Batman is up! Brother Voodoo is down! Comics are gaining and losing value in the Bronze Age CPI. Will gains offset losses? Let’s take a look to note some winners and losers over the past 90 days.
Bronze Age Trends
Overall, the Bronze Age CPI dropped 12 points from an index value of 1,136 to 1,124 over the past three months. That’s a cumulative index loss of 1.06%. The majority of the depreciation occurred between October 20 and November 17, 2024. After a slight bump up, it’s been relatively flat since. Of the 50 comics in the index, 19 were gainers while 31 were losers.
Winner – Batman #251 – up 30.2%
Wow! This is a huge gain for the classic Neal Adams Joker cover, and one of the largest we’ve seen in the Bronze Age CPI in quite some time. Much of the increase is due to higher sales in the 9.8 grade, including a sale for $39,600 in a November 24 Heritage auction. We’re also seeing decent gains in the 8.5 through 6.0 grades.
Loser – Strange Tales #169 – down 34.2%
Things are looking ugly for the first appearance of Brother Voodoo. In just three months it lost slightly more than a third of its value. We’re seeing plummeting prices in the 9.8 and 9.6 grades as well as many high-mid to mid grades. With this steep a decline, it’s hard to say whether or not it’s time to buy. Way overvalued for a number of years, the drop is not exactly shocking. The hard part is determining whether or not the bleeding has at least been somewhat stanched.
Winner – X-Men #101 – up 10.1%
Last time around, the first appearance of Phoenix was a loser. This time, it’s showing some respectable upward movement over the past three months. There were nice increases in the 9.8, 9.4, and 9.2 grades while the 9.6 grade lost some value. The mid grades were a bit of a mixed bag, while the lower grades showed some improvement. It’s tough to play the market with this book as, while it remains a popular Bronze Age comic, pricing has been somewhat volatile over the past six months. Buyer or seller, my advice would be to not worry too much about trying to time the market and just bite the bullet.
Loser – Conan the Barbarian #24 – down 20.3%
Chain mail bikini is clearly out as we’re seeing some pretty steep declines for the first comic appearance of Red Sonja. Lower prices in the 9.8 and 9.6 grades are the primary culprits, but there have been some recent gains in the 9.4 and 9.2 grades. Mid grades aren’t faring too poorly. The big problem with this comic is that Red Sonja is not the most popular character. While rumors or appearances in films or television will drive up values, there’s little meat on the bone, so once prices decline there aren’t enough buyers to move prices upward.
Winner – DC Comics Present #47 – up 8.1%
He-Man and Skeletor made their first appearances in this book and collectors appear to be all in based on the rumors involving the to-be-released 2026 film. While there haven’t been any sales in the 9.8 grade over the past three months, 9.6 and 9.4 grades have been trending upward and we’re seeing similar upward movement throughout the grading scale.
Loser – Special Marvel Edition #15 – down 16.2%
The first appearance of Shang-Chi was a pandemic era darling. Now, it just keeps tumbling downward. High grades, in particular, continue to fall, but there have been some bright spots in the 9.2 through 8.5 grades, enough for a little bit of an uptick over the past month-and-a-half. I think there might still be room for this one to drop a little further, though.
