Bronze age comics that are heating up on eBay... 38 38

[the blob]

4 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

Well my photo is actually from Wizard.

Wizard was usually higher for new stuff, Overstreet higher for old, not sure who was higher for bronze. I have an Overstreet magazine from late 1994, I will check that. That magazine does list NM 98 for $12 and breaks it out as 1st Deadpool, sort of debunking the notion that NM 98 was just part of the Liefield run and nobody cared about it. $12 was real money then.

 

[WolverineX]

7 minutes ago, the blob said:

Wizard was usually higher for new stuff, Overstreet higher for old, not sure who was higher for bronze. I have an Overstreet magazine from late 1994, I will check that. That magazine does list NM 98 for $12 and breaks it out as 1st Deadpool, sort of debunking the notion that NM 98 was just part of the Liefield run and nobody cared about it. $12 was real money then.

 

Yes,  I'd be curious to see what Overstreet says about the prices...

[WolverineX]

12 hours ago, herc2000 said:

I remember buying X-Men 94, Giant Size 1 back in late 80's early 90's, they were always similar value then, or in the shops they were. I remember having the choice for one or the other and at the time went for the 94 as it was part of the run and the set.

So I just went back and reread my Giant size X-Men 1 as well as my X-Men 94 to make sure what I'm saying is accurate.

As multiple boardies have mentioned and probably already know,  It is definitely more nuanced why X-men 94 is such a huge key and it's place in the historical context.

Yes, GSX1 has the first appearances but X-Men 94 was the actual establishment and insertion of the NEW X-men team and their adventures into the X men series.  Sunfire leaves.

In fact,  the old team literally packs up and leaves the mansion in X-men 94 as Professor X finalizes the next X men group to take over in the mansion... there was no official team in GSX1.

Also,  you have to take in context of what is going on in real life with the series. 


While Stan Lee did a superb job with Spiderman, the X-men franchise was not faring nearly as well and playing second fiddle to the flagships....It was not as popular and if you reread some of the first 66 issues,  you will see how terrible and hokey it was. Some issues are unreadable... trust me,  I tried.


It got to a point where Marvel was resigned to reprinting the old stories for almost 30 issues for 4 years until X-men 94! Boom! The series is rebooted with a vengeance!  New team,  new writer,  new stories....

X-men 94 began Chris Claremont's 16 year legendary run until 1991.  Gradually, this new team of X-men with Wolverine became insanely popular.... evolving it into the intellectual property juggernaut that it is today.  The creation of the new (and much more popular) team  made Xmen 94 the bronze age X- men 1 (or maybe Avenger 1?) For kids growing up in the 70s.

Back then, people who read the series off the newsstand understood the book's importance as well as the difficulty obtaining a copy. It was the milestone issue in the run.... and commanded that premium.   But it's definitely harder in a stabbed world where people don't read inside of the comic and just stare at the cover.   

The book is undoubtedly undervalued and the market is starting to correct which is why prices seemed to be shooting up.


Historically,  Xmen 94 was on a level playing field with GSX1 and Hulk 181.  The NM copies have reached similar prices but what will happen with the lower and mid grades.... we'll see.

[THE_BEYONDER]

X 94 and GS 1 were on par in 1982

[HighVoltage]

What could the print run for X-Men 94 be, considering it had been a reprint for so long?

[WolverineX]

2 minutes ago, HighVoltage said:

What could the print run for X-Men 94 be, considering it had been a reprint for so long?

That's an excellent question.  I've been searching for the last hour but having a hard time finding it.  

[Morganmi]

1 hour ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

X 94 and GS 1 were on par in 1982

This is when I bought mine at an auction at the N.Y. comic con. I paid $35. I'm guessing nowadays it would grade out at 8.5 or 9.0

[Heronext]

34 minutes ago, HighVoltage said:

What could the print run for X-Men 94 be, considering it had been a reprint for so long?

2002 Standard Catalog

(Not sure how reliable any historical circulation figures are however)

[WolverineX]

9 minutes ago, Heronext said:

2002 Standard Catalog

(Not sure how reliable any historical circulation figures are however)

Interesting so at least 119,231.  

[littledoom]

35 minutes ago, Heronext said:

2002 Standard Catalog

(Not sure how reliable any historical circulation figures are however)

20 years from now these current 2021 prices might seem like a bargain ppl wished they had paid for

[the blob]

40 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

Interesting so at least 119,231.  

Those reflected the circulation for reprint issues. You'd have to think with new material folks would have been interested and there would have been fewer returns. But seriously, they were reprinting later issues of x-men that might have been in 25 or 50 cent boxes. Existing as a reprint title made no sense 

[WolverineX]

2 minutes ago, the blob said:

Those reflected the circulation for reprint issues. You'd have to think with new material folks would have been interested and there would have been fewer returns. But seriously, they were reprinting later issues of x-men that might have been in 25 or 50 cent boxes. Existing as a reprint title made no sense 

So when  it says Circulation Statement: 119231 what does it mean?

[shadroch]

6 minutes ago, the blob said:

Those reflected the circulation for reprint issues. You'd have to think with new material folks would have been interested and there would have been fewer returns. But seriously, they were reprinting later issues of x-men that might have been in 25 or 50 cent boxes. Existing as a reprint title made no sense 

In that time period, it made perfect sense. You talk bout 25 cent boxes as if they were commonplace. For 90% of readers, if they got to one convention a year they were lucky. In 1975, there were two comic shops on Long Island, as I recall. Back issues were hard to find and the demand for these books was strong.  At least half the books I bought were reprints. 

Marvel owned the product, all they needed was a new cover and someone to edit the stories a bit. Marvel Tales, Double Feature, Super-Action, Marvels Greatest Comics, and a half dozen  more titles were solid enough and took up valuable shelf space. Marvel/Cadence made pennies per book sold so volume was key.

Not to mention the irony of Marvel publishing more books each month featuring Kirby than they did when he actually worked there.

The X-Men had a bit of a cult following and had recently been guest stars in a few books, but economics said if might be more profitable to keep it in reprints. 

[shadroch]

22 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

So when  it says Circulation Statement: 119231 what does it mean?

Circulation Statements were filed once a year, so they are using the most current one to estimate sales.  It's kind of worthless, imo. 

The avg. circulation the year before was 119,231 

[WolverineX]

3 minutes ago, shadroch said:

Circulation Statements were filed once a year, so they are using the most current one to estimate sales.  It's kind of worthless, imo. 

The avg. circulation the year before was 119,231 

Gotcha.  So the number is likely inaccurate.  

[shadroch]

I think there was a gap of seven or eight months between  issues 93 and 94 so I'd say the chances of it being accurate are nil.

That summer, Marvel debuted several books as Giant Size and then put them on monthly status.  The Invaders and Super-Villain Team Up

had GS Issues and then #1s, but the X-men went back to the old numbers.   I thought it strange at the time. Of course I bought extras of Invaders 1, but 1st issues were everything back then so no extra 94s. Within a year I had about a dozen GS 1s  as I liked the book . I remember passing on a couple because they were $2 each.

 

 

 

 

 

[the blob]

9 hours ago, shadroch said:

In that time period, it made perfect sense. You talk bout 25 cent boxes as if they were commonplace. For 90% of readers, if they got to one convention a year they were lucky. In 1975, there were two comic shops on Long Island, as I recall. Back issues were hard to find and the demand for these books was strong.  At least half the books I bought were reprints. 

Marvel owned the product, all they needed was a new cover and someone to edit the stories a bit. Marvel Tales, Double Feature, Super-Action, Marvels Greatest Comics, and a half dozen  more titles were solid enough and took up valuable shelf space. Marvel/Cadence made pennies per book sold so volume was key.

Not to mention the irony of Marvel publishing more books each month featuring Kirby than they did when he actually worked there.

The X-Men had a bit of a cult following and had recently been guest stars in a few books, but economics said if might be more profitable to keep it in reprints. 

I suppose. I had comic shops around me with 10 and 25 cent boxes in the mid 70s, but I was in NYC. I just figured junky 10 year old books then could be found in junk shops and places like that. My area had a ton of used book stores, but that was NYC, not the real world. This stuff cost very little at shows (beater mid 60s marvels -- I went to my first show at 5 and $15 got me a huge pile of mostly 60s books), but shows were a city thing I suppose.

[the blob]

My extremely dim recollection is that my older brother was pretty happy to get an X-Men 94 at our first show in 1977. He wound up selling it for weed money a few years later. 

[Chaos_in_Canada]

On 2/14/2021 at 12:59 PM, batmiesta said:

Holy  you are right, I can't keep up anymore.  

XM129(9.6w) DIRECT sold for $1750 (BIN) on eBay.

Sold my under-copy XM129(9.6w) UPC on eBay for $150 (2004).

I still have a XM129(9.8w) DIRECT & XM129(9.6w) UPC.

 

 

[ThothAmon]

18 hours ago, the blob said:

I have a slabbed 7.0 that would easily be called a NM by half the dealers in 1995

I think dealers called it “the magic of Mylar”.