For the last half of 2020, I am going to try and put several blog pieces together that look back at popular speculative books with the full benefit of hindsight. In doing so, I will try my best to consider books from generally the same time frame and generally the same level of “key” status. This week I’m comparing She-Hulk #1 and Avengers Annual #10 - the first appearance of Rogue.

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, “It might have been.”
-Kurt Vonnegut

20/20 Speculation: She-Hulk #1 vs. Avengers Annual #10

She-Hulk and Rogue were introduced just 10 months apart in 1980. They have become strong, empowering female heroes over the next several decades. These two heroes often operate in various Marvel super-teams. They are known as innovative leading ladies. They follow in the footsteps of their predecessors such as Captain Marvel, Black Widow, Storm, Jean Grey, and Wasp.

With GoCollect’s massive database of sales data, we can know precisely what would have happened if we had purchased book X instead of book Y at Z grade many years ago. Does that information help us going forward? Does it introduce bias? What new information can we use if we are dropping our hard-earned dollars on these books today?

Hopefully, the data and knowledge of the general popularity of a book can help guide our decisions going forward. Remember, this is not a total dollars and cents analysis, but rather the return on each book's respective investment over time.

Let’s jump right in.

She-Hulk #1 (January 1980)

Once the Incredible Hulk experienced his massive rebirth with the Avengers run, Tales to Astonish, and then the second attempt of his own series, readers couldn't get enough of the gamma-green hero and Marvel decided to create the female counterpart in She Hulk #1. Enter Jennifer Walters, who is Bruce Banner's cousin, and after receiving a blood transfusion from Banner, was able to change into She-Hulk at the sign of any danger.

In the years to follow, she would spend time in the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire. She would also eventually lead her own female team known as A-Force.

Consistent GoCollect data for a CGC 9.8 copy of this book goes back to about 2009 when copies sold for only about $50-$60! You can't even get some modern variant covers for that price these days. Today, FMV on that grade is consistently around $600, with a copy selling for $685 on September 11th, the highest total to date. This represents more than a 1,000% return over a little more than 11 years of growth. Looking back just 5 years, CGC 9.8 issues sold for right at $200 for most of the year. So according to our data, investors from five years ago could easily triple their money if they held since that time. Even with more almost 1,300 recorded sales in the last 11 years, the high supply has not kept the value of the book from jumping.

Going down to a cheaper CGC 8.5, data only exists back to 2013. Copies in this grade sold for as low as $16(!!!) that year (averaged around $40) and stayed below $100 until mid-2019. In 2020, they routinely are selling for about $100 in an auction and $125 for fixed prices. Despite the low prices, that looks like more than a 300% increase to me if you bought in low 5-7 years ago.

With She-Hulk's TV show on Disney+ now confirmed for production to begin in early 2021, there seems to still be room to buy in low and see some growth when we first see news about the series.  Any more meaty MCU news would likely spike this grade up to the $200 range for a CGC 8.5.

Avengers Annual #10 (November 1980)

GoCollect has data all the way back to sales in 2005 on Avengers Annual #10 CGC 9.8. The most consistent sales start around 2009 where FMV sits at $150. Today, the fair market value on a CGC 9.8 copy is around $900. A recent record sale at $1,350 in August. If you bought in 2009 and held on, your investment would be worth around 600% or more what you paid for it. A five-year review of a CGC 9.8 shows strong positive returns as well. AA#10 ended the year 2015 with an FMV of around $250. Assuming the same FMV of $900 today that is, at minimum, another 360% return on your purchase in just under five years.

Let’s say you invested in a slightly lower grade of 9.0, trying to get in at a more affordable level. GoCollect has data back to 2012 for this grade. It would have only set you back between $11-$35 at that time. Comparing to today’s roughly $100 FMV, that’s a more-than-solid 500% return on average. Even in this lower grade, a five-year hold on this book would have been a worthwhile investment.

So it’s safe (and not surprising) to say that the value of the first Rogue has exploded over the long term. She has been in several successful X-Men movies. Always linked romantically or otherwise with Gambit, one of Marvel's most interesting characters. Certainly helping this fact is the relatively cheap price tag this book held 10 years ago. In a mutant-possible world now for the MCU, I wonder if we will see this book continue to rise in price. If so, the strong buying opportunity for investors is now. Before things get out of hand for this late Bronze-Age book.

Who Wins? SH#1 or AA#10? 

In this game of fantastic female Marvel heroes, there are no real losers. Rogue has been a consistent strong buy with a solid long-term rate. It's clear She Hulk's first appearance has been a better investment over the past 10-12 years. The data at CGC 9.8 tells the tale in terms of the percentage of return. She-Hulk also has a clearer path right now to spikes in prices with confirmed MCU appearances coming.

For total dollars, however, AA#10 is the winner. Like I said, no losers here.

If you had a couple hundred bucks lying around in 2009, I hope you bought into these two books and have held since. These Bronze Age beauties are some of the hottest books around and look to have room to climb.

This post is part of an ongoing series in 2020. I will apply 20/20 hindsight to two books from a similar timeframe. From there I will determine which has been the better investment to this point and which might be the best book to own going forward. If you have suggestions for books to compare, please let me know in the comments!

 

GoCollect is the #1 comic book price guide for tracking sales data of all graded comic books in real-time. Fair market values are now at your fingertips. Check out all the features at www.gocollect.com