By Brett Weiss Superheroes are lighting up the silver screen as never before. Major studies are churning out movie after movie starring such tights-wearing arbiters of justice as DC’s Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman and Marvel’s Spider-Man, Iron Man and Thor. Even such second-stringers as Ant Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy are getting their own feature films. Television is in on the act as well, with Daredevil, the Defenders, and even the relatively obscure Black Lightning starring in their own shows. This phenomenon has helped keep the market strong for older comic books. A good example of this is The Batman Adventures #12. Published in 1993, the issue features the first comic book appearance of the Joker’s on-again off-again girlfriend, Harley Quinn, a character created for television via Batman: The Animated Series. When the Suicide Squad movie, which prominently featured Quinn, came out in 2016, the issue shot up to more than $1,000. This is “amazing because just a few years ago, these issues were gathering dust in bargain bins,” said Brandon Zuern of Austin Books & Comics in an interview with CNBC. Another example is Black Lightning #1, which was published in 1977. The issue, featuring the first appearance and origin of the title character, was worth around $15 in near mint condition up until just recently. With the hype surrounding the new CW television show, the issue now goes for more than $50. “With the sheer number of secondary and even tertiary characters turning up in movies and TV shows lately, there is just no telling which comic book might be the next ’break out star,’” said Weldon Adams, Comic Art Specialist Cataloger and Consignment Director for Heritage Auctions. According to comic book dealer Robert Storms, who does around 20 comic conventions each year to promote his internet business, the increased attention from overseas buyers is a major factor in the upswing in comic book values. Big- and small-screen adaptations are “priming demand in international markets,” Storms told CNBC. “I sell a lot of books online to buyers in Europe, the U.K., Canada, Australia, even the Middle East.” Despite the current superhero trend, most comic books from 20, 30, and even 40 years ago only go for a few bucks each (or less). “Investing in comics only makes sense if you know what you’re doing, [because] 99 percent of comics have no real value to investors,” Zuern said. Generally speaking, the most sought-after comic books feature key appearances by popular characters, especially first appearances. During the 1960s, when comic book fandom began taking off with the advent of fanzines and comic cons (the first official comic book convention was New York Comicon in 1964), you could find Golden Age comic books for around $2 to $5 each. During the 1970s, certain comics began hitting triple digits, thanks in part to the 1970 publication of The Comic Book Price Guide by Robert M. Overstreet. In that landmark reference book (which began publishing annually, usually as The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide), Action Comics #1 was valued at $200 in good condition while Detective Comics #1 was priced at $175. Both are worth far more than their weight in gold now. It’s hard to find bargains on key issues these days because most everyone knows that comic books are “worth something” (thanks to news items, geek culture becoming mainstream, etc.), so they do their research, primarily through consulting price guides and looking up completed eBay auctions. However, during the 1970s, only insiders and collectors looked at comic books as anything more than throwaway juvenilia. “At a flea market, I found a stack of comic books marked ’10 cents each,’” Adams said of a purchase he made as child. “One of them was Showcase #34 with the first appearance of the Silver Age version of the Atom. I asked to be sure they only wanted a dime for it. This was in the mid-1970s. The book was published in 1961. Even in the condition it was in, it is now worth approximately $350. Not a bad investment for a dime, eh?” Comic book prices have steadily risen over the decades and have spiked tremendously within the past few years, especially issues in excellent condition. Here’s a listing of the 10 most expensive comic books ever sold at auction (excluding multiple copies of the same title/issue #). Most were sold during the past eight years. *Action Comics #1, CGC 9.0 — $3,207,852 (1938, first appearance of Superman) *Amazing Fantasy #15, CGC 9.6 — $1,100,000 (1962, first Spider-Man) *Detective Comics #27, CGC 8.0 — $1,075,000 (1939, first Batman) *Batman #1, CGC 9.2 — $567,625.00 (1940, first Batman in his own title) *X-Men #1, CGC 9.8 — $492,937.50 (1963, first X-Men) *Flash Comics #1, CGC 9.6 — $450,000 (1940, first Golden Age Flash) *Tales of Suspense #39, CGC 9.6 — $375,000 (1963, first Iron Man) *Marvel Comics #1, CGC 9.0 — $350,000 (1939, first Golden Age Human Torch and Submariner) *Captain America Comics #1, CGC 9.2 — $343,057 (1941, first Captain America) *Incredible Hulk #1, CGC 9.2 — $326,000 (1962, first Hulk) One reason comic books continue to rise in value while certain other collectibles stagnate or go down in price is that the more popular superheroes published by Marvel and DC are timeless and open to re-interpretation. This keeps the characters relevant to today’s buyers. According to Jim Steele, Chief Comics Cataloger at Heritage Auctions, “New generations of collectors have been brought in regularly because so many of the comic characters—pretty much the main ones as far as collecting is concerned—have endured, been updated, and re-introduced to new readers and viewers over the years.” Steele cites a certain web-slinger as a prime example. “Every generation since 1962 has been exposed to Spider-Man via continuous publications and via television and movies,” he said. “Interest in the ’current’ Spider-Man (whatever year) creates interest in what came before, so later generations become interested in back issues, which in turn become in-demand items of collectors of all succeeding generations. It’s a matter of numbers, and there are much fewer of the earliest issues to meet the demand.” Nostalgia and a longing for the past play roles as well. “People like to re-purchase their youth,” Adams said. “Things that made them happy in an earlier time. There are many things these people could invest their money in, so they choose something that makes them happy.” On May 4, the highly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War will hit theaters. Many speculate that it will become one of the highest grossing films in the history of cinema. This has already driven up prices (to some degree) related to The Infinity War six-issue series Marvel published in 1992. “When a movie borrows a plotline from a comic series, that story arc can see a jump in value,” Adams said. “It doesn’t always happen, and it sometimes isn’t a huge jump, but it does happen.” |