Today we’ll take a look at who is arguably the most famous superhero of all, Superman. We’ll look at the top Superman comic books for collectors and investors, and let you know where to go to find this comics and if you are lucky get a big discount. An interesting fact is many of the most important Superman issues aren’t even in his self-titled comic, but in the Action Comics series.

The Top Superman Comic Books for Collectors/Investors:

Action Comics 1 – This is the book that started it all. Siegel and Shuster introduce the world to Superman. This book is considered the “grail” comic amongst many collectors and the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide says it should go for around $750,000 in NM- condition!

Action Comics 6 – Where would Superman be without Jimmy Olsen? His first appearance will set you back around $28,000 in NM- condition.

Action Comics 23 – No superhero is really a superhero without a super-villain. We are all familiar with Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor and he makes his first appearance in this issue – with red hair!

Action Comics 29 – Superman and Lois Lane, one if the most famous love affairs in American pop culture. Here is her first appearance.

Superman 1 – The first self titled issue. Start saving now, a NM- copy could set you back over $440,000!

Superman 61 – Things wouldn’t quite be the same without Kryptonite, and this issue introduces Superman’s famed weakness, Green Kryptonite!

If you want to find these comic books and potentially get a discount, make sure you check out our discount finder information in the Member’s Only Website (it’s free!).

In the meantime, check out this key Superman issues for sale:

Several years ago a friend let me in on a little secret. I tweaked the “secret formula” for my own purposes and the results were amazing. In the span of a few months I was literally swamped with comic books from the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Many of these books formed the foundation for my online and offline comic book dealing for several years.

Do you want to discover the strategy that can result in the comic book avalanche?

This month members of Comic Book Secrets get the entire report absolutely free. It is available on the Member site and you can gain access here.

Have fun and start clearing out some storage space!

There are several places to check out upcoming issues, but what this site has going for it is the ability to gauge reader interest in various issues. Another great place is the CGC Modern Comics Forums. Again, a great place to get a feel for what might be popular.

Also, don’t forget to read and heed the new comic buying advice in the “Retail is for Suckers” article.

Make sure to click here to get new comic books at up to 75% off guide, and not flush your cash down the drain.

• Only buy comic books you enjoy
• Buy comic books in the best condition you can afford

These two ideas are perpetuated by dealers who are living in the past, before the free flow of information provided by the Internet. Let’s pick apart these two absurd statements.

Stupid Statement #1 – Only Buy Comic Books You Enjoy

I am going to cover myself here and say that if you are only a reader of old or new comic books and don’t care at all about the potential value of your books, then the statement above is okay. I have only run into a few people in my entire life who are only readers, but I know there are thousands out there, especially people who only read new comic books off the stands. A good friend of mine in college who placed our orders to Westfield Comics each month was one of these people. As a side note, he made me a lot of money because you told me about great books and artists that were coming out – we won all around! If you are only a reader of old or new comic books, you must read the next section!

Okay, with that out of the way let’s look at everybody else. The above statement completely discounts the love of collecting in general! There is a certain enjoyment in finding rare books or getting a great deal on comics you otherwise wouldn’t care about. If you want to have a collection that can pay for itself, you must be willing to get comic books “you don’t like.” I was never a big Spider-man reader, but I have bought several books that sold for large profits because I knew what I was looking for. Was I taking a risk? Yes. But it paid off. Have I lost some? Sure. Did I leave the hobby because of my losses? No, I took it in stride and moved on!

If you are going to be a successful collector you have to be willing to buy comic books that you don’t “enjoy.”

Stupid Statement #2 – Buy the Best Condition You Can Afford

Think about this for a second. Mr. Comic Book Dealer says to you “only buy comic books you enjoy” followed by the statement “oh, but get the best condition you can afford!”

See how ridiculous this is? Come on, if you are really a reader a coverless but complete comic book is fine. Heck, why go any better than good condition?

If you were to follow this crazy advice, you as a reader would be buying a lot of “fine” condition comic books, one of the worst purchases in all of collecting! The readers don’t want them, and unless it is so old a fine copy is one of the best in existence, investors don’t want them either. If you are a reader/collector only, I would recommend exactly the opposite. Save yourself a bundle and buy the lowest condition book you can stand.

If you are a collector/investor then stupid statement #2 is out from many directions. You need to have an exit strategy before you buy. Good and very good condition comic books are valued by smart collectors and readers because the are more affordable. They also know they will retain some value since they can sell them in the future to fellow collectors and fans trying to complete their run of a series. This expands your sales market. Be careful not to overpay for lower condition books because you will be selling to bargain hunters in the future.

Your next market for buying it the pure investor/speculator or the serious collector/investor. If you are buying comics with thoughts of selling to this market, you must concentrate on high grade books. Notice I didn’t say the best condition you can afford. Once again, if you purchase a fine condition book you have limited your target market. Investors aren’t interested and savvy readers won’t pay the grade premium. If you get an unbelievable price on the books you can make it work, but be very careful. Have your exit strategy ready.

Whether you are a reader/collector only or are an investor and plan on selling in the future, read and heed these warnings. I think it will help you out in the long run and potentially save or make you some money.

Comic Book Secrets is dedicated to the combination Collector/Investor.  If you’re like most of us there are a few things you can heed to make the most of the hobby.  Ideally you’ll reach the point I call the Perpetual Collection where you are no longer spending out of pocket money on comics and your collection is actually self-sustaining.

For the Collector/Investor it’s all about the buying(accumulating) and selling cycle.  I use the word accumulation because there isn’t always and exchange of money when you get your books.  There are strategies you can use to accumulate books that don’t use cash.  You need to concentrate on the following items for each piece of the cycle:

Buying/Accumulating Comic Books

• News that will affect the current purchase price of a book you are interested in and the future sales price
• Where to find new and back issues for the lowest price (or best discount)
• How to purchase or obtain comic books for the lowest price (negotiating and other strategies)
• What books have the greatest chance of holding their value or increasing in price
• How to accurately grade and value comic books

Selling Comic Books

• When to sell comic books you are ready to rotate out of your collection
• News about upcoming events that will give you a clue to time your selling
• Where to sell your comic books
• How to sell your comic books at various outlets and get the best possible price

The entire point of the Comic Book Secrets blog and membership site is to provide information to help with both the buying/accumulation and selling parts of the cycle.

Which are you?

• The Reader – reads new comic books off the stands, may go to comic book shops, minimal interest in back issues and the value of books.
• The Speculator – in the hobby for the money.  Buys multiple copies of new issues that will he/she feels will become “hot” and will sell for a profit.  May dabble in back issues that may go up based on an upcoming event (think comic book movies)
•  The Investor – purchases comics for investment purposes focusing on older books that have a track record of retaining their value.  A lot of keys such as X-men #1, Fantastic Four #1, high-grade issues, CGC, PGX, etc.
• The Pure Collector – usually attempting to put together a run of a title or genre.  Will accept any complete copy to finish their run of Wolverine or some other title.  If they are a genre collector an  example would be trying to piece together a collection of all good-girl art issues.  Condition is many times secondary to just “having it”.

You may actually be a combination of a few of these and most people are.  Looking at sales numbers the largest group would probably be readers.  But since most people aren’t living under a rock, they are aware that comic books have value so they are part-time investors.

What do I mean by this?  Basically they don’t fold up their comics and stick them in their back pockets.  They read their books and them stack or bag them carefully and put them in storage.

The next largest group would be the collectors.  But really they are collector/investors.  Let’s face it, they aren’t going to put together a huge complete collection and then light it on fire sometime in the future.  We all know comic books have value and they will take advantage of this in the future.  Either to sell and use the proceeds to better the condition of their collection, or to use the money for something else.

The smaller groups are most likely the investors and speculators.  After the implosion in the nineties a lot of speculators have left, but they’re still some out there.  There are some pure investors out there, but not as many as the first two groups.  We know people do invest in comic books as a part of an overall investment portfolio (maybe 5%-10%), but this doesn’t seem to be the norm.

So what are you?

In the next post we’ll talk about some tips based on your decision.

Lets get down to basics:

Profit = Sales price – cost

Now there are a lot of “cost” items that can add up (E-bay fees, shipping, etc), but right now we are going to concentrate on the cost of the comic book itself.  If you read this blog and are a subscriber to the members only website, I hope you are using at least one of the methods I will describe below.  Today we’ll talk about new comics exclusively.  Stay tuned for some back issue techniques.

Every penny you save on your comic book purchases can have a big impact on your final profit.  This is especially true with new comic books.  If you are buying them for cover price off the newsstand (or from your comic book store) you are making a big mistake.

The bottom line is you must get a discount on your comic books.

At a minimum you should be getting a 10% discount from your local store.  This usually means setting up a “pull” list, where the store orders certain titles for you every month.  You can choose new title, order a couple copies, etc.  This is great for  “readers” and if you decide to speculate on one or two books.

If you are really going to speculate on a book and order a lot of copies, I recommend mailordercomics.com .  Here you can order a lot of copies and get a very substantial discount.  Let’s work through an example.

Let’s say you bought Mighty Super X Guy #234 for a 10% discount of the cover price of 2.99.  Your cost is $2.69.  Buy 10 copies and you’re out $26.90.  Let’s say the book rises in value to $5.00.  You sell your 10 copies and make $50.00 – $26.90 = $23.10.  Your break even point was 6 copies.

Now let’s say you bought your 10 copies for a 50% discount, or $1.50 each.  If you sell all ten copies a $5.00 each, you’ll make $35.00.  More importantly, you only have to sell 3 copies at $5.00 to break even.  If the book cools down you now have much more room to negotiate on price for the 7 remaining copies. 

Every copy you sell after copy number 3 is profit.

 If you are speculating on new comic books, please don’t pay retail.  Use mailordercomics.com or another discount comic book source and  give yourself a fighting chance.