Rrrrip! Comics stripped of value

Alternative investments: hot issues are getting harder to find

THE Fat Slags might have gone for as little as a pint of lager, but copies of the first issue of Viz were sold for up to pounds 200 a few years ago. Now, however, although there were just 200 copies of the first Viz produced from a bedroom, the price is down to around fifty quid.

Investments can go down in value as well as up, and that is as true of comics as it is of houses. The bustling trade of a few years ago, which saw new comic retailers opening around the country week after week, has bottomed out, some prices have fallen, and many shops have gone out of business.

"There was a time in the late Eighties when everyone was in it for investment, from merchant banks to children, but that element has gone out of the market now," says Josh Palmano, proprietor of the Gosh! Comics shop in Great Russell Street, London.

"People should buy what they are interested in. A lot of early comics are bought by businessmen who want to relive their youth. Buying comics as a tremendous investment is not viable now."

Take Judge Dredd comics. The recent Sylvester Stallone film stimulated some interest, but even copies of issue No 2 go for only pounds 40 to pounds 80.

Although the run-of-the-mill comic may be worth the same or less than five or six years ago, really sought-after comics go for ever-higher prices. This is particularly true in the US. Christie's auction house has given up its London sale of comics, selling, like Sotheby's, from its New York rooms instead.

Sotheby's New York comic sale realised more than $832,000 (pounds 526,000) at the end of last month. This was achieved thanks to the sale of original art covers of Mad magazine. One cover original sold for $19,550. "Great comic original artwork is treated with the same respect as Cubists or Impressionists," explains John Stapeley, valuer at Phillips auction rooms in Bath.

There are a few comics that attract similar money. The first issues of cultural icons, such as Batman and Superman, are in great demand. Action Comic No 1, the debut of Superman in 1938, sold at Christie's London sale last year for pounds 14,300. But the highest bid at the same sale for Batman's first appearance, in Detective Comics No 27 in 1939, failed to reach its reserve price of pounds 30,000, with bidding only going to pounds 22,000. A copy of the same comic sold for pounds 71,000 in New York last year. There are about 100 known copies in perfect condition of the original Batman comic.

British comics are of comparatively modest value. A copy of the No 1 copy of the Eagle comic, dating from 1950, is expected to sell for about pounds 200 at Phillips's next collectors' sale in Bath on 20 November. No 1 copies of the Dandy and the Beano, which began in 1937 and 1938 respectively, sell for around 10 times as much.

Contemporary comic purchases can also be bought and sold profitably by those who know what they are doing. "There are still certain comics that go up in value straight away," says Jonathan Armstrong, manager of London's Comic Showcase shop. He says retailers are much more cautious now about the quantities of new titles they order, having lost money by overstocking at the end of the comic boom in the early 1990s. First issues of comics with a small initial print run that subsequently prove popular can spiral in value. This was true of the Bone, a black and white animal comic which achieved a certain cult status.

Chris Rice, assistant manager of the Forbidden Planet bookshop in Bristol, says that other titles are also sought-after. "The X-Files comic issue No 10 is just out, with issue No 1 now going for pounds 75, after 10 months, originally priced at pounds 1.50. Three or four years ago you would see people buying 10 copies of first issues for investment, but not so much now." Mr Rice warns that speculative purchases have become very risky. "Valiant comics went from pounds 90 or pounds 100 an issue to nothing in a short space of time." The same problem afflicts a wide range of comics, and most retailers now regard prices in the 1994/5 edition of The Comic Book Price Guide by Duncan McAlpine(Price Guide Productions) as unachievably high.

New collectors face further risks, particularly of paying mint-condition prices for less than perfect copies. "Condition is all- important," says Mr Stapeley of Phillips. "A single wrinkle in the cover knocks the price by 80 per cent." Mr Palmano warns that maintaining mint condition is difficult: "There is a lot of acid erosion with comics, and you have to bend the paper to look inside."

Buyers should note that although restoration may make a comic look in mint condition, it should not attract mint prices. "There are quite a few people who restore comics. Most are honest about it, but restored copies are not worth as much," says Mr Rice.

"Restorers may bleach the paper - the whiter the paper the more valuable it is. Most older comics will brown and go brittle. If you are offered a very old comic in very good condition, it is worth a close check to see if it has been restored."

Mr Rice believes that with the market fairly flat, this is an ideal opportunity to begin a collection - but for enjoyment rather than profit. "Shop around. Comics International is a very good place to start."

Comic corners

q Comics International magazine is published monthly, and contains details of collectors' fairs and sales.

q Gosh! Comics is at 39 Great Russell Street, London WC1.

q Comic Showcase is at 76 Neal Street, London WC2.

q Forbidden Planet has shops in Bristol, London, Coventry, Liverpool, Cambridge, Croydon, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham, Cardiff, Dublin and Limerick.

q Vintage Magazines sells comics at 7/8 Greenland Place, London NW1.