"Blue-Chip" Comics: Amazing Spider-Man #14

Blue-Chip stocks are usually well-known stocks of established companies with a "history of solid performance and often pay dividends" (source: Arielle O'Shea -Nerdwallet). They are considered safe bets in the market, and quality companies. Companies you could count on to be there and make money, Boeing, IBM, etc. For comics, Amazing Spider-Man volume one should be considered "blue-chip." The first 100 issues of Amazing Spider-Man volume one are highly prized books especially for "completist collectors." Why? It is Marvel at its best. Spidey is so popular he is considered the headliner for Marvel Comics. Much like Superman is for DC Comics.

When I was just starting out investing with comics; I went through a phase of my learning curve, where I just bought Amazing Spider-Man volume one. Even if the price was just close to right. It was a safe bet. At that point Spidey had always increased in value, and what can I say? I saw them as "blue-chip" books. To be on the safe side I knew there was one group of comics that always seemed to pay off over time: Amazing Spider-Man volume one.

They weren't super hot, they certainly didn't have platinum covers, multiple printings, or anything of that nature. Sometimes they didn't even turn a short-term profit. But over the long haul, they have almost always paid off (Caveat: I was not selling comics in the 1990s that market may have been different). What percentage of profitability does a low-grade ASM #14 have? Further, how has the low-grade comic book performed over the last five years? Finally, why use a low-grade and not a near mint copy?

Amazing Spider-Man #14

The first appearance of the dreaded Green Goblin was in Amazing Spider-Man #14. Stan Lee wrote the script and Steve Ditko was the artist for this green menace in 1964. Since then he has appeared in multiple movies, numerous comics, and just about every animated series created from the 70s on.

The premise of this piece is the timeless and safe quality of investing in Amazing Spider-Man comic books. To prove this premise; I reviewed the last five years of pricing for a low-grade book. Though a little odd, this "damaged garbage" can tell us more about the price movement and overall breadth of this particular market.  Amazing Spider-Man #14 should prove that the price has gone up over the last five years and prove that anything Spidey goes up even a "beater" copy.

The big jump here is from 2017 to 2018; could it possibly be that Millenials start to invest in masse in collectibles and alternate investments for the first time? Maybe. More than likely it was the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie driving these prices into the stratosphere in 2017 and preceding into 2018. Over the course of five years, this comic book has increased in value by $355. That is a pretax increase of 254%!!! Let me stress again this is a fairly beat-up copy only scoring grade 0.5, which is "poor" according to CGC Census.

I guarantee that inflation has come nowhere near that, also unless you are willing to bet $1000's on electric cars or online shopping site stocks; this is one of the best bets in town. In fact, I would argue that almost all of the Amazing Spider-Man first volumes will be in the same range. Imagine this scenario, if this is what a grade poor can produce what can we expect for fine-plus? Mid-Range is the best bet here even today you get your money in now as it rises in value.

Conclusion:

Don't overthink this one, put simply, Amazing Spider-Man #14 makes money and is very collectible. I have anecdotal evidence that this character, more than Superman, Batman, Ironman, or even Wolverine has a cross-generational appeal like no other. Further, the books from the 60s Silver Age are valuable and should continue to rise to levels as high as skyscrapers into the foreseeable future. Don't be sitting there when the pumpkin bomb explodes on your noodle and you finally realize you have missed out. Become an Amazing Spider-Man collector and join the legion that is already gobbling up these Silver and Bronze Age "blue-chips."