Angela: the character who has crossed not only the cosmos but also between publishing houses. How did she go from being an Image mainstay to Marvel Comics 20 years later and what could the future hold for her? 

Angela received the royal treatment when she emerged into the comic world in 1993. Spawn #9 had an all-star lineup of creators - Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee combined for the art while Neil Gaiman handled the writing. Having top creators work on Spawn was not uncommon in the 1990s. Image Comics had just kicked off, Spawn was company-founder McFarlane's baby, and it didn't hurt that his was arguably the most popular name in the industry at that time. Add all that up, and it makes sense that the "Toddfather" didn't have trouble getting the superstars of the industry to work with him. That helped her earn fans very quickly.

Image made full use of Angela's popularity. She made regular appearances in Spawn and other Image titles, and even had her own solo title, Angela, in 1994. She made her way to screens both big and small, too; she was featured in both the Spawn HBO animated series and the 1997 movie.

Then in 2002, Gaiman and McFarlane began a legal battle over the rights to the character. It took 10 years, but the two eventually settled the lawsuit, and Gaiman was granted full ownership. A year later, he sold those rights to Marvel.

Angela's first appearance for Marvel was in 2013's Age of Ultron #10. Since then, her backstory has been rewritten, going from a heavenly bounty hunter to an Asgardian goddess and Thor's sister. We've even seen her appear in the Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon.

That brings us to why you will want to collect these two Angela key issues. With the popularity of both Angela and the Thor movies, it seems fitting that Marvel Studios would use her on the big screen. When/if that happens, collectors will be jumping at those aforementioned issues. So what's the current market outlook?

SPAWN #9

The official first appearance is where you need to start collecting. A near-mint 9.8 has been steadily holding in the $60-$70 range for two years now. Its popularity peaked between 2013 and 2015 due to her inclusion into the Marvel Universe. Actually, a better way to put it is that this issue exploded in that time. From 2002-2012, Spawn #9 at a 9.8 had sold on eBay no more than 31 times in a given year. Over the course of 2013, 152 CGC 9.8s had been sold. The next year that number grew to 174.  It hasn't reached those figures since then, but 85 copies have already sold this year for as much as $92.

AGE OF ULTRON #10

It's not surprising that Angela's first Marvel appearance would be much less popular than her first Image appearance. After all, this is not her true debut. However, it is a key issue and ushered her into the Marvel Universe and her current depiction.

In terms of number of eBay sales, there's no comparison between AOU #10 and Spawn #9 as the prior has never seen more than nine CGC 9.8s sold in a given year. The prices for a 9.8 AOU #10 are all over the place, selling for as low as about $11 and as much as $80. If she makes her MCU debut, you'll see those push toward the higher end of that spectrum.