Many collectors are avoiding DC comics right now. One consequence of this 'lack of love' has been a noticeable lowering of demand, and subsequently of prices, on many key DC books. For the moment, at least, it seems like Marvel dominates the comic collectibles field - mainly due to the power of their box office presence.

The truth however, is that DC comics aren’t going anywhere.

With an entrenched pop culture presence, and many potentially lucrative projects on the way, now may be the perfect time to invest in some Silver Age DC treasures.

For example, what will the pop culture and comic movie landscape look like in four years’ time?

Let’s consider the potential for movies that we know are due to hit the box office, along with the fact that for many years the comics back issues market has been driven by Hollywood representation of successful IPs.

To begin, in the coming years we can safely predict that Marvel, having finished a historically hugely successful cycle of films, will be rebooting and relaunching its brand, i.e. re-branding the next phase of their film universe.

A soft re-brand really, if we keep in mind that they will want to retain as much of the spirit that made the first three phases successful as they can (we hope!). So, really Marvel will seek a continuation, but a nonetheless a re-branding of their universe.

You can’t cut out characters as popular as Iron Man and Captain America (the original pillars of the MCU) and still keep the old contours of the Marvel cinematic universe intact.

Things will change.

DC, on the other hand, is also currently re-branding. They are, however, trying to get things right since their first iteration of an expanded film universe was much more hit than miss. What this means is that DC will be retconning more than experimenting. Since the characters they will use already have global popularity this is actually a huge plus for DC.

Looking at the upcoming slate of films and projects under development, the stand out popular characters for DC are all represented.

Here’s a listing of what is more or less now confirmed that the DCEU will offer. This list is constructed out of media and insider reports available online:

Movie: Joker. (Tentative) Release Date: October 4, 2019.
Movie: Birds of Prey. (Tentative) Release Date: February 7, 2020.
Movie: Wonder Woman 1984. (Tentative) Release Date: June 5, 2020.
Movie: The Batman. (Tentative) Release Date: June 25, 2021.
Movie: The Suicide Squad. (Tentative) Release Date: August 6, 2021.
Movie: Aquaman 2. (Tentative) Release Date: December 16, 2022.

Movies under consideration or in production by Warner Bros., but without a definite release date (and so less certain to appear), include: Black Adam, Supergirl, Flashpoint, Green Lantern Corps and Steven Spielberg’s Blackhawk, The Trench (Aquaman Spinoff), Gotham City Sirens, Nightwing, Shazam sequel, Blue Beetle, Plastic Man, another Joker movie, Deathstroke the Terminator, Cyborg, the Lobo movie, a Superman sequel/relaunch and both a Justice League Dark movie and potentially a Justice League relaunch.

Okay, so now the fun part.

Which DC comics will rise in value if the above projects ignite enough interest?

It’s hard to believe than none of the films listed above will be hits. If DC misses with Joker, what are the chances that both Wonder Woman 2 and Aquaman 2 will tank?

Success tends to foster a continuation of the same (Hollywood is very risk averse in many ways).

Regarding comics: currently, I think Batman keys are mostly undervalued. Wonder Woman is a good investment, it’s harder to say with Aquaman, and there’s still time to invest in Superman keys. The Flash and Green Lantern may be good buys at the moment. Stick with the classics: iconic covers and story lines and you should be okay.

That means when it comes to Batman: think of Silver Age villain first appearances. First Silver Age Riddler [Batman #171 (April 1965)] is an undervalued key right now showing strong negative numbers over the last 5 months, so is the first Silver Age Penguin appearance [Batman #155 (May 1963)] but with returns more mixed.

The big ‘blue chip’ books that might definitely be undervalued at the moment include:

Justice League of America #1 (October 1960) - with long term returns decidedly mixed and short term returns over the last five months showing negative -19.3% on 7.5 grades after two sales since January [last eBay sale 05/06/2019 = $4, 855.00]. Two years ago this grade was selling for over $1, 000.00 more as an eBay sale on 04/29/2016 for $5, 895.00 testifies.

Flash #123 (September 1961) - First G.A. Flash in silver age; First comic to suggest multiverse; First appearance of Earth Two. Long term returns on this DC mega key are mostly positive, but with negative numbers on lowest and highest graded sales over the short term. Narrowing the dates down to the last 5 months, we see the same pattern that hit JLA #1. Almost all negative numbers, with strongest loss on 7.0 grades after six sales since January. The returns are minus -39.9% and the last 7.0 sold on eBay on 04/30/2019 for $1, 820.00 (compared that to an earlier sale in May on ComicLink ending at $6,766.00!).

Green Lantern #76 (March 1970) - First Bronze Age DC comic; Green Arrow and Green Lantern begins in series. Just to show that the slump isn’t confined to the Silver Age, here’s the first DC Bronze Age title with iconic Neil Adams art to boot. Long term trends: strongly negative – especially on 9.0 and above. Last five months data: it’s picking up but with a notable decline in roi on 8.0 grades after 4 sales: in an eBay auction on 02/25/2019 GL #76 sold for $685.99. A Heritage Auction sale on 06/02/2019 ended at only $660.00.

The above are just some of the currently undervalued DC keys at the moment. To find more, the selection process has to be refined with a closer look at the data. But that will have to be the subject of a future blogpost, if- that is- the case made above for a potential rise on select DC keys is a sound one to begin with.