While most collectors are familiar with the big Golden Age books that sell each month, there are so many more worth investigating. Well-known comics made a splash in the September 13 Heritage auction, including many Golden Age first issues that sold. Here are a few that didn’t make the news.
Buck Rogers #1
In what was the highest price paid for a copy since 2016, a 7.5 sold in the September 13 Heritage auction for $3,840. While there are 44 graded copies, higher grades are scarce. Two 8.0 copies exist but neither has sold since 2016. Once you get down to the 5.0 grade, however, copies sprout like mushrooms, which is why there have been six sales this year prior to this one. If you’re able to get your hands on a graded copy higher than 5.0 of this 1940 classic from Eastern Color, expect to pay a pretty penny.
Black Cat Comics #1
Marking the first issue in her solo series, a 9.2 sold for $2,880 in the September 13 auction. It’s the highest price paid in the grade, although far from a record; that belongs to the sole 9.6 graded copy that went in a 2023 Heritage auction for $14,400. With 74 graded copies, there are plenty to go around. However, less than 10% of those are above the 9.0 grade. This issue is worth seeking out for the Joe Simon cover and fairly early interior artwork by Joe Kubert.
Crime Does Not Pay #22
It may not have the number one on the cover, but this is a first issue. In what was a common occurrence in the Golden Age, publishers often changed series titles entirely without starting with a first issue. Such was the case with the series Silver Streak, published by Lev Gleason, when it changed its name to Crime Does Not Pay beginning with this issue. In the first sale of a graded copy this year, a 6.0 sold in the September 13 auction for $2,880. It’s definitely a mid grade copy and certainly not on the high end of prices paid – that would be an 8.5 that sold in a 2020 Heritage auction for $12,600 (the lone 9.2 has never sold) – it’s significant in that it is the highest graded copy to sell since 2021.
Miracle Comics #1
What a cool cover! And one that you don’t see very often as there are only 19 graded copies in the CGC census, and none graded by other companies. While it was a low grade – a 3.0 – that sold in the Heritage auction for $1,320, it represents a quarter of the bonanza of copies that have sold this year. That’s right, this was the fourth sale this year of a comic with a census count of just 19 graded copies, an event that is nearly unheard of. I’m not sure why so many have been made available, but it’s nice to see them moving once more after seeing only four sales from 2020 to 2024.
Atoman Comics #1 and The Atomic Thunderbolt #1
In what can only be described as a nuclear burn, the sale of Promise Collection copies of each of these 1946 Atom Age issues from Ace Magazines offer a lesson to comic book collectors and investors. Respectively, in the same April 2022 Heritage Auction, a 9.4 Promise Collection copy of Atoman Comics #1 sold for $9,600 while a 9.0 of The Atomic Thunderbolt #1 sold for $11,400, both far higher than any previous sale. Of course, the Promise Collection was the talk of the Golden Age back issue market at that time and was shiny and new. Fast forward to 2025 where both sold in the September 13 auction for $5,280 and $3,360 respectively. So, what happened? In short, the buyers in the 2022 auction overbid and paid the price in this recent auction. Just because a comic has a pedigree grade doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a particularly good or desirable book. Both of these comics have little to no historic or artistic significance and only sold in those high amounts in 2022 due to their pedigree grade being shiny and new.
Tip Top Comics #1
And finally, we come to an oldie but a goody. Technically, this isn’t a Golden Age issue. Predating Action Comics #1 by more than two years, this issue would be more aptly placed in the Platinum Age. However, we’re going to allow an exception and sneak it in. A 5.0 sold in the September 13 auction for $2,400. Despite a low census count of just 28 copies, this is – believe it or not – the third sale this year of a graded copy. A 4.5 actually sold for more - $2,640 – in the April 22 Heritage auction due to no other reason than there were more bidders. Still, it’s cool to see a pre-Golden Age comic change hands, keeping the history and heritage or our hobby alive well into the 21st century.
