'Antiques Roadshow' guest tells expert 'you are kidding me' after hearing value of his Marvel comic

Marvel fandom has become a global phenomenon thanks to the success of superhero movies on the big screen, and fans today are buying merch ranging from t-shirts to bags and bobbleheads. But Marvel comic books have been a collector's item for decades, and while they were valuable before, the increased pop-culture relevance has led to a new spike in value. When a guest brought a couple of Marvel comics from the ‘60s to “Antiques Roadshow,” he was in disbelief when the expert revealed the price that it could fetch today.

The guest said that he used to buy candy and comic books in his younger years, and his mother knew about it. So, at an auction, his mother bid $24 on a box of these comics and got them for him. The comics were locked in an attic for years, and the expert, James Supp, chose a couple of those comics to be featured on the show. One of them was from September 1963, and the other was published in November that year. “Now, these aren’t in what we would consider mint condition. Far from it,” the expert said before pointing out the issues with each of the items.

“You’ve got creases by the staples, you’ve got a section here that’s completely folded back. You’ve got what we call a rolled cover, which means the cover is slightly offset. Especially on this one, it’s particularly bad. These are what we’d call ‘very good,’” Supp explained. The guest knew all this and seemed calm as the products’ conditions were being criticized. At the time of recording, Marvel Studios had just released the "Avengers: Age of Ultron" movie, and there were rumors that an "Ant-Man" movie was in the works. The expert and the guest, both of whom seemed to be comic book geeks, spoke about the character. They also spoke about a character called Space Phantom, who still hasn’t been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“It introduces a new character, the Space Phantom, which unfortunately, I don’t think anyone really knows about anymore,” Supp said. It was now time to put a price on the comics, and the expert asked the guest if he had any notion of what they would sell for at auction today. The collector conceded that he had no clue, after which the expert valued the November 1963 comic at somewhere between $450 to $550, and the one from September in the range of $4000 to $6000.

The guest was shocked upon hearing the price of the comics. “No way, you’re kidding me. In that condition? Wow! My mom is going to freak out. I cannot believe she kept them all these years. She’s totally not going to believe this story. Seriously, wow. Oh my God, it’s unbelievable,” he said.