Comic Books as… an Investment?

When you say “comic books,” most people get an image of ten-year-olds reading a worn copy of a Superman comic book they just bought at the drugstore, that they probably roll up and stick in their back pocket after reading, and eventually abandon comic books when they grow up some more and discover girls. The true market of comic books is anything but this, as the majority of comic book readers and collectors are adults, many of whom do NOT live in their parents’ basements. The last 10-20 years have brought comic book characters into the mainstream, primarily through successful movies like Spider-Man, X-Men, Sin City, and now Iron Man and Batman: The Dark Knight. Additionally, video games, action figures, and tons of licensed material have brought the comic book characters into everyone’s home in some form or another. Comic Con International in San Diego attracts upwards of 125,000 attendees per year and climbing.

But what about the items that started it all? What about those paper “magazines”, those 32-48 page comic books that used to cost a dime or 12 cents at the newsstand? Believe it or not, those comic books can be seen and managed as an investment, like a stock or commodity. There have been recent adoptions and advancements to make it easier and more reliable to “manage” your comic book portfolio. Want an idea of how big a collection can be? Nicholas Cage auctioned off his personal comic collection in 2002 for over $1.6 million, including ONE comic book that sold individually for over $130,000!

Why are comics collectible?

When people hear that individual comic books have sold at auctions for over $100,000 or even $200,000, they wonder, “Why is a comic book worth so much?” Simple – supply and demand. Most comic books were read and abused by kids, so the supply of comic books that are in excellent, pristine, “near mint” condition is very low, making the books that are in great shape a rare commodity. In addition, most mothers tossed out their kids’ comic books after a certain age because no one saw them as a collectible item. Finally, comic books are made of paper, which means they age, degrade, and can fall apart if not well maintained.

Take that low supply and add in the demand from adults who used to read comics as a kid. As those kids get older, gain disposable income, and want to recapture a part of their youth, items from their childhood (that are in short supply) go up in value because of demand. Add in the demand from millions of kids and adults seeing their favorite characters, like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men, in TV shows, cartoons, and big-screen movies, and you have a growing number of people who want to own those older comics and see the origins of their favorite character.

Beyond the issues of supply and demand, a rare comic book is only worth something if there’s a collector out there willing to pay for it. Beyond the supply and demand issues, there are several key factors that make a comic book less or more valuable, which is something you should be aware of if you want to go into this arena:

1. First issues. Collectors love to get the 1st of something, whether it’s the first stamp, a rookie baseball card, the first striking of a new coin, and the first issue of a comic book is no exception. Today, comic book companies love to put out a #1 issue of some new comic title, and the numbers show that they get an automatic bump because the title is numbered #1. Usually, if the comic has any heat, the #1 issue will be among the most valuable of that series. For example, Action Comics #1 is the most valuable comic in that series, but that is also because it’s the first appearance of Superman. (see next point)
2. First appearance of a character. The main reason a comic that is not numbered #1 could be the most valuable is if a popular character made their very first appearance in that comic book. The two most notable examples are Detective Comics #27 from 1938, which had the first appearance of Batman, and Amazing Fantasy #15 from 1962, which had the first appearance of Spider-Man.
3. Origin story of a character. While a character may be introduced in a specific comic book, we may not get the full story of that character until later on, or perhaps the origin story is repeated in another comic years later, to give new readers an idea of how the character got started. Origin issues are highly sought after by collectors, because the origin is rarely discussed in detail and hard to find, usually. While Detective Comics #27 introduced the Batman, Detective Comics #33 discusses his origin, making that comic more valuable than others near issue #33.
4. First issue written or drawn by a particular writer or artist. While the characters are typically the most important part of a comic book, the fans have paid more and more attention to the writers and artists that make that comic book. The first time a writer or artist contributes to a particular comic book, the fans may hold that comic in more regard or desire, which drives up the price. When legendary writer and film director Frank Miller started in comic books in the late 70’s, he took over drawing the Daredevil comic book with issue #158. That issue has a much higher value than other issues before or after it because of Miller’s contribution to the comic.
5. Death of a character. Comic collectors love the first appearance of a character, but they also treasure a comic that has the death or demise of a popular character or villain for that matter. Before Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson were a serious couple, he was dating Gwen Stacy (seen in the Spider-Man 3 movie) until she was killed by his arch-nemesis the Green Goblin in Amazing Spider-Man #121. The next issue, #122, featured Spider-Man dueling the Green Goblin, and the Goblin dying by his own glider. Both of those comics are worth hundreds of dollars in pristine condition, more than any surrounding issue of that comic series.

Books that contain a important character introduction or death, or a new writer or artist to the comic team, are called “key books” by comic collectors, and are often the blue chip standard when it comes to comic investments. These are books that will only get more rare as time goes by and shouldn’t drop off value too much.

Comic Book Terminology 101 – The Basics

In order to invest in comic books, you don’t need to know necessarily who could bench press more or win in a fight. But you should know some of the basic terminology, especially when you start searching for items to buy.

As far as when comic books were published, it is broken up into different eras:

• Platinum Age (1890-1934) refer to comic strips published as books, like The Yellow Kid and the Katsenjammer Kids.
• Golden Age (1934-1955) refer to comic books, from the 1st comic book (Famous Funnies #1) to the introduction of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain America, the Human Torch, and others published by companies such as National (now DC), Timely & Atlas (now known as Marvel), and Fawcett (publishers of Shazam, aka Captain Marvel). The end of the Golden Age, in the 1950’s, was due to the persecution of comic books by folks like Dr. Frederic Wertham (who wrote Seduction of the Innocent) and the government, which resulted in the Comics Code Authority. Romance, horror, and western comics were the most popular comics in the 50’s.
• Silver Age (1956-1969) refer to the “rebirth” or return of superheroes to the comic book, starting with a new incarnation of the Flash in Showcase Comics #4 (1956) and exploding with Marvel Comics’ new superheroes, like the Fantastic Four (1961), the Hulk (1962), Spider-Man (1962), and the X-Men (1963).
• Bronze Age (1970-1979) refers to the second phase of popular superheroes created during the 1970’s, or the next phase after the explosion of superheroes in the 1960’s. The Bronze Age saw the rebirth of the “New” X-Men, with new characters like Wolverine, as well as grittier characters like the Punisher.
• Modern Age (1980 – present) refers to the current age of comic books, including the trend of more self-published and alternative comic books, from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Hellboy and Sin City, to Spawn and Witchblade and other comics formed from Image Comics, an offshoot of seven popular comic book artists who started their own publishing network.

The next indicator of value has to do with the condition of the comic book, i.e. what shape is it in? What damage, if any, is there to the comic that’s visible? What color are the inside pages along the edges? (Are they still white when they were published, or have they faded into a cream or off-white color?) Basic definitions are:

• Near Mint (abbreviated NM, or 9.4 out of 10) – The comic has very few flaws in terms of creases, bends, stress lines along the spine, and so on. (By very few, I mean at most 1 or 2 tiny tiny tiny stress lines) This comic has ZERO rips, tears, stains, dents, folds, and major creases. NOTHING is missing from the book (no coupons or stamps have been cut out) and there is no writing or added coloring on the cover. (one exception with older comics – if someone wrote a month/year, like 12/5 on the cover, that is the delivery date, and in most cases, is an acceptable flaw)
• Very Fine (abbreviated VF, or 8 out of 10) – The comic has a few visible flaws, but nothing is missing and there is no major flaw with the book.
• Fine (abbreviated F, or 6 out of 10) – There are several flaws with the book, possibly one big fold or crease, but it looks better than the average “well-read” comic book in terms of the gloss, color appeal (not faded, colors still shine a bit), and lack of major flaws.
• Very Good (abbreviated VG, or 4 out of 10) – This is what a typical comic from the 1960’s looks like today. There are spine stresses, folds, creases, but nothing major. (no rips, big tears, stains, or pieces missing from the comic)
• Good (abbreviated G, or 2 out of 10) – Saying the comic is in “Good” condition is not a good statement. Good implies that there is at least one major flaw with the book (a rip, tear, stain, piece missing, etc) and lots of smaller flaws. Comics in this shape or worse are known as “reader copies” because as investments, it’s hard to get a big appreciation in value. Most high end collectors don’t like to deal with comics in this bad a condition, so even though the experts will say Good is worth 10% of the NM price, it’s hard to get more than 2-3% of the NM price for a Good copy. (The exceptions are the really rare Golden Age key issues. At $100,000 for a VF or NM copy, a Good will get you several thousand)
• Fair (abbreviated Fa or Fr, or 1 out of 10) – This is a comic book that is barely in one piece. The cover of this comic is probably not even attached to the rest of the comic anymore, pieces of the cover or inside the comic are probably missing, and maybe some inside pages are missing too.
• Poor (abbreviated Pr, or 0.5 out of 10) – Don’t even ask. Imagine crunching, folding, spindling, mutilating, and stomping on a comic book, then pouring some coffee on it and putting it in your dog’s mouth. The result is a Poor comic book. Then again, if it’s an Action Comics #1 with the 1st appearance of Superman, a Poor copy is still worth hundreds of dollars, if not more.

Formalizing your Investment

Until recently, most comic dealers would visually inspect a comic in order to determine the grade, or condition, of the comic. There is a yearly price guide, called the Overstreet Price Guide, that would publish all the known comic books and estimated values, based on their team of advisors, many of whom operate large comic book stores or mail-order/convention businesses. The price in “the Guide” would determine the going rate of a comic book, either at a show or in a local comic show.

Two things have dramatically changed the comic collecting market:
1. eBay
2. Comics Guaranty Company LLC, also known as CGC.

The first one should be obvious. eBay allowed collectors to reach everyone without a dealer or capital investment, and the competition on eBay forced prices downward on most of the common comic books, but gave avenues for rare comic books to have a global bidding audience, instead of a local company or auction company.

The second company has to do with a common standard for appraising comics. CGC offers a comic appraisal service, similar to appraising baseball cards or coins. The comic is evaluated, assigned a number referring to the items’ condition, then locked in a plastic case to preserve the item and given a label with all the valuable information. This company started offering their services in the early 2000’s after a lot of controversy. After all, you can appraise a baseball card or coin, but still “enjoy” or see all of it while the item is in a plastic case. But how can you read a comic book after it’s locked in a plastic case? (If you open the CGC plastic case, it invalidates the appraisal) While many dealers decried this loss of enjoyment value, others welcomed a third party grading system that would allow them to trade and sell comics without disagreement on the condition. (One other thing – CGC checks to see if the comic book has been restored, meaning someone purposely tried to fix damage or flaws with the comic so it would have a higher condition. Restored comics have a lower value than unrestored, or “natural” comics with a high condition.)

This means that you can buy and sell comics with a fixed grade/condition, and you can track those sales over time to know what people are actually paying for a particular comic book. There is a website, called GPAnalysis, where you can pay a monthly subscription fee to know exactly how much an Amazing Fantasy #15 sold for in different conditions. In a sense, this gives you pricing information like a stock, including trading ranges, last price sold, average price sold, and whether prices are going up or down.

Getting Started

So, what should you do in order to get started?

1. Buy the Overstreet Price Guide. Don’t rely on this book for the pricing information. It will tell you which comics are rarer than others, why certain comics are more rare, and give you a directory of every major comic dealer, auction company, and outlet for buying and selling rare comic books. There are online equivalents like ComicsPriceGuide.com, but for quality of information, Overstreet is still the standard, especially for older comics. They’ll even show you how some Golden and Silver Age comics have appreciated in value by 5, 10, or even 20 percent in the last year or several years.

2. Attend a convention like San Diego Comic Con. Believe it or not, every year at San Diego, you can find SEVERAL copies of Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, Marvel Comics #1, and other $100k+ comic books for sale, that you can hold and look at in person. Seeing the market in action, looking at some comics, reading the label of a CGC appraised comic, and talking to the dealers will give you an appreciation of what you are dealing in. There are other big conventions in the U.S., like the New York Comic Con, Wizard World Chicago, Motor City Con in Detroit, Heroes Con in Charlotte, MegaCon in Orlando, and WonderCon in San Francisco.

3. Look for comics to buy. You can always scout eBay, but be prepared to pay a decent price for it, especially if the comic has already been appraised by CGC. You can try the non-traditional avenues like flea markets, auctions, swap meets, garage sales, etc. but most of the valuable comics won’t be there. Most people understand that old comics have some value and will use eBay or their local comic shop to get it sold. Even I find some deals at places like local auctions, but you have to be consistent and willing to hunt. Be ready to buy small collections to get at the valuable comics inside that collection, or look for the mis-described or poorly filed comics for a great deal.

You can also buy mid-range and expensive comics directly from companies that sell direct or have special auctions every quarter, like:

• ComicLink
• Heritage Auctions
• ComicConnect
• Metropolis Collectibles

There are comic conventions, lots of local comic shops, and you never know if your friend is sitting on an old collection.

4. Avoid comics from the 1980’s and newer. I’ve been in comics for over 15 years, so once people hear I deal in comics, I get people offering me their collections all the time. Unfortunately, most of those collections are from the 1980’s, 1990’s, or the last few years. While there are some gems and hidden treasures in comics from the Modern Age, overall it’s not a good investment. Why? Comics went up in cover price more starting in the 80’s, from 25 cents to 50 to 75 to $1.00 within a few years, which meant that kids kept their comics in better shape, using special plastic bags and cardboard backing to keep their comics in Near Mint condition. Mothers stopped throwing out their kids’ comic collections since reports started to come out about valuable comic sales, thanks to things like Superman the Movie and the Spider-Man TV show. The 1990’s was a time of speculation in the comics industry, where millions and millions of copies were overproduced because everyone thought they could get rich off comics, based on events like “The Death of Superman” in 1992. All of this adds up to too much supply and not enough demand. There are some good key issues from the 1970’s, and most comics from the 1960’s and earlier are a good investment, but unless you want to drown in a sea of paper, be careful of the general “age” of any collection you buy.

5. Decide on your investment level and look for items within your budget. As I’ve mentioned, there are comic books that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and lots of options all the way down the ladder. You can diversify and hold comics from different eras, different characters, and different companies. You can specialize in one area, like Superman or Spider-Man or Silver Age Marvel comics, but just like other areas, fluctuations in the market can kill you or bless you. You can go for high grade key books, or hope to build an “entire run” or all the consecutive issues of a comic book title.

6. Capitalize on upcoming trends in comics, like comic book movies. One of the biggest drivers of short-term price appreciation for comics has been the big-screen adaptations of movies. I first saw this with Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989, which drove prices of all older Batman titles higher. But even as recent as this summer’s Iron Man or The Dark Knight, comic book movies cause a spike in the price of “back issues” or these older comics, as people are waiting in anticipation and new fans go looking for the old books to have in their collection.

Because of this, keep your eyes (and wallets) on the following books:

Incredible Hulk #181 – 1st appearance of Wolverine (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, May 2009) Copies range in value from $150 in Good to $500 in Fine/Very Fine to $2,000-3,000 in NM. (This was a $1,000 book in NM less than 10 years ago)

Journey into Mystery #83 – 1st appearance of Thor in Marvel Universe (Thor movie expected in 2010) Copies range in price from $600-700 in Good to $3,000-4,500 in Fine/Very Fine. (Very few copies exist better than Very Fine, and those are in the $15k-45k range)

Avengers #1 – 1st appearance of Avengers team of Iron Man, Hulk, Giant Man, Wasp, and Thor (Avengers movie expected by 2013) Copies range in price from $300-400 in Good to $1,500-3,000 in Fine/Very Fine to $9,500 and up for copies in NM.

On the low range, copies of Watchmen #1-12 from 1986, which used to sell for a few dollars each, are rapidly rising in price due to the March 2009 movie from Warner Brothers. I recently sold a Watchmen #1 for $21 and have seen issues of #1 sell for $40-50, where a few years ago they were $1-3 each.
In general, key issues you can count on include:

Golden Age:

• Action Comics #1 (1st Superman)
• All-Star Comics #8 (1st Justice Society of America)
• Captain America Comics #1 (1st Cap and Bucky)
• Detective Comics #27 (1st Batman), #38 (1st Robin)
• Marvel Comics #1 (1st Human Torch, Sub-Mariner)
• Sensation Comics #8 (1st Wonder Woman)
• Whiz Comics #1 (1st Captain Marvel)

Silver Age:

• Action Comics #252 (1st Supergirl)
• Amazing Fantasy #15 (1st Spider-Man)
• Amazing Spider-Man #1 (2nd Spider-Man, 1st in his title)
• Amazing Spider-Man #3 (1st Doctor Octopus)
• Amazing Spider-Man #4 (1st Sandman)
• Amazing Spider-Man #14 (1st Green Goblin)
• Batman #155 (1st Silver Age Penguin)
• Batman #171 (1st Riddler)
• Fantastic Four #1 (1st FF)
• Fantastic Four #5 (1st Doctor Doom)
• Journey into Mystery #83 (1st Thor)
• Showcase #4 (1st Silver Age Flash)
• Showcase #22 (1st Silver Age Green Lantern)
• Tales of Suspense #39 (1st Iron Man)
• Tales to Astonish #27 (1st Ant Man)
• X-Men #1 (1st appearance of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Professor X, etc.)

Bronze Age:
The top 3 are:

1. Incredible Hulk #181 (1st Wolverine)
2. Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1st new X-Men team w/Wolverine)
3. X-Men #94 (relaunch of X-Men title, 2nd appearance of new X-Men team)

Others include:

• Amazing Spider-Man #121, 122 (Death of Gwen Stacy & Green Goblin)
• Amazing Spider-Man #129 (1st Punisher)
• House of Secrets #92 (1st Swamp Thing)
• Iron Fist #14 (1st Sabretooth)

Modern Age:

• Amazing Spider-Man #300 (1st Venom)
• Daredevil #168 (1st Elektra)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (1st appearance; watch out for counterfeits!)
• Uncanny X-Men #266 (1st Gambit)

The Final Word

Whether you buy and hold, or buy before a movie and sell after it’s come out, you should always store your comics in a cool, climate-controlled environment with no smoking, pets, or children within reach of the comics. (Safety Deposit Box come to mind?) You can store the comic in something called a Mylar plastic bag and Acid-Free cardboard Backing Board, or get the comic appraised by CGC and it will be stored in a plastic case. You would then sell your investments on eBay, at conventions or big auctions, and either reinvest in other comics, or just cash out. There are other tricks to raising your investment level, like getting autographs on your book that are authenticated (see my other post Turning John Hancocks into Benjamins) but I’ll leave those tricks for another posting.