Copper Key Explosion: Secret Wars #1

The Copper Age started with one defining event for Marvel Comics. That event was the Secret Wars which at the time was considered groundbreaking for comic storytelling.  It received mucho hype and just about everyone into comics at the time read it hoping it would bring the action. Unfortunately, except for Spidey humiliating the X-Men and Molecule Man dropping a mountain range on our superheroes the rest of the action was hum-drum.  The cover was probably the most awesome thing about this book as Mike Zeck's cover shows why he was a force in the 80s in comics.

This book heralded in the Copper Age. This age is only now beginning to be recognized as its own entity. After many years of bargain bins and slabs that go nowhere, Secret Wars #1 is starting to come into its own. What returns has this auspicious start to the Copper Age rendered? Further, can we expect these profits to continue going forward, or is this a one-off?

Secret Wars #1

Secret Wars #1 was written by Jim Shooter with the awesome cover art of Mike Zeck in 1984. It was the beginning of the Copper Age. It was probably the beginning of many Millenial comic book readers' experiences with Marvel Comics. There is a second printing that has a black Spider-Man face in the lower corner box that exists. In addition, this book had the support of tie-ins from Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and the Uncanny X-men.

Returns 3-Year

Over a longer time frame, this book has nearly doubled in price with a return of +92% in the top grade. The second print is intriguing and something to look into as there are only three sales of the second print in GoCollect.com with a top prize of $137. It would be interesting to find out the print run on the second print. That said this book first or second is coming into its own much like the rest of the Copper Age. With a positive +73% return over the last three years, folks with CGC books sitting in wait have struck --copper?

Little Known Fact:  Secret Wars was a best-seller when it was published in 1984, selling more copies than any other comic in the previous 25 years.  (Source: Wiki)

Conclusion

Believe it or not, this book has not been over CGC'd, not even close to it. Currently at a little over 3,000 slabbed per CGC Census plenty of room to run here for at least another 10,000 copies.  This is a good omen as there aren't a lot of these slabbed as of yet. I know it was a shocker for me to realize the slab numbers in this book are spectacular for now. After all, everyone that was reading comics in 1984 owns a copy of this book. This is one of those overlooked Copper Age classics, overlooked that is until now. In the future, I project that this book will run up kind of like ASM #299 or #298.

I like this particular purchase because it is Zeck at his finest. This is one of my personal favorite covers as it has all the major superheroes of that time. Nostalgia is nice, but truly this could turn out to be a quality key for the future. Perhaps it has finally taken the pedestal of valuable Copper Age keys going forward.