With yet another new Godzilla film out, albeit receiving mixed critical reviews, the old Marvel Godzilla comics seem to have also received a boost. Is it time to send your copies of Godzilla: King of the Monsters #1 to CGC? Are there other Godzilla key comics worth seeking out?
“This is Godzilla's world, and we just live in it” that’s just one of the memorable quotes from the new film. I know, I know, dialogue is not the focus in a monster movie, but still, catchy one liners and pithy exchanges certainly don’t hurt.
Although I haven’t seen it yet, apparently ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ (2019) is a real Kaiju fest and great spectacle. I was not at all that excited about this film until I saw the trailer on the big screen just before a screening of ‘Avengers: Endgame’.
The special effects and tone of the trailer blew me away. I can’t wait to see this film.
But now down to comic book matters.
Although there’s more than one Godzilla comic, most collectors think that the only series people will pay premium prices for is the 1977 off-the-wall Marvel take (see my overview of that series The King of the Monsters: Marvel’s Bronze Age Godzilla Comics). This isn’t completely true. There are some very valuable, but hard to find Godzilla comics out there.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Godzilla has his diehard fans. After all, movies featuring Godzilla, or ‘Gojira’ as he’s known in Japan, go all the way back to 1954. Technically, that makes the 'Godzilla' franchise one of, if not the, longest running series in film history. However the big guy’s comic book presence (outside of Manga) only really caught on after he began to be published in the West during the late 1970s.
Most people think Marvel’s monthly Godzilla comic was the first American treatment of Gojira in the medium, but there was an earlier and obscure promotional comic, published by Cinema Shares International. This comic can fetch high prices from collectors. A theatre giveaway newspaper style booklet, it has no cover, no credits listed and even manages to get basic facts about the movie franchise all wrong: why is Gigan called “Borodan”, who knows? Actually, the creative team that put this together for Cinema Shares were none other than Archie Goodwin, Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe. Yes, that’s right, the same team that would bring us the Marvel Godzilla! This comic was basically a test run for the more famous monthly series. That said, good luck tracking it down. There are currently only 7 copies listed on the CGC census. Although a 9.6 graded copy sold for $80.00 on eBay that was back in June of 2015. Most Good to Very Good copies can’t be found for under $100.00 today. Recent sales include an 8.5 sold on eBay on 04/19/2018, for $100.00, two 9.0 sold on 04/26 and 28 of 2019 respectively for $175.00 and $250.00 and the most recent sale was for an 8.0 again on eBay completed on 02/03/2019 which sold for for $175.50.
Godzilla #1 (August 1977) – First issue of monthly title
With a total of 1,270 copies on the CGC census, this is the Godzilla comic everybody wants. Back in 2018 a 9.8 certified copy sold for $255.00 (eBay: 12/20/2018). At the time that was a record price, but it was subsequently beaten by a 02/14/2019 eBay sale of a 9.8 for $275.00 and then a 03/13/2019 sale for $281.00. A dip followed after that, but overall, three month returns show positive data on all but 9.8. Those are currently down 19.6% after the last 12 sales. The most recent 9.8 sold for a mere $167. 50 on 05/27/2019.
But, there’s a better option out there. Like Star Wars #1 and a variety of other popular late 1970s Marvel comics, Godzilla was also published with a price variant edition as a market test to see whether higher priced comics would sell. No surprise in knowing people still bought them, but these rare price variants can often surge in value and that is also the case here. If you can find Godzilla #1 (August 1977) - 35 price cent variant Edition, it’s worth many times the standard newsstand variety. To give you an idea of how much: a 9.4 sold on eBay on 09/26/2018 for $815.00. The last 9.0 sold on 06/24/2018 again on eBay was for $799.99. Although harder to find, only 28 copies on the CGC census, this edition truly is the King!
