Little Dot #1, September 1953, Harvey Comics
Characters like Tarzan, Buck Rogers and Popeye have enjoyed great success in the comic book medium. Buck Rogers in comics goes back to Famous Funnies #3 published in 1934! All these characters first appearances in comics are very valuable, none are super heroes and all were adapted to comic books from other media, be it novels or Sunday strips. It’s hard to find characters originating in comic books that are not super heroes that have conquered the world.
There are a few.
Richie Rich is an original comic book creation that has sold millions of comic books, crossed over into TV, Movies and has spawned a plethora of merchandised products. Richie Rich is firmly entrenched in American pop culture lore. Richie Rich first appeared in Little Dot #1 published by Harvey in September 1953.
The odd thing about Little Dot #1 is that it’s actually valued less that Richie Rich #1 (published by Harvey 7 years later in 1960). Surely the character’s first appearance should be worth more than the first issue of the title series (think Amazing Fantasy #15 vs Amazing Spider-Man #1). It should at least be worth as much (think Pep Comics #22 vs Archie Comics #1).
The Overstreet Price Guide shows $1764/$2982/$4200 as the 8.0/9.0/9.2 price splits.
Strengths that make this comic book a good long term investment are:
– Second only to Archie in terms of sales and pop culture significance
– Little Dot #1 represents a major pop culture creation, in the same league as Pep Comics #22
– Character still has relevance and is recognized all over the world
– The gap in value between Richie Rich #1 should by all rights close
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
