For me, the Silver Age is the best because of the nostalgia the artwork of the time produces. The covers are just so iconic and different compared to what we see today. Not all progress is good. There was real innovation and novelty back then that we just don't see much of anymore. There's nothing new under the sun these days.
I am 20 years old and I collect silver age and modern comics. I only collect modern comics that I read and have a pull list because I want to have a collection of my own. I collect silver age comics because of how iconic silver age comics are and the history they have behind them
*_The Platinum Age (Everything before 1938, only/mostly newspaper comic strips)_* *_The Golden Age (1938 - 1955)_* *_The Silver Age (1956 - 1970)_* *_The Bronze Age (1970 - 1982)_* *_The Copper Age (1983 - 2008)_* *_The Iron Age (2009 - Present Day)._* Some different thoughts on the ages: *_Modern Age (ca1985 - Present Day)._* *_The Atomic Age - July 1947 to November 1958._* *_The Plastic Age - 2000 to April 2020, due to the rise of slabbing, not reading comic books._* *_The Pixel Age - March 2020 to Present Day due to the very high increase of digital sales during the pandemic and the low sales numbers of physical books, if any._* *_Diamond Age (2000-present)._* *_"The Copper Age of Comic Books is a proposed period of American superhero comic books that began in 1984 with Marvel's Secret Wars limited series and ended in 1991 with Jim Lee's X-Men series."_* *_"The Copper Age started Mid-1980's up to the first years of the 2000's."_* *_"The Modern Age followed The Copper Age, meaning from 2002 to present day is The Modern Age"._* *_The Iron Age is named after the first MCU movie: Iron Man(2008)._* *_In my opinion The Copper Age should have ended with the formation of Image Comics and the rise of the Indie Comic, and should have a new name for the period from 1991- 2008. Maybe The Rogue Age? The Indie Age?_* Edit for spelling.
The scarcity, especially in high grade of Silver Age and especially Golden Age comics will always be the underlying reason for them being able to hold value. Obviously the key books from these eras are going to command ridiculous prices however even the non-keys will still present value due to the scarcity. Bronze Age is starting this trend as the years go on, however I believe copper age, especially since they were printed in high numbers will take a lot more time, with the exception being those directly tied into a movie or TV show.
Interesting observation. I think another thing that will surpass the generational collecting is the artwork and lasting story moments. If comics ever become recognized as a prestigious artform as it should, the artists and writers that evolved comics over the years and left their mark will become collectible to art appreciators. Like the way Van Gogh, Picasso ,and other names are collected in the art world. Only with the amount of comics out there, it will continue to be an artform people who aren't rich can still purchase and appreciate
Don't forget Stan Lee! In addition to his work as a creator, he kept the Silver Age comics popular with his profile and charisma. He attended comic conventions for 40+ years! He had cameos in the movies for 20 years!
Scarcity creates stable values that’s the bottom line with any valuable item. There’s only so many gold and silver age comics that still exist, and finding copy’s in decent shape is rare indeed. The original owners of gold and silver age comics had no idea they would be worth a fortune one day so comics were not well preserved or disposed of at some point.
My 4 year old wants to be Spider-Man for Halloween, my 12 year old nephew is going as Loki. I think the silver age will be desirable for quite some time.
Been collecting Gold and Silver for 20 yrs. Silver age books drop in value from time to time, it's all cyclical. AF 15 is currently down from it's high sales, it will come back I'm sure. I feel GA keys and classic covers are stronger for long term value as there are way less of those books in the marketplace. Problem is major GA keys are already priced out of most collectors buying potential.
@@raleighcomicbookcollector hey there! I used to have a pretty substantial collection, sold almost all of it between 2009-2011 to pay off my mortgage, however, I have bought since then, I've owned 3 AF15s, last copy I sold went toward a blue label.5 Batman #1 along with an X-Men #1 CGC 4.0, also have a few usual suspects ASM 129, MSL 5, Hulk 180, 181, plus a few GA Actions and Batman's.
I like the 60s & 70s because it’s not when I was reading comics not because they were the ones I had. They are the ones I thought hard to get back then, in the late 80s early 90s
Well argued James. I see it as: Golden Age -> too rare and expensive, Bronze Age -> too recent and easy to source, Silver Age -> strikes the right balance with supply and cost/value. Plus as you say, how relatable the characters are. I can't relate to Captain America punching out Hitler on the cover of a GA comic but I can relate to Peter Parker worrying about tomorrow's exam in a SA Amazing Spider-Man.
Yeah silver age Marvel is the way to go. DC unfortunately doesn't see great increases over time, if anything you can potentially see massive losses like with Brave and the Bold 28. I would definitely invest in Marvel Silver, but not DC. Bronze in general has been on the rise for quite awhile. That's definitely a great era to invest in.
Couldn't agree more. Silver age is the best investment in almost all grades. There is a certain charm to a low grade silver age book and I'm slowly moving a lot of my modern books out to chase silver keys :)
Will be interesting in 30days (if I’m not taking a dirt nap) to see how the recent modern books are handled. Some of these new books do have awesome art/covers but with 20,30,40, or more variant cover’s per issue the market is diluted. Sure…there are some 1:100 etc but when every issue has them, that novelty is also weak. I buy some moderns for art/display (I own nearly all of John Tyler Christopher’s NEG covers) but I don’t put much value in them as an investment. None actually.
the variant covers are cool but they worry me because it reminds me of when the baseball cards got crazy in the 90s and all of a sudden every brand had 4/5 sub brands and each sub brand had 10/20 sets of insert card.
Great vid, love ur content! I just recently got my first 2 silver age comic books; Sub-mariner 8 and Porky Pig 45. I must say, the art work on both is something to behold. If feels great just looking at these books and knowing they’re from the 50s and 60s. I can see the appeal of owing silver age books .
What is the consensus on people in their 30s being interested in buying keys 30 years from now? This has to be the most important information. Are enough kids getting interested that people in their 70s will be able to sell the next generation their comics in 30 years. I kind of feel like we are still within a nostalgia cycle that might not exist 30 years from now, and that if it does, it might not exist 30 years from then. I really see most values dropping within my lifetime. Like, high grade silver keys should be alright though, maybe?
agreed, i think silver age is a great investment, but at some point, only the top properties will continue to increase in value. but it will be quite awhile before we see a tapering off in minor keys and non-key issues. Properties are currently strong with all of the movies and shows. So it will have to be another generation that didnt grow up with them for a decrease to start. For example, we will eventually see books like asm 42 slow down and eventually go down.
I think the possibility of silver age and comics in general losing $$ value is high as generations turn over. Who here collects Roy Rogers comics? Collectible value is tied to cultural relevance.
Great video. I think another factor that is often overlooked is that most silver age came out before there were comic shops in most of the country. Back then most comics were sold in grocery and drug stores and few were preserved in any way. No wonder high grade silver age is relatively rare.
Just recently (last 5 years) started collecting silverage books again after a stolen collection and I completely agree…it’s a lot harder on the pocket book now to try and get back what I had, although it is fun and sometimes frustrating because I want to get 4 or 5 books at a time but because of price am limited to 1…still I love the age and the books
It's really funny because I was born in 86. I got in a superheroes and comics because my dad was a huge superhero comic fan I inherited his collection after he passed when I was a kid in 98. I've always loved superheroes I've got many tattoos and even though my father's collection wasn't that big and it was all over the place I still tend to collect more silver age than anything. In the last year or so I've added a lot of comics for the first time to the collection. And roughly 90% is silver age and that's typically what I go out and look for. So I totally agree with this video!
Excellent topic. Silver (and bronze 1974 and earlier) are best investments now that Marvel is popping. Even better is 'blue water spec' that nobody is interested in right now, that doesn't show up on silver and bronze price indexes. People disappointed that their over-hyped, over-printed Eternals comics have plummeted should have been buying just about any Marvel 12-center through 20-center, from heroes in TTA & TOS right down to WWBN or Man-Thing or Astonishing Tales or Sheena or Luke Cage or Conan. These comics are firmly entrenched in collections, not tens of thousands of copies sloshing around the hobby like over-priced Nova #1, Spider-woman #1 etc.
Early silver is best. It’s a mature stable market. Late silver was collected and hoarded by everyone. Comics were at their height of production. Late silver up to today is considered volatile & speculative, not a good bet long term. Early silver & gold are the best.
Great analysis. This is what i've always thought as well. The characters of the Silver Age, specifically the Marvel ones, will absolutely outlast their predecessors from the Golden Age because they have become globally recognizable pieces of American pop-culture. I think the Silver Age keys will stay strong long after us millennials are gone forever .
I feel the reboot from golden to silver age caused readers to choose sides. Since younger readers prefer newer ideas, as you said the people loving golden age simply vanished. Dating back to silver age, we really have had the same heroes. Now with the reboot a few years ago, I could see how maybe in the year 2060 people will become disinterested with anything before 2012. Rethinking and reinventing a comic book character is the worst thing in the long run you can do to that character. (unless the original idea was horrible) I'm sure in the years to come maybe one of the most famous heroes such as wolverine will be less liked in comparison to X23.
The Platinum Age is pre-1938, pre-superhero. The Golden Age is 1938 to 1956, from the introduction of Superman to the return of The Flash. (Some people are calling 1948 to 1956 The Atomic Age with the demise of most superhero comics in 1948 and the rise of Westerns, Horror and Romance Comics.) Silver Age is 1956 to 1973?, from The Flash to the deaths of Gwen Stacy and the Green Goblin. (For Marvel, the Silver Age really started in 1961 with Fantastic Four #1.) The Bronze Age is from 1973? to 1986? with the publication of The Watchmen and The Dark Knight when comics became darker (although some say it started in 1970-71 with the relaxing of the Comics Code and the printing of Conan #1). The Copper Age (some call it The Dark Age) is from 1986? to 1992 with Marvel's Secret Wars limited series to the founding of Image Comics. (Some believe it started as early as 1980 but most agree on 1992 as the end date.) From 1993 onward has been described as the Modern Age, although there have been attempts to break it into additional ages, such as The Extreme Age (1992-1998) and The Movie Age (1998-today). Some refer to everything after The Bronze Age as being the Iron Age or the Chromium Age because of metallic foils being used on covers.
Glad you mentioned that the Silver Age books have that historical connection with the current movies, and that keeps generating that interest with all age groups. Side Note: For me as a 90's kid, Wizard (magazine of pushing that speculation!) helped me with looking for origins or famous storylines when I got into comics.
The industry has to try harder to get the next generation to give a darn about comics. Kids just don’t read comics. Go to a convention or store & most of the people there are older. Kids won’t value books from the 90s as thousands of dollars to pay outside of a few niche collectors.
Hey James. Great video. Saw your Green Lanterns and so I sent you an e-mail with more information. I came into possession of 4 Raw issues. 16, 26, 42, 45. Let me know if you're interested.
My two cents - I’m collecting bronze and copper age keys. In 20 years they’ll be far more rare and valuable plus I’m more likely to find them in nm/vf condition. Most silver age keys are outside of my budget anyway.
Everything was still rather new in the Silver age. Stan Lee may not have been the first person to turn a comic book series into a soap but he did popularize the movement. The movies being made right now may actually hurt rather than help comic book sales. I am happy collecting Golden age reprints. Even so, you generally didn't have continuing story lines for these comics. With, say, Captain America in the Golden age, you could have him fighting the Japanese in one story in the Pacific region and then the next story, in the same comic book, could be set in Europe with him battling the Germans with no indication of how he got from the Pacific to Europe. I have got a lot of Silver age comics. Also Bronze age. I am not that impressed with present day comic books. I am not that keen on modern artists such as Jim Lee. When Jim Lee was touted as the new Jack Kirby I basically gave up on modern comics.
I found myself buying more modern books only to be able to offer them for sale to attract buyers…silver for me will always be my preference from a personal and business aspect. I agree wholeheartedly that the time frame established many iconic characters and there is simply no more being made-rarity drives desirability. My two cents probably worth as much 🥃
Hello I’m a firefighter and I’m trying to get into selling and flipping comics. I was wondering if there is anyway we can talk and all I want to do is learn. Willing to pay for your time. Love the videos
I'm a Gen-X'er and I get a thrill out of buying Silver Age Superman 10-15 cent issues - it's because of all the Superman movies that came out in the late '70's/early '80's. Superman was my introduction to superheroes, in the same way that Spiderman was to many in the early 2000's. Many issues can still be still be found for around $10.
Aquaman was from the golden age, not the silver age, but I can see how you made that mistake considering the fact that there was litterly nothing notable about Aquaman in the golden age.
That´s untrue, if you put SM 300 and some random GA Cap Marvel side by side. A 6.0 ASM 3000 might cost more than a 6.0 BlackHawks from early 50´s. Morales FA at a solid 700 in HG, first Young Avengers and so on. Heck, a modern AH Supergirl cover from German is over 800 as we speak. All the while Roy Rogers books from the 50´s can turn to pulp because nobody cares.
Are you interested in hardcovers? Looking to sell Marvel Masterworks DM editions 1 - 89 and others. If interested, reply and I will send contact information and list. Also considering selling off some of my collection. Full runs. Thanks and stay well.
