Undervalued Spotlight #17

Fantastic Four #25, April 1964, Marvel Comics. This issue brings a ton of stuff to the table. It features a now classic battle cover pitting the Hulk against the Thing. Though Hulk first appeared on the cover of

Fantastic Four #25, April 1964, Marvel Comics

FF25

This issue brings a ton of stuff to the table. It features a now classic battle cover pitting the Hulk against the Thing. Though Hulk first appeared on the cover of Fantastic Four #12 (which is worth over 5 times as much as #25 in the guide) that issue did not have a battle cover nor did it contain a battle within the book. Captain America makes his 2nd Silver Age appearance in this issue (it’s also the 3rd Avengers crossover). This issue should start pulling away from issue #26 (2nd part of the story) and though it will never catch Fantastic Four #12 it should at least approach half the value. To top it all off, the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby story telling magic was hitting full stride by this issue and it’s actually very entertaining.

The CGC Universal grade census shows 16 @ 9.2, 3 @ 9.4, 2 @ 9.6 and 1 @9.8.

The Overstreet Price Guide shows a $459/$880/$1300 split at the 8.0/9.0/9.2 grades.

Strengths that make this comic book a good long term investment are:

– 1st actual battle between Hulk and Thing

– Great Battle cover

– 2nd Silver Age appearance of Captain America

– 3rd Avengers crossover and 1st with Cap in Avengers

– Embedded in one of the Silver Age’s most important titles

– All the heroes represented are here to stay

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.

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