If you are new to collecting comics you may not be familiar with the different eras of comic books. Knowing a little bit about comic book eras and comic history will be immensely helpful to you as a collector. By learning a little bit about the background of comics you will be better equipped to make decisions on what comic books to invest in or not invest in. Most collectors recognize four eras of comic books, some recognize a five (stay tuned). Generally speaking, comics from older eras are more valuable than more modern eras. Also, keep in mind that comic eras don’t necessarily have definitive beginning and ending dates but are usually marked by specific comics or events.
Let’s break down each era…
The Golden Age (Late 30’s – Mid 50’s)
In the late 1930’s the Superhero comic was born and it marked the beginning of the Golden Age of comics. The book that started it all was Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman. The golden age was ruled by DC. During this time the major characters were Superman, Batman, Green Lantern (very different from modern Green Lantern), Captain Marvel, and Captain America. Notice there was only one Marvel character on that list. During this period Marvel actually existed as Timely comics and later Atlas.
The easiest way to identify the era of a book, besides checking the date, is to look at the cover price. Books from the Golden Age will have a ten cent cover price. The quality of the paper stock of the Golden Age is significantly inferior to any other era. The pages tend to be very brittle so it’s important not to bend them. It is hard to find these books in high grade condition. Some of these books such as Action Comics are extremely rare; you will not be able to find every Golden Age book whenever you want. Some of these books are truly scarce and as a result extremely valuable. Not every golden age book is worth huge bucks but any Superhero books are worth holding on to.
Valuable Golden Age books…
- Action Comics #1 – First Superman
- Action Comics #7 – 2nd Superman Cover
- Detective Comics #27 – First Batman
- Batman #1
- Superman #1
- All American Comic #16 – First Green Lantern (not Hal Jordan)
- Marvel Comics #1 – First Human Torch (not Johnny Storm)
- Captain America Comics #1 – First Captain America
- Flash Comics #1
The Silver Age (Mid 50’s – 1970)
The Silver Age is to Marvel as the Golden Age was to DC. In the Silver Age we saw the birth of most of the key Marvel characters that we all know and love. Having said that, most collectors mark the beginning of the Silver Age with the DC book, Showcase #4 which featured new Flash, Barry Allen.
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| Silver Age Books |
The popular characters that first appeared in this era consist of the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, and the Justice League.
Silver Age books will have a ten, fifteen, or twenty cent cover price. Many Silver Age books are quite valuable but in general they are not as rare as many Golden Age books. You could probably find just about any Silver Age book when you want, whether or not you can afford it may be a different story though. Like I mentioned earlier, the start and end dates of comic book eras are somewhat subjective, usually collectors bookend the eras with specific comics. Many collectors mark the end of the Silver Age with Amazing Spider-Man 121, the death of Gwen Stacey. This was probably the first time a major character had met such a violent demise in comics. There is a notable change in the tone of books post Silver Age.
Valuable Silver Age books…
- Amazing Fantasy #15 – First Spider-Man Appearance
- Amazing Spider-Man #1
- X-Men #1 – First X-Men appearance
- Fantastic Four #1 – First Fantastic Four Appearance
- Avengers #1
- Avengers #4 – Re-emergence of Captain America, first Silver Age appearance
- Tales of Suspense #39 – First Iron Man
- Brave and the Bold #28 – First Justice League
- Showcase #4 – Barry Allen Flash
Bronze Age (1970 – 1985)
With the Bronze Age comics began to take a more serious approach. They became more socially relevant, darker, and mature. You can get an idea of this by surveying some of the popular characters that emerged from the era such as, Swamp Thing, Ghost Rider, Conan the Barbarian, The Punisher, and Wolverine.
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| Bronze Age Books |
Some books of this era still have the twenty cent cover price so you may have to look at the dates to determine the correct era. Other books from this era have twenty five, thirty and thirty five cent cover prices. There aren’t a whole ton of REALLY valuable books from this era but there are a handful of gems. As books become more recent the more readily available they are so that is part of the reason for the lack of value found in the Bronze Age. Another factor is that many of the popular characters are already established so there aren’t as many big first appearances. The end of the Bronze Age is typically marked by the beginning of Secret Wars or Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Valuable Bronze Age books…
- Giant Size X-Men Issue #1 – First appearance of the new X-Men Team
- X-Men #94 - First regular X-Men issue featuring new team
- Incredible Hulk #181 – First Wolverine Appearance
- Marvel Spotlight #5 – First Ghost Rider Appearance
- Amazing Spiderman #129 – First Punisher Appearance
- Green Lantern #76 – Beginning of Green Arrow Team Up
Copper Age (Mid 80’s – 1992)
As I mentioned earlier, not everyone recognizes the Copper Age. I do, but that is just my preference. Those of us that do recognize the Copper Age typically mark the start with Marvel’s Secret Wars or DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. During the Copper Age comics started to give rise to new non-traditional Marvel and DC characters. It was during this time that The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were born. Other popular comics from the era include GI Joe and Transformers. Some of the marvel characters that came from this era include Deadpool, Venom, Hobgoblin, and the beginning of Spidey in the uber popular Black Suit.
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| Copper Age Books |
There are very few books from the Copper Age that have substantial value. You may be noticing a pattern by now. The books that do hold significant value do so because they had low print runs (e.g. TMNT) or became cult favorites (e.g. Venom/Deadpool). You will notice with the Copper Age that comic prices started to really go up, they feature sixty cents all the way to a dollar fifty cover prices.
Valuable Copper Age Books…
- TMNT #1 – First Appearance Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Transformers #1
- New Mutants #98 – First Deadpool Appearance
- Amazing Spider-Man #300 – First Venom Appearance
- Amazing Spider-Man #238 – First Hobgoblin
- Uncanny X-Men #266 – First Appearance Gambit
Modern Age (92 –Present)
That brings us to today. Today we are in the Modern Age of comics and what a time it is! Comics in the Modern Age have become even more mature. With the Modern Age we have seen the rise in popularity of indie titles like The Walking Dead, Spawn, Bone, Hellboy, Preacher, Sin City, and more. The majority of the market is still held by Marvel and DC but the indie companies have a strong foothold.
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| Modern Age Books |
You can probably determine Modern Age books just by sight, if not, they are the ones with much higher cover prices and superior inks and paper stock. Today you can see comics with up to five dollar cover prices. My Dad tells me he stopped buying comics when they went to forty cents, ha! It is probably too early to know what Modern books will retain value since we are still in the era. Surprisingly, the most valuable books of this era seem to be The Walking Dead titles. You can probably thank the AMC show for some of that. Rather than value based on first appearances, modern books value stem from low print runs and numerous variant covers by popular artists.
Valuable Modern Age Books…
- The Walking Dead #1 – First Rick Grimes Appearance
- The Walking Dead #27 – First Governor Appearance
- Spawn #1 – First Spawn Appearance
- Bone #1 – First Bone Appearance
- Iron Man #281 – First War Machine Appearance
Now that you have an idea of the characteristics and traits of the various comic book eras it’s time to put that knowledge to use. Let me know if you find any gems! Happy hunting!
Fast Counters
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