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Forget mutual funds; go with comic books

money July 20, 1997
Web posted at: 9:12 p.m. EDT (0112 GMT)

From Correspondent Jim Hill

SAN DIEGO (CNN) -- Talk about a bull market. Comic books, purchased in 1939 for 10 cents, are now worth hundreds -- if not thousands -- of dollars.

An inventory of several thousand collectible comics are being traded in an underground market where prices seem to be going in one direction: up. Just take a look around a comic book convention that took place recently in San Diego.

Whether it is a vintage Superman or a panel from the old-fashioned funnies, the dynamic is the same. Those who held onto old and rare comics over the years are reaping rapidly escalating prices for their collections.

Collectors call the 1930s and 1940s the golden age of comics. And books in good shape draw the best money.

'It's a fine oil painting. It just happens to be of Donald Duck.'

— art broker Bill Grandey

"There's been unbelievable growth from ... when we were all younger and it was less a professional business. It's really become a business," comic book broker Jerry Weist said.

A case in point: a collection that drew $1.7 million at a New York auction.

An original art panel signed by Carl Barks, who drew Donald Duck for more than 60 years, ranges in cost from $500 to $200,000. And the going rate for one of Barks' oil paintings is $100,000.

"It's a fine oil painting," comic art broker Bill Grandey said. "It just happens to be of Donald Duck."

vxtreme Comic book convention

And at the convention even relatively recent comics of all stripes -- from adult XXX to family fare -- are traded in hopes they'll appreciate in value over time.

It's enough to make comic connoisseurs smile all the way to the bank.

 
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