I got my Spawn #1 in 9.8 condition at a half price books for $5
I’m just trying to emphasize that there are so many other books with a $600 to $700 range I would invest in before a Spawn or most modern books @davidbitterbaum
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True, early Wolverine might be wiser to snatch-up!
That was my April Fools joke 
, the Spawn 306 comment. As a personal rule i do not purchase incentive or store variants and i only pay cover price on Wednesday except for rare occasions.
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Smart very smart
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I also second Batman 227 as a sound investment in a nice grade. In fact just about any classic Neal Adams Batman covers (especially with Joker on the cover) has appreciated in value over the years and were immune to the comic boom and bust. Doing some market analysis we can see here that Batman 227 has stayed very steady and unaffected by the comic boom. It’s also trending upwards.
Unlike many Marvel and Dc keys that has massive price variations the last few years. Even some of the biggest keys thought of as blue chip keys has taken massive drops in prices. Some of them gets propped up by movie specs but eventually drop back down. FF 49 could see a spike when Galactus appears on screen and may be a good opportunity to cash in then.
As for an investment I just see classic Batman Neal Adams covers trending upwards. Could see a Dave Steven’s effect that we’re seeing right now with his covers. My personal opinion is that classic covers are much better investments because they always trend upwards over time and aren’t affected by the price fluctuations in the market. All these Dave Steven’s covers that are reaching record highs every week, these collectors are buying them and keeping it in their collection, they’re not selling it. As supplies dwindle the prices will increase, very rarely is there a price correction.
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I don’t treat any of my comics as investments. For me, this is purely a joyful hobby. I’m not convinced that any of these will be worth anything in 10 or 20 years. Maybe the big, BIG books. But, the world is changing so quickly right now. At least I’m not counting on them appreciating.
I surely do hope I’m wrong, and if so, great. But the idea of passing these down to my kids or my kids’ kids… I don’t see that happening.
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Yes there are better ways to invest your money if you’re thinking in terms of pure investments. I treat it as an investment in this fun little hobby that i enjoy. I’m not going to the ends of the earth in search of a grail that I’m going to stash away and never to be seen again until prices has appreciated to the point that I can let it go. If I see it at a con or a shop in a nice grade I’ll pick it up.
As for the hobby being around in 10 to 20 years we’ll be fine. Lots of people in their 20s and 30s are still into the hobby. Look at most of the comic youtubers, they’re in their 30s.
Just the other day I saw something unusual at my LCS. There was this young girl, I would say 15 years old max flipping through the bins and looking for of all things Spawn back issues. She was on her own and when she was done, went to the counter and looked through the stash of higher priced Spawn keys kept in the glass cabinets. Picked out the ones she wanted and paid for them. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Have no idea why a 15 yr old girl would be interested in Spawn who never grew up in the 90s during McFarlane’s reign of terror.
Goes to show that comic collectors come in all forms, most are not buying them for spec.
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I hope to curate maybe like 10 valuable comics that i consider an investment, but i agree with above about this not being something I’m retiring on. Best case scenario is sell 10 comics when I’m 65 and get $20k and go on a sweet vacation, or just consider that my big comic sales will have paid for a few years of my hobby. I really like comics and collecting them and really appreciate certain artists and writers, so for that i can just chalk up the money i do spend on comics to be worth it as a hobby and the fun. Anything beyond that is gravy.
All in i think i sell enough online to subsidize like half my buying most of the time. And i think most the comics i buy will end up in dollar bins. I’ve learned, plenty from this site and forum actually, to limit comics i expect to see build value to include 1st appearance of new heroes, not villains, very discerning with indie new #1s, and go with cover a, specifically avoiding trendy variants. Marvel and DC. Stick with what i know or like. Just following those rules prevents me from buying damn near everything I’m not reading. I read spawn and to a lesser extent savage dragon and resell at a premium every time, so those more than pay for themselves.
Those charts attached above are cool. What website is that from?
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The charts above are from pricecharting.com. It’s a free site so it doesn’t have some of the bell and whistles like gpanaysis and gocollect but it’s sufficient to get a general idea of where a certain book is trending and their graded values.
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Both are solid choices, but personally, I’d lean towards Punisher for potential value.