Undervalued Spotlight #250

Marvel Two in One #30, Marvel Comics, August 1977. Can there be a more maligned title than Marvel Two in One? I mean you know you suck as a collectible title when the most sought after book in your run is an Annual (Two in One Annual #2 of course). Is there any hope for this title?

Marvel_Two-In-One_30Marvel Two in One #30, Marvel Comics, August 1977

Can there be a more maligned title than Marvel Two in One? I mean you know you suck as a collectible title when the most sought after book in your run is an Annual (Two in One Annual #2 of course). Is there any hope for this title?

Over the last few years the market has been flushing out all kinds of books we once thought were worthless and turning them into hot properties. The whole thing has turned into a bargain bin reclamation project or perhaps a worse way to put it would be to say there is a sort of gentrification of the bargain bins going on.

This week I’ll do my bit to keep flushing and shine the Undervalued Spotlight on Marvel Two in One #30.

Marvel Two in One #30 features the second full appearance of Spider Woman. The book has not moved in the Guide since last year, holding at $16 in the 9.2 grade. It’s tough to get $16 for nice raw copies of this book, tops you are paying right now is $5 and it’s easy to find them for less.

Compare Spider Woman’s second appearance with her first and we see a big discrepancy. Marvel Spotlight #32 (Spider Woman’s first appearance) jumped 150% in the Guide from $50 to $125 and it has been a darling of the market for some time now.

So what are we looking at here? I’m betting it’s a time lag thing and I’m betting the second appearance issue will eventually catch on and gain some good value after all we all know how great a collecting strain second appearances are. Collecting second appearances may be the huge wave of the future as 1st appearances price themselves out for most of us.

Speaking of collecting strains, this is a 30 cent Marvel and these 30 centers are themselves becoming a cool collecting strain. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe the 30 cent covers had the shortest existence duration of any of the Marvel cover prices, 14 months?

Our comic features Spider-Woman teaming up with the Thing with appearances by Nick Fury and Mike Huddleston’s favorite, the High Evolutionary.

A CGC 9.6 graded copy sold for $28 last summer but a CGC 9.4 copy got $47 this April while a CGC 9.8 just set an all-time high of $128. You see that things are moving, I’ve given you the numbers. I think it’s time for you to start digging into those bargain bins!

45th Overstreet price breaks for this book are $9/$13/$16 in the 8.0/9.0/9.2 grade splits.

Strengths that make this comic a good investment are:

  • Second appearance of the Spider Woman
  • Bargain box book that doesn’t belong in the bargain box, it should be nestled in beside your copy of Marvel Spotlight #32



Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.

Articles: 1823

10 Comments

  1. The bronze age boom makes me nervous. We saw what happened during the last pull back, why not again during the next? I’m happy to trade these in for some key silvers.

  2. couldn’t agree with you more on this one Walt. i don’t mine spending $5-10 on something like this with good potential. thanks.

  3. I remember in the late 1980s a guy I knew in Stoney Creek named John making a huge trade. He moved boxes of his Silver Age for a tenth in volume of Gloden Age. I’m not saying it’s kind of the same thing Charlie but it’s kind of the same thing. He took what to him at the time was plentiful and traded for a pricier and scarcer era. He didn’t get the better of the deal back then but I’ll side with you and say I’d gladly move 10 of these for the second appearance of the Kingpin or something. Charlie, have you and I become Johns?

  4. sure Walt, it’s like owning a first deadpool, or a bunch of them. from $1, they’re worth $200-500? imo, garbage. i’d sell every one and buy some decent silver/gold keys any day.

    same with this one. you can pick up a few for $5+/- and sell them for $25+ if they catch on. if not, it’s not a big deal. just $5 each

  5. Makes sense to grab these in high grade while prices are low..only going to go up in value..good spec Walt !

  6. Such personal questions Walter… I’m far from being innocent but let’s just say that I did what I had to do to get my hands on those Silvers. If that makes me a John, so be it. I like Silvers because it was the era the big bang for comics and the difference is that there are enough older guys, like us, around who can still relate.

  7. Geez… The once high flying Byrne X-Men keys continuing to struggle… while BA#12, 9.8s are closing in on the $2k mark.

    Surprisingly, Marvel Premiere #47 didn’t really move after the release of the movie. In fact, it seem to have peak several months prior and appears to be trending down.

    Last sale of Silver Surfer #1, CGC 9.4 at $3500? Really?

    DD#1’s are finally getting some respect and ASM#129’s are starting to move as well. I like both these books. They’ve both got history and potential.

    GSX#1 CGC 9.6’s has been strong but isn’t able to push up the 9.8’s. In fact, the 9.8’s are keeping the 9.6’s down.

    Is there Avengers #1 fatigue out there?

    Just scanning the stats… talking to myself… and dancing like no body is watching…

  8. Using my handy dandy compounded return rate calculator from money chimp . com; the $.30 I used to buy this book at Empire Comics after finishing my paper route in Brighton, NY has had an annual compounded return of 16.5% (assuming $28 in cgc fees). Not to shabby! Let’s see a bond that can match that!

Comments are closed.