All-New Ghost Rider #1

Marvel Comics - March 2014

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes)
First appearance of Gabe Reyes
First appearance of Hell Charger

It's finally been confirmed that Ghost Rider is going to appear on the show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but it's not the version that a lot of us grew up with. I must say that I'm not that impressed with the look of the new Ghost Rider. I hope that they go with the original look of the character rather than going with this new look. From the teaser that was put out at SDCC, it seems like they just might do that.

The version that was ultimately decided upon was the latest incarnation of the character. This versions name is Robbie Reyes. He's a down on his luck Latin American living in a seedy, crime ridden part of East Los Angeles. He works at Camelo's Auto and Body to try and raise money to move him and his handicap brother, Gabe, to a better area and live a better life.

He tries to speed up the process by taking one of the muscle cars that he's been working on at the shop, and entering it into a street race to win a large sum of cash. During the race, Robbie is chased by who he thinks are the police, but winds up being armed thugs trying to get back the drugs that are in the trunk of the car. He turns down a dead end alley, gets out of the car, and the thugs fill him full of holes, turn him into Swiss cheese and torch the car.

Robbie and Gabe Reyes

Now this is where the interesting, and somewhat hard to follow part of the story comes in. The car turns out to be haunted. As Robbie lay there in a pool of blood, and the car engulfed in flames, the ghost transfers itself from the car and into Robbie's lifeless body, thus creating the All New Ghost Rider. I say it's hard to follow because it's in no way mentioned that the car is haunted, but we're supposed to figure that out from a couple of obscure panels. It might not have been hard for you to understand, but it was for me.

And just to clear up the key issue notes above, the Hell Charger is the haunted car that the new Ghost Rider drives. Gone is the flaming motorcycle, and it's replaced with a flaming Dodge Charger.

For a first appearance of a new character, this comic wasn't overly printed, like a lot of them seem like they are today. According to ComiChron.com, the initial print run was only 50,210 copies. That seems like a lot, but I don't know if that's only for the first print, or if it includes all of the variant and dealer incentive covers out there too. I would have thought that Ghost Rider was a popular enough character to warrant a higher print run than that, but I guess I would have been wrong.

Looking at the CGC census is very confusing. There are listings for the variant covers, and this issue has a lot of them, but I can't find any info on the non variant, first print cover on there anywhere. However, the census numbers are pretty low for the covers that are listed. In all, there are only 80 total copies graded for all of the variants.

After seeing those numbers, it's no surprise to me that there aren't a lot of already graded copies in the market as of now, but there are quite a few raw copies. Most of these copies are on eBay of course.

Values of All-New Ghost Rider #1 on GoCollect

Since the announcement that Ghost Rider was appearing on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., values for this comic have seen an instant, and significant rise. As you can see,there haven't been a lot of sales for already graded copies, but prices for CGC 9.8 NM/M jumped from $50 on July 2nd, all the way up to $130 on July 23. The one 9.6 NM+ sale for $9.99 was back on March 10. I'm sure that the next sale for that grade won't go for that low of a price.

The variant covers have even less sales data that the original cover, so it's hard to say if those will have the same bump in value or not, but I'm willing to bet that there will be. There are a lot of variant hunters out there after all.

Right now, you're best option might be to buy a raw copy and have it graded since there are far more raw copies in the market right now, and most of them are probably in high grade. It could also yield the most profit, but only if you have a good eye for detail and can accurately judge the grades of raw comics. There is a big difference in value from a 9.8 NM/M to a 9.6 NM+. But if you decide to buy an already slabbed copy, you can probably still find a best offer or talk a dealer down to your price range at your LCS or at a convention.

Find a copy here
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Avengers #69

Marvel - Sept. 1969

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Grandmaster
First cameo appearance of Squadron Sinister 
First cameo appearance of Doctor Spectrum
First cameo appearance of Hyperion
First cameo appearance of Nighthawk
First cameo appearance of Wizzer
Second appearance of Growing Man

If you've been paying attention to comic book movie news, then you've already heard that Jeff Goldblum has been cast to play The Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok, which is currently in production. But who is The Grandmaster?

The first thing that I think of when I hear the word grandmaster is a person that has mastered the game of chess and has become one of the elite players in the world, and that isn't too far off from who The Grandmaster is in comics. In fact, one of the first things he says is a reference to chess when we first meet him.

In this issue of the Avengers, the team gathers around a seriously injured and dying Tony Stark. As they are trying to find ways to help save his life, Janet Pym finds an odd glowing "doll" underneath one of the cabinets in the room. Thinking nothing of it, she tossed it in the garbage. As this "doll" hits the trash can, it starts growing in size. Eventually it grows to an enormous size and kidnaps Tony Stark. It then uses Stark to lure the rest of the Avengers to Kang the Conqueror's lair in the year 4,000 A.D.. 

The Grandmaster

Kang informs the Avengers that he summoned them there to help him defeat the Grandmaster. The Grandmaster came to Kang a year before and challenged him to "a game not unlike that which men once called chess". At stake is the planet which Kang rules over. When The Grandmaster returns to play his sinister game, three of the Avengers (Thor, Captain America, and Goliath) are transported to the gaming arena. Shortly after their arrival, they meet the Squadron Sinister.

Now that the synopsis is done, let's talk a little about some of the characters that make their first, or second, appearance in this comic. Let's start off with the strange glowing "doll". This doll isn't a doll at all. It is in fact The Growing Man, and he makes his second appearance in Avengers #69. His name is a little deceiving as well because he isn't a man either, he's actually an android. The Growing Man is a Stimuloid that was created by Kang the Conqueror. Every time a Stimuloid is attacked or hurt, even if he does it to himself, he grows in size, and there is no limit to how big he can grow, hence the name, The Growing Man.

The Growing Man

Next we'll tackle the first appearance of The Grandmaster. His real name is En Dwi Gast. He is one if the Elders of the Universe, and he has mastered most civilizations' games of skill and chance. He enjoys playing games that put teams up against each other.

The team that The Grandmaster uses to go up against the Avengers is the Squadron Sinister. The members consist of Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, Nighthawk, and Wizzer. It's said that the Squadron Sinister is based off of DC's Justice League of America.

Doctor Spectrum's real name is Kenji Obatu, and was based after the Green Lantern. He gets his powers from the Power Prism, which also makes it's first appearance in this issue. Instead of being vulnerable to the color yellow, it's ultra violet light that he has a weakness against.

The character of Hyperion was loosely based off of Superman from the JLA. He was created by The Grandmaster and made to believe that he got his powers from his planet exploding. Hyperion's real name is Zhib-Ran.

The next member of the Squadron is Nighthawk, and his JLA counterpart is The Dark Knight himself, Batman. Nighthawk is also known as Kyle Richmond. He was the son of a wealthy businessman that was never around. After the death of his mother, he was raised by a governess. After his father died in a plane crash, he inherited the family fortune.

Squadron Sinister

The last member of the Squadron Sinister is The Whizzer. I'm pretty sure that we can all figure out who his Justice League counterpart is. It's none other than the Scarlet Speedster, a.k.a. The Flash. James Sanders was a disgruntled chemist. He was approached by The Grandmaster to join the Squadron Sinister, and in exchange he was given the power of super human speed. Sanders is currently known as Speed Demon. 

It's easy to see the parallels between the Squadron Sinister and the Justice League of America. Many of the backstories and their powers are very similar.

There aren't a lot of copies listed in the CGC census, but that doesn't necessarily mean that this comic is rare. It's far more likely that not many people knew about the key issue goodness in this comic before the announcement that The Grandmaster was going to be coming to be big screen. However, it could also have a lower print run. I don't have the numbers for that, but while searching through eBay and other online comic shops, I couldn't find more than a handful of copies for sale, slabbed or raw. There are a couple of possibilities for this. Maybe people are still holding on to their copies for some reason, or perhaps their copies are currently being graded by CGC, CBCS, or some other grading company.

Ok, let's take a look at the CGC census numbers. Currently there are only 155 copies listed on there, and only one is a Restored copy. Most of the copies are high grade between 9.0 VF/NM to the highest 9.8 NM/M. Six copies are graded at a 9.8 NM/M. There are a handful of mid grade and also a few lower grade copies listed as well. Most are graded a very respectable 9.4 NM with 38 copies.

Values of Avengers #69 on GoCollect

It's not surprising that there haven't been a lot of sales for already graded copies, since there are so few already graded. Back in 2012, you could snag yourself a nice high grade CGC 9.6 NM+ for a little more than $200. A copy sold at Heritage Auctions for $215.10 in Jan. of that year, and copies on eBay were dropping for around $250. Jump forward to today and it's a whole different story. The latest sale for a CBCS 9.6 NM+ sold for $450 in Sept. of last year. Sales for 9.4 NM copies have climbed up even higher. The last sale for a CGC 9.4 NM went for auction on July and sold for $425. One sale even dropped at a penny shy of $1,000.

If you have a copy in your collection, you may want to think about putting it out in the market, Or, if you can find a decent raw copy, you might want to snag it and send it in to be graded. Don't wait to long if you're looking to but, I'm pretty sure prices for raw copies will be going into the stratosphere very soon.

Find a copy here
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The Flash #110

DC Comics - Dec/Jan 1959-1960

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Kid Flash (Wally West)
First appearance and origin of Weather Wizard

There are two first appearances in this key issue, one really important, and one not quite as important. Unfortunately, I'm going to start off with the not quite as important appearance first, and that would be the Weather Wizard.

In the first of the two stories in this comic, we have ordinary everyday criminal Mark Mardon on his way to prison. He manages to escape and makes his way to his brothers, where he finds him dead from "a heart attack or something".

Mardon stumbles upon his brothers notebook on his weather controlling experiments, and uses the information to create the Weather Wand. He uses the wand to create distractions while he commits his crimes, and also to get revenge on the police officers that had arrested him in the past. The Weather Wizard would eventually become one of the members of Flash's Rogues Gallery.

Weather Wizard

That's all for The Master of the Atmosphere, now let's get to the real reason for this post. That would be the first appearance of Wally West as Kid Flash.

Wally is the nephew of Barry Allen's girlfriend at the time, Iris West. She brings Wally to see Barry hoping that he will be able to introduce Wally, the president of the Flash fan club, to the Scarlet Speedster.

There must have been a lack of creativity at DC at the time because, as The Flash explains to Wally how he got his powers, the same exact thing happens to him. A bolt of lightening blasts through the window, spilling chemicals all over the poor boy and giving him the same super speed that The Flash has. See, I told you.. not very creative at all.

Another freak accident

This is considered a super key issue. Wally West is a very important character in the DC universe. He would eventually remove the kid from his name, and take up the mantle of The Flash after Barry Allen sacrifices himself in the Crisis on Infinite Earths story arc.

It seems like a lot of comics from this time are for more scarce that comics that were printed even a few years later. That could be because of lower print runs (not likely) or because they were read, passed around and read again, and eventually thrown in the garbage (more likely). Either way, the CGC census for this book is quite low. As of this writing, only 292 copies are listed on the census. Most are low to mid grade but there are a handful of higher grade copies. The highest grade listed so far is a 9.2 NM-. There are four total copies at that grade, one of them being a Restored copy.

Values of Flash #110 on GoCollect

Because this is such a big key issue, the prices for already graded copies are quite high. According to GoCollect, values for have seen a nice rise over the last four years, mostly for mid grades. It looks like there was a spike in demand in 2014, I'm assuming that was because of the Flash T.V. show. Values have come down slightly since then, but this comic is still going strong. The latest sale on eBay (7/12/2016) dropped for $790 for a CGC 5.5 F- and a CGC 8.0 VF also recently sold in March of this year for $1,500. In my opinion, whoever snagged that got one hell of a deal. For example, a CGC 7.0 F/VF, which is one full grade lower, sold at Heritage Auctions in August of last year for more than that. It ended up selling for $1,673.

Will the appearance of Kid Flash appearing on the popular CW show cause another spike in values? It's very possible, but you'll have to pull out your checkbook if you're looking for a decent looking copy.  As you can see from the chart above, even very low grade copies are selling over the $100 mark. As always I wish you luck on your hunt.

Find a copy here
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Legends #3

DC Comics - Jan 1987

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of the new Suicide Squad
Death of Blockbuster


This comic right here, holds the first appearance of the new Suicide Squad team. This is the incarnation that we will all be seeing on the silver screen in the next couple weeks.

After the events in Crisis on Infintite Earths, DC gave John Ostrander the task of revamping the Suicide Squad from it's four hero, Mission Impossible style team, to the super villain, anti-hero team that we know it to be today.

Ostrander came up with the idea of a government work release program for the super villains of the world. They would work highly secret, black ops missions to reduce time from their sentences, if they survived that is. This also explained why super villains were always seeming to "escape" from prison and return to their lives of crime.

Brimstone

Ok, so now that we know a little about the new team, let's see which villains are on this new team. The new Task Force X is headed up by Amanda Waller and led by Rick Flag Jr., who is also a member of the original Suicide Squad team of the Silver Age. These two are the constants of the team. The remaining members of the Suicide Squad, in this issue at least, are Bronze Tiger, Deadshot, Enchantress, Captain Boomerang, and Blockbuster. Many of the members rotate through as they either fulfill their commitment and are released, or are ultimately killed while on the mission, like one member of the team does in this issue.

Death of Blockbuster

Now, let's get into why this team was assembled in the first place. Brimstone, who is an agent of Darkseid, is threatening to destroy one of Americas landmarks, Mount Rushmore. Task Force X is sent in to stop that from happening. They create a diversion while Deadshot tries to get into a position where he can take the big baddie down with an experimental laser rifle. During the battle, Blockbuster is literally killed at the hands of Brimstone. He is scooped up in Brimstone's fiery hands, and then he drops his charred body at the feet of Captain Boomerang. In the end, Deadshot blasts his target and they defeat Brimstone.

There aren't an a ton of graded copies listed on the CGC census. To date, there are only 1025 copies. But, of those copies, almost half of them are graded 9.8 NM/M and 3/4 of them are between grades 9.4 NM and 9.8 NM/M. To say there is an abundance of high grade copies out there is an understatement. However, if you like autographed comics, there are 60 Signature Series copies out there as well.

Values of Legends #3 on GoCollect

There was a huge surge in values shortly after the movie announcement, with some sales reaching near the $400 mark for 9.8 NM/M copies. Since then, values have slowly come back down and have settled into the low $100 - $120 range. If you're lucky, you may be able to snag a copy for less than $100. Most other grades have seen that same boost along with the slow decline like the 9.8 NM/M copies have. Whether this comic will get another boost after the movie is released still remains to be seen. I personally think that it will just continue to decline and settle at a value similar to what it was before the movie hype. Either way, I guess we'll see soon enough.

Canadian Edition

For all of you rarity hunters out there, there is Canadian Edition to be on the look out for. It's pretty easy to spot, if you know what you're looking for. The U.S and Canadian Editions have very similar covers, but there is one small difference. The price in the upper right corner is $.75 for the U.S. Edition, and $1.00 for the Canadian Edition. It has an estimated print run of 6,620 copies according to this website. CGC does label this the Canadian Edition and so far, there are only three copies listed in the census. It is a very hard comic to find.

If you're a fan of the Suicide Squad, you may want to pick up a copy of Legends #3, especially since values are coming down. If you're looking for an investment, you may want to pass on this book for now, or be on the lookout for the Canadian Edition. Whatever you are, collector or investor, I wish you luck on your hunt.

Find a copy here
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CBCS - Comic Book Certification Service

cbcscomics.com

Steve Borock and Alec Born

CBCS is the newest third party grading service for comics, and has quickly become the second most popular company for grading comics due largely in part to Steve Borock.

He, along with Alec Born, set out to create a company that not only had a great service, but also had exceptional customer service along with being a "transparent" company. By transparent I mean a very open company that let's it's customers know what is happening within the company, whether it be turnover delays and any other problems that may arise.

For example, a problem arose with the plastics they used shortly after the company started. Instead of keeping it all hush hush and continuing business as usual, they sent out emails to everyone that was a member, and stopped putting our valuable comics into slabs that they thought were substandard. They also gave out huge discounts to everyone that submitted comics to them during that time, even though it almost bankrupt them.

CBCS has recently updated their website and isn't quite 100% functional yet. You can still submit comics, but portions of the website, like collectors sets or a census, has yet to be implemented. They say that they are working on them, but there is no timeline as to when that will be. Hopefully sometime in the near future.

CBCS grades their comics very similarly to the way CGC does. When they receive your comic, it goes through a restoration check, is looked over by a  series of graders, until finally it is seen by the head grader, in this case Steve Borock, and it's given a final grade.

Graders notes

However, there are a few differences between CBCS and their main competitor CGC. For one, you don't need to be a paid member to submit you comics to them via their website. Although CBCS does offer a paid membership tiers with perks for each level, you're not required to purchase them for the privilege of sending them your comics directly. If you decide you'd like to sign up for one of their membership tiers, or would like more information on them, click on this link here.

Another key difference, and one that I am grateful for, is that the graders notes are free and available for anyone to use. CGC makes you pay for them. This comes in handy for anyone that's looking at a CBCS graded comic online or, if you have a smartphone, at a convention to easily see why that comic got that particular grade. In my opinion, it's a great resource to have and I use it fairly often. I've included a picture of the graders notes on The Uncanny X-Men #297 Pressman Edition to give you an example of them. Also, if you'd like to know how this comic made it's way into my collection, just click the link above.

CBCS uses many different labels. The first label is the Certified label, which is the equivalent to CGC's Universal label. This label is given to comics that are in their original, off the shelf condition, that has no autographs, or any repairs or restoration done to it.

The next label is the Restored label. CBCS doesn't use colored labels like CGC does. It looks very similar to the Certified label, but it's still very easy to spot a comic that is sporting the Restored label. All you have to do is look under the numerical grade. Examples of restoration would be color touch on the cover, trimmed edges, torn pieces reattached, ect... Just like CGC, CBCS doesn't consider pressing and dry cleaning restoration.

I'm not a big fan of the Conserved label. CBCS states that "Conservation is a process used to prevent the deterioration and further destruction of a comic". I have no idea what CBCS considers to be conservation, but to me, this sounds a lot like restoration, and I consider them to be restored comics, but that's just me. Again, you can tell the Conserved label by looking under the numerical grade.

There are two labels that are color coded. The first is the yellow Authenticated Signature. This is also very similar to CGC's yellow Signature Series label. A comic that has been signed by a writer or artist, either at a convention or other special event, in the presence of a CBCS authorized witness, will get this yellow label.

CBCS teamed up with CSA Comics to create this final label, the red Verified Signature label. I, for one, think this is a great idea. For all of those comics that were autographed long before grading companies existed can now be verified as authentic signatures and receive a proper label, rather than being slapped with a green Qualified label at CGC. If you'd like to know more about the verification process, just click this link here.

There are other advantages to using CBCS. Even though they recently increased their grading fees, it is still cheaper than using CGC. I recently sent in some comics to CBCS. It cost me $300 to have eight Silver Age book graded by them. The same books would have cost me $480 to be graded by CGC. You can check out their pricing page here.

There is a drawback to using CBCS as well. At this moment in time, CBCS graded comics aren't selling for the same prices as CGC, but that is slowly changing. Values for both are starting to even out a little bit more now that more people are starting to trust the services from CBCS. However, there are still a lot of people out there that will pay more for a CGC graded comic than a comic at the same grade with the CBCS label.

In closing, CBCS still has a way to go to catch up to their competitor, but they are heading in the right direction. Their commitment to customer service and their hard work to try and keep their turn around times on time, make them an easy company to like. I'm looking forward to the day that they get their website up and running at 100%, but until then, I will patiently wait.

Sign up to CBCS here

Updated 6/13/2017
Due to a huge backlash over their redesigned "rivet" labels, CBCS once again came out with another new label. I haven't seen these labels in person yet, but the over consensus is positive. Check out these new labels in the video below.

Batman Family #6

DC Comics - July / Aug 1976

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of The Jokers Daughter

Just who is The Joker's Daughter? Well, contrary to the characters name and appearance, she is not the daughter of the Clown Prince of Crime. She is, in fact, the daughter of another popular Batman villain, and when you hear her real name, you'll probably guess which villain that is.

But before we get to that, lets talk a little about her first appearance in the pages of this giant sized, 52 page comic. In the very appropriately named story "The Joker's Daughter", Dick Grayson and his girlfriend Lori Elton are at a gathering where a manuscript has gone missing. The Joker's Daughter bursts in, and everyone assumes that she is the one behind it's disappearance. Dick quickly makes up an excuse and leaves the gathering, only to reappear seconds later as Robin. The Boy Wonder tries to capture The Joker's Daughter, but since he's Robin, he fails and let's her escape.

The next day, an article in the newspaper claims that The Joker's Daughter wants to return the manuscript, but only to Robin. I don't understand why they had this meeting, but an inevitable fight breaks out between the two. Using some crazy Joker like gadgets and gizmos, The Clown Princess of Crime is able to escape again. At the end of the story, we learn that she never stole the manuscript and that it never existed in the first place.

Like a lot of character in the DC Universe, her background varies in Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis. I'll only be talking a little bit about the  the Pre-Crisis version of the character for now. 

The Joker's Daughter's real name is... drum roll please...Duela Dent. This should be a huge clue as to who's daughter she really is. She has claimed to be the daughter of many iconic villains such as Scarecrow, Riddler and Penguin, but she is actually the daughter of non other than Harvey Dent, ole Two Face himself.

Now's the time when we look at some CGC census numbers. As of this writing, there are only 97 copies listed. Those are only CGC numbers. I've seen auctions for CBCS and PGX graded copies as well, so there are more than 97 total graded copies out there. I do expect those numbers to change fairly quickly as more and more people start digging through their long boxes and send their copies in. Of course, a lot of these copies that are listed are high grade copies, the highest being 9.6 NM+ with 21 copies. There are also a hand full of 9.8 NM/M copies too, nine to be exact. None are graded higher than that so far.

Values for Batman Family #6 on GoCollect

The biggest reason I decided to write about this is because of the large increases in value over the last couple of years. Some grades have seen a significant boost, like 9.2 NM- have vaulted up over 116%. Even 9.8 NM/M copies have gone up over 80%. The latest sale for a copy at that grade on eBay was $482 way back in July of last year. That sale was actually down from the previous sale, which was for $700 a month before in June. There were only two sales for 9.2 NM-, but the values jumped from $90 for a CBCS graded copy, all the way up to $195 a year later for a CGC copy.

The Joker's Daughter has become a more popular character lately due to her reemergence in the New 52 comics. And, with an all female Harley Quinn movie in the works, we might be able to see her hit the big screen in the future. If you want to take a gamble and speculate on this one, it could pay off for you in the not too distant future. 

Find a copy here
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Amazing Spider-Man #344

Marvel - Feb. 1991

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Cardiac
First cameo appearance of Cletus Kasady

Since I'm already on this topic, and because it's still fresh in my mind, I've decided to throw out another Carnage related key issue your way. This time I'll tell you about Amazing Spider-Man #344. 

With Michael Mando being cast in the new Spider-Man movie, and the tweet that was sent out by "Better Call Saul", there are many that believe Carnage is going to make an appearance soon. I am probably one of the few that doesn't think that Carnage will be making an appearance, but rather Cletus Kasady will. I mean, how can you jump straight to Carnage without first introducing Venom, since he is the spawn of Venom after all. 

Regardless of what they do on the big screen, let's delve into the character of Cletus Kasady a little bit. He is a homicidal maniac and serial killer. The first time that we see him in this issue, he is locked up in prison with Eddie Brock. His bright red hair, Jack Nicholson eyebrows and Joker like grin make him a pretty creepy looking guy. Actually, he reminds me a little bit of how Carrot Top looks now, without all of the curls.


When Kasady was a child, he murdered his grandmother by pushing her down a flight of stairs. He later tried to kill his own mother by tossing a hair dryer into the bathtub while she was bathing. Nice kid huh? But wait, it gets worse. Eventually, he ended up in St. Estes Home for Boys. Because of his antisocial behavior, the kids and staff at the orphanage would mentally and physically abuse him. To make a long story short, he burned down the orphanage, killing almost everyone inside.

Although this comic is more known for the first appearance of Cletus Kasady, it also holds the first appearance of another character, the antihero Cardiac.

Elias Wirtham devoted his life to medicine after the death of his brother Joshua. He later learned of a cure for the disease that could have saved his brother, but
the pharmaceutical company didn't release it because it wasn't profitable enough at that time. He subjected himself to a series of experiments that replace his heart with a beta particle reactor. The energy created from the reactor channels energy through his muscles, increasing his speed, agility and reflexes. He also had a mesh of vibranium implanted under his skin, thus creating the new hero Cardiac.

So far, there are only 658 copies of Amazing Spider-Man #344 listed in the CGC census. Don't let this low number fool you. This comic in not a low print run, hard to find, or rare. If you do an eBay search, a slew of ungraded copies will pop up. The reason for the low census numbers are simply that nobody is sending in their copies to be graded.

Values for Amazing Spider-Man #344on GoCollect

Most of these copies listed are high grade, with four of them being ultra high 9.9 Mint copies. There are no sales figures for these at sites like Heritage Auctions or Comic Connect, but I'm sure that they would be pretty pricey, 9.8 NM/M copies on the other hand are still very affordable. The last few sales on the mighty eBay were in the $120 range. There are a couple of pending sales for the same grade at Comic Link that were below $90, so if you take a little time to hunt for a copy, you can probably get a decent deal on it.

Whoever winds up showing up on the big screen in 2017, whether it's Cletus Kasady or Carnage, this comic could have a chance to see a little bit of action. I can't say that values are going to go sky high for it, but you might be able to scratch a little bit of profit out of it.

Find a copy here
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