The Bronze Age is alive and well for comics right now. Of all the comic ages this is my favorite. Why? Simply, because it is the age of comics I grew up with. The Bronze Age had artists like John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Neal Adams, Boris Vallejo, Gene Colan, Ernie Chan, and a host of others. When I see Captain America or Conan created by the current contemporary comic book artists it usually doesn't measure up. I imagine them as the original artists created them. Who can match John Buscema's Conan or Boris Vallejo's fantasy damsels in distress? Of course during the 1970’s (Bronze Age of comics) the issues I read the most and sought out were the Doctor Strange comics. At the time I was purchasing off the rack, in a $1 three pack. I got whatever was sent my way, but managed to read enough of Doctor Strange and the Defenders to at least make me a fan. But, is this Bronze Age worth investing in?
The Bronze Age
The Bronze Age of comics has a great deal of strength and staying power, besides two of the primary characters from this era have movies or series made about them. I am talking of course of The Punisher and Wolverine. Now both of these are the first two real anti-heroes of the Marvel Comics. Back then everyone was kind of bored with holier than thou Superman or patriotic Captain America; these heroes seemed out of step and naive at the time.
After all, it was the Seventies, and Nixon left the White House in disgrace really casting doubt on our public leaders. This did a number on the Zeitgeist of the American people, along with crime in the Seventies, which was definitely escalating. There was a yearning for people to have heroes or even super-heroes that did what was needed to protect society from these monsters. After all, the code of an anti-hero goes back a long time to Hammurabi in Mesopotamia and the concept of an “an eye, for an eye.” We all wanted to see something deadly and unstoppable. What better anti-hero than a special forces Vietnam vet, or an unkillable berzerker with adamantium claws? Both of their first appearances are valuable today.
The Punisher first appeared in the pages of the Amazing Spider-Man #129. This book was made by Jerry Conway (script), Gil Kane and Ross Andru (pencils) and the rest is history. The fans loved him, and he fit that itch for vengeance by a society dealing with rising crime rates. Besides every teenager's fantasy is of the unstoppable anti-hero. Something everyone gets a visceral thrill from. During the 1970’s, you had serial killers, drug dealers, and cults on the rise. The cults were the scariest as you didn’t know who might be a cult worshiper. After all, Charles Manson and his "Family” (insane cult followers) were just terrifying to 1970's America. They managed to kill a few famous celebrities before they were finally jailed, sadly. Unfortunately, The Punisher is not real, or they would receive true punishment for their dastardly crimes.
The ASM #129 in mint condition (9.8) is currently valued at $12,500 FMV (fair market value). If this is too rich for that walking arsenal of a man: Frank Castle; then try grade very-good-plus at (4.5) there is availability, and the cost is averaging around $650 FMV. Click that sniper scope into place and target an ASM #129 as quick as you can, because the price will just go higher from here. Per GoCollect, the last 10,000 sales have had substantial profits. The return on mint (9.8) has been a positive +84.9% ROI, that is peanuts compared to the grade of (4.0) which is pulling down a positive +114.5% return on investment. Almost every grade of this book shows in the double digits "green" returns; this is a key indicator of solid long-term comic book investment. Hold onto this investment until at least the Punisher Netflix series starts to get old and then sell, maybe season 4, or 5.
