Undervalued Gems

[StarBrand]

Any particular 80s books you recommend?

[Draco]

Any particular 80s books you recommend?

I think its actually really simple on these, with 1st Apocalypse, Sinister, Gambit, Rocket, Venom etc etc.
There will of course be many hidden gems that pop up later that will have more relevance than they do now, but at the prices you can buy in raw or slabbed at 9.6/8 you can guarantee that these books will eventually be bought by smart money when earlier books become unaffordable, or people want multiple books for investing over singles. Once BA keys can no longer be had these books will slowly become less available at what are still prices the average guy can throw at them

[StarBrand]

Thanks man.

[corey]

I'll go newer and somewhat cheaper
Green lanterns 6 error. I have only seen 3 copies on ebay


And I think the rarest venom variant

Venom 13 sketch variant.
Only seen 1 of these on ebay in the last year and I lost it! !!!

[Chiclo]

Any particular 80s books you recommend?

I think its actually really simple on these, with 1st Apocalypse, Sinister, Gambit, Rocket, Venom etc etc.
There will of course be many hidden gems that pop up later that will have more relevance than they do now, but at the prices you can buy in raw or slabbed at 9.6/8 you can guarantee that these books will eventually be bought by smart money when earlier books become unaffordable, or people want multiple books for investing over singles. Once BA keys can no longer be had these books will slowly become less available at what are still prices the average guy can throw at them

1st Squirrel Girl?

[greg]

I'll add to the 1980s recommendations by recommending the newsstand editions of those books. I've probably already mentioned this before, but it's advice to combine with options for first appearances. For example, Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the first full Venom story, and there are newsstand copies with the barcode on the cover which are about the same price as the direct editions with the Spider-Man head in the box.

The high grade copies with the barcode are 20 or 30 times less available on Ebay, so in a way, high grade newsstands are like 1:20 or 1:30 variants for ASM #300. There are lots of lower grade newsstands, but not many at 9.2+.

[JCP]

Love this thread.

There were a couple of books in the 90's that were fun that could make for ok specs. Scud the Disposable Assassin could make for a fun movie. I think Too Much Coffee Man could be something you'd see on Adult Swim.

[hulk181man]

I've noticed Tank Girl # 1 sells for decent $ these days:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_Compl ... -4&_sop=16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nycjadie]

Wow! I had that issue andoved it. Honestly, I had no idea it was valuable, but of all the collections I buy, I haven't seen even one.

[StarBrand]

I'll add to the 1980s recommendations by recommending the newsstand editions of those books. I've probably already mentioned this before, but it's advice to combine with options for first appearances. For example, Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the first full Venom story, and there are newsstand copies with the barcode on the cover which are about the same price as the direct editions with the Spider-Man head in the box.

The high grade copies with the barcode are 20 or 30 times less available on Ebay, so in a way, high grade newsstands are like 1:20 or 1:30 variants for ASM #300. There are lots of lower grade newsstands, but not many at 9.2+.

I strongly believe at some point newsstand variants will sell at a significant multiplier of direct editions.

[greg]

I'll add to the 1980s recommendations by recommending the newsstand editions of those books. I've probably already mentioned this before, but it's advice to combine with options for first appearances. For example, Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the first full Venom story, and there are newsstand copies with the barcode on the cover which are about the same price as the direct editions with the Spider-Man head in the box.

The high grade copies with the barcode are 20 or 30 times less available on Ebay, so in a way, high grade newsstands are like 1:20 or 1:30 variants for ASM #300. There are lots of lower grade newsstands, but not many at 9.2+.

I strongly believe at some point newsstand variants will sell at a significant multiplier of direct editions.

I'm not convinced it will be a significant multiplier on big books like ASM #300, like 2 or 3 times the direct editions, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's a 25%-50% premium, or so.

[GGSAE]

I agree that a lot of the 80s keys like X:Factor 5/6, X-men 221, 244 are still very cheap. My issue is, they seem to be very common. I don't know if the print runs in the 80s is much higher than the 70s for Marvel/DC, but it seems they'll always be an available supply to limit the long-term demand. I wasn't collecting in 2000, so I can't comment if it was the same back then for BA books...

[StarBrand]

I distinctly recall a time the 70s keys seemed common too. The 80s is when the direct market kicked in though and I think more high grade new comics were probably put away then as the collector market really matured. In the 80s comics were taken straight from the distributor box and bagged and boarded. That wasn't happening much of at all before then.

[GGSAE]

To further muddy the 1st Wolvie debate, I heard a mention of DD:115 being the first app. via an ad.

So I dug out one of my copies, and took a photo for your guys to see....

[StarBrand]

Wow!

[StarBrand]

I wonder if that ad appeared in other Marvels that month.

[Elveen]

To further muddy the 1st Wolvie debate, I heard a mention of DD:115 being the first app. via an ad.

So I dug out one of my copies, and took a photo for your guys to see....

There are other books that also have that add.

[StarBrand]

I just searched ''wolverine ad first'' on eBay and found others listed for sale.

[greg]

To further muddy the 1st Wolvie debate, I heard a mention of DD:115 being the first app. via an ad.

So I dug out one of my copies, and took a photo for your guys to see....

I like ads like those, but they aren't first appearances because they're marketing... not storytelling.

To use the "birth" analogy, Wolverine was "born" on the last page of Hulk #180, during the story, he joined the Marvel Universe. Advertisements are like "ultrasound photos", announcing the upcoming birth.

There's a full page ad for Action Comics #1 in Detective Comics #16. That's cool, but it's not the first appearance of Superman... it announces his upcoming arrival.

[StarBrand]

Ultimate Spider-Man appeared in a similar ad before Ultimate Spider-Man 1.

[Draco]

I'll add to the 1980s recommendations by recommending the newsstand editions of those books. I've probably already mentioned this before, but it's advice to combine with options for first appearances. For example, Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the first full Venom story, and there are newsstand copies with the barcode on the cover which are about the same price as the direct editions with the Spider-Man head in the box.

The high grade copies with the barcode are 20 or 30 times less available on Ebay, so in a way, high grade newsstands are like 1:20 or 1:30 variants for ASM #300. There are lots of lower grade newsstands, but not many at 9.2+.

This lends much weight to the pence variant copies for similar reasons. Its still argued they are either 2nd prints or for some printed 1st as being a smaller print run. Expected to less than 10% of the US run and never treated with the same respect. Oddly we had certain numbers of US marvel titles etc printed each month, normally 20 in a pack from the newspaper distributors, with not all keys having a pence copy from the 70's 80's etc.
Newsstand editions for me are so much nicer as you mention. The bad distribution and handling makes these the top of the list to invest in

[Draco]

I've noticed Tank Girl # 1 sells for decent $ these days:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_Compl ... -4&_sop=16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow crazy money. Sold the 1st mini here last month for £15.
These prices are madness lol
Not even the 1st App as thats in Deadline mag right?

[Draco]

To further muddy the 1st Wolvie debate, I heard a mention of DD:115 being the first app. via an ad.

So I dug out one of my copies, and took a photo for your guys to see....

I like ads like those, but they aren't first appearances because they're marketing... not storytelling.

To use the "birth" analogy, Wolverine was "born" on the last page of Hulk #180, during the story, he joined the Marvel Universe. Advertisements are like "ultrasound photos", announcing the upcoming birth.

There's a full page ad for Action Comics #1 in Detective Comics #16. That's cool, but it's not the first appearance of Superman... it announces his upcoming arrival.

Couldn't agree more, its speculation trying to make a quick buck where there isn't one to be made

[hulk181man]

I wonder if that ad appeared in other Marvels that month.

Daredevil 115
Marvel Premiere 19
Thor 229

[hulk181man]

I think there was also a prototype of some kind in an issue of FOOM.