Because of sentimental value I have a complete run of all superman titles post crisis until 2002 and I'm working on the same for Batman/Detective of that time frame.
I mean some are okay I guess, not sure about value but The Infinity Gauntlet series was/is the best story in comics bar none and Ron Lim's art is spot on as well!!! I have a couple of key books from back in the 80s like first Jim Lee X-men, and Dale Keown Hulk, and I have a super mint Amazing Spiderman # 77 I am thinking of grading, I bought it for 5$ as the comic shop mis priced it and I remember the owner flipping over his employee's mistake. That old book is almost immaculate but not a key book or anything unfortunately. I couldn't believe how much my 1st appearance of Carnage is as well...that used to be a 30$ book lol!!
Superman #75, I still remember people back in the day buying that at the bookstore saying it will pay for their college or their kids college decades in the future. Almost bought one to keep sealed for that, but didn’t want to gamble my allowance.
To be fair, that chromium cover was pretty sweet! None of the other chromium covers that came after it could compare to how good that one looked. And to be fair, the gimmick cover craze was still red hot, and if you were selling Silver Surfer # 50 for $50 with just a foil stamped cover then one would naturally think that chrome would command a higher resale value. Not to mention that those early Valiant back issues were commanding hundreds of dollars at the time due to the low print runs, so the company was still riding on that reputation (which Wizard made sure to pump up way too big until it eventually popped). If you owned an LCS in the early '90s, you know two things. Gimmick covers have high resale value and Valiant back issues have a high resale value. I can't blame a store owner for thinking that a Valiant comic with a gimmick cover would go to the moon or that he'd want to flood his store with them to milk all the fanboys who think it's going to go to the moon. Of course, this is the same thinking that gave us Superman III. "Superman movies make a lot of money. Richard Pryor movies make a lot of money. If we put Richard Pryor in a Superman movie, it will surely make a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY!!!" It didn't work out that way in either case. ; )
I remember buying every valiant book at the time of peak hotness. It all fit nicely into a large comic box. At a comic show a guy offered me an insane amount of money for the box that I couldn’t refuse it. A few week later shooter was gone and the book started to tank and rapidly lose value. It’s sad because those early books and stories were actually really good. I did buy a few silver keys with that cash.
To be fair, I was a dealer working cons when Valiant was big. I had boxes of them. It was a buying frenzy and I made big money. Also had a box full of the first Crow and Lady Death.
I've returned to collecting after many decades off. Of the modern comics I've speculated on, I'm already regretting buying 1st appearances of spider-boy, jaxkpot (mary jane) and trinity (wonder womans daughter). Does anyone else hate the lack of originality when designing new characters. Its always a different gender of an established character. Great video!!!
i know that here in our local comic store, those prices wouldnt get a lot of attention,...too high. i had to reprice many using sold prices off ebay....
Any comic that's heavily marketed will be heavily printed and many people will buy it, including non-comics fans. Let's not forget the crates of X-Force #1 bought because the notion spread that you could fund your retirement with them.
Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 (1993) I remember going to a comic show about six months after that book came out and one seller had 3 long boxes full of those. It had a shiny cover, though. 🙂
When Youngblood 1, day of release, there was a kid who bought a long box all bagged and boarded at Golden Apple and there was a long line of comic fans around the block waiting to invest on Youngblood 1. Golden Apple was happy to sell it to them even though they knew they were selling worthless $h|+ to the fans.
That's why you always check the shipping. Some items will be low cost with the shipping being beyond ridiculous. I don't really use e-bay anymore because of that and there are so many other better options out there. I figure if you are paying that much shipping, it should show up in your hand as soon as you click buy it now, lol.
Definitely Superman 75. I was a kid and couldn't get my hands on one for the life of me. I finally found a 4th printing a few months later and paid 5 bucks for it. I went to a local comic shop thinking I had gold stashed in my backpack. I saw he had a black polybagged version on his wall for 20 dollars. I asked of he bought comics and how much he would pay for the same book on the wall and he told me 10 dollars. I was totally shocked. Mine didn't even have that cool black bag. I'm not even sure if I would have gotten $2.50 for mine.
You were trying to sell to a resale market. Did you think you'd get full retail/market price? A private collector might have paid that, but the guy in the shop is running a business to make money, not to buy it from you and make the same money back therefore no profit.
Robin 1, Robin II polybagged, Wildcats 1, most of the 2099 line, X-men Alpha 1. Most I bought of 1 comic was (5) Spiderman 1s and glad they have at least some value.
Amen on Robin II. Stores underbought the Robin I mini and it became a hit, with fans paying high value for the back issues thanks to Wizard pumping it up, so people went crazy and bought multiple copies of every single variant cover of Robin II thinking history would repeat itself. And of course DC printed so damned many of them that they still litter discount bins in every LCS in America to this very day.
It was definitely a ploy to make you buy more than one comic. Beyond putting different cards in each bag to entice fans to buy the set, there was a large amount confusion at the time as to whether a polybagged comic would worth more in or out of the bag in the long run. Some people argued that cutting the bag open rendered it no longer mint, while others said that the plastic was cheap and would degrade the book faster if it wasn't removed from the bag. As a result, most collectors hedged their bets and bought at least two copies; one to keep in the polybag and one to remove and read so their their bases were covered either way. As I said previous, I usually waited until the second print came out and bought that one to read, which is essentially still me buying two copies of the same comic.
Well, I have 3 of them off the list. Being somewhat new to comics, I bought Spawn 1-11 sealed in those multipacks thinking they would be a smart jumping in point to collecting comics and would hold some value. I quickly learned my lesson and now I just collect what I like.
Around 2005 I remember ebay listings for tractor trailer 18 wheeler loads of ,1990s comics. Yes more than one trailer. Chuck probably bought them. Still want to buy 1990s comics?
For me, I was assured the following would be valuable: Ninjak #1 foil (I bought two), death of Superman (as mentioned), and there was a Superman in a poly bag with stickers in there, I think bizarro’s world? Also, back in the early 90’s, the comic book store owner told me I should buy all foils and all the comics with holographic cards on them (which were all X-Men).
Everything I own that has a value was acquired due to blind luck just picking stuff off the racks that looked interesting. This is the plight of the 90s childhood collector
Are these books that people *still* think will be worth something, or are these books that people *thought* would be worth something when they bought them 30 years ago? Because I can't imagine anybody thinking their X-Force 1 or 2 being worth anything today, despite what they may have thought back in the day. As for Key Collector....I love the service for its ability to call out significant books, but man, its pricing is all over the map. They really need to get that fixed.
This is a great list and your spot on with all your selections. The only thing I would add and I am surprised you didn't include as just a single entry would be the books that everyone thought were going to be worth a lot of money back in the 90's and that I still think are undervalued only for their historical significance. I am talking about all the Image launch titles. With the exception of Spawn #1 which you mentioned all the other ones have never amounted to anything and some of which I am actually still a fan of today. These include Youngblood #1 which was the first book to be published under the Image publishing banner and the others Cyberforce #1, Savage Dragon #1, Shadow Hawk #1, and Wild C.A.T.S. #1. I still think that these could be worth something some day if interest is spurred with collectors and although I think some of these had high print counts you never know. The one thing I have gone out and done is scoop up all the newsstand versions of these books in the highest grades I can find just in case, and have found them very cheap. And let me tell you finding a high grade version of Shadow Hawk #1 newsstand is nearly impossible with that all black cover.
I actually have one with the deadpool trading card but I opened the pollybagged cuz in order to get it graded you haveta get it pressed to attempt to remove the pollybagged crease.
Here’s mine. One of the first comics I bought was Gen 13 Number 1 of the Mini series. 1st J Scott Campbell art. I was told by the guy selling it; it had a low print run of 40k (that was kinda low back then I guess, not now) and so I bought it for $40….in 1994. Ouch.
@@MintHunterComics I had TMNT issues 1-25 (#1 was a second print). I sold them to a fan of TMNT for $25. I did this because it was the late 90's and both movies had come and gone, the cartoon had already come and gone, the toys were not a new thing anymore...hell even the video game had already hit arcades. No one was talking about this comic. And he was a fan. so I was nice and sold them to him. This was around the time I also sold all my X-Men to his boss at the comic shop. Uncanny 150-250, New Mutants 94-100, X-Force 1-20, X-Factor 1-15, plus whatever mutant books I had, including Wolverine 1-75. I got $1,000 for it all and I thought I was hot shit. Of course Deadpool came out and I saw that it alone was going for $1,000 for just that issue and now I am crying in my beer. Let alone the first appearances of Cable, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Gambit, Jubilee, Bishop, Cable baby, and those Wolvie keys with Mr. Fixit and such. But wait....did I also mention that I literally gave my Hulk 180 to a young cousin for free? Mid-grade...But I was hooking up my family so I didn't care at the moment. I was out of the business of collecting (thanks to the glut of special covers every week). Years later he got married and I wasn't on the guest list. *sigh* Getting all misty eyed now. Not for my cousin...but for my Hulk 180! Screw my cousin! LMAO
Couple of years ago I got a small haul of comics, and X-Force 1 was in there. Polybagged. When I received the comics it came with an extra copy of X-Force. I told the vendor this, thinking he got confused and he told me: Nah man, I have tons of copies of that comic, I decided to give an extra one for free.
The X-Force #1's hurt... I literally have twenty sealed, with different cards, normal and reverse barcodes, etc. Not that anyone would buy them, but I can't bring myself to sell them.
It’s great to have those early Xforce issues. They were fun comics and they are still great to read and just have fun enjoying. I buy 1-11 of Xforce and X-men whenever I come across them at stores or conventions
While I have always bought duplicates of any book I buy (At least three copies), The one book I bought heavily into was Web of Spider-Man #1. I didn't buy a hundred or anything like that but I did buy 15 copies of each book from#1 through #10. Of those book, I had one copy slabbed without a press and it came back a 9.6 which is fine. At some point I'll press a few and submit hoping for a 9.8. I did sell off my entire Spawn collection. I kept #1 and #4 because McFarlane signed them. Best to all.
So wait, the 10+ copies of The Death of Superman Polybagged for $25 each at my LCS that Ive been passing on for almost a year could have landed me nowhere? I had no idea the level of FOMO that should have been. 🤭
This list is the box... that sits next to the dollar box. Ya know, that one at the lcs that may have 5 dollar priced comics with a few others. The box everyone spends about 5 minutes at, goes half way through and moves on to something more interesting. LOL.
The basically all valiant number ones cuz just the amount that were printed means there's no reason why people couldn't find a good cheap copy so it slows demand
Great video and talk James!! I bought 5 sealed X-Force #1s last year from the dollar bins. They all were bagged and boarded with the back showing the card. They were all the X-Force characters but no Deadpool. I only got them for anyone who wanted them.
As a huge Green Lantern fan I bought a few variants of Far Sector as I enjoy new lanterns and the 1st appearance and cover combo seemed like a nice bonus. Oh well, I still enjoy all my lanterns even if I won't get any "green" back 🤑 i really enjoy the channel and content thanks!
Out of curiosity.... What are the resale values on the omnibus you have behind you? Obviously I understand not going to be like rare standalone comics but just curious is all...
I’ve noticed 90% of all DC books have no value, the market on them is so niche that you’re stuck with them forever. Maybe a little bit of a troll here…😂
I never bought comics to collect , but to read, until the 90s when I bought doubles of what I thought would be more of an investment! 19 bins later, I’ve been going through them, with comics price guide in hand to find that they’re not worth much and trying to sell them is even harder!
I have only been seriously collecting comics for about a year now, and I am STILL searching for Superman #75 and X-Force #1 just for nostalgia purposes, and can’t find them anywhere in the metro-Atlanta, GA, area. Guys here are still hoarding these things!
I still have like five copies of Superman #75 unopened black bag I bought back when they were originally released. I'm still waiting on them to go up in the market and sell them for me to retire. At this pace, my family might use the money to pay for my funeral expenses. 😢
As a SPAWN fan, I have the first 50 issues and can testify to their huge print runs. With "value collectability" the word is how "rare" is it? The first appearances of JESSICA PRIEST (future SHE SPAWN), GUNSLINGER and the gorgeous art of SZYMON KUDRANSKI, the artist who had his own style and didn't try to emulate McFarlane's.... and Todd let him do it! These are the one's I'd love to have! As for XMEN #1, only the issue with Rogue, Gambit and Psylock on the cover because they were my favorite characters at the time ( and it's hard to find reasonably priced copies these days! Is it more rare than the others?)
My gosh....is there ANY COMIC from the 1990's NOT in 9.0 condition? Yeah..think about THAT? And really...how HARD is it to find one that is NOT in 9.0 or better? They are as common as dirt.
Does anyone else remember just how difficult it was back in the day to get a purple foil Magneto # 0? I think you had to cut out all 4-6 coupons from various comic books and mail them in… just to get 1 copy! I wasn’t even aware that there was a gold foil Magneto # 0 until like 20+ years later! (Friendly reminder that 90’s comics were pre-eBay. In other words, if none of your neighboring LCS did not have what you were looking for, you are SOL!) Anyways, Magneto # 0 turned out to be another 90’s flop… So much effort, so little ROI.
I remember when The Death of Superman came out…tons & tons of people lining up to get it. The comic book store that I frequented had told me about the book coming out before it was announced, so I ordered 2 of the bagged version. Someone bought my 2nd one off of me right then & there for $500. That’s right - five hundred dollars! I knew it was going to be mass produced and not worth much in months, let alone years; but hey, I couldn’t pass up $500. 😂
Don't care... not looking to be rich off this.. I make enough money to fk around and buy comics after not collecting for 30 years..im here to collect wolverines and that's it..
Coming from someone who gave up on investing in comics a long time ago, some of these are sellable if sold with their original covers. There are a gazillion Superman 75s out their for example, but very few with the yellow banner. And of course first appearance of Onslaught will sell for less than those first 20 or 30 issues; there's much less nostalgia for that period because it's when all of the famous X-artists performed their mass migration to Image.
Back when I worked at a comic shop, I had a guy come in with a bunch of Valiant Comics titles that he'd purchased at the height of their popularity for $100 each. He was wanting to "cash in on his investment" to pay for his kid's college. Most of the issues he had were in my free comics bin that I would give away to kids. After I told him we weren't interested in buying them at any price, he demanded that we give him a refund at the sticker price. I of course refused, and instead advised him to wait another twenty years in the hopes that maybe the market would swing back towards them being valuable again. People who want to invest should go to an investment banker, not a comic book store!
Image's Gen13 mini series is another one. Doesn't even seem like you can give those away now. But the prices for the first year or two after they debuted. I ended up paying about $120 for issue one when I tried to collect them.
My aunt gave me Superman #75 and the sealed black collectors edition for Christmas when I was a kid. I stumbled across it fairly recently when I was packing up for a move and decided to look up the value of the collectors edition. It was low enough that I was almost tempted to open it up and see what was in there.
I'm not a comic collector but I remember a lot of these issues when they came out and ofc I had bought at least 3 of the Death of Superman's! I do however enjoy the statues, great collection behind you and I really dig that Cheetah and Joker. I enjoyed the video!
Every time I see people overselling comics online, the first thing that pops into my head is Linkara saying "You are a dumbass and don't know how economics work"
So glad you made this video! All of the comics you listed are one that I have definitely had people try to pressure me into picking up at one time or another cause they were supposed to be valuable. I did end up giving in and purchased a X-force#1 in its poly bag but the bag was signed by Rob Liefeld. I love it for that!
The Death of Superman was sold with a white plastic covering to get people to purchase two. One for reading and one remaining in the plastic cover for collecting so it's not surprising that there are so many of them our there.
I remember 20-25 some years ago, there was a Power Girl series everyone was desperate to have, as well as a Space Ghost series. Both can now be found in dollar bins.
Great list!! I had some of these, however just to read, never to invest. Far Sector I had and actually sold for 20.00 when it was announced that something was going to be happening with her. She is a pretty cool GL IMO. Still love Doomsday and the "concept" of his creation.
I remember every single local news station getting in on the death of Superman hype. It was during an age where nobody paid attention to comics...... Unless they speculated value down the road.
I love your vids James! Captain Catrot's first appearance was in a 16 page insert in The New Teen Titans #16. So would Captain Carrot & his amazing zoo crew #1 be his 2nd apperance then? If so, raw on the ebay sold listings goes for around $5-10? I believe.❤
We used to talk about having a X-Force #1 burning party. We wanted to get as many copies as we could, encourage others to bring theirs in and have a big bonfire, hoping to help reduce the number of copies out there.
Learned as a 12 year old in 1976, all comic book store owner is a ripoff artist. Have a huge collection. Not really worth anything. I can try to sell my 1st and 2nd print of The Killing Joke over the internet. It worth maybe $250 or $4.99. How do you make any money or find the true value?
Thats a great point about the terrorists line in FATWS. We're being conditioned to accept violent criminals into our lives with welcoming arms, for some reason.
Marvel Super-Heroes #12 and Avenging Spider-Man #9 both look like they would be way more expensive than they truly are. The Captain Marvel legacy has never caught on with Marvel Comics. They should just return the name to who we now call Shazam!
Superman #75(DOS!) Is just plain good comic. If you've never read it and find it for a buck...well life is good. I paid 15$ for a sealed one in 2021 ...well two copy's. One sealed one opened. Death, Funeral and Reign are a powerhouse trilogy. You can't find action packed comics on the stand now a days. Death of Superman is so amazing you can actually create a top ten favorite moments from the story.... 10. Steel arrives 09. Doomsday lives 08. Superboy rides the missle! O7. The death of Coast City 06. Cyborg Hank Henshaw vs Eradicator. 05. Cadmus attempts to revive Superman. 04. Booster recognizes Doomsday!?!?!?! 03. Doomsday guts the JLA 02. Kal El returns!!!!! 01. Superman vs Doomsday to the death!!!! And there's still more moments to choose from. Death of Superman was pure metal !!!
Omega Men #1, New Mutants #1, Alpha Flight #1. Back in the 1980s, if there was a #1 comic, every kid bought one. Coulda bought a Hulk 181 for $25 or bought about 25 copies of these books. Guess which option I chose.
Vast majority of mid 90s #1s, and any indie universe piece. Poor Valiant got owned in the shuffle (Valiant Vision WHAT, the first chromium cover belonged to Bloodshot, Turok took it up a notch with the extended art card stock and then Ninjak left the troposphere with the chrome wraparound from heaven, only to be thoroughly ignored)... early Image anything (Cyberforce, Deathblow, Youngblood, Pitt, Maxx, WildCATs, Supreme, Shadowhawk, Savage Dragon, etc ...) almost anything Vertigo that wasn't Sandman or Gaiman/McKean related, anything 2099 that wasn't Spiderman 😂.. any X-Men character attempting a series title of their own. So, so much. And yet they still spark joy. I love my X-Force #1 with Cable card 😂. But I love my Darker Image Gold variant better 😜
I feel bad for people who invest in 90s books but I don't feel bad for badasses who collect them
Because of sentimental value I have a complete run of all superman titles post crisis until 2002 and I'm working on the same for Batman/Detective of that time frame.
@ScoutReaper-zn1rz same here. But I'm going all the way tonthe new 52
For comic books if the desired outcome is a payday it's speculating because it's worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.
I mean some are okay I guess, not sure about value but The Infinity Gauntlet series was/is the best story in comics bar none and Ron Lim's art is spot on as well!!! I have a couple of key books from back in the 80s like first Jim Lee X-men, and Dale Keown Hulk, and I have a super mint Amazing Spiderman # 77 I am thinking of grading, I bought it for 5$ as the comic shop mis priced it and I remember the owner flipping over his employee's mistake. That old book is almost immaculate but not a key book or anything unfortunately. I couldn't believe how much my 1st appearance of Carnage is as well...that used to be a 30$ book lol!!
I short term invested. Bought and sold within weeks of publication. Am I rich? No. Did I make thousands that helped me pay off my house? Yup.
Where do I begin. Valiant, check. Malibu, check. Defiant, check. Topps, etc. 😂
Almost anything from the 90's that starts with the letter "X" is totally worthless.
so true, that X-Men wraparound cover. looks great, not worth much
@@SuperHSecrets Yeah. There are SOME 90's X-titles that are worth decent money, but even then pretty much only if they are graded 9.8.
@@DeusExAstra on the plus side, some of the stories were good
I had a friend who bought 10 copies of X-force #1 and then was disappointed to see the comic book store fill his .50 bins with them.
X-Men, X-Man, X-Force, X-Factor, Generation X, Excalibur... almost all of it worthless.
You forgot Turok #1, that book is a grail!!!
I buy Turok #1 for 1 cent a book. When the world goes to hell, I have plenty of toilet paper.
@@davidschnebly3818 SHAME!!! 😂
Superman #75, I still remember people back in the day buying that at the bookstore saying it will pay for their college or their kids college decades in the future. Almost bought one to keep sealed for that, but didn’t want to gamble my allowance.
My NFL Super Pro #1 is gonna be big! I know it!!
Back in the day, I picked up 2 issues of “Bloodshot #1” by Valiant. The comic shop guy said, “this one is going to be huge.”
I'll do you one better, got convinced I needed Eternal Warrior 4 (first cameo), Rai 0 (first full) and Bloodshot 1.
Eternal Warrior # 4 still has a $40 FMV for a raw NM. Rai # 0 is worth $50 Raw, $75 for a CGC 9.8. Meanwhile, Bloodshot # 1 can't be given away.
To be fair, that chromium cover was pretty sweet! None of the other chromium covers that came after it could compare to how good that one looked. And to be fair, the gimmick cover craze was still red hot, and if you were selling Silver Surfer # 50 for $50 with just a foil stamped cover then one would naturally think that chrome would command a higher resale value. Not to mention that those early Valiant back issues were commanding hundreds of dollars at the time due to the low print runs, so the company was still riding on that reputation (which Wizard made sure to pump up way too big until it eventually popped).
If you owned an LCS in the early '90s, you know two things. Gimmick covers have high resale value and Valiant back issues have a high resale value. I can't blame a store owner for thinking that a Valiant comic with a gimmick cover would go to the moon or that he'd want to flood his store with them to milk all the fanboys who think it's going to go to the moon. Of course, this is the same thinking that gave us Superman III. "Superman movies make a lot of money. Richard Pryor movies make a lot of money. If we put Richard Pryor in a Superman movie, it will surely make a WHOLE LOTTA MONEY!!!" It didn't work out that way in either case. ; )
I remember buying every valiant book at the time of peak hotness.
It all fit nicely into a large comic box. At a comic show a guy offered me an insane amount of money for the box that I couldn’t refuse it. A few week later shooter was gone and the book started to tank and rapidly lose value.
It’s sad because those early books and stories were actually really good. I did buy a few silver keys with that cash.
To be fair, I was a dealer working cons when Valiant was big. I had boxes of them. It was a buying frenzy and I made big money.
Also had a box full of the first Crow and Lady Death.
I've returned to collecting after many decades off. Of the modern comics I've speculated on, I'm already regretting buying 1st appearances of spider-boy, jaxkpot (mary jane) and trinity (wonder womans daughter). Does anyone else hate the lack of originality when designing new characters. Its always a different gender of an established character.
Great video!!!
Key Collector has no idea what books are worth, their prices are all over the place 😂
i know that here in our local comic store, those prices wouldnt get a lot of attention,...too high. i had to reprice many using sold prices off ebay....
The Amalgam comics were the ones I thought would be huge.
I am surprised how much spawn 1 goes for…
Any comic that's heavily marketed will be heavily printed and many people will buy it, including non-comics fans. Let's not forget the crates of X-Force #1 bought because the notion spread that you could fund your retirement with them.
Flagsmasher be lookin like spaceghost
Turok, Dinosaur Hunter #1 (1993)
I remember going to a comic show about six months after that book came out and one seller had 3 long boxes full of those. It had a shiny cover, though. 🙂
Most comic shops I see today STILL have three long boxes full of Turok # 1's. ; )
I remember getting that as a kid .
@@matthewschwartz6607 We all do, Matthew. We all do. 😀
When Youngblood 1, day of release, there was a kid who bought a long box all bagged and boarded at Golden Apple and there was a long line of comic fans around the block waiting to invest on Youngblood 1.
Golden Apple was happy to sell it to them even though they knew they were selling worthless $h|+ to the fans.
@@jimbomba4365 Agreed I see Turok #1 in $1 bins to this day.
The value of every one is in the shipping cost. $10.99 shipping for one comic is nuts!
That's why you always check the shipping. Some items will be low cost with the shipping being beyond ridiculous. I don't really use e-bay anymore because of that and there are so many other better options out there. I figure if you are paying that much shipping, it should show up in your hand as soon as you click buy it now, lol.
😂😂😂 Right.
@@georgeflegel8778 What website do you use for buying comics?
arent comic books included in media mail?
@@USERD412 should be but rarely used most sellers do ground or priority
Definitely Superman 75. I was a kid and couldn't get my hands on one for the life of me. I finally found a 4th printing a few months later and paid 5 bucks for it. I went to a local comic shop thinking I had gold stashed in my backpack. I saw he had a black polybagged version on his wall for 20 dollars. I asked of he bought comics and how much he would pay for the same book on the wall and he told me 10 dollars. I was totally shocked. Mine didn't even have that cool black bag. I'm not even sure if I would have gotten $2.50 for mine.
You were trying to sell to a resale market. Did you think you'd get full retail/market price? A private collector might have paid that, but the guy in the shop is running a business to make money, not to buy it from you and make the same money back therefore no profit.
The 4 Batman Death in the Family issues. They seem to keep falling in price 🤷♂️
Robin 1, Robin II polybagged, Wildcats 1, most of the 2099 line, X-men Alpha 1.
Most I bought of 1 comic was (5) Spiderman 1s and glad they have at least some value.
Amen on Robin II. Stores underbought the Robin I mini and it became a hit, with fans paying high value for the back issues thanks to Wizard pumping it up, so people went crazy and bought multiple copies of every single variant cover of Robin II thinking history would repeat itself. And of course DC printed so damned many of them that they still litter discount bins in every LCS in America to this very day.
Holy Polybagged. sealing comic in a bag so you can't read it, was it just a poly to get you to buy two? on to open and one to keep? never liked it.
It was definitely a ploy to make you buy more than one comic. Beyond putting different cards in each bag to entice fans to buy the set, there was a large amount confusion at the time as to whether a polybagged comic would worth more in or out of the bag in the long run. Some people argued that cutting the bag open rendered it no longer mint, while others said that the plastic was cheap and would degrade the book faster if it wasn't removed from the bag. As a result, most collectors hedged their bets and bought at least two copies; one to keep in the polybag and one to remove and read so their their bases were covered either way. As I said previous, I usually waited until the second print came out and bought that one to read, which is essentially still me buying two copies of the same comic.
Well, I have 3 of them off the list. Being somewhat new to comics, I bought Spawn 1-11 sealed in those multipacks thinking they would be a smart jumping in point to collecting comics and would hold some value. I quickly learned my lesson and now I just collect what I like.
Around 2005 I remember ebay listings for tractor trailer 18 wheeler loads of ,1990s comics. Yes more than one trailer. Chuck probably bought them.
Still want to buy 1990s comics?
For me, I was assured the following would be valuable: Ninjak #1 foil (I bought two), death of Superman (as mentioned), and there was a Superman in a poly bag with stickers in there, I think bizarro’s world? Also, back in the early 90’s, the comic book store owner told me I should buy all foils and all the comics with holographic cards on them (which were all X-Men).
I found Ninjak at an antique store for 75 cents last week. I think for that price its a good pick up.
Everything I own that has a value was acquired due to blind luck just picking stuff off the racks that looked interesting. This is the plight of the 90s childhood collector
Are these books that people *still* think will be worth something, or are these books that people *thought* would be worth something when they bought them 30 years ago? Because I can't imagine anybody thinking their X-Force 1 or 2 being worth anything today, despite what they may have thought back in the day.
As for Key Collector....I love the service for its ability to call out significant books, but man, its pricing is all over the map. They really need to get that fixed.
Thanks for listing the lower Spawn numbers. Very true. Give me a run in the early 200s over that, any day.
This is a great list and your spot on with all your selections. The only thing I would add and I am surprised you didn't include as just a single entry would be the books that everyone thought were going to be worth a lot of money back in the 90's and that I still think are undervalued only for their historical significance. I am talking about all the Image launch titles. With the exception of Spawn #1 which you mentioned all the other ones have never amounted to anything and some of which I am actually still a fan of today. These include Youngblood #1 which was the first book to be published under the Image publishing banner and the others Cyberforce #1, Savage Dragon #1, Shadow Hawk #1, and Wild C.A.T.S. #1. I still think that these could be worth something some day if interest is spurred with collectors and although I think some of these had high print counts you never know. The one thing I have gone out and done is scoop up all the newsstand versions of these books in the highest grades I can find just in case, and have found them very cheap. And let me tell you finding a high grade version of Shadow Hawk #1 newsstand is nearly impossible with that all black cover.
Have the X-Force #1 with the Deadpool card. Don't mind having it regardless of the current value. Nostalgia is great as a 80's 90's kid
I actually have one with the deadpool trading card but I opened the pollybagged cuz in order to get it graded you haveta get it pressed to attempt to remove the pollybagged crease.
Here’s mine. One of the first comics I bought was Gen 13 Number 1 of the Mini series. 1st J Scott Campbell art. I was told by the guy selling it; it had a low print run of 40k (that was kinda low back then I guess, not now) and so I bought it for $40….in 1994. Ouch.
Could you consider a video of stupid sales or trades? I may have the granddaddy of them all.
Those are my favorite to make!
@@MintHunterComics I had TMNT issues 1-25 (#1 was a second print). I sold them to a fan of TMNT for $25. I did this because it was the late 90's and both movies had come and gone, the cartoon had already come and gone, the toys were not a new thing anymore...hell even the video game had already hit arcades. No one was talking about this comic. And he was a fan. so I was nice and sold them to him.
This was around the time I also sold all my X-Men to his boss at the comic shop. Uncanny 150-250, New Mutants 94-100, X-Force 1-20, X-Factor 1-15, plus whatever mutant books I had, including Wolverine 1-75. I got $1,000 for it all and I thought I was hot shit. Of course Deadpool came out and I saw that it alone was going for $1,000 for just that issue and now I am crying in my beer. Let alone the first appearances of Cable, Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse, Gambit, Jubilee, Bishop, Cable baby, and those Wolvie keys with Mr. Fixit and such.
But wait....did I also mention that I literally gave my Hulk 180 to a young cousin for free? Mid-grade...But I was hooking up my family so I didn't care at the moment. I was out of the business of collecting (thanks to the glut of special covers every week). Years later he got married and I wasn't on the guest list. *sigh* Getting all misty eyed now. Not for my cousin...but for my Hulk 180! Screw my cousin! LMAO
First printing of the Killing Joke for the Shadowhawk volume 1 which was popular for like a minute
Couple of years ago I got a small haul of comics, and X-Force 1 was in there. Polybagged. When I received the comics it came with an extra copy of X-Force. I told the vendor this, thinking he got confused and he told me: Nah man, I have tons of copies of that comic, I decided to give an extra one for free.
Pre-Unity Valiant books from the '90's. These used to be highly sought after, but not so much anymore. Still have Rai 1-5, Magnus 1 and Solar 1.
1st appearance of anti-venom is low. Odd that his 1st cameo is worth more. Odd
The X-Force #1's hurt... I literally have twenty sealed, with different cards, normal and reverse barcodes, etc. Not that anyone would buy them, but I can't bring myself to sell them.
You can find the early comics in the dollar bins.
It’s great to have those early Xforce issues. They were fun comics and they are still great to read and just have fun enjoying. I buy 1-11 of Xforce and X-men whenever I come across them at stores or conventions
I used to collect comics solely for the stories. The Marvel Unlimited and DC apps are a must for me.
While I have always bought duplicates of any book I buy (At least three copies), The one book I bought heavily into was Web of Spider-Man #1. I didn't buy a hundred or anything like that but I did buy 15 copies of each book from#1 through #10. Of those book, I had one copy slabbed without a press and it came back a 9.6 which is fine. At some point I'll press a few and submit hoping for a 9.8.
I did sell off my entire Spawn collection. I kept #1 and #4 because McFarlane signed them. Best to all.
So wait, the 10+ copies of The Death of Superman Polybagged for $25 each at my LCS that Ive been passing on for almost a year could have landed me nowhere? I had no idea the level of FOMO that should have been. 🤭
This list is the box... that sits next to the dollar box. Ya know, that one at the lcs that may have 5 dollar priced comics with a few others. The box everyone spends about 5 minutes at, goes half way through and moves on to something more interesting. LOL.
The basically all valiant number ones cuz just the amount that were printed means there's no reason why people couldn't find a good cheap copy so it slows demand
If I sell all my comics at cover price, I'm happy!
I remember I picked up a copy of X-Men Gold 1. I think I paid like 15 but now is worth like 3 dollars
I thought for sure Youngblood #1 would be on there
Great video and talk James!! I bought 5 sealed X-Force #1s last year from the dollar bins. They all were bagged and boarded with the back showing the card. They were all the X-Force characters but no Deadpool. I only got them for anyone who wanted them.
I want captain carrot!!
As a huge Green Lantern fan I bought a few variants of Far Sector as I enjoy new lanterns and the 1st appearance and cover combo seemed like a nice bonus. Oh well, I still enjoy all my lanterns even if I won't get any "green" back 🤑 i really enjoy the channel and content thanks!
Out of curiosity....
What are the resale values on the omnibus you have behind you?
Obviously I understand not going to be like rare standalone comics but just curious is all...
The issue that I always think should be more expensive is Daredevil 181 - Death of Elektra, I think its $25 or so but should be worth so much more!!!
I’ve noticed 90% of all DC books have no value, the market on them is so niche that you’re stuck with them forever.
Maybe a little bit of a troll here…😂
good video, bro. hope you and your wife are both doing well. especially with your first one on the way. take care to both of you and god bless.
My favorite is ren and skimpy #1 bagged… under the bag ren is saying
“You EEDIOT! You opened the bag, now the comic is WORTHLESS!
I never bought comics to collect , but to read, until the 90s when I bought doubles of what I thought would be more of an investment! 19 bins later, I’ve been going through them, with comics price guide in hand to find that they’re not worth much and trying to sell them is even harder!
unfortunately, many will be $1 books prob, been there done that. make sets sell some in lots, are two things i did....
How about pretty much ANY 90's Valiant books!
I have only been seriously collecting comics for about a year now, and I am STILL searching for Superman #75 and X-Force #1 just for nostalgia purposes, and can’t find them anywhere in the metro-Atlanta, GA, area. Guys here are still hoarding these things!
I still have like five copies of Superman #75 unopened black bag I bought back when they were originally released. I'm still waiting on them to go up in the market and sell them for me to retire. At this pace, my family might use the money to pay for my funeral expenses. 😢
Which variant do you want? Bagged? No bag?
No bag,@@whochecksthis. Do you have one available?
Someone on Facebook told me I could retire off my Darkhawk #1...I took it to my local comic shop....I was disappointed.
As a SPAWN fan, I have the first 50 issues and can testify to their huge print runs. With "value collectability" the word is how "rare" is it? The first appearances of JESSICA PRIEST (future SHE SPAWN), GUNSLINGER and the gorgeous art of SZYMON KUDRANSKI, the artist who had his own style and didn't try to emulate McFarlane's.... and Todd let him do it! These are the one's I'd love to have!
As for XMEN #1, only the issue with Rogue, Gambit and Psylock on the cover because they were my favorite characters at the time ( and it's hard to find reasonably priced copies these days! Is it more rare than the others?)
My gosh....is there ANY COMIC from the 1990's NOT in 9.0 condition? Yeah..think about THAT? And really...how HARD is it to find one that is NOT in 9.0 or better? They are as common as dirt.
Does anyone else remember just how difficult it was back in the day to get a purple foil Magneto # 0? I think you had to cut out all 4-6 coupons from various comic books and mail them in… just to get 1 copy! I wasn’t even aware that there was a gold foil Magneto # 0 until like 20+ years later! (Friendly reminder that 90’s comics were pre-eBay. In other words, if none of your neighboring LCS did not have what you were looking for, you are SOL!) Anyways, Magneto # 0 turned out to be another 90’s flop… So much effort, so little ROI.
Love the content - always look forward to your stuff - keep up the great job!
I remember when The Death of Superman came out…tons & tons of people lining up to get it. The comic book store that I frequented had told me about the book coming out before it was announced, so I ordered 2 of the bagged version.
Someone bought my 2nd one off of me right then & there for $500.
That’s right - five hundred dollars!
I knew it was going to be mass produced and not worth much in months, let alone years; but hey, I couldn’t pass up $500. 😂
Don't care... not looking to be rich off this.. I make enough money to fk around and buy comics after not collecting for 30 years..im here to collect wolverines and that's it..
I was a kid when this death of superman hit shelves.... luckily I have just a few copies, including some of the white bagged ones.
Coming from someone who gave up on investing in comics a long time ago, some of these are sellable if sold with their original covers. There are a gazillion Superman 75s out their for example, but very few with the yellow banner. And of course first appearance of Onslaught will sell for less than those first 20 or 30 issues; there's much less nostalgia for that period because it's when all of the famous X-artists performed their mass migration to Image.
Back when I worked at a comic shop, I had a guy come in with a bunch of Valiant Comics titles that he'd purchased at the height of their popularity for $100 each. He was wanting to "cash in on his investment" to pay for his kid's college. Most of the issues he had were in my free comics bin that I would give away to kids. After I told him we weren't interested in buying them at any price, he demanded that we give him a refund at the sticker price. I of course refused, and instead advised him to wait another twenty years in the hopes that maybe the market would swing back towards them being valuable again. People who want to invest should go to an investment banker, not a comic book store!
Image's Gen13 mini series is another one. Doesn't even seem like you can give those away now. But the prices for the first year or two after they debuted. I ended up paying about $120 for issue one when I tried to collect them.
My aunt gave me Superman #75 and the sealed black collectors edition for Christmas when I was a kid. I stumbled across it fairly recently when I was packing up for a move and decided to look up the value of the collectors edition. It was low enough that I was almost tempted to open it up and see what was in there.
I'm not a comic collector but I remember a lot of these issues when they came out and ofc I had bought at least 3 of the Death of Superman's! I do however enjoy the statues, great collection behind you and I really dig that Cheetah and Joker. I enjoyed the video!
Every time I see people overselling comics online, the first thing that pops into my head is Linkara saying "You are a dumbass and don't know how economics work"
My original superman 75 is long gone. Xforce 2 was in my bathroom book holder for a long time with far side compilations.
I love the Platinum version of Superman 75 with the grey cover. Probably not worth much, but still cool.
There is a gray cover and then there is a platinum cover. The platinum one is worth graded, $500+
Thanks for the info. I never realized there was an all grey version similar the the Platnum edition.
James, what price guides should we be using other than “recently sold” on eBay?
So glad you made this video! All of the comics you listed are one that I have definitely had people try to pressure me into picking up at one time or another cause they were supposed to be valuable. I did end up giving in and purchased a X-force#1 in its poly bag but the bag was signed by Rob Liefeld. I love it for that!
The Death of Superman was sold with a white plastic covering to get people to purchase two. One for reading and one remaining in the plastic cover for collecting so it's not surprising that there are so many of them our there.
For me, it's the incentive covers that I pick up. The ones I've picked up don't hold their value.
Most nineties comics fail to increase in value and will never increase in value, but everyone is already aware of that.
Yeah that’s one thing about key collectors sometimes their prices are way off
the death of superman was a good read, i remember waiting in line with my parents for it at our grocery store but true it's everywhere
I remember 20-25 some years ago, there was a Power Girl series everyone was desperate to have, as well as a Space Ghost series. Both can now be found in dollar bins.
Great list!! I had some of these, however just to read, never to invest. Far Sector I had and actually sold for 20.00 when it was announced that something was going to be happening with her. She is a pretty cool GL IMO. Still love Doomsday and the "concept" of his creation.
The first 3 years of the first 20 issues of all Image comics.
I remember every single local news station getting in on the death of Superman hype.
It was during an age where nobody paid attention to comics...... Unless they speculated value down the road.
just tell me this, was I the only fan of Darkhawk?
I love your vids James! Captain Catrot's first appearance was in a 16 page insert in The New Teen Titans #16. So would Captain Carrot & his amazing zoo crew #1 be his 2nd apperance then? If so, raw on the ebay sold listings goes for around $5-10? I believe.❤
Comics are only worth the story they're telling.
I still own 5 of the comics mentioned in this video. At one time, I owned Spawn 1-30, and sold them (sans 1, 2 and 9) for 50 cents each.
Bloodstike #1
We used to talk about having a X-Force #1 burning party. We wanted to get as many copies as we could, encourage others to bring theirs in and have a big bonfire, hoping to help reduce the number of copies out there.
If y’all could do it and film it maybe one day the price will rise 😂
James, I love the Tim and Eric appearance.
I buy what i like. Dont care if it jumps in value or not.
I don't know what your shirt is, but I like it...🤘🏼💯✔️ I❤love🐈cats...🥰
It's Dex-Starr! the Red Lantern
Jim Lee's X-Men #1 all the covers lol.
Yessir
as somewhat stupid kid. I bought doubles thinking future self would be rich. I still have alot of the polybag xforce, excutioner line and spiderman 1.
Lately i been getting into collecting key comic reprints. I like to pay the least possible for some awesome key issues .
Learned as a 12 year old in 1976, all comic book store owner is a ripoff artist. Have a huge collection. Not really worth anything. I can try to sell my 1st and 2nd print of The Killing Joke over the internet. It worth maybe $250 or $4.99. How do you make any money or find the true value?
I can tell you that a full blown PERFECT 9.8 of killing joke first print sells for $180-190. A PERFECT raw is about $80-100
Read, bagged and boxed? Green and Pink title?
Congrats on the 30K bro. Hard work Always pays off👍
Thanks for sharing this list, entertaining video for sure!
I don’t collect comics to make money off them…should I be doing that? What do people think? I’d just get these for their sick covers!
Thats a great point about the terrorists line in FATWS. We're being conditioned to accept violent criminals into our lives with welcoming arms, for some reason.
Sups 75 black poly seems to sell ok. I just got a 9.8 and it sold in two weeks for $130.
Marvel Super-Heroes #12 and Avenging Spider-Man #9 both look like they would be way more expensive than they truly are. The Captain Marvel legacy has never caught on with Marvel Comics. They should just return the name to who we now call Shazam!
Superman #75(DOS!) Is just plain good comic. If you've never read it and find it for a buck...well life is good. I paid 15$ for a sealed one in 2021 ...well two copy's. One sealed one opened. Death, Funeral and Reign are a powerhouse trilogy. You can't find action packed comics on the stand now a days.
Death of Superman is so amazing you can actually create a top ten favorite moments from the story....
10. Steel arrives
09. Doomsday lives
08. Superboy rides the missle!
O7. The death of Coast City
06. Cyborg Hank Henshaw vs Eradicator.
05. Cadmus attempts to revive Superman.
04. Booster recognizes Doomsday!?!?!?!
03. Doomsday guts the JLA
02. Kal El returns!!!!!
01. Superman vs Doomsday to the death!!!!
And there's still more moments to choose from. Death of Superman was pure metal !!!
Omega Men #1, New Mutants #1, Alpha Flight #1. Back in the 1980s, if there was a #1 comic, every kid bought one. Coulda bought a Hulk 181 for $25 or bought about 25 copies of these books. Guess which option I chose.
Vast majority of mid 90s #1s, and any indie universe piece. Poor Valiant got owned in the shuffle (Valiant Vision WHAT, the first chromium cover belonged to Bloodshot, Turok took it up a notch with the extended art card stock and then Ninjak left the troposphere with the chrome wraparound from heaven, only to be thoroughly ignored)... early Image anything (Cyberforce, Deathblow, Youngblood, Pitt, Maxx, WildCATs, Supreme, Shadowhawk, Savage Dragon, etc ...) almost anything Vertigo that wasn't Sandman or Gaiman/McKean related, anything 2099 that wasn't Spiderman 😂.. any X-Men character attempting a series title of their own. So, so much. And yet they still spark joy. I love my X-Force #1 with Cable card 😂. But I love my Darker Image Gold variant better 😜
I thought XO manowar chromium was gonna be one, and of course Turok #1! I'm Rich!!! 😅
I thought my Namor anual #1 was worth something but turns out it's about 9 bucks worth (last time I checked)