It’s time once more for Undervalued and Overlooked Comics! This time we’ll be looking at some Golden Age comics that would look nice in any collection.

First Issue in a Long Writer/Artist Run

When one thinks of long creator runs on a comic book series the first that comes to mind is Stan Lee and Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four. Or maybe it’s Dave Sim’s 300-issue Cerebus run. Or Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley’s tenure on Ultimate Spider-Man.

Before any of those, however, was the 107-issue run on one of the most beloved western heroes of all time by writer Paul S. Newman and artist Tom Gill. And it all started with The Lone Ranger #38.

Published in 1951, there are only five graded copies of The Lone Ranger #38. For a comic by a writer who holds the Guinness Book of World Records for most comic book stories with 4,100 and one of the top western artists of the Golden Age, that’s a sadly low number.

There have only been three recorded sales. On the low end, a 4.0 sold in 2019 for just $29, while on the high end, a 9.4 sold in 2017 for $717. This is definitely an undervalued and overlooked Golden Age book worth adding to your collection.

Early Pre-Code Horror

While Eerie Comics #1 is widely regarded as the first horror comic (if you don’t count Classic Comics #13), there is a horror comic that pre-dates it by a year. That comic is Front Page Comic Book #1. For many years it was disregarded by collectors. There are only 23 graded copies in the CGC census with a pretty even spread between the 9.4 and 0.5 grades.

Only the lower grades have seen more than one sale, making any pricing trends difficult to determine. However, the most recent sale – a 5.5 graded copy going for $3,480 in the February 6 Heritage auction – is definitely eye-popping. Only a 7.0 graded copy has sold for more, and it’s been 10 years since the lone 9.4 graded copy has sold.

Word is starting to get out about this comic, but it still has a long ways to go before it can be considered in the same breath as Eerie Comics #1. However, if you’re looking for a rarer, cheaper, and earlier alternative to that pre-code horror classic, Front Page Comic Book #1 should be on your radar.

Classic Artist on Classic SciFi

In 1924, Ralph Milne Farley’s Radio Man series began publication in the pages of Argosy. Farley, a pseudonym for Massachusetts State Senator Roger Sherman Hoar, was one of the more popular pulp writers between World War I and World War II. In 1951, Avon published a comic book adaptation of the first book collection in the series entitled An Earth Man on Venus with art by the famed Wally Wood.

There are 98 graded copies of this comic in the CGC census. It’s not a completely overlooked comic; you’ll see a few sales each year. But it’s definitely undervalued. 3.0 and 3.5 graded copies can generally be found in the $300 to $350 range, while mid-grades will run you $750 to $900 roughly. While at first blush these prices may seem high, they’re really quite affordable for early work by one of the all-time greats.

Well, that’s all we have time for this week. Join us next week as we take a look at some undervalued and overlooked Bronze Age comics.

Are there any Golden Age comics you think are undervalued and deserve more attention?  Let us know below.

*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.