“I’m tired of drawing spaceships.”

As legend tells, that’s what Jack Kirby said when he added a silver man riding on a surfboard to Fantastic Four #48, according to Stan Lee. From such a simple idea came an iconic character, the Silver Surfer. It also helps explain why an alien rides a cosmic surfboard though space, which I’ve always been curious about.

Today, it’s time to give the Surfer his due as sales of his key issues are heating up ever since Disney bought Twenty-First Century Fox and the film rights to the Silver Surfer.

FANTASTIC FOUR #48

There’s not much to say about this comic that hasn’t already been said many times. It’s an iconic cover and introduces the world to both the Surfer and Galactus, whom we can also expect to see appear in a new movie at some point.

Even when there weren’t talks of Galactus and his original herald showing up in a Marvel film together, this has been a popular issue. In fact, it’s always been a great one to add to any collection. Since the Disney/Fox deal, it’s getting harder to find an inexpensive copy; anything over a graded 1.0 averages over $100.

SILVER SURFER #1 (1968)

When talking about the first Silver Surfer comic, you have to specify which comic you’re talking about. Since he was created back in 1966, the Surfer has starred in eight self-titled series, and that’s only counting those simply named Silver Surfer, not Silver Surfer and ______, etc. I’m referring to the original solo Silver Surfer comic published back in 1968 when beach movies and surf music was ingrained in pop culture.

Over the past 90 days, the average price for most grades of SS #1 have been going up. A mid-grade 6.0 has risen to $345 in that timeframe compared to $309 in 2016. Like all the Marvel properties that Disney now owns the film and television rights to, look for Silver Surfer’s debut solo adventure to push even higher once he’s confirmed in a new movie.

SILVER SURFER #4 (1969)

This is one I’m seeing cropping up more and more often. First, you’ve got a classic Marvel silver age cover featuring two of its cosmic heavyweights’ first meeting - the Surfer and Thor. Also, Thor is in the general consciousness lately after Thor: Ragnarok made for box office gold and Infinity War is on the horizon. We all know that, sooner or later, these two will butt heads on the big screen, which should be delightful to watch. That’s only going to drive up the price for SS #4.

When I was researching changes in value for SS #4, what stood out the most was the drop in selling price from a graded 9.0 to an 8.5 and below. The 90-day average for that 9.0 is $875. Dip to an 8.5, and the average value falls over three hundred dollars to $571.

ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR #42

In 2007, Marvel brought to life a new version of Norin Radd in its Ultimate line of comics. In this version, getting away from his being a surfer, he was renamed the Silver Searcher. Marvel Studios could decide to go with this version of the Surfer/Searcher if they’re looking to update him for a modern audience, which would make this a popular issue to have. At the moment, you can get a 9.8 for around $40.