Key issues in comics are an important part of the collecting culture in comic books. Key issues can be anything from an important event that affects a comic universe to a new costume to an appearance of a new character or more factors.

Key issues can be very valuable and a great investment for the future or it can be worth less than what you paid for it at the time of its printing.

What goes into deciding what a key issue is, who decides, and what resources can be used to help you decide what key issues to buy if you are looking for an investment opportunity or if you just like a character or a team of superheroes and want to own their key issues for your personal collection.

What are Key Issues?

A key issue as previously mentioned can be a new costume, a major event, or a new character. It can also include a great cover, a 1st issue by, or an important issue in a writer or artist’s career.

Within the world of a key issue there are major issues, minor issues and what can be considered a holy grail. A number of factors can contribute to the monetary value of a comic book, whether it’s a major, minor or grail key.

How popular has the character become over the years? The year or era the character appeared in comics. Batman’s 1st appearance was in Detective Comics #27 in 1939 along with the 1st appearance of Commissioner Jim Gordon in a grade of 6.5.

It last sold for $1.8 million in April of 2024. Captain America’s 1st appearance was in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941 and last sold in 9.4 for $3.1 million. Both turned out to be major superheroes and have been part of the cultural zeitgeist for decades.

• Related: How to Get Comic Books Graded

Could it be argued that Detective Comics #27 should be worth more than Captain America? Yes, but a number of factors can influence the price of a comic book key issues:

• Cultural Impact
• Market Demand
• Grade
• Era
• Writer
• Artist
• Signed by
• Storyline

Factors and Characteristics of a Key Issue

1st Character Appearances

One of the most important factors for contributing to an issue becoming a key is the appearance of a new character, hero or villain. This can range from a new team member, a new sidekick, or a new adversary to a comic book universe.

Can anyone tell if a new character is going to be the contributing factor to a comic being a key, major, minor or holy grail?

No. However there are some signs that you can look at for speculation if you are buying or looking to invest in after the issue has been released:

• How often has that character been used?
• Have they contributed to a major event in the comic universe?
• How have the comic readers overall responded to that new character?
  • Positively, negatively, or indifferent?
• Has the writer or publication indicated this new character would be returning or important to the future of the intellectual property?

Major Events

A major event can contribute to the value and “keyness” of a comic book. Typically major events are valued less than a 1st appearance; however, there can be events that ripple through the entire future of a comic title through the ages.

An example would be Batman: The Killing Joke where The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon who later becomes Oracle. It was such a popular story line that the issue was reprinted 8 more times.

While this would be considered a major event, it is more valuable than the subsequent 1st appearance of Oracle in Suicide Squad issue twenty three.

Major Events

A major event can contribute to the value and “keyness” of a comic book. Typically major events are valued less than a 1st appearance however there can be events that ripple through the entire future of a comic title through the ages.  An example would be Batman: The Killing Joke where The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon who later becomes Oracle. It was such a popular story line that the issue was reprinted 8 more times.  While this would be considered a major event it is more valuable than the subsequent 1st appearance of Oracle in Suicide Squad issue twenty three. 

Limited Release and Scarcity

Another factor contributing to the value of a comic book is how many issues were printed, how many comic shops were actually about to sell a copy, and how many subsequent printings a key issue received.

While there are an untold number of comic book companies only a few can be considered major players. Marvel and DC were the kings for a very long time, but Image, a relatively new player in comics, came into existence in the late 90s and has been growing ever since.

While the most valuable keys still come from Marvel and DC, there are a number of comics from long dead comic companies that are very valuable. An example would be Crime Does Not Pay issue twenty four sold for over a hundred thousand dollars in 2022 in a graded 9.4.

This comic was published by Lev Gleason and was a pre comic code authority which contributed to its value. Lev Gleason went out of business in 1956.

Key issues from smaller publishers can go higher in value just because of the scarcity of a comic book, even while using popular intellectual property. Dark Horse printed the 1st appearance of Ahsoka Tano, a character from the Star Wars universe.

While Ahsoka is a popular character, the value of the comic is also boosted by its very low print run of twenty four thousands copies being printed at the time of publication.

Contributing to scarcity, even from major publishers, is the idea of variants or specialized variants with limited print runs or retailer incentives.

While variants have existed since the late 60’s with cover A and cover B. Publishers started to create variants based on order numbers or special covers for comic book conventions. Limiting supply and raising the value of the book.

For example, a book with a new character is coming out, and the publisher will then add an incentive based variant to local comic shops.

When Boom! Studios release a new series called BRZRKR #1 which was a collaboration between Ron Garvey and actor Keanu Reeves; they had incentives of 1 in 25 all the way up to 1 in a 1000 issues.

This means that the retailer would have to buy 25 copies of the regular variants to get 1 of the special covers, which the retailer would then sell at a higher price. The first print of BRZRKR sold six hundred and eighteen thousand copies.

That, in turn, suggests there are six hundred and eight copies of the one in one thousand variant or less. This can cause the value to be worth more than 1000 copies needed to purchase it.

• Related: 9 Amazing Spider Man Key Issues

How to Identify a Key Issue of a Comic Book

Tools and Resources to Identify a Key Issue

There are a number of valuable resources to help a speculator or comic book collector know how to identify or find a key issue. Two resources I use personally are Key Collector Comics and COVR Price.

Key Collector has a large database of key characters, events, and issue information along with information and new comic books coming out each week and their possible significance, whether that is a new character, a variant artist, or a new series synopsis.

They also track trends in key sales and have a number of resources dedicated to specific characters and their key issues.

COVR Price is similar to Key Collector however, there are a few differences. COVR Price provides the ability to track your collection.

This will also give you a value of your collection, the keys you currently have in your collection and what in your collection is trending and has increased in value.

Key Collector gives you that ability as well but is limited to keys only that have marked as keys. COVR price allows you to add non keys and track their value which could end up being a key at some point.

Even non keys can have value depending on the market, scarcity, story etc.

• Related: Avengers Key Issues: Collector’s Guide

Understanding Comic Release Numbers

There are a couple of things to know in relation to printings and the barcode on a comic that can contribute to understanding a comic’s potential value. Most of the time publishers do not release publishing numbers.

Sometimes Bleeding Cool will report how many books were printed in a run or you can head over to Comichron for the tops books from Diamond who are a publishing company but again numbers are scarce on a specific issue.

As for the bar codes, it usually includes a supplemental 5 digit code. This can help in determining a few things. For example, a 00122 would mean this is the first issue in a new series hence the 001.

The first 2 would indicate not the A or first cover but the 2nd cover or B variant. The last digit in the 5 digit sequence indicates the printing. In this example, it would indicate this is the 2nd printing of this issue.

Not all books have this, and some variants don’t come with the code at all. This is why a resource like Key Collector can be invaluable to a comic book key hunter or collector in general.

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FAQ about Key Comics!

What type of Key Comic are most valuable?

Typically 1st appearances are the most valuable.

How can I determine if a comic I have is a Key?

A number of previously mentioned resources can help determine what the community considers a key.  Key Comic Collector, COVR Price, Go Collect.

Are modern comics considered Key Issues?

Absolutely, age does not determine whether an issue is a key issue.  While age can contribute to increasing a value of a comic it is not the only determining factor in whether a comic book can be considered a key.