Most comic collecting buffs agree that the Silver Age comics from Marvel Comics Group were the very best of all time. It was around 1962 that the first Marvel comics started coming out that were in the Silver Age category. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby are universally recognized as having started the Silver Age comics phenomenon that endures to this day with frenzied trading and selling at conventions like Comic-Con and online at auction sites like ebay.
One of the first Silver Age comics that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created was Fantastic Four. Fantastic Four #1, which was first published in November of 1961, is presently valued at $52,000 according to Comic Book Realm (www.comicbookrealm.com). This became one of the most popular superhero comics of all time and in the last five years two movies have been made with great special effects that have introduced a whole new generation to these Silver Age comics heroes.
Recently at an auction in Dallas, a near mint 9.2 graded copy of The Incredible Hulk #1 was purchased for $125,475. This particular comic book has long been considered by experts and collectors to be one of the rarest Silver Age comics by Marvel, especially in such incredibly great condition. Grading is done by CGC (Certified Guaranty Company) which rates comics based upon rarity and condition and is considered to be the unquestioned industry standard. Makes you even angrier that your mom threw out all your old comics, huh?
Another great Silver Age comic book hero that endures to this day thanks in large part to the television animated series and the newer movie series is the Amazing Spider-Man. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 now goes for around $44,000 according to Comic Book Realm. This comic was created by Stan Lee himself with John Romita as the original artist and later John Buscema taking on the penciling work. The story of an everyman, Peter Parker, a college student who is bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes the superhero that never seems to get enough respect resonated with the teenagers and young adults who purchased the comics by the drove. Peter Parker lived with his Aunt May and worked for a monstrous boss, J. Jonah Jameson as a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Most readers could easily identify with Spider-Man and that is the main reason the comic became such a phenomenal hit.
Other titles soon appeared such as the Silver Surfer, X-Men, Avengers, the Mighty Thor, Nick Fury, and many others. The Silver Age reached its peak in the late 60s and early 70s and after that publishers became greedy and ended up ruining their own business by producing way too many books, thus devaluing the ones they had.
There has been a resurgence in collecting and trading of Silver Age comics but sadly it is not kids who are leading the way but rich investors. Unfortunately the steep prices of most of these rare titles make it prohibitive for young collectors to buy them. Todays comic collectors purchase more recent titles, graphic novels and Japanese comic books.
Will there ever be another Silver Age of comic books? Probably not but we can always dream.