Incredible Hulk #181 - is it *that* red-hot? 17 17

[drbanner]

Not a sports card collector, but from what I understand it's not the vintage cards that are exploding but the newer/limited cards and cards featuring players from the 90's onward?

Other than the mainstream superhero books (Action, Detective, Timely's, etc.,.), I wouldn't be surprised to see comics follow the same pattern where the key/semi-key Silver Age and Bronze Age books surpass the non-superhero GA books in the years ahead.

[LDarkseid1]

25 minutes ago, drbanner said:

Not a sports card collector, but from what I understand it's not the vintage cards that are exploding but the newer/limited cards and cards featuring players from the 90's onward?

Other than the mainstream superhero books (Action, Detective, Timely's, etc.,.), I wouldn't be surprised to see comics follow the same pattern where the key/semi-key Silver Age and Bronze Age books surpass the non-superhero GA books in the years ahead.

I believe the newer/limited cards were exploding for a while but have softened some. It’s vintage sports cards at the moment that are exploding, like Jordan rookies from 1986 in PSA 10 selling for around $750K each. They were around $250K a month before those sales and around $30K months before that.

Edited February 23, 2021 by LDarkseid1

[october]

41 minutes ago, drbanner said:

Not a sports card collector, but from what I understand it's not the vintage cards that are exploding but the newer/limited cards and cards featuring players from the 90's onward?

Other than the mainstream superhero books (Action, Detective, Timely's, etc.,.), I wouldn't be surprised to see comics follow the same pattern where the key/semi-key Silver Age and Bronze Age books surpass the non-superhero GA books in the years ahead.

Vintage cards, especially high grade rookies, are doing VERY well. 

I am chasing some low/mid-grade HOF cards from the 1930's and they have doubled or tripled in the last year. Not the looney-tunes 5x increases month over month, but still very significant. The have gone from a comfortable amount for me, to me being completely priced out. 

[Kevin76]

Jordan, Lebron and Kobe are all safe bets with sports cards.  Just like investing in Spider-Man, X-Men and Batman are safe bets.  I think it's good to diversify your portfolio by adding in some sports cards of HOF legends. They do see a steady climb over the years. They don't print them up in the amounts like they did in the late 80's and early 90s, They're really isn't many rookie HOFs that came out of sports from 88-91 topped with the mass overprinting at that time.  

[alexgross.com]

did someone change the title of this thread? its not a sports card thread guys!

as if anyone needed any more data that hulk181 just wont quit, someone just listed like 5 or 6 copies here on the boards for strong prices and poof, all gone. 

and a 7.0 copy sold tonight on CL for $5730!! wow. just, wow. 

[Poekaymon]

15 minutes ago, www.alexgross.com said:

did someone change the title of this thread? its not a sports card thread guys!

as if anyone needed any more data that hulk181 just wont quit, someone just listed like 5 or 6 copies here on the boards for strong prices and poof, all gone. 

and a 7.0 copy sold tonight on CL for $5730!! wow. just, wow. 

Hail to the King of the Bronze.

[MGsimba77]

17 hours ago, www.alexgross.com said:

as if anyone needed any more data that hulk181 just wont quit, someone just listed like 5 or 6 copies here on the boards for strong prices and poof, all gone. 

One of them a 9.2 for a reeeeeely strong price.... lasted all of 2 hours!

[IngelsFan]

Testament to the 🔥🔥🔥 of this book, a single page just sold for $286. Only one side was a story page, the other was an ad.

[WolverineX]

On 2/24/2021 at 11:49 PM, Poekaymon said:

Hail to the King of the Bronze.

One day the 9.4 Hulk 181 will reach 9.4 Cerebus 1 levels...  @Stingrayiii

Edited February 26, 2021 by Wolverinex

[I am not Glenda]

I love the Aardvark and have a complete run up to the Mid 200s ( jusy got to wacked for me) & I treasure the early issues However regardless of comic value WOLVERINE is the king of the Bronze age hands down. What I find so funny is there was a time in High School when I had the same conversation (1986) if it was Punisher or Wolverine.

[MGsimba77]

20 hours ago, IngelsFan said:

Testament to the 🔥🔥🔥 of this book, a single page just sold for $286. Only one side was a story page, the other was an ad.

I figured a while back to snap up an old 180 with the cover torn in half for 40 dollars. I wanted the page to have some glory one day. Only reason I haven't sent it in yet is because I'm sure they're going to put the wrong side of the page on the front of the slab. Regardless of written instructions 

[WolverineX]

On 2/26/2021 at 4:30 PM, I am not Glenda said:

I love the Aardvark and have a complete run up to the Mid 200s ( jusy got to wacked for me) & I treasure the early issues However regardless of comic value WOLVERINE is the king of the Bronze age hands down. What I find so funny is there was a time in High School when I had the same conversation (1986) if it was Punisher or Wolverine.

8.0 cerebus 1 just sold for 7500. Cerebus 1 is nearing $1000 a point, which could vault it over hulk 181. Let's see what happens when the next authentic copy gets listed. 

[MGsimba77]

13 minutes ago, Wolverinex said:

8.0 cerebus 1 just sold for 7500. Cerebus 1 is nearing $1000 a point, which could vault it over hulk 181. Let's see what happens when the next authentic copy gets listed. 

That is NOT attributable to newbs!

[WolverineX]

14 minutes ago, MGsimba77 said:

That is NOT attributable to newbs!

lol, definitely not.  I'm sure went to a comic connoisseur's permanent collection.

[Poekaymon]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:51 PM, Wolverinex said:

One day the 9.4 Hulk 181 will reach 9.4 Cerebus 1 levels...  @Stingrayiii

That dirty aardvark can be the jester in H181's royal court.  

 

[Hey Kids, Comics!]

I've never spent more than $1k on a single book until this week. I plunked down $5k for a 7.5 and don't regret it at all. Pretty hot. 

[LDarkseid1]

23 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

8.0 cerebus 1 just sold for 7500. Cerebus 1 is nearing $1000 a point, which could vault it over hulk 181. Let's see what happens when the next authentic copy gets listed. 

That's super impressive considering an 8.5 as I recall was on ebay some months ago I believe for $5500 best offer. I really regretted not getting it at the time seeing other independent keys going up.

[The Man Without Beer]

 

2 hours ago, Hey Kids, Comics! said:

I've never spent more than $1k on a single book until this week. I plunked down $5k for a 7.5 and don't regret it at all. Pretty hot. 

I'm with you on this. Most expensive book purchase for me as well. Also like you, I picked it up this week. Spent $2800 for a blue label 4.0. Didn't hesitate 1 second. 

[lou_fine]

3 hours ago, Poekaymon said:

On 2/26/2021 at 11:51 AM, Wolverinex said:

One day the 9.4 Hulk 181 will reach 9.4 Cerebus 1 levels...  @Stingrayiii

That dirty aardvark can be the jester in H181's royal court.  

I find it rather funny that there's always been this long standing controversy on the boards here as to which one of these books is more valuable. 

Personally to me, the answer is that both are as it really depends on the specific grade that you are talking about.  

[Poekaymon]

1 hour ago, lou_fine said:

I find it rather funny that there's always been this long standing controversy on the boards here as to which one of these books is more valuable. 

Personally to me, the answer is that both are as it really depends on the specific grade that you are talking about.  

I didn't realize it was a controversy--you uppity comic collectors can turn everything into a debate!

Anyway, I wasn't suggesting H181 is the most valuable in terms of getting top dollar right this moment.  It might not even be #2.  But it doesn't even matter.  There's more to being the book of an age than just price @ grade.  Nothing against Cerebus, but I actually had never even heard of it before, and I'm mostly an 80s collector.  Even laypersons have heard of H181 because numerous articles have been written about it and it's often used a stock image when comics come up and its gains are compared against the Dow, etc.  Wolverine is also, I feel that I am safe in stating this as fact, more popular and more culturally significant than Cerebus.  Also more likely to stick around, though that's more of an opinion.  So for me it doesn't matter, say, if a 9.4 Cerebus sells for 30k or 100k.  It's just too niche to be taken seriously with its low print and narrow appeal.  

Consider this.  Let's say someone discovers a 1980 book with only a single copy in existence.  Just the one.  It grades at a 9.0.  It goes to market and someone pays a million dollars for it and puts it in their vault.  That's amusing, and makes it rare, and a grail or whatever, but you can't rightly say it defines the age or anything.  I'm not even sure you can rightly say it's worth a million dollars--easy to skew the #s if some billionaire wants something.  (Robert Redford paid a million dollars for a night with Demi, don't forget.)  H181, on the other hand, is the single biggest and baddest exemplar of the Bronze Age.  I don't care if it's not the most expensive.