InvestComics Comic Hot Picks 1-6-10

It’s the first week in 2010 and Marvel has the event that has been in the making for 7 years. The Siege begins…… 

2010 is upon us. Blackest Night is winding down and here comes another event. This time from Marvel….

You remember when Wanda uttered one of the most famous lines in comic book history? “No more mutants”. It’s a statement that is an instant reminder to any comic collector. The statement that most comic book fans await now would come from Joe Quesada’s mouth and it would go a little something like this “No more events”.
Our dream might come true this week when Marvel is billing the Siege #1 as 7 years in the making. Rumors have it that this will “be it”. For now of course! As much as fans are moaning about too many events it seems to equate to some big bucks, Blackest Night anyone? So for now we will all go along with the premise that this will be the last MAJOR event for a while for Marvel. DC already has plans for a Superman event a few months from now, so they still see the cash cow and you cannot blame them. The big 2 as well as all of the other comic companies are in business to make money. Marvel is saying though they will be taking a back seat and have “events” contained to individual characters within their respective books. This all sounds like a good idea as long as Peter Parker isn’t going through some “life altering” BS every 7 issues. Oh but wait, Marvel is promoting “2010 The Year of The Spider-Man”. Whatever the heck that means, but it looks like aunt May could die again, MJ will be killed, Gwen will be back and on and on we go. Well Marvel sure does churn the machine better than anyone in the business as far as the promoting/marketing stuff goes. Marvel will do their thing and 2010 will indeed probably be the year of Spider-Man, hell every freaking year is the year of the Spider-Man isn’t it??
Siege will be so awesome that it’ll be worth the hype. On last week’s Bludcast Podcast, a person on the show by the name of NerdyGirl went on to explain why Norman will NOT die during the Siege storyline. She believes that Norman has become an intricate part of the Marvel Universe. While I totally agree to a point, I personally believe that Marvel may be following in the footsteps of American history here. Norman is the modern day Hitler in comic books. He has built his empire and NOW will overstep his bounds and invade Asgard which in this case plays out to be the Soviet Union. He will lose; we all know this as comic book fans. He simply will not win here. Will it lead to his demise? I say it will. Where else could Marvel take Norman if he does in fact survive the attempt of Asgard? Making him a weak player, only to make him rise to power in a few years would be a stale idea. Marvel might end him OR here’s a question; did we ever find Hitler’s body?
As far as the investment flip goes here. Buy the variant editions of these comics and grade them. Sell them back at high demand to make a small fortune. Buy the variant back in a year for less than half the price and buy some Bronze Age key books in the meantime. This will work, try it.

Batman Confidential #40 will be done by a legend. Many fans either like this guy or they don’t. Sam Kieth will be doing a small arc and I for one welcome it. If you want to find Sam’s first take on his style on the Batman, look for Secret Origins Special from 1989 and pay only about $3 for it. This issue also has Neil Gaiman all over it too. Great little treasure here for collectors.
If you’re in the market for a couple of Spider-Man first appearances, you’ve come to the right place. This week you get 2 opposite sides of the spectrum with the amount of money you want to spend. First up is the Amazing Spider-Man Presents Jackpot #1. Do we all need a Jackpot number one issue, I mean really? That’s a question for another day, but the Rose makes an appearance in here. Look for Amazing Spider-Man #253 (1984) for the first Rose. Also look to not spend much on this issue. Now if you are looking to spend a few more bucks, Amazing Spider-Man #25 (1965) comes in at around $700. This issue goes against Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #6 this week which features the Ultimate Spider-Slayer. Issue #25 features the first appearance of the Spider-Slayer. Get this comic because it’s an early Stan Lee & Steve Ditko classic, vintage stuff here.
Marvel Boy The Uranian #1 will be coming out much of the delight of fans from 1950! Marvel Boy #1 features the first appearance of Robert Grayson as one of Marvel’s first heroes. You could get this at a great premium for only $1400! It’s real hard to believe that this comic is so cheap. Granted Marvel Boy isn’t exactly at the top of the list for Marvel collectors, but still for a 1950 first appearance book from Marvel, it’s a great buy especially since Robert Grayson has been hanging around since 1999. Now he gets his own comic! Buy this Marvel Boy #1 from 1950; hold it for duration because this comic will appreciate in value for years to come. This one is a keeper folks.

See you next week, Invest Wisely.

Jay Katz