There has always been a fascination in the comic book collecting hobby for “sleepers” – those comic books that may be currently overlooked and undervalued, poised for explosive sales growth. It’s a lot of fun to try and predict the future, so today I’m going to try my hand with 5 comics that may be “sleepers.” We’ll have to check back over the next year or two to see how they do.

If you have any comments or your own list of sleepers, please comment below!

5 Comic Book Sleepers:

Showcase #22- First Silver Age Green Lantern and Hal Jordan issue. This comic book will be quick and easy to track because I’m basing this on the summer 2011 Green Lantern movie. The Green Lantern is well know among collectors, but not so much among the general public. I’m betting that good showing here could be the oomph it takes to propel this comic book forward.

Amazing Adventures #11 – First Blue Beast. Another easy one to track. X-men 1st Class is just around the corner and I’m hoping for a pop in this comic book. This one is a real beauty in high grade condition due to it’s black cover. Can be difficult to find.

Tales of Suspense #52 – First Black Widow, Natalia “Natasha” Alianovna Romanova. This starts my play on the upcoming Avengers movie. We’ll have to watch this comic over the next year.

Tales of Suspense #57 and Avengers 16, 19 – I’m these comics to watch here because this is a play on Hawkeye, another character in the Avengers movie. I’ll be watching both books to see which has better performance, hopefully they’re both winners.

Showcase #4 – 1st Silver Age Flash. Is this book really a sleeper? I’m saying it is because it has been overshadowed by the $1 million sale of Amazing Fantasy #15. This book has been considered more difficult to find in high grade than Amazing Fantasy #15. I think it’s only a matter of time until this book catches up. There is word on the street of a JLA movie in the making, and that could be just the press this books needs to show renewed movement.

Well there you have it. Feel free to add your comments and picks.

Check out the sleepers currently for sale below.

It looks like the Disney purchase of Marvel will be completed and now we need to sort out what this means to collector/investors in the comic book hobby. A recent article discusses some lesser known Marvel characters may be brought to the big and little screen. The implications of this could be huge for the back issue market for these lesser known characters. I don’t know what will happen, but I am definitely following several back issues for the first time in years. Some of the characters mentioned are Ant Man, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, and Nova.

I’ll keep members updated on the latest news and my “comic books to watch.”

If Wolverine 2 becomes a reality it looks like there is a very good chance X-men 118 will be a key issue connected to the comic book movie.

In this issue Wolverine meets Mariko and if you believe Shuler Donner the relationship will be a key part of the story.

If you see this issue you may want to pick it up. Keep you eyes open for the following cover.

X-men 118 (click for current prices)