The recently postponed ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’ movie project may be a blessing in disguise for picking up some key Bronze Age X-Men comics. Although there were rumors that the Fox movie, originally scheduled for a November 2018 release, would never hit theaters at all. At this point, the most reliable sources say that the film will indeed be released, but not until early 2019 (see here).
Whether the next X-Men film is released or not, here’s what we know for certain: the Fox-Disney deal went through and it gives Marvel Cinemas the rights to use the entire line of X-Men characters. Maybe, for now, that’s all we need to know regarding the future of the Marvel X-Men comics.
At some point the classic line up of the Uncanny X-Men (Cyclops, Wolverine, Colosus, etc) could end up in a Marvel movie.
Since that is still in the future, now may be the best time to pick up some Bronze Age X-Men keys and avoid the Hulk #181 situation. With the latter book, as we know, there was an uptick and decline but if you waited and didn’t purchase before the original uptick or during the lull that subsequently resulted, now it is incredibly difficult to find anything other than a low grade copy for under $1000.00. Unfortunately, even that low-grade copy will cost you hundreds and hundreds (a 0.5 grade now has a fair market price of a mind-numbing $825.00).
Using the popularity of Wolverine’s first pre-X-Men appearance as a guide, here are some currently under-valued Bronze Age X-Men comics that you may regret not buying at present, if they do indeed (as is quite possible) follow the trajectory of Hulk #181:
Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1974) – First Appearance of the New X-Men Team
We can start with the daddy of them all. This is the holy grail of Bronze Age X-Men and I’m willing to bet that once the Uncanny Mutants appear in a Marvel film, the prices on this will really take off. Let’s assess the significance of this comic. It features the first appearance of the new X-Men along with the very first appearance of Colossus and his baby sister Illyana (who later becomes Magik), the first appearance of Storm, the first appearance of Nightcrawler, the first appearance of Thunderbird. And lastly, but by no means least of all, the second full appearance of Wolverine; and his first appearance on the X-Men team. Whew! Talk about a key. Currently you can still get a 7.0 for under $1000.00. Remember when Hulk #181 was at that price for that grade? Me neither- in fact you'd have to go all the way back to 2014. Also, currently, the only grades that this title is trending down on are: 0.5 (-8.6% over the last year) and 1.0 (-79.2% over the last three years) graded copies.
X-Men #94 (August 1975) – First New Team in X-Men Comics Continuity
So originally, when the X-Men was first published in the Silver Age, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created original stories and then other artists and writers did the same up until issue #66 (March 1970 cover date). At that point the X-Men continued to be published but with reprints of the first 66 issues and not original scripts and art. That is, until issue #93. That was the last reprint and paved the way for the first appearance of the new team introduced in Giant-Size #1 within the pages of the original title series. This comic therefore features the second appearance of Colossus; the second appearance of Nightcrawler, Storm, Thunderbird (although he would soon die), and, of course, the third full appearance of Wolverine. This has mixed returns and, unlike Giant-Size #1, is also down in higher grades (with a -22.5% decline in 9.8 graded copies over the last eight years). For $75.00 less than the money it will take to get a 7.0 Giant-Size #1 you can get you an X-Men #94 in 9.0 grade. In that grade returns are currently up (+ 9.8%) over the last 14 years.
