The team of Stan "Excelsior" Lee and Jack "The Giant" Kirby created the Super-Skrull in 1963 for Marvel Comics. He first appeared in the Fantastic Four, one of the few books I could get from my general store along with Doctor Strange and The Defenders. I became an avid fan. I always enjoyed reading about the deadly Super-Skrull. He has the powers of the Fantastic Four but augmented. In other words, he has all their abilities at greater levels than they have. Super-Skrull is like a super-powered multi-tool with Johnny's flame on, Sue's invisibility, Reed's elasticity and the "ever-loving" Thing's superhuman strength.  In addition, Super-Skrull has the power to shapeshift and for some reason, they gave him hypnosis. The only Skrull power we should fear is the hypnotic effect of Super-Skrull as an investment or speculation. Is this surreptitious Skrull worthy of our attention as Earthling speculators?

 

Fantastic Four #18

It's Skrull cracking time for all Earthlings according to Kevin Feige of Marvel. Feige was quoted during a press conference recently, " You already know as much as you need to. We've got Skrulls, we've got the Kree. it takes place in the 90's, you have Sam Jackson with two eyes and Carol Danvers, a unique telling of her origin story." (source: CBM) The Skrulls usually send their strongest in first during an invasion. That would be the Super-Skrull (Kl'rt to his friends) he first appeared in Fantastic Four #18 (1963) with a cover that must have rocked the fans when it first came out.

Does this superior Skrull warrant your attention and more importantly your investment dollars? Most definitely, he appears in many books from Avengers to FF, and all the way to pages of Silver Surfer. He was in many animated series over the years and is kind of go-to villain for many Marvel writers.  More importantly, he shows up consistently in multiple storylines and let's face it has really cool powers.

Down to Earth Price Tag

Interesting factoid this book is not that expensive; after all, it represents one of the best villains FF could muster. Current valuation at a (3.0) grade has a $70 FMV price tag. That is the price of a basic Costco membership and one of their x-large pizzas. This puppy is very cheap and has the returns to prove it: grades (9.2) +25.9%, (8.0) +58.6% and a (3.5) with an ROI of +27.4%. Stay away from the middle of the pack, either buy the best| or the worst copy, you can get your hands on. If you want to get all "high society" try a near mint grade like (9.2). The FF #18 in a grade of near mint sold for $3200 in May 2018.

This book has a clear catalyst with Feige's earlier comment that "we got Skrulls" for Captain Marvel due March 2019. Once they give us the Skrulls; it is only a matter of time before they roll out Super-Skrull. How cool would it be to see him take on the Avengers? The earliest amalgam villain vs. The Mighty Avengers would, in my opinion, be a bigger barrel of monkeys than Thanos and his Obsidian crew. Bottom line is this character is old school but plays well in this modern era of amalgams. Use your Johnny Storm flame on power, Thing's super leap, Sue Storm's force field, or the stretching power of Mr. Fantastic and pick up a copy at your local comic shop, "The Skrulls are coming!"