Recently I got some interest in picking up House of Secret or House of Mystery comic due Neal Adam Cover or Bernie Wrightson (Bernie Wrightson - Wikipedia)
However, I notice that 90-120 of House of Secret these books are not cheap and quite expensive, can anyone provide some insight on why they cost $$$, is it because they are old, low-print run and it done by popular artist. Per my understanding no Key appearance except HOS 92. Beside HOS 92, I simply don’t get it.
I think you’re right.
Wrightson, lately, has been getting alot of love from collectors. As has Neal Adams. Almost like a renaissance that took too long to happen. Why people wait until they sadly pass to recognize how great they were is beyond me.
Dave Stevens is another who’s prices of his covers are going up up up and away.
These are my cup of tea.
A few things here…nearly all the artists for these books are held in very high regard. Obviously, Adams &: Wrightson, but Kaluta, Cardy, Toth, DeZuniga are all absolutely incredible. Wally Wood still had some work in a few. A few others too.
The stories themselves are also just really cool.
In terms of finding nice copies… it’s also a significant challenge. Once you start getting in the 9.0 & higher range, you see prices jump tremendously. These comics were bought, read, and rolled up in pockets back then.
These books were really sort of ignored for many years. Fans of horror sort of turned their noses to them as the Golden age horror books were considered the “true” horror stuff in terms of collecting.
You are correct that there isn’t really any keys or such…but that’s what it so great about these…they simply stand on the merit of their art and “coolness”. I think many collectors have become invested in collecting “artists” works and these series are prime for that.
I personally think they will continue to see gains. If you start branching off from the House of Secrets/Mystery runs you will really see the same trends in things like Unexpected, Withing Hour (especially this), Charlton horror, Phantom Stranger, weird mystery,etc.
That’s my take on it anyway…there are so many titles, books that it’s fun to hunt for them, but you will see as I mentioned, just how tough it is to find nice copies.
Few other things…if you do enjoy this genre, the artists, etc…it really is a fun rabbit hole as there are so many branches to turn down & books to chase. Just as an example…this is one of my favorites…
Also, Sandman remains pretty popular and both Cain/Abel from HoS/HoM are from these series.
Pretty incredible when you look at a Wrightson page, such as in Frankenstein.
And then one looks at J. Scott Campbell, Nakayama, Artgerm, or any of those other hot variant, virgin, limited, store, whatever variants from these guys.
I know art is in the eye of the beholder, but seriously it’s not even close.
i’ve also noticed that bronze age marvel horror books are going for a lot these days. has there been a recent jump in value? maybe i just never paid much attention to them until now.
Absolutely a jump in the last couple years. Thankfully (for the most part), they still remain pretty reasonable (outside of some of the most popular covers).
If someone is only into collecting Near mint books though…this definitely isn’t a rabbit hole to crawl down
Not only are near mint copies of this stuff difficult to find…when they do pop up the prices are pretty crazy.
I forgot to mention how many of the covers from these runs are nearly all black…we all know what that does to condition criteria, spine ticks, etc
I liked the comparison made to Dave Stevens books. There is nothing key about the majority of his books. Just beautiful art & eye catching covers. That is how I feel about this Bronze age horror stuff…some of these covers are just so incredibly awesome. They are fun to display and talk about with friends.
What is it about horror that has remained so captivating to folks throughout times? Ghost stories…the macabre…I think there will always be an audience for it.
i recently decided that from now on 99% of funds for collecting for the pc will go toward bronze-age marvel comics titles, specifically #1s and horror/suspense (long-term goal is to get every bronze-age marvel #1). luckily, after deciding this i discovered i already had nearly 30 bronze-age marvel #1s 
.
by my count the number of marvel comics titles that began in the 1970s is around 110 (this number includes one-shots but excludes annuals and giant-size versions of then-existing titles, as well as comics magazines simply because that’s how i likes it).
i’ll be selling off most of my modern keys to fund the endeavor so if anyone has bronze-age marvel books in > FN/VF they want to trade let me know.
Why so $$$ ??? No b@@bies, pretty face, or key first. Just a pumpkin and a recognize artist.
Iconic cover & hard as heck to find in nice condition. One of “the” most sought after books from the bronze age horror genre. Another example of how crazy prices get on this stuff once it’s gets above 7.5, 8.0 range.
It’s funny as I am also watching that because I have a super nice copy ready to head to grading. I think mine has a shot at 9.2 or 9.4 after a press. Fingers crossed.
This Weird Mystery is another prime example, killer of a book.
I picked up some mid grade DC horror this weekend. Slabs for $20.
When you pick up a slab for less than it costs to grade something that’s a win!
I made a video. Need to edit and post.
