Fantastic Four #28, Marvel Comics, July 1964.
On the back issue comic market the two most speculated Marvel titles for a while now have been the Fantastic Four (FF) and the X-Men, and why not, a massive fan base eagerly awaits both franchises’ assimilation into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The sky’s the limit when Marvel does movies and both franchises stand to gain, though I’ll say that the FF is a guaranteed improvement if we’re measuring off of their current cinematic street cred.
This week I thought I’d shine the Undervalued Spotlight on the book that featured the first meeting of these two Marvel mainstays, Fantastic Four #28.
Fantastic Four #28 boasts the creative dream team of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and features a strong Jack Kirby cover, the cover is white which makes clean high gloss copies look great.
Fantastic Four #28 is also a very early X-Men appearance, July 1964 is the same month X-Men #6 came out. A very early cross over like this is hard to ignore for X-Men fans, just ask Spidey fans how badly they’d like a copy of Strange Tales Annual #2.
The book sells regularly on the markets and I’d say it flat at best, a CGC 9.4 copy went for a very cheap $1800 earlier this year, a CGC 9.2 went for a more respectable $1695 while a CGC 8.0 sold for what I think is a deal at $436, finally there was a recent CGC 6.0 that sold for $126, well under Guide.
I think there is something to Fantastic Four #28, it’s a 1964 Marvel, early days, the issue is early in the FF run, when the FF mattered and in the era where it is most collected. The early X-Men appearance is a strong draw as well, this is pretty well the X-Men appearance outside the title that should be #1 on most people’s lists.
I like a solid CGC 8.0 with high gloss and White pages, it could be bought for a little over $400 and it buys you into a very cool piece of comic book history.
The 48th Overstreet price breaks for this book are $150/$390/$870/$1350 in the 6.0/8.0/9.0/9.2 grade splits.
Strengths that make this comic a good long-term investment are:
- A 1964 Marvel embedded in the highly collected early Fantastic Four run
- The first meeting of the X-Men and the Fantastic Four
- Very early X-Men appearance, the same month as X-Men #6
I agree that the 60’s run of FF is the most collected and that crossovers like this are important to the Marvel print universe. How it will translate to the MCU will be another thing. While I do own the book highlighted I am always some what dismayed at the escalation of prices and feel I will never get a complete run do to the inaffordability. I have more or less consoled myself to never having 1-6 of the run ( had a #1 once but thats another story). I would like to see Marvels first family do well in film tho after the less then stellar examples we have seen so far! If they can be integrated into what Marvel has done with the Avengers et al franchise then maybe we can see Marvels Greatest headlined on the big screen as well!
Also a better cover then almost anything presented in Covered Day # …. (fill in the blank)
I am too close to this one to give any kind of objective opinion. Suffice it to say that I am 110% with the conclusion. Why this book is flat is a mystery to me. I think we have to credit The Awesome Android’s photogenics. Imagine if that were a giant Doctor Doom holding the teams – this book would be selling for multiples of its current level. I have resigned myself to sitting on my copy for awhile, but hopefully Disney will help me out in a nice post-credits scene. If I told everybody to stay away from Green Lantern #3, you can understand my recommendation that everybody and their brother should run out and buy one of these at whatever price.
Verdict: When You Look Up “Undervalued” In The Dictionary, You See A Picture Of This Cover
Good point about the aesthetics of the Android Chris.