Comic books worth tens of thousands of pounds could be lurking in our lofts and cupboards – as a collection of rare and pristine examples goes up for auction in London this month, valued at more than £2million.
Adam Pace, 48, a comic book and artwork expert at London auction house Stanley Gibbons Baldwin’s, which is presenting the collection, says comics from our childhood are becoming more valuable than ever before, because “people long for escapism”.
“We live in such torrid times – anything that’s comic related, sci-fi related, shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime – it’s all an escape from the life we’re living,” he explains.
And while cinema-goers may be complaining of ‘superhero fatigue’ – not a single Marvel or DC Studios film made it into the top five highest-grossing movies of 2025 – comic book fans can’t get enough of their favourite reads.
“They’ve become tradeable commodities,” says Adam. “It’s the same with trading cards. If you look at Pokemon and sports trading cards, they’re now selling for obscene amounts of money because people are getting into these things as investments.
“You’ve got a lot more music celebrities and actors getting into this field – you now have people who work in stocks and shares getting into this field because it’s a commodity.”
American rapper Eminem is one self-confessed comic book nerd, boasting an “otherworldly” collection of rare issues, according to his record label executive Riggs Morales.
“Jonathan Ross, who has a bank vault in his basement that contains all of his collectables, had heard Eminem was refusing to do any interviews outside of the US,” says Adam.
“He contacted Eminem and said, ‘I think you need a copy of Amazing Fantasy #15. I have two – would you like to come to the UK, do my show and I’ll pay you with one copy?’ Eminem agreed, and that was his only UK interview.”
Amazing Fantasy #15 remains one of the most sought-after comics, as it contains the first appearance of Spider-Man. One mint condition copy, the jewel in the crown of the upcoming auction collection, has been valued at £25,000.
“Here in the UK, they’re incredibly rare,” Adam explains. “At MCM Comic Con, two weeks ago at London Excel, we had two copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 on display, and it’s an absolute rarity to see two of them on display in the UK. They came home with me every night!”
The auction collection also contains key books that introduce some of the biggest Marvel characters to the audience. “We’ve got the Amazing Spider-Man #1, which is his first ever solo book and came out a year after Amazing Fantasy,” says Adam. “That’s valued at £10,000.
“We also have Journey Into Mystery #83 and #85, which is the first appearance of Thor and the first of Loki. They’re between £5,000 to £10,000. Then we have Tales of Suspense #39, which is the first appearance of Iron Man, and again, that’s around the £10,000 mark.”
It’s been 23 years since the first superhero instalment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with 2002’s Spider-Man starring Tobey Maguire. Bought by Disney in 2009 for $4billion, since then the MCU has grossed more than $30bn at the global box office.
And with each new character introduced on the silver screen, Adam sees the value of corresponding comic books soar.
“Hollywood has definitely helped escalate the prices in collectibles,” he says. “It becomes a speculation market. So when She-Hulk hit Disney+, everyone speculated on her first appearance. Her first [comic book] appearance in Savage She-hulk #1 started rising to around £250 to £500, whereas now that’s depleted to around the £100 mark because she’s only in that TV show, she’s never been seen again.
“When films like Avengers Doomsday comes out this time next year, there’s certain characters that are rumoured to appear in that film. There’s a speculation market that those characters are now in high price points. But as soon as the film comes out, everything stabilises again.”
Iron Man comic books, he adds, were a “lost cause” before Robert Downey Jr. brought the tech billionaire to life on screen.
“As soon as the film came out [in 2008], that elevated Iron Man’s status into just below Spider-Man,” says Adam.
“But we’re also in an era where no-one likes a boy scout. Superman and Captain America used to be good old-fashioned American superheroes, fighting the evil for the good. Now we live in dark times, so people are after those darker heroes. The boy scout is no longer the common hero.”
Comic books, Adam believes, will always retain their value, because fans will never stop appreciating the feeling of being able to hold a physical copy in their hands – even if they do have to wear gloves, in the case of the rarest, most hard-to-find issues.
“It’s like walking into an old book store, isn’t it? You’ve got the smell of the books, you’ve got it in your hand, there’s something historical there, you can flip the page and the character will jump out at you,” he says.
“In fact, the comic book industry tried to go digital some time ago, but people weren’t receptive to digital comics. So these books will continually increase in value.
“The issue that we have now is that some books will be found in basements and lofts and garages and people won’t know what they were. I had a consignment of Amazing Fancy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1 come to me recently. They were found in an ammunition box that was going to be thrown on a bonfire! It makes me shudder.”
