Conan the Barbarian #23, Marvel Comics, February 1973 I’m a big fan of Robert E. Howard and an even bigger fan of Conan and the fantasy world he belongs too. Please don’t hold this fact against my spotlight pick! Conan the Barbarian #1 (October 1970) was an instant hit for Marvel...

Are #1’s Overvalued? The very high end of the comic collecting world is crowded with character 1st appearances. Of the top 10 Golden Age comics 7 are 1st appearances of a character, same thing for the Silver Age 7 out of 10 while in the Bronze Age 6 out of the top 10 comics by Overstreet...

2001, A Space Odyssey #8, Marvel Comics, July 1977 Aaron Stack aka Z2P45-9-X-51 aka X-51 aka Machine Man is an android hero created by the still very creative and fertile mind of a 60 year old Jack Kirby. The US Government loves trying to come up with super soldiers in their labs don’t...

Justice League of America #9, DC Comics, February 1962 DC’s new Justice League has dominated the comic sales charts since the book launched DC’s New 52 back in the last week of August 2011. The title has been the best selling comic every month since. It was by no accident that chief...

The recent Billy Wright comic book auction set all kinds of price records and for me it confirmed a trend I’ve seen developing over the last couple of years. It seems we’re in a comic book Golden Age revival. There’s no real way of telling exactly when this trend started but I’d guess...

Flash Vol. 2, #164, DC Comics, September 2000 Did DC’s New 52 save the print comic book industry? Or did it just stave off the demise of the brick and mortar comic book stores by 3 or 4 years? Time will tell but I’ll put my two cents in and say that I’m glad it happened and I’m glad...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Invincible Iron Man #47, Marvel Comics, June 1972 This week’s Undervalued Spotlight comes recommended by Mike Huddleston. Mike’s email notes that “…this story features great updated origin re-telling from Roy Thomas and artist Barry Smith. These two were in the middle of...

Better Comics #1, Maple Leaf Comics, March 1941 Over the years I’ve owned many “Canadian Whites” the cool Canadian black and white comic books of the early to mid 1940s. These books are hard to find especially in higher grades. As a reseller I’ve never had to sit on one of these comics...

Marvel Premiere #28, Marvel Comics, February 1976 Can’t figure out why but I was compelled to a Halloween theme this week. In my Undervalued Spotlight #84 I mentioned the proliferation of horror based characters right after the Comics Code Authority relaxed some of its very stringent...

Police Comics #1, Quality Comics, August 1941 This is a great Golden Age key that just does not get the respect it deserves. Thanks to DC’s acquisition of many of the Quality characters back in 1956 most of the characters introduced in Police Comics #1 are still active today. Firebrand, The...

My Love #14, Marvel Comics, November 1971 This is a bit of a deviation from my standard Undervalued Spotlight format. I’m featuring Marvel’s entire November 1971 line up using the worthy My Love #14 as the ambassador book. I’ve chosen My Love #14 to represent the group of books for many...

Blue Beetle #1, Charlton Comics, June 1967 Steve Ditko is one of the true giants of comic books. Ditko’s two major contributions, co-created with Stan Lee, were Dr. Strange and the Amazing Spiderman. In subsequent interviews Ditko has downplayed Lee’s contribution to the Spider-Man...

Avengers #110, Marvel Comics, April 1973 For Marvel Comics the X-Men were THE comic story of the second half of the 1970s. The new team that launched in X-Men #94 (8/75) slowly but surely began taking over the comic book world. At one point years later Marvel’s ‘X titles’ owned the sales...

Astonishing Tales #25 features the 1st appearance of Deathlok the Demolisher. The Frankenstein inspired character, a Cyborg reanimated from the corpse of American soldier Col. Luther Manning, was created by Rich Buckler. Doug Moench gets script credits and co-creator credits for the story but...

ComicLink June 2011 Focused Auction The ComicLink Focused Featured Auction has just ended. Of the top 50 sales 45 were Marvel while 4 were DC and there was one Warren Magazine Vamperella #1 (a CGC 9.4 that sold for $2,117.00). Of the top 50 sales 43 were Silver Age comics while the remaining 7...

Captain America #117, Marvel Comics, September 1969 There’s an old saying that goes ‘timing is everything’ and the time seems right for me do dig this one out of my “Future Undervalued Spotlights” file. I read with sadness today of the passing of Gene Colan. My personal love for...