, and many other key books.  Plus, he's got the original batmobile, key original art, and who knows what else.  Worth noting that Dave's kid is a highly respected comic dealer on eBay (Blissard) who is a joy to buy from.  So, in all likelihood, Dave's collection may never see the light of day. 

It's not ignorance, sir. It's puzzlement. One allegedly has the most perfect copy of the most desired comic, but never has it graded and never shows it to anyone, save two or three people - ever. To most anyone, this would be strange, in addition to never even having a photo of it circulated. A collector in any other field would feel the same way. Your comment that I'm "ignorant" for asking honest questions is unjustified and, quite frankly, offensive.

Now that I've verified some of the dates for this book, I have another question. This supposed best-anywhere Action Comics #1 was discovered in 1977, maybe traded hands a time or two, then made its way to The Dentist around 1982-1984. Since then, he's never allowed anyone to take so much as a photograph of it, yet there was a five-seven year span before he got his mitts on it. No one took a single photo of it in all that time? Really? The supposed highest grade of the king of all comics? And in the 43 years since its discovery, not one single, solitary photo exists of it to prove its top-dog status? Saying "Well, Mr. X, Y, and Z saw it and they verified it's the best" isn't verification. I don't know them and I can't see what they saw. So, I'm sorry, but until The Dentist or a prior owner can at least give a modicum of photographic evidence (much less a CGC grade or, shocker, display it somewhere) that the condition of this copy exceeds the 9.0 copy sold on eBay a few years back, I'll consider the eBay copy the best Action #1 in existence.

1 hour ago, Corona smith said:

I’m making an effort to pick up more silver age stuff and less modern newsstands. My recent pickups #5 is a 7.5 and #6 is an 8.5. I’ve cropped out the cases label as they’re not CGC. 

 

I think this series is way underrated. Once Subby hits the silver screen, I think they'll really take off. I picked up issues 1-10 in the last two years.

Wasn't "The Dentist" copy originally the one in the Edgar Church Collection discovered in 1977? If so, I understand that The Dentist bought his high-grade copy from a Sparkling City Comics sale of Mile High Comics in 1984? Do I have this info right?

Mail call!

On 2/13/2020 at 7:01 PM, HuddyBee said:

Just picked up this book for a killer price...

Not bad. I picked this copy up a year and a half ago for a song.

Does anyone besides me think that it's a good idea to grab the first appearance of Metamorpho in Brave And The Bold #57? I think it's seriously undervalued, considering how popular the character is. If a movie does ever come out on this character, considering that he first appeared way back in 1965, I think it'll shoot up like a rocket. I mean, it's not like the first appearance of Venom or Wolverine, where there's a million copies of those comics floating around. 1965 is somewhat scarce, especially in better condition. Ideas?

On 2/8/2020 at 9:10 AM, mysterio said:

Yep. Aiming for 6.0 or better, but for a lot of books that is obviously not feasible.

Wow. Nice book. A 4.0 is out of my budget, much less a 6.0. I hope you can make it happen.

On 10/27/2019 at 11:04 PM, MGsimba77 said:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/bronze-age-1970-1979-/superhero/x-men-94-marvel-1975-cgc-nm-96-white-pages/a/121943-17934.s

" CGC census 10/19: 118 in 9.8, 1 higher."

According to the info at the link, there is one 10.0 Hulk #181 graded by CGC. I wonder what that would sell for.

On 10/5/2019 at 10:16 PM, davebo357 said:

Had a friend send me this photo of a regular blue label 9.8 at New York ComiCon priced at $37k.  I had no idea they were going for that much, or is that just super wishful pricing for a convention?

Honestly, for that price would you rather have a Hulk 181 (even a 9.8) or a 5.0 Amazing Fantasy #15?

On 9/20/2019 at 11:34 AM, Silver_Couch_Surfer said:

Wow! All time high so far in 9.8

Has CGC or CBCS ever graded a 10.0?