100 Hot Comics #22: Tales of Suspense 52, 1st Black Widow

100 Hot Comics: Tales of Suspense 52, 1st Black Widow (Marvel). Click to find yours at Goldin

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Why Tales of Suspense 52 is a Hot Comic

2024 MARKET UPDATE: 9.4 SALE OF 28K MATCHES PANDEMIC HIGHS

One sale doesn't make a market. You can't disguise the fact that most books in most grades have mostly gone backwards in the past year.

But we'll take any signs of encouragement we can find.

2023 MARKET UPDATE: SOME THINGS NEVER GO COMPLETELY OUT OF STYLE

While TOS #52 isn't the hot ticket it once was, Silver Age keys don't go out of style.

It's shuffled slightly higher on the hot list, though a lot of that is due to others falling hard.

One to hold if you own it.

2022 MARKET UPDATE: IT'S LIKE 2016 ALL OVER AGAIN

Movie out, book slides. We saw this happen in the mid-teens every time a new MCU property was released.

Prices have softened across the board, with the odd bright spot here and there. Low volume means this book won't get higher on the list unless something special happens with Natasha Romanov.

Prices are still healthily higher than a year ago. Time to sell if you're still holding.

$315 is the entry 0.5 price.

Recent sales:

9.0 $11,400
8.5 $6,600
8.0 $6,750
7.5 $3,800
7.0 $2,750
6.5 $2,125
6.0 $1,980
5.5 $1,500
5.0 $1,110
4.5 $895
4.0 $1,000(!)
3.5 $660
3.0 $775(!!)
2.5 $700
2.0 $590
1.8 $600
1.5 $675(!!)
0.5 $315

2021 MARKET UPDATE: SMALL GAINS WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE WIDOW

Will the Black Widow movie EVER be released? The pandemic has delayed this multiple times.

Most grades have seen prices going sideways, with almost no appreciation. Lower grades have done a little better.

Recent sales:

9.2 $11,000
9.0 $7,125
8.5 $4,600
8.0 $4,000
7.5 $2,500
7.0 $2,100
6.5 $1,325
6.0 $1,165
5.5 $1,000
5.0 $900
4.5 $620
4.0 $700(!)
3.5 $600
3.0 $550
2.5 $350
2.0 $400
1.8 $360
1.5 $335

IF YOU BOUGHT MY RECOMMENDED GRADE LAST YEAR:

Here's the bottom line.

CGC 8.0 2019 $3,671
LAST SALE $4,400
PERCENT CHANGE +20%

2020 MARKET UPDATE: BLACK WIDOW MOVIE COMING SOON!

If you somehow missed the news, then you'll be cheered to hear that a dedicated Black Widow movie is coming very soon!

You can see Norm Robinson's picks for comic investments in our article.

How did our book do last year?

Other books on the 100 Hot Comics have been lifted by the news of the movie, including Avengers 43 and Tales of Suspense 57.

Here are recent sales of Tales of Suspense 52:

9.0 $8,000
8.5 $4,655
8.0 $4,400
7.5 $2,280
7.0 $2,245
6.5 $1,800
6.0 $1,280
5.5 $1,470(!)
5.0 $799
4.5 $825(!)
4.0 $600
3.5 $421
3.0 $405
2.5 $370
2.0 $340
1.8 $350
1.5 $336
1.0 $245

2019 MARKET UPDATE: BLACK WIDOW ENTERS THE VAULT

Sean and I stashed a nice CGC 8.0 of Tales of Suspense 52 into our private vault of investments this year. When it came in with a collection, I made the case for keeping it long-term.

The only thing better than buying a CGC 8.0 is getting one for nothing, but I see a lot of action on this book above VG this year.

Here's the breakdown of recent sales.

CGC 9.2 $6,800
CGC 9.0 $3,243
CGC 8.0 $2,640
CGC 7.5 $1,100
CGC 7.0 $1,385 (!)
CGC 6.5 $1,357 (!!)
CGC 6.0 $755
CGC 4.0 $465

2018 MARKET UPDATE: NEVER AN AVENGERS MOVIE WITHOUT HER

I haven't seen it yet, but my best guess is that the Black Panther movie will be another Avengers movie, and so was the last Captain America movie.

Infinity War will DEFINITELY be an Avengers movie.

The lovely Black Widow was, or will be, in all of them. Prices of her first appearance are hot in low-to-mid grades, while upper grades are quiet.

Recent sales:

CGC 9.2 $6,750
CGC 8.5 $1,800
CGC 7.5 $900
CGC 7.0 $825
CGC 6.5 $750
CGC 6.0 $625
CGC 4.0 $400

2017 MARKET UPDATE:

To some degree, the excitement about this book is all in the past. Many key issues driven by movies have a spike and then drop again. TOS 52 has the advantage of multiple movies featuring Black Widow. She's one of the characters which crosses over into many of the stories.

Few high-grade examples have come to market recently. When they do, new records will probably be set. This is a tough book in higher grade, due to its dark cover.

CGC 9.4: $9,100
CGC 8.0: $1,430
CGC 7.5 $1,100
CGC 7.0 $775
CGC 6.5 $680
CGC 6.0 $570
CGC 4.0 $340

There are few characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe hotter than Black Widow (especially considering her on-screen persona is acted by the uber-hot Scarlett Johansson).

Tales of Suspense #52 is one of the most underrated and under-valued Silver Age keys, in our opinion, and it is beginning to catch fire, as more investors and speculators jump into nice-looking copies of this book.

It's a tricky one to find in higher grades, due to its beautiful (but notoriously wear-friendly) front cover with its dark blue background in the top half and action-packed action scene. Pick a clean copy with white pages and you won't go wrong over time.