If, for some reason, you started buying up G1 Transformers in say 2003, stopped and tried to sell them today, you’d have to ask yourself, “What in the heck has happened to the G1 market?”

I can’t remember an auction event this awesome! The Billy Wright collection has just been auctioned on Heritage Auctions and the A list lot of 300 plus books broke all expectations. Pre auctions estimates pointed towards the $2 million mark but the final tally of the February 22nd session...

Wasn’t The Heroic Age supposed to return us to good ol’ fashioned fun in comic books? Wasn’t it supposed to be a shift away from the these dark, gut wrenching story-lines like House of M, Civil War, Secret Invasion, and Siege? I only ask because since the Heroic Age came...

Detective Comics #32, DC Comics, October 1939 As far as I’m concerned there is no greater comic book title than Detective Comics. The iconic cover to the March 1937 1st issue is one of the most identifiable covers in the hobby. Actually those first 26 pre-Batman issues are almost mythical in...

For Lovers Only #78, Charlton Comics, April 1975 You can’t press love nor can you assign it a grade, and as much as you’d like to you can’t “Buy it Now” either. If you’re making an offer then it’s simply not love! Love is not ours to control, it chooses its own path and is...

September 16thth, 2001: 5 days after the terrorist attacks in New York City, was the day I got on a plane and moved from my hometown of Thunder Bay, Ontario, to Toronto, Ontario!  I began a training program because of my permanent lay-off from my job.  Here I was, in the bright lights of...

Like any financial asset, commodity, or collectible, comic book values fluctuate in the course of natural course of trading. We can measure this fluctuation by calculating its variance or standard deviation. Variance is a measure of how far a string of variables lie from their mean, or...

American Flagg #1, First Comics, (October, 1983) I received a nice email after I posted Undervalued Spotlight #111 last week and the jist of it was ‘how come you pick books that are almost impossible to find’?  First off, I thought I was being fair, I thought that for every Pep Comics...

What is up with the new grading standards of CGC?  I mean why is it I used to be able to go though my long boxes and know, without a lot of guess work, that this book will not come back a 9.8, it’s a guaranteed fail?  Why am I buying freshly graded CGC books that are 9.8 with spine...

World’s Finest #71, DC Comics, (July/August, 1954) World’s Finest #71 was printed at both an historic low point for superhero comics and a major turning point for the American comic publishing industry. Though crime and horror comics ruled the day, behind the scenes Dr. Wertham and the US...

My name is Jason Halstead, I’m the new guy here and a self described toy freak!  As a 38 year old who still actively buys, sells, and trades 70’s and 80’s action figures, I think I’ll have some fun stories to tell and some insight on the state of each individual market currently. ...

ComicLink’s January Focused Auction. This is my first Auction Highlight of 2012 and I think it’s a good time to try to  take stock of the market, to see where some of the most heavily traded “blue chip” comic books stand. Perhaps these results are barometers of what’s to...

This is my first Bound Together column that’s based on a book I don’t own, but it’s a doozy. In 1988 Graphitti Designs produced for DC a collected edition of Watchmen: a black hardcover in a slipcase with a good amount of exclusive bonus material. Very similar to The Dark...

Tales from the Tomb #1 (02-810-210), Dell Publishing, October 1962 About a month ago I bought a collection of rough shaped old comics. The pile was mostly Charlton War, DC non hero and a hodgepodge of Dells. Hum hum stuff really but about half way through the pile I came across Tales from the...

It has been four months since DC Comics unleashed their much anticipated New 52 relaunch. Not surprisingly, DC dominated 2011’s bestseller list. The only non-New 52 title that managed to squeak onto 2011’s top ten list was Ultimate Spider-Man #160. Justice League #1, Batman #1, and Action...

Doctor Who and the Daleks (Movie Classic #12-190-612), Dell Publishing, December 1966 Here’s another submission from Undervalued Spotlight stalwart Mike Huddleston. Mike sure knows how to pick winners and this week’s submission is no exception, it’s another keeper. Mike was obviously...

G.I. Joe, A real American Hero #21, Marvel Comics, March 1984 It seems that I keep neglecting the 1980s! My last 80s post was over 20 Spotlights ago!! The 80s are a much maligned decade when it comes to collectible comics. Hardcore collecting and speculating ran rampant and accelerated...

Tarzan #25, Dell Comics, October 1951 There’s a nice copy of Tarzan #25 sitting in my comic collection! About 15 years ago I bought a collection of Gold Key comics from the late 60s and early 70s and in the pile was a book called Brothers of the Spear #1. What a cool book I thought! Being...

This week I want to examine how the census numbers influence the market values between the 9.0 – 9.8 grades (i.e., the “mint” grades). Immediately we’re confronted with three problems.

Pep Comics #36, MLJ Magazines, February 1942 This is the 3rd time I’ve chosen a Pep Comic. Undervalued Spotlights #81 and #5 both featured great Pep issues and Pep #36 belongs right up there with them as far as I’m concerned. Pep Comics #36 is 68 pages of classic Golden Age comics...