While many Silver Age books are currently maintaining their value, many seemingly having plateaued at quite strong price levels, with Silver now so expensive, the ongoing and potential rise of value on Bronze Age books is worth considering. When it comes to still undervalued Bronze, the Uncanny X-Men are a good investment.

The main reason Bronze Age X-Men are a good buy right now is that everybody’s attention is on the upcoming Phase 4 projects at Marvel. If you want a good idea of some of the books that may see price surges in Phases 4 and 5, check out my post on this topic (The Coming Marvel Bronze Age Explosion: Bronze Age Books Yet to Peak).

In that entry I also mentioned that Bronze Age X-Men should not be ignored.

Here I’ll develop that point and give my reasons before listing several currently undervalued X-Men keys from the Bronze Age.

Keep in mind that when we deal with Bronze, especially Bronze Age X-Men, the supply is much higher than with any Silver Age books. Subsequently, many of these books are available in large numbers, meaning you shouldn’t fret if a particular issue you want isn’t immediately available in your ideal grade. Be patient; affordable nice looking copies will turn up before long.

Why X-Men then?

Well, we know that starting with Phase 5, and likely in Phase 4 itself, the Fantastic Four and supporting cast (Galactus, perhaps the Surfer) will begin to appear. The most valuable FF books are from the Silver Age (the entire Lee-Kirby run is classic). However, somewhere in Phase 5 or later, my guess is the Marvel Mutants will show up.

Yet, while rumors are already spreading how the FF might be a period piece film and set in the 1960s (hey, after ‘Endgame’ we know both time travel and multiverse existence are on now the table. Marvel is going to use ‘the Multiverse’ with Dr. Strange; so there’s no guarantee they won’t use time travel for the FF), but I doubt that the X-Men will feature the older original Silver Age line up.

Marvel will almost certainly go for the Bronze Age line up of the X-Men, if only to bring fan favorite Wolverine into the game. Currently, the big X-Men keys (Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94) are doing quite well on the mere expectation that Fiege and company will excise the memories of the last few FOX X-Men Movies and reboot the franchise in the spirit of the comics. Even these are showing mixed numbers, but the prices are quite high and they are not exactly undervalued.

X-Men #101 and X-Men #134 (aka the main Phoenix keys) have, as I expected and predicted (here), dropped in value after the 'Dark Phoenix' box office bomb. Now would be a good time to buy those but I’ve already made a case for them.

 

 

 

X-Men #129 (January 1980) - First appearance of Kitty Pryde; First appearance of Emma Frost; First appearance of Sebastian Shaw; First appearance of the Hellfire Club; Dark Phoenix Saga begins

My first pick for undervalued Bronze Age X-Men gems at the moment therefore, would be another Phoenix key. This comic has already cracked the $1, 000.00 dollar mark in 9.8, but there’s plenty of room to grow on lower grades and currently 9.2 has a FMV of a mere $170.00 (in June a copy sold for $135.27!). With the double shot of the first Kitty Pride and the first Emma Frost, this is probably still one of the most undervalued X-Men Bronze Age comics out there.

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #132 (April 1980) – First Full Hellfire Club; First Tessa

My second pick is also from the Phoenix run. Why is this book undervalued? Whereas we get to see the Hellfire club in issue #129, Donald Pierce (the White Knight), is missing there. That means this is the first full modern appearance of the group. But that’s not all. In this issue Jason Wyngarde is finally revealed to be Mastermind and we get the first appearance of Tessa, later known as the Mutant Sage. Finally, as if that wasn’t enough there’s also an iconic John Byrne panel with Wolverine on the last page. You can currently pick up X-Men #132 for a mere $90.00 in 9.6 grade.

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #107 (October 1977) – First appearance of Starjammers

The cosmic and Earth based MCU tropes could come together with the story of a certain star-travelling human known as the Corsair who is also the father of two X-Men. When it comes to underused teams, the Starjammers have some potential to resonate in the same way the Guardians did. Moreover, there are rumors that at some point the Sh’iar will appear, given Marvel’s cosmic aspirations, it won’t hurt to own this book. Given the FMV of $4,700.00 in 9.8, it might seem like this book has peaked. In lower grades, however, it is still plenty affordable and has room to grow. The last 9.0 sold on 07/03/2019 for $145.10 (eBay) and there are plenty of deals out there.

 

 

 

 

 

X-Men #133 (May 1980) – First Wolverine Solo Cover

Picking up from the last panel of X-Men #132, in this comic we get a Wolverine-centric book. This issue is actually the first Wolverine solo-cover. He’s the best there is at what he does and this cover shows him doing it. You can currently purchase a 9.6 of this comic for under $200.00. The FMV for a 9.8 is in the $425.00 range. Perfect breakout territory and waiting for a catalyst - one that Disney can provide with an MCU appearance of Wolverine!