During October the ghosts and goblins creep out into the night and harass taxpayers for sugar-laden treats. Therefore, this month it seemed appropriate to write about some of the surprisingly little-known horror comics and their intrinsic value as speculation. The House of Mystery #179 is the first interior artwork in the comic book industry by Bernie Wrightson. In addition, Neal Adams created this cover. This particular book was published by DC Comics in 1969 near the end of the Silver Age and at the beginning of the Bronze Age. It was during the early 70s that these two artists had huge impact on style and look at DC Comics. Both brought new fans to the existing titles.

This particular book shows Bernie Wrightson's first interior artwork in the comic book industry. Further, the cover sports the legend, Neal Adams. He dominated the late 60s and early 70s as no other artist could especially with Batman titles. Neal Adams redefined the character as a darker more serious superhero and Bernie is known as the "Master of Horror."

 

 

House of Mystery #179

Long-Term

  • Grade 9.4 last sale $573 returns positive +65.6%
  • Grade 9.2 last sale $550 returns negative -2%
  • Grade 8.5 last sale $210 returns positive +48.7%
  • Grade 7.5 last sale $100 returns positive N/A

 

There is nothing frightening about the long-term outlook for this comic, the higher the grade the further up the price goes. Considering this book is a milestone as Wrightson's first work, it has a minor key status just for that fact alone. Don't be scared to purchase House of Mystery #179; no one does horror like Wrightson.

 

Halloween #1

John Carpenter's Halloween is a masterpiece of horror cinema set among an idyllic town in middle America on Halloween. But when Michael comes calling; all Hell breaks loose. This variant Halloween #1 (It sports a premium glow-in-the-dark variant cover) is an homage to the movie. The variant cover has a limited number of prints. Can you guess how many copies were made? Yep, 6,666 total print run by Chaos Comics published in 2000. The low price for this comic is $3, with mid-range at $9 and near mint range at $20 for a raw copy.

 

 

 

 

 

Avengers #83

Another fantastic themed comic book for Halloween is Avengers #83. This happens to be the "first appearance of Valkyrie (Enchantress in disguise)." But that is not the reason I picked this book. It portrays a Halloween tradition at Marvel I suppose. This comic debuts the “Rutland Halloween Parade, a real parade held in Vermont annually that has been depicted in both Marvel and DC Comics nearly 20 times with parade attendees wearing superhero costumes from both publishers in each book” (Source: KCC). This campy yet fun bit of trivia can't hide the value of an Avengers #83 minor key.

 

 

 

Long-Term

  • Grade 9.8 $3200 FMV returns positive +44.7%
  • Grade 9.6 $1400 FMV returns positive +37.6%
  • Grade 9.4 $600 FMV returns positive +37.4%
  • Grade 8.0 $170 FMV returns positive +20.3%
  • Grade 6.5 $130 FMV returns positive +51.6%

The Avengers #83 is a solid book with above-average returns. The introduction of women's lib is a classic cover with the "Liberators" of Marvel standing over their fallen companions. Women's liberation was a huge political theme in the late 60s and early 70s. This comic merely highlighted something that was already happening in the larger culture: respect and equality. This book was created by Roy Thomas (script) and John Buscema (art) in the 1970s. It has a nuanced story including a Halloween parade, that has both DC and Marvel characters in costume. This is a little tame for today's horror, but in my book, you should never be afraid of speculation especially when the "trick or treat" turns out to be supernatural returns.

Happy Halloween!

 

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