Just checking. I polybagged a bunch of fairly popular mainly 80’s Marvel and DC comic books about 20 years ago. My understanding at that time was that there were so many of them out there that they were pretty much worth toilet paper.
Is that still the case?
There are some (not many but some) 90s issues that have a little value so I imagine there are some 80s issues that have some too. Issues where big events happened or subsequently popular characters are introduced tend to be the ones to look for.
Amazing Spider-Man #252 (May 1984) is probably the most valuable from that era, though it’s hardly a fortune even in mint condition.
The 80s? Isn’t that the time of Miller’s Daredevil and Claremont/Byrne’s X-men? Isn’t that when Scott Lang became Ant-Man? Isn’t it when The Dark Night Returns came out? V for Vendetta? The Watchmen?
And there’s your answer. The reason why comic books are valuable is a combination of scarcity and importance. And scarcity (especially mint condition) is the most important factor. If everyone polybagged Action Comics #1 when it came out, it would be worth only a thousand or so at most.
Nearly everyone who bought comics in the 80s knew enough to keep them in the best condition possible. They knew not to throw them away (the fate of 98% of all 40s comics). They knew that they should be bagged. Since there are hundreds of thousands of most issues out there, the value doesn’t get too high.
Do some searches in eBay sold listings.
The Brood Saga from the mid-100’s of Uncanny X-Men is pretty valuable. As is most things with Todd McFarlane’s name on it.
There’s McFarlane’s entire run of Amazing Spider-Man (298-324 or so), there’s New Mutants 86 (Cable’s debut) and 98 (Deadpool’s debut), there’s X-Factor #6 (Apocalypse’s debut, and worth around $C600 in great condition when I last checked) and Uncanny X-Men 282 or something (Gambit’s debut). I sold all of these last year in addition to ASM #252, Secret Wars #8 and a few other biggies. But not my copies of The Dark Knight Returns because those are mine.
According to my customers on e-bay, I just listed in that paragraph about $1000 worth of comics, and mine were, had I bothered to have them rated, somewhere in the 8.5 -9.0 range. I don’t really understand why people paid so much because so many of these books were printed, but there it is.