Iron Man
Iron Man seems the obvious theme this week. Make sure you check out the Iron Man 2 movie, and then jump on the net and buy up a bunch of old Iron Man comic books!
Iron Man #1, Marvel Comics (5/68) Graded by CGC at 3.5 with Cream to Off White pages sold for $76.00 on eBay on May 4th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 3.5 is $56.00. Iron Man #1 is a great book. There are a lot of copies around still ungraded though most sellers are a little optimistic with grade and even more optimistic with asking price. Here someone has picked up a solid low grade copy for about 35% over guide. Buyer probably could have got one a bit cheaper post movie though. Advantage goes to seller.
Iron Man #49, Marvel Comics (8/72) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with White pages sold for $188.50 on eBay on May 5th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.6 is $20.00. I know the Bronze Age run in this era is highly collected (great square box covers) but I think 9 times guide for a 9.6 is a bit excessive. There are 3 CGC 9.8s according to the system and only 8 CGC 9.6s. I do believe this is mostly due to the fact that most people with nice runs of Iron Man from this era have not graded their copies yet. Advantage goes to seller.
Iron Man #3, Marvel Comics (7/68) Graded by CGC at 6.0 with Off White to White pages sold for $56.00 eBay on May 5th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 6.0 is $24.00. Well over 2 times guide for a very common and very mid-grade comic book! This sale in an example of increased interest (because of the movie) causing a spike in prices. Normally this grade will get you $40 at most (I checked the GPAnalysis site). The seller did well and should be a stand up comedian, his timing is perfect. Advantage goes to seller.
Iron Man #119, Marvel Comics (2/79) Graded by CGC at 9.4 with White pages sold for $39.99 eBay on May 6th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $10.00. Here’s another seller that should be a comedian. Getting 4 times guide for an Iron Man from 1979 is something I aspire to be able to do. Iron Man comics above 100 are still found in peoples bargain bins, perhaps the grades are not 9.4. On the other hand a 9.4 grade for a book from this era is nothing to write home about. I’m going to start lining up some Iron Man books from the early 80s to be ready for the Iron Man 3 flick. Advantage goes to seller.
Tales of Suspense #39, Marvel Comics (3/63) Graded by CGC at 2.5 with Off White pages did not sell on eBay for the posted price of $1,350.00. The listing with a best offer option expired May 5th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 2.5 is $750.00. You can’t blame the seller for trying to squeeze out almost double guide for a low grade copy of Iron Man’s first appearance. There was a make an offer option and I’d love to know how high someone went with an offer. The last few sales have realized just under $900 but I think this would have gotten a bite at $1000.
So there you have it, a clean sweep for the sellers (except of course for the ambitious Tales of Suspense #39). Yes, Iron Man is hot!
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Price Guide Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
