Underappreciated/Undervalued 1st Appearances

[greatbrandino11]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

Any others?

[kjjohanson]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

Any others?

UXM 221 has been getting some decent play recently. I think the problem with 282 & 283 and X-Men 4 is that there were just so many of them printed that they're fairly easy to find. (I've got a stack of 282 & 283). S/B Annual has also been getting decent prices recently too.

I'm sure it already commands tons, but Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (first Carol Danvers) could potentially be the first Marvel movie with a female lead (I figure it's either that or Black Widow). CM crosses over between GotG and Avengers, so I gotta figure they're going to make that movie. Also, the name alone has selling power.

[lorddunlow]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

Any others?

I'm sure it already commands tons, but Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (first Carol Danvers) could potentially be the first Marvel movie with a female lead (I figure it's either that or Black Widow). CM crosses over between GotG and Avengers, so I gotta figure they're going to make that movie. Also, the name alone has selling power.

I've become quite fond of the Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. I may try to get this book...

[Elveen]

I've seen some hefty-ish prices on dealer walls for this book.

[kjjohanson]

I've seen some hefty-ish prices on dealer walls for this book.

No doubt. But I imagine it still has room to move.

[IMJ]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

I would've named all of these too! Nice list.... I'll add some of my fav's to the community. Happy hunting!

Silver Age ('56 - '70):
Avengers #8 | 1st Kang. If Ultron wasn't the villain of the Avengers 2, I'd have placed my bets on Kang. Even if this character never makes his way onto film, this book established a very important character to the Marvel U that manifests across 3 or more identities (Pharoah, Immortus, and Kang, not to mention Iron Lad) and recurring appearances over the years.

Journey Into Mystery #85 | 1st Loki. This is an awesome book that's incredibly relevant now more than ever basically.

Tales of Suspense #50 | 1st Mandarin. Awesome Silver Age cover, classic Silver Age "Red Rivalry". Hard to find in mid-grade without Marvel chipping, in my experience.

Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos #5 | 1st Baron Von Strucker. A wildly under-utlized character, but sure to be hotter book after Avengers 2 drops.

House of Secrets #61 | 1st Eclipso. This was is itching to be a market mover as Eclipso tends to show up for events or as a heavy hitter bad guy. Think DC's Mephisto analog to some extent.

Strange Tales #135 | 1st S.H.I.E.L.D., 1st Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 1st Heli-carrier, 1st S.H.I.E.L.D. flying car, 1st Hydra, 1st Life Model Decoys. I mentioned this book as a favorite of mine in several other threads, but given the nature of the Marvel U as well as the use of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the MCU and T.V., this book is huge the way that Iron Man #55 is huge, IMO. Even if this issue didn't have all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. establishments in it, it would still be the 1st app of Hydra.

Tales of Suspense #75 | 1st Sharon Carter. Key character for Captain America fans throughout all eras.

Tales of Suspense #79 | 1st Cosmic Cube. Obviously incredibly relevant to Modern Marvel (regardless as to whether or not they retcon it into an Infinity Gem). Also keyed through years of Marvel storytelling ranging from the Red Skull vs. Cap, to Captain Marvel vs. Thanos, to the Marvel Movies as "The Tesseract". Absolutely a defining Marvel Comics artifact.

Bronze Age ('70 - '85)
Marvel Premiere #15 | 1st Iron Fist. Great origin story (poor writing, but cool story for "YOU"). Very valid full-story first appearance.

Marvel Spotlight #5 | 1st Ghost Rider. Hard to argue that this isn't a key book.

Avengers #158 | 1st Graviton. Always a cool and super powerful villain that had difficulty escaping his campy looks. Still, a heavy-hitter and this might generate more interest depending on what the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has planned for him on T.V. Either way though, it's a cool mainstay bad guy of the Avengers.

Iron Man v1 #86 | 1st Blizzard. A mainstay Iron Man villain, also featured on the Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. t.v. show, albeit a bit redesigned. Still, a cool first app. -ahem-

Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olson #134 | 1st Darkseid. DC first apps are hard to come by because so much of the DCU that is relevant happened during the Golden Age and early Silver Age, but this is no doubt a relevant and awkward Silver Age book with an awesome first app.

Fantastic Four #205 | 1st Nova Corps. Obscure, but awesome.

DC Comics Presents #27 | 1st Mongul. Awesome Jim Starlin character that has lasted the test of time and still shows up as a heavy hitter villain today. I don't know how this one keeps sneaking under the radar, and while it shouldn't necessarily be an Iron Man #55 style book, I'd say that eventually it'll be pretty sought after the more the character makes mainstream media. Although #27 is a full-on, story driven first appearance, the follow up issue, #28 is pretty good too.

Spectacular Spider-Man #64 | 1st Cloak & Dagger. This one is fairly hot, but still somewhat undervalued I'd say. I feel like Cloak and Dagger have the visuals to be a T.V. team - especially in today's age of retconned diversity, this original team has what it takes to be appealing to audiences. This is a solid first app too - it's a full story with them as the antagonists, and they win! Like Moon Knight - characters that could really be cool if given a direction and a great creative team.

Captain America #217 | 1st Quasar (Marvel Man). Wendell Vaughn goes on to change his name to Quasar in Hulk #234 in 1979, but this Captain America book is the characters first appearance, Quantum Bands and all. What's cooler is that he is an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. long before he is head of Security at Project Pegasus, and then later officially appointed Protector of the Universe in his own series.

Thor #225 | 1st Firelord. A cosmic mainstay at Marvel. Not a character to hold his own title, but easily a favorite Herald up there with Terrax and Airwalker... two other characters with cool 1st apps as well.

Marvel Two-In-One #71 | 1st Maelstrom. Why would I throw this on here? IMO this book is both undervalued as well as underappreciated. Maelstrom is one cosmic badass and has possible future relevance as well. Allow me to explain - Maelstrom was an enemy of the Avengers through the 80's, but was given relevance on a pangalactic scale during Mark Gruenwald's epic "Cosmos In Collision" storyline. He wrests the Quantum Bands from Quasar in that story, and later is revealed to be the true avatar of Oblivion (the cosmic master of Thanos' Death, ala the way that Infinity is the master of Eternity). Furthermore, Maelstrom is shown to be so powerful that he resists Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet using his kinectic powers combined with the Quantum Force. More recently, Maelstrom appears as an enemy of the Guardians of the Galaxy, but we shouldn't forget that he is an Eternal as well, and has battled the Inhumans on more than one occasion. With the Inhumans stepping up as the MCU's mutant analogs (because of the whole Fox IP thing), there's a possibility that Maelstrom may become a movie-goers household name by 2018. Either way, this is an addition that I'm looking forward to making to my Bring on the Bad Guys collection when I come across it next.

Copper Age ('85 - '91)
Iron Man #219 | 1st Ghost. This is definitely one of Iron Man's cooler villains and this book is under the radar. The Ghost has been a recurring character for years, even featured in the Iron Man: Rise of Technovore video. He's also a fan-favorite character, and if an Iron Man 4 ever gets made, I can see this being one of the go-to characters for that movie. This is a super-villain and high-intrigue, espionage kind of character all in one.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 | 1st Utroms / Krang. Undeniably TMNT continues across generations, and this book was the first appearance of the Utroms - the characters that go on to become Krang.

Detective Comics #608 | 1st Anarchy. A cool Batman villain. Still under the radar...

Longshot #1 | 1st Longshot. Always a pretty neat character and a rarer unique concept of the era. This book might garner more interest if Fox's X-Men movie Universe manifests the way they have planned. As I understand it, the characters later continuity gets pretty marred with Shatterstar, but this is still a cool book and a rare character introduction in the first issue of his own series.

Avengers #257 | 1st Nebula. Had a very interesting role in the Infinity Gauntlet and was set up as a recurring threat in the Guardians of the Galaxy flick.

Megaton #3 | 1st Savage Dragon. Many of us here have said it in the past - Larson keeps going with the Dragon book, even with an incredibly low print run. If attention ever turns to that character because of a movie, T.V. deal or some other event, the Dragon run as a whole, and this book are going to be big market books.

Marvel Age #97 | 1st Darkhawk. Cool character made even better when Marvel removed him from the Spider-Man level playing field and made him a cosmic character down the road. I struggle with this one as a first app, because I think this book is basically an advertisement for Darkhawk #1, but the market seems to be stating that this one is it.

Modern Age
Amazing Spider-Man #365 | 1st Spider-Man 2099. Again with the preview content, but this is the one that people buy as the 1st appearance rather than Spider-Man 2099 #1.

Comics Greatest World Arcadia #3 | 1st Ghost. Another obscure character, but one that is a bit of a fan favorite on these forums. Also, the character clearly has staying power as that and "X" are basically the only ones that Dark Horse goes back to publication for. This character is basic enough that it also strikes me as something we could see on T.V. someday, no?

Dark Horse Comics #8 | 1st X. See my explanation for Dark Horse's Ghost above.

Nova v4 #8 | 1st Cosmo. Cosmic is cool and apparently so are cosmic animals. Also, with the Knowhere being featured in the Guardians' movie, Cosmo might actually have a role in the sequel. Crazier things have happened. Rocket Raccoon. Howard the Duck....

House of Mystery Annual #1 | 1st iZombie. The Zombie craze is on and some feel that this character might have legs the way the Walking Dead does. It's either this or Zombie Tramp.... soooooo.... let'sgowiththis.

Spawn #9 | 1st Angela. This might wind up being a more sought after book than many of us would've ever guessed. I remember wayyyyyyy back in the day there was a Graham Crackers Comics sale at one of their smaller stores in the Chicago suburbs. They had bins and bins and bins of 90's overprinted books for .10 each and this book was all over the place in those bins. First, Angela appears in Spawn, drawn by one of that era's top artists and written by one of that era's top writers. She recurs there for years and is eventually brought over to Marvel (a character moving to a competing publisher - something that rarely occurs in comics) where she is now used in Guardians of the Galaxy and will soon be given a higher profile in Thor as well. There might be a million copies of Spawn #9 around, but this book has, impossibly, become the real deal.

Walking Dead #63 | 1st Chew. Image's title about a law enforcement cibopath is still going strong. This issue of the Walking Dead featured a preview of Chew #1, which the market basically considers the first appearance of that title and it's premise. I don't know that it will be a market mainstay or not, but it's probably undervalued a bit.

First Artist Works
Samurai Santa #1 | 1st Jim Lee Published Work (inks only)
Alpha Flight #51 | 1st Jim Lee Pencils and work for Marvel - this one is most likely the book to have considering that Samurai Santa isn't even really indicative of Lee's style in the inks.

Gore Shriek #1 | 1st Greg Capullo Published Work - this one is the real deal as it features a Capullo-drawn story. Also a pretty weird, rare book.
What If...? #2 | 1st Greg Capullo work at Marvel. This one is really for the Capullo fans, I'd say. He worked on 6 other books before landing the Marvel gig.

Coyote #11 | 1st Todd McFarlane Published Work. This one was from Marvel subsidiary "Epic".
Infinity Inc. #14 | 1st Todd McFarlane work at DC. This book was McFarlane's first Big Two work.

Astonishing Tales #25 | 1st George Perez Published Work. Also the first appearance of Deathlok. By all rights, this book should be huge.

Power Man & Iron Fist #90 | 1st Kurt Busiek published Marvel work. Pow! Biff! Pops! was Busiek's first published work, but I think that was a fanzine and allegedly there are fewer than 200 copies of it in existence. It would be cool to own, but I guess we would say that his first Marvel work (also his first actual comic book) is the real deal, no?

The Twilight Zone (1962) #84 | 1st Frank Miller Published Work.
Weird War Tales #64 | 1st Frank Miller work at DC. This book was Miller's first Big Two work.

Doctor Weird #1 | 1st Jim Starlin published work.
Journey Into Mystery #1 | 1st Jim Starlin work at Marvel. This was Starlin's first Big Two work.

Quivers #2 | 1st Brian Michael Bendis Published work. This was a Caliber book and Bendis wrote and drew it.

I could go on and on..... I love threads like this.

[chriskay99]

I'm sure it already commands tons, but Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (first Carol Danvers) could potentially be the first Marvel movie with a female lead (I figure it's either that or Black Widow). CM crosses over between GotG and Avengers, so I gotta figure they're going to make that movie. Also, the name alone has selling power.

I've become quite fond of the Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. I may try to get this book...

I agree that Ms., now Captain Marvel has huge breakout potential when it comes to film. The book actually isn't too crazy right now - I've just barely missed out on some eBay auctions that ended in the $60-$80 range. I haven't seen a lot of high quality copies pop up. Keep in mind too, that this book is the first appearance of Carol Danvers. I believe she becomes Ms. Marvel in Ms. Marvel #1 so that might be another one to pick up.

[greatbrandino11]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

I would've named all of these too! Nice list.... I'll add some of my fav's to the community. Happy hunting!

Silver Age ('56 - '70):
Avengers #8 | 1st Kang. If Ultron wasn't the villain of the Avengers 2, I'd have placed my bets on Kang. Even if this character never makes his way onto film, this book established a very important character to the Marvel U that manifests across 3 or more identities (Pharoah, Immortus, and Kang, not to mention Iron Lad) and recurring appearances over the years.

Journey Into Mystery #85 | 1st Loki. This is an awesome book that's incredibly relevant now more than ever basically.

Tales of Suspense #50 | 1st Mandarin. Awesome Silver Age cover, classic Silver Age "Red Rivalry". Hard to find in mid-grade without Marvel chipping, in my experience.

Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos #5 | 1st Baron Von Strucker. A wildly under-utlized character, but sure to be hotter book after Avengers 2 drops.

House of Secrets #61 | 1st Eclipso. This was is itching to be a market mover as Eclipso tends to show up for events or as a heavy hitter bad guy. Think DC's Mephisto analog to some extent.

Strange Tales #135 | 1st S.H.I.E.L.D., 1st Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., 1st Heli-carrier, 1st S.H.I.E.L.D. flying car, 1st Hydra, 1st Life Model Decoys. I mentioned this book as a favorite of mine in several other threads, but given the nature of the Marvel U as well as the use of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the MCU and T.V., this book is huge the way that Iron Man #55 is huge, IMO. Even if this issue didn't have all of the S.H.I.E.L.D. establishments in it, it would still be the 1st app of Hydra.

Bronze Age ('70 - '85)
Marvel Premiere #15 | 1st Iron Fist. Great origin story (poor writing, but cool story for "YOU"). Very valid full-story first appearance.

Marvel Spotlight #5 | 1st Ghost Rider. Hard to argue that this isn't a key book.

Avengers #158 | 1st Graviton. Always a cool and super powerful villain that had difficulty escaping his campy looks. Still, a heavy-hitter and this might generate more interest depending on what the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has planned for him on T.V. Either way though, it's a cool mainstay bad guy of the Avengers.

Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olson #134 | 1st Darkseid. DC first apps are hard to come by because so much of the DCU that is relevant happened during the Golden Age and early Silver Age, but this is no doubt a relevant and awkward Silver Age book with an awesome first app.

Fantastic Four #205 | 1st Nova Corps. Obscure, but awesome.

DC Comics Presents #27 | 1st Mongul. Awesome Jim Starlin character that has lasted the test of time and still shows up as a heavy hitter villain today. I don't know how this one keeps sneaking under the radar, and while it shouldn't necessarily be an Iron Man #55 style book, I'd say that eventually it'll be pretty sought after the more the character makes mainstream media. Although #27 is a full-on, story driven first appearance, the follow up issue, #28 is pretty good too.

Copper Age ('85 - '91)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #7 | 1st Utroms / Krang. Undeniably TMNT continues across generations, and this book was the first appearance of the Utroms - the characters that go on to become Krang.

Longshot #1 | 1st Longshot. Always a pretty neat character and a rarer unique concept of the era. This book might garner more interest if Fox's X-Men movie Universe manifests the way they have planned. As I understand it, the characters later continuity gets pretty marred with Shatterstar, but this is still a cool book and a rare character introduction in the first issue of his own series.

Avengers #257 | 1st Nebula. Had a very interesting role in the Infinity Gauntlet and was set up as a recurring threat in the Guardians of the Galaxy flick.

Megaton #3 | 1st Savage Dragon. Many of us here have said it in the past - Larson keeps going with the Dragon book, even with an incredibly low print run. If attention ever turns to that character because of a movie, T.V. deal or some other event, the Dragon run as a whole, and this book are going to be big market books.

Marvel Age #97 | 1st Darkhawk. Cool character made even better when Marvel removed him from the Spider-Man level playing field and made him a cosmic character down the road. I struggle with this one as a first app, because I think this book is basically an advertisement for Darkhawk #1, but the market seems to be stating that this one is it.

I could go on and on and on..... I love threads like this.

Nice list. I continuously eye high grade copies of Megaton 3 & Avengers 8 but I continue to pass on them. I should probably pull the trigger. I was in serious contention for a CGC 9.2 Superman's Pal 134 a couple of years ago but I ended up losing the auction. It was way before the prices started skyrocketing. I still regret this loss. I feel very fortunate for pulling the trigger to buy a CGC 9.2 Iron Man 55 about 5 years ago. I got it very, very cheap compared to prices today.

With the way films are going for the foreseeable future, if you can find a key bronze or silver age issue (1st appearance, cameos, origin, etc.), pick it up and hold on to it. You never know what can happen. I'm still shocked by Howard the Duck's involvement in the Marvel cinematic universe.

I'm going to start working on my Groo the Wanderer set now!

[greatbrandino11]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

Any others?

I'm sure it already commands tons, but Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (first Carol Danvers) could potentially be the first Marvel movie with a female lead (I figure it's either that or Black Widow). CM crosses over between GotG and Avengers, so I gotta figure they're going to make that movie. Also, the name alone has selling power.

I've become quite fond of the Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. I may try to get this book...

Marvel Super Heroes 12 and 13 were on my list to get but I ended up buying a CGC 9.4 Fantastic Four 67 (1st Adam Warlock). I sold it last year and made a great profit on it but I can't help but think I should have held on to it longer. That issue and my CGC 9.6 Ms. Marvel 18 are 2 of my biggest sales regrets. I should have kept both.

[IMJ]

Edited a few more into that list above as well...

Marvel Super Heroes 12 and 13 were on my list to get but I ended up buying a CGC 9.4 Fantastic Four 67 (1st Adam Warlock).

And that absolutely is the first app of Adam Warlock. It drives me nuts when I see sellers trying to pawn Thor #165 as the issue because the FF issue has several pages of build up to leaving the cocoon, and in the last page has him acting on the plot and establishes what he is going off to do. It's a firm first app and a tiny bit more than a one page or single panel cameo.

[depluto]

Great list IMJ ... I also think it's kind of weird that the market is deciding a book like Marvel Age 97 would be a first appearance (or, for example, that Malibu Sun 13 is Spawn's first appearance). Do you think someday the market will correct back the other way? This just feels sort of "trendy" I suppose.

[IMJ]

Great list IMJ ... I also think it's kind of weird that the market is deciding a book like Marvel Age 97 would be a first appearance (or, for example, that Malibu Sun 13 is Spawn's first appearance). Do you think someday the market will correct back the other way? This just feels sort of "trendy" I suppose.

I think things pick up the zeitgeist for certain issues and it heads in that direction. For example, the Darkhawk appearance in Marvel Age #97 seems to trump Darkhawk #1 as the first app, yet Longshot #1 is the market book before Marvel Age #29. I think if Longshot ever took off, then Longshot #1 would be the book to have, but after a while people looking to make a buck would start promoting the Marvel Age book that they had in back stock.

If I had some kind of standardized tenet to use, then I would argue that preview issues only count as valid first apps if they have unique content in them (i.e., the Fantasy Illustrated issue that Battlechasers first appeared in for example). Anything else is promotional content. I think at one point I saw a guy pimping some random Marvel issue that had an ad in it for Hulk #181 as the first "true appearance of Wolverine" lol!

In the simplest world though, I'd like to see agreement that a first, unique story appearance in a proper title is a first appearance. The end. Cameo or otherwise, and anything else is promotional material. But, dollars vote and sometimes greed can sway the trend - especially if something has a hardcore fanbase and it gives that fanbase something else to seek and digest.

What do we say about Spider-Man 2099's first appearance? What's the agreement on that one?

[maraxusofkeld]

I think that the first Archangel, X-Factor 24 and 1st Psylocke New Mutant Annual #2 are undervalued. Try and find a NM copy of the NM #2.

[kjjohanson]

What was the deal with the Marvel Age Darkhawk? Was it preview pages from the comic or just some illustrations?

[GGSAE]

I think that the first Archangel, X-Factor 24 and 1st Psylocke New Mutant Annual #2 are undervalued. Try and find a NM copy of the NM #2.

You can throw in #15 and 19 as undervalued too...my question to you guys though is, do you hoard a stack of lesser keys and 'hope' they catch fire? I have some of these books, and I think ya Longshot#1 might be good someday, but am I gonna hoard every longshot type book out there hoping 1 in 10 gets hot?

[kjjohanson]

I think that the first Archangel, X-Factor 24 and 1st Psylocke New Mutant Annual #2 are undervalued. Try and find a NM copy of the NM #2.

You can throw in #15 and 19 as undervalued too...my question to you guys though is, do you hoard a stack of lesser keys and 'hope' they catch fire? I have some of these books, and I think ya Longshot#1 might be good someday, but am I gonna hoard every longshot type book out there hoping 1 in 10 gets hot?

It seems silly to pick 10 Longshot books when instead you could pick first appearances of other minor characters on the chance they get hot. Mostly I think it's just a matter of picking characters that have unique aspect to them that's been unexplored.

[Elveen]

I was going through my collection yesterday, and after coming across several key issues, I started to think about key first appearances and which ones are still cheap and best to keep in your collection for the future. I had several come to mind...

Uncanny X-Men 221 (1st Mr. Sinister)
Uncanny X-Men 282 & 283 (1st Bishop)
X-Men 4 (1st Omega Red)
Thor 337 (1st Beta Ray Bill)
Incredible Hulk 449 (1st Thunderbolts)
Superman/Batman Annual 4 (1st Batman Beyond)

Any others?

I'm sure it already commands tons, but Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (first Carol Danvers) could potentially be the first Marvel movie with a female lead (I figure it's either that or Black Widow). CM crosses over between GotG and Avengers, so I gotta figure they're going to make that movie. Also, the name alone has selling power.

I've become quite fond of the Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. I may try to get this book...

Marvel Super Heroes 12 and 13 were on my list to get but I ended up buying a CGC 9.4 Fantastic Four 67 (1st Adam Warlock). I sold it last year and made a great profit on it but I can't help but think I should have held on to it longer. That issue and my CGC 9.6 Ms. Marvel 18 are 2 of my biggest sales regrets. I should have kept both.

The Ms Marvel #18 and #16 are books that I'd bet will have a different price tag in 12-18 months.

[IMJ]

I think that the first Archangel, X-Factor 24 and 1st Psylocke New Mutant Annual #2 are undervalued. Try and find a NM copy of the NM #2.

I love X-Factor #24 and Archangel was awesome, but that character had it's day IMO. Unless there's a big revival, I think that one is like Uncanny X-Men #201 now - a cult favorite and not much more. I remember during the days of Wizard magazine, X-Factor #24 was hotter than the first Apocalypse is now.

What was the deal with the Marvel Age Darkhawk? Was it preview pages from the comic or just some illustrations?

It had a few pages of the first issue as a preview IIRC. I can bust mine out to check next time I'm digging through those boxes.

[IMJ]

Added a few more favorites to the list in my first post.

[nycjadie]

+1 on Archangel

I was at a flea market last weekend that had 4 boxes of old store stock of early X-Factor, all unread. The only issues I was looking for were gone, 5,6 and 24.

[greg]

Dark Horse Presents #10
Flaming Carrot #16

Both books are from 1987, both already have movies completed, VHS, DVDs, late-night reruns...
generally known and treated as "cult classics".

Both are still about $1, if you can find them.

[GGSAE]

Dark Horse Presents #10
Flaming Carrot #16

Both books are from 1987, both already have movies completed, VHS, DVDs, late-night reruns...
generally known and treated as "cult classics".

Both are still about $1, if you can find them.

I don't know about the Flaming Carrot book, but I would think the time has long passed on DHP. I think it would be better to find comics of longer-running series, or re-occurring characters spread across different titles.

[GGSAE]

Although technically a reprint, I've managed to find a few copies of Bone #1 second print dirt cheap lately. Some of these I've grabbed for under $10, a really good price considering what some second prints of big books go for, e.g. TMNT.

[IMJ]

Dark Horse Presents #10
Flaming Carrot #16

Both books are from 1987, both already have movies completed, VHS, DVDs, late-night reruns...
generally known and treated as "cult classics".

Both are still about $1, if you can find them.

Greg's post reminded me of the first appearance of Dark Horse's "X", which I added in my list above. It also reminded me of Hellboy, but I didn't add it at all because:

A) is it undervalued?
and
B) there is great debate regarding what is actually the first appearance of that character. Mike Mignola himself states that "San Diego Comic Con Comics #2" is actually the character's first appearance as that issue had a 4-page, original B&W story. The market however deems Next Men #21 as the first appearance. CGC notes that SDCCC #2 is the first appearance with Next Men being the first color appearance. I want the Next Men book to be it, but speaking factually, it's SDCCC #2.

I also added Cap #217 to the list. Because I think it's undervalued. And I love it. So there.

Also, how about some stuff from the Bagley run of ASM vol. 1? That entire run is underrated all the way until Maximum Carnage begins. ASM vol. 1 #300 basically through 390 or so is a juggernaut of Spider-Man books.

[IMJ]

Also, the Tales of Suspense run is obviously full of firsts - the first Cosmic Cube, several first Iron Man villains, first Black Widow and Hawkeye, but as for underappreciated firsts, what about Tales of Suspense #75? The first appearance of Sharon Carter. Obviously a mainstay for Captain America fans, and a character who had a terrific setup in The Winter Soldier movie as well. Additionally, there might be something to be said for the Peggy Carter T.V. show that is coming. Either way, TOS #75 is an important book for fans of Cap.