Undervalued & Overlooked Comics 4/15- Silver Age

It’s time as soon as extra for Undervalued and Overlooked Comics! This time we’ll be trying on the Silver Age. Take a take a look at the comics which can be flying beneath most collectors’ radars.

Superman Silver Age Origin

Superman’s origin has been retold many occasions within the pages of comedian books throughout a number of ages. Arguably, a very powerful retelling within the Silver Age occurred in Superman #146. With 176 graded copies and 99 recorded gross sales, this comedian may hardly be referred to as neglected. But undervalued? That’s a totally completely different story.

An 8.0 graded copy offered within the December 2022 Goldin public sale for $312. While that’s up from the 2019 worth of $204 – as one would count on – it’s down from the 2017 peak on this grade of $400. We see this as nicely in different grades. A 6.0 graded copy offered within the March 22 Hake’s public sale for $236, down almost 60% from the 6.0 excessive of $573 set in a September 2022 eBay sale.

A 4.5 graded copy offered in a January 27 eBay public sale for $158, down from its 2018 peak of $210. While some DC Silver Age comics are starting to rise in worth, we’re nonetheless a great distance from minor Silver Age keys like Superman #146 seeing related worth positive aspects to these we’ve see for minor Marvel Silver Age keys.

Silver Age Hitler Cover

Adolf Hitler was a typical villain used on the duvet of Golden Age comics, significantly these printed throughout World War II. While his cowl appearances would fade with time, he would nonetheless present up often, together with on the duvet of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #35.

While there are barely extra graded copies – 83 in comparison with 58 for every of the problems surrounding it – it’s nonetheless an appreciably low quantity when contemplating the (I shudder to say the time period) reputation of Hitler covers. Sales are uncommon and low.

There are not any recorded gross sales of graded copies in 2023 and solely two in 2022: a 9.0 promoting for a slashed $110 and a CBCS graded 9.2 going for $69, and each of these have been greater than a 12 months in the past. You’d must suppose that costs are even decrease now, which makes for an ideal shopping for alternative.

First Appearance of a Future Valiant Hero

In 1962, Gold Key printed Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1, little understanding that the character would nonetheless be a going concern many years later.

Capitalizing on the burgeoning superhero craze of the early Sixties and the omnipresent tales of radiation and nuclear weaponry, the comedian wouldn’t precisely set the world on hearth on the time. Nor did collectors pay a lot thoughts to the title till the Nineteen Nineties, when the character was reborn through the writer Valiant. Since then, the comedian has once more languished.

A 7.0 graded copy offered on March 1 for a slashed $388, down from its June 2018 peak of $400; and a 4.5 offered on January 23 for simply $158, down $5 from the earlier sale for $163 in November 2020. While I don’t count on a fast rise in costs for Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom #1, it does look to be a stable long-term funding, one the place you may simply opt-in at or close to a present flooring.