Superheroes Equal Super Prices
Not even Superman’s arch-nemesis Lex Luthor could have dreamed up such a moneymaking scheme. Buy a 1938 comic for 10 cents, and sell it later for $1.5 million (close to R10.4 million). It turns out that some comic book heroes wield amazing investment superpowers.
It has been a question that has dogged comic fans for decades. If Superman and Batman were to battle it out, who would you put your money on? In February 2010 it became a million-dollar question when ComicConnect.com sold the first edition of the 1938 comic book Action Comics featuring the debut of Superman for $1 million (about R7 million). Three days later, a 1939 copy of Detective Comics, issue 27 featuring the first appearance of Batman, was sold by Heritage Auctions for $1,075,500 (approximately R7.4 million).
But, like all good cliff-hangers, there was a twist. A month later, another copy of Action Comics number one came on the market. It was in excellent condition (graded 8.5 out of 10), and was sold for $1.5 million (almost R10.4 million) by ComicConnect. As headline writers around the world put it: “Holy Kryptonite, Superman! The third comic book world record in a year!”
“I think there was a lot of pent up demand,” ComicConnect’s founder, Stephen Fishler, says. “The string of million-dollar sales was the catalyst, but this was the ultimate copy, the highest grade ever known. It had first appeared in Pittsburgh in 1986, changed hands a few times and then disappeared. The person who owned it had refused dozens of offers over the past 17 years, but I managed to buy it and then sell it on through ComicConnect.”
Fishler says he paid “more than $1.07 million” (over R7.3 million) but had “a good feeling”. So he must have been elated when it achieved such an amazing price? “I was delighted, but I think when we saw prices break through the $1 million barrier for the first time in February that was a stunning moment; there was a realisation that this was something we were all going to get used to.”
But at the height of such economically challenging times, how can comics justify such world-shaking prices? Fishler believes one aspect of the recent crisis has been a move to more tangible assets, such as comics, because of a lack of faith in the world of banking and stocks.
Meanwhile, the identity of the buyer remains anonymous, like his favourite superhero. “Some of today’s most successful entrepreneurs were yesterday’s comic geeks,” says Vincent Zurzolo, Fishler’s business partner. “They don’t want a Van Gogh or a Picasso. They want collectibles that mean something to them. Our society is built on pop culture. Superman, Spider-Man, Batman… they are icons now. The fact is that Superman was the first superhero, and so this means this is the Holy Grail of comics.”
“2010 was an extraordinary year for comic auctions,” says Heritage’s director of operations for comics, Barry Sandoval, after the sale of the record-breaking Batman copy. The auction company’s previous record for a comic book had stood at $275,000 (approximately R1.9 million), but within a day of the Batman comic being posted online, bidding had already soared past $310,000 (about R2.14 million).
“The million-dollar sales are incredible, but what impresses me more are recent increases in high-grade 1960s and 1970s comics,” says George Pantela of GPAnalysis, a worldwide online “stock exchange” that monitors more than $200 million (R1.38 billion) in comic book sales. “For instance, Spider-Man’s first appearance in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy in high-grade condition commands six-figure sums. Even the 1970s comics that nobody thought would be collectible and were traded for a few dollars in the 1980s and ’90s are generating interest. Now we are seeing high-grade key issues of titles such as Incredible Hulk, Green Lantern, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four selling for five figures.”
Condition, of course, is key to value. Pantela’s analytics only monitor the prices of comics audited by the independent Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) in the US who assess condition, grade books and then lock them in tamper-proof plastic “slabs”. “When the CGC process started ten years ago it drove prices up. Way up,” says Pantela. “As CGC records how many books they grade and this record is available for free on online, a way of calculating rarity has become possible.”
Of course it is not only caped crusaders that inspire comic collectors. Original strip art by Charles Schultz is a regular favourite at Heritage. “It is interesting, because the strips ran for 50 years and there must be tens of thousands of them out there, but they are popular at auction because they are a perfect slice of Americana. And Schultz seemed to have tapped into every neurosis of modern times through his characters,” says Sandoval. In August 2008 a strip featuring Snoopy as the Red Baron was sold for $101,575 (approximately R700,000).
Inevitably, the older the original art, the rarer it becomes, particularly if it is in good condition. “Much of the work produced from the 1970s is likely to turn up at some stage, but we are always fascinated to find, say, rare 20th century pieces by [seminal artist] Will Eisner,” says Sandoval. “In the past much of the material was simply thrown away or not taken seriously, even by the artists themselves. I have heard stories of artists using their work to catch paint drops while they were decorating, or a workman who came across a piece of finished artwork worth $30,000 (R207,000) and nearly threw it away before he called us. It is scary to think what has been lost in the past.”
In Europe in 2009, original 1932 cover artwork for the comic book Tintin in America was sold for $1.2 million (about R8.23 million) at the Artcurial gallery auction in Paris. It was expected to only achieve $300,000 (approximately R2 million). “There is no shame in collecting comic strips now,” says Eric Leroy, the auction house’s comic strip expert. “20 or 30 years ago it was frowned upon, but today talented artists are recognised.” It is an art form that dates back to the early 20th century in Europe, with the strips of Becassine or Les Pieds Nikeles paving the way for Tintin, Lucky Luke or Asterix.
In Europe, Leroy says, the worlds or Hergé, Moebius, Pratt or Uderzo are as well known as the characters of Walt Disney. “Everyone has read these comics and there is a strong desire to collect the original art,” he says. “Collectors come from every social class, because everyone used to read comics. The nostalgia of childhood is important, but with new artists such as Bilal, Tardi or Moebius, people are putting their works in galleries.”
In the UK, comic artist Rufus Dayglo – who was has worked for such iconic publications as 2000AD and Tank Girl – is a collector who started the site artdroids.co.uk to sell original works. “I was very fortunate when I started collecting in the late 1980s, because it was possible to buy original UK work for $40 to $50 (R276 to R345),” he says. “I also came across abandoned pieces shoved in skips or when I helped clean out old comic publishing offices. When I bought it, it was never for investment. I just wanted to see how my favourite artists worked, because they inspired me to become an artist myself. I loved seeing things like corrections, notes to editors or sketches on the back of originals.”
Dayglo says he has seen prices increase dramatically in recent years, despite the credit crunch. “Art is emotional. It’s not like shares,” he says. “Some of the pieces I have sold, I could never afford to buy back again. There is also a generational aspect inspired by nostalgia. The work I sell from the 1970s and ’80s has a strong appeal with people in their late 30s or early 40s who have some disposable income. Work from The Eagle comic seemed to peak in the late 1980s. Ten years ago it was Star Wars figurines, now it’s Transformers.”
Recently Heritage sold off a huge part of the comic collection belonging to actor Nicolas Cage, while other well known collectors include Leonardo DiCaprio and former BBC presenter Jonathan Ross.
“Barack Obama has also said he used to collect comics,” says Sandoval. “He was particularly fond of Conan the Barbarian and Spider-Man. It’s hard to imagine other presidents such as Richard Nixon or Lyndon B Johnson admitting to collecting comics, but it shows how far the medium has come in terms of popularity.”
Story by Andy Round/TCS
