One of the most astounding progressions from almost utter obscurity to pop culture fandom was achieved when Marvel turned their C-list team, The Guardians of the Galaxy, into a phenomenal success.

One very likely reason for the new found love of the team was the smart idea of changing the Guardians lineup. Marvel decided to include some of the more colorful, if obscure, characters from its past comic history in the fold. Of those characters, perhaps the most obscure was the monster-tree known as Groot.

Subsequently, it’s hard to think of a rise in prices less anticipated than the huge spikes brought about by the success of the Guardians films on Groot’s key appearances.

Is that trend now reversing?

Tales to Astonish #13 (November 1960) – Very first appearance of Groot

This was an obscure Silver Age book with a throwaway story about a monster-tree creature before the Guardians films made it a collector’s key. In 2012, before all the movie hype, this comic in the very nice 9.2 grade sold for $2, 868.00. A strong price to be sure; but the same grade, a mere six years later, has a FMV of $19, 000.00!

Sure, Groot has become a pop culture standout. He certainly took long enough to achieve that status, but how do the returns look?

Very good, thank you very much. Returns are strong in absolutely every grade. To put this in perspective, 9.2's with 1 copy recorded on the CGC census, make up a mere 0.03% of the total 316 copies listed by CGC (and forms the second highest recorded grade, with 9.4 being the highest). In 9.2 certified grade TTA #13 shows a positive + 422.2 % return on investment. ‘I am Groot, Indeed!’ In the most widely available grade of 3.0, this comic has a FMV of $1, 450.00 and the last eBay sale (September 21, 2018) topped that price by over $140.00 by selling at $1, 595.00.

Certainly, the scarcity factor in tandem with Groot’s popularity, are playing a part in these prices. This comic is very difficult to find in any condition. And trends point to prices rising in the future, especially on mid-grade copies.

Where Monsters Dwell #6 (November 1970) – Reprint of Groot’s first appearance

This changes when we move to Groot’s second appearance, which is actually a reprint of his first and, so, not a new appearance. Here returns are just as decidedly one way but almost all downhill. Red negative returns across the board are what we find in the data on GoCollect.com excepting 9.6 certified copies which show a positive +33.9% roi after six sales over the last three years. At 9.8 this book does have an impressive FMV of $875.00, which is not at all bad for a reprinted story. So what’s going on here? My guess is that the supply is more than keeping up with demand here, and the demand is overwhelmingly for Groot’s actual first appearance; not a reprint. Even though less copies of this book (a mere 138) have been graded than of Tales to Astonish #13, prices are trending down because of two things: 1) this is a reprint, 2) this book is fairly easy to find raw in the wild.

Incredible Hulk Annual #5 (October 1976)- Third comic featuring Groot/second appearance of character

What about the actual second appearance in Marvel comics? Groot appears for the second time in the Hulk Annual from 1976. This comic has a far lower FMV than the above two books (9.8 = $290.00) but just as one-sided returns. As in the case of WMD #6, the returns are almost all negative with sharpest declines on 9.2, negative - 28.6%, and 7.0, down - 70.4%!

Annihilation: Conquest #6 (May 2008) – First team appearance of modern Guardians-line up with Groot

Now we get to the recent appearances. Groot’s first appearance as a Guardian is in this comic. With 181 copies on the CGC census, that’s not a considerable amount of slabs. Of course the majority of those 181 copies (86 of them) are in 9.8 grade. It really doesn’t make much sense to buy this is in mid- or low-grade for profit. What about those near mint copies?
Ugh, down in all higher grades. 9.8 certified copies have negative -33.4% roi and 9.6’s exactly the same. The only bright spot is on 9.4 graded copies which have seen a positive +17.3% bump, but they currently sell for an average price of $65.00 and that may drop in the future if the lower prices for all other grades continue.

What’s the lesson here? Groot is still a popular character and there will be more movies and comics featuring everybody’s favorite arboreal/plant hero; but the hype from the movies seems to have pushed his reprint first appearance and subsequent appearances artificially up.

Collectors like Groot, but they want his first appearance. Barring some significant character development and growth, I can’t see this changing in the future. So, buy the Groot comics because you love the character, not to get rich. Come to think of it, that’s good advice for all comic book speculating.