During Halloween people dress up as ghosts, goblins, superheroes, and even the old standards like the werewolf. Marvel had a resurgence of horror comics in the 1970's part of the reason I like collecting the Bronze Age is due to these old school horror comics. My favorite to buy and flip for profit is Marvel Spotlight #2 the first appearance of Werewolf by Night in Marvel. The character's name is "Jack Russell" yes, like the dog. Roy Thomas and Bill Everett (writers) must have had a great laugh over that one. No one noticed, and so the main hero is named after a pure-bred dog breed. Funny. These books have a bigger spine than normal and can damage easily, be sure to double-check that spine before buying. Eventually, the Werewolf would get his comic in Werewolf by Night. That is another easy flip and still available in certain specialty stores. Will this speculation make you howl at the moon in pleasure or in abject horror?

Marvel Spotlight #2

Halloween is a great time to imagine anything and everything. Some of my happiest childhood memories are from Halloweens past. That being said two monsters scared me silly and one was the Werewolf. This creature had fangs, super strength, beast-like speed and could not be killed with anything except silver. I was terrified when I saw the movie the Howling. This creature first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2 back in 1972, by Roy Thomas, Bill Everett (writers). The artists were some of the best at the time period Neal Adams, Mike Ploog, and Bill Everett.

In August 2018 Marvel Spotlight #2 sold for $2600 in grade (9.6). If this is a little too much for our furry fiend; try a lower grade at (4.0) for $45 FMV. This book is still very cheap to own. The CGC Census looks great for this fanged hero with only 711 CGC books outstanding. That is not much and possibly worth a deeper analysis of actual numbers printed on this book. Furthermore, if you get your hands on a (9.8) copy of one of these you are in the money in a big way. Currently, zero copies exist for (9.8) and only 21 for (9.6). Great census numbers to speculate or invest in. The returns on this book have been positively supernatural in returning a powerful green across all grades with 10,000 copies tracked (GoCollect).

The  Marvel Spotlight #2 ROI numbers are truly a great buy for newbies, speculators or even just investors and collectors to place in their collections. Slabbed grades have returned positive ROI in grades (4.5)  with positive +71.1%, in grade (6.0) with +66.3%, and the near mint grades in (9.2) and (9.4) both returned positive +35.9% and +59.4% respectively. The sea of green makes this book a must-own for collectors and investors, it also makes a darn good flip in the low end. These move fast on eBay. Recently several have sold for around $300 on eBay in (9.0) condition. That is a pretty good deal for this stellar Bronze Age fanged fury.

Another alternative investment is Werewolf By Night #1 first own series. This book was written by Gerry Conway with fantastic pencils by Mike Ploog; I especially like Ploog's illustrations of his work for fans. Great stuff!  These books are very approachable for the average investor, with (9.2) costing about $250 FMV. The return of (9.2) has a positive +16.3% ROI for Werewolf By Night #1. Most of the grades are in the green but not all. This book does not have the same high-quality returns as it's origin book above. Still, it has Ploog art, it is a Bronze Age key and many grades have positive returns. Whether you howl at the moon and buy  Marvel Spotlight #2; or whimper and pick up Werewolf By Night #1 both should add to your overall returns for the short-term 1-3 years.