Captain Marvel has had many transformations up to this point. One such version was Mar-Vell that dominated the 70's and early 80's for Marvel Comics. He looked like Captain America, fought with the ferocity of Wolverine, and had the Power Cosmic of the Silver Surfer. Mar-Vell was the ultimate cosmic level superhero until his magnificent passing at the hands of Jim Starlin in Marvel Graphic Novel #1. He was called Mar-Vell in the comics but I always referred to him as simply: Captain Marvel. He took on every manner of villain up to and including Thanos back in the day. He had an interesting mashup of powers along with "the aid of his Nega-Bands which convert Mar-Vell's psionic energy into greater strength, durability, speed, flight and enable him to exist unprotected in deep outer space without having to breathe" (Source: Wiki) Can this cosmic captain still save the day in the theaters? Are there any variants of this comic from the 70s? Finally, will the new movie version of Captain Marvel be profitable for this old comic book version of Captain Mar-Vel?

Marvel Spotlight #1

No other comic book cover showcases Captain Marvel quite as well as Marvel Spotlight #1. It has a furious amount of cover action and manages to still spotlight the superhero in question. This honestly is the best version of this popular character. Written by Doug Moench with pencils by Jeff Aclin, and Pat Broderick in 1979. The current mint condition (9.8) price is $85 FMV on average. Considering this is a minor number one book and from the Bronze Age, any cost under $200 is probably a steal for this issue in mint condition (9.8). In the last year or so, this book has had some extremely profitable sales in the mid-grade rankings: (9.0) +40.4%, (8.5) +155.1% and the big whopper (7.5) returns positive +250%! These kinds of returns are why comics are such great speculation for such a small amount of money.

Marvel Spotlight #1 (Missing Issue Number Error Variant)

I recently posted a blog on price variants from the 1970s (see link here). One such variant I did not touch on was the Marvel Spotlight #1 (Missing Issue Number Error Variant) I think these error variant comics are going to continue to expand in value at a greater rate than your average price variant from the same time period. There is something about an error as opposed to a price variation that is rare, and appealing. Marvel Spotlight #1 is one such issue that is missing the issue number next to the price of $.40 cents. This is a fun book to own, it looks exactly the same as Marvel Spotlight #1 except for no issue number on this error variant.

One thing that is vastly different is the price for Marvel Spotlight #1 (Missing Issue Number Error Variant); the most recent (9.8) mint grade condition sold for $346 real price in October 2018 on ComicLink. This Spotlight #1 in grade (9.2) sold for a nice $64 profit-making the lower end of the mint grade still profitable. That same (9.2) grade has a positive +155.7% return on investment. The biggest difference here is mint condition (9.8) error variant going for $346 vs. $85 FMV non-error variant. Both are good returns but the error variant dominates the price to the tune of $261 more than its non-error variant counterpart. That equals roughly a +200% added return for the error variant. Time to strap on your Nega-Bands and use your cosmic awareness to find Marvel Spotlight #1 (Missing Issue Number Error Variant); after all, nothing puts you in tune with the cosmos like profit.