The secondary comic market regularly ebbs and flows as book sales go through moderate changes, and occasionally see big jumps (or falls) in value. Overstreet Access tracks these changes through diligent research into the market and via assessment of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide marketing reports. Those changes are routinely updated on OverstreetAccess.com’s Recent Value Changes page, which can be viewed with a membership to the website.

When comic book superheroes became the actual heroes of young readers, publishers started looking for new ways to appeal to that demographic. They created teen sidekicks like Robin and Bucky Barnes, and introduced stories that made kids the primary protagonists. This was especially true for boys who wanted to be heroes and fight bad guys themselves.

One popular title was Boy Comics, the story of a kid who wanted to avenge the death of his parents. It followed the adventures of Chuck Chandler, aka Crimebuster, after a Nazi named Iron Jaw kills his father and kidnaps his mother. Crimebuster tried to save his mother, but she was killed by Germans when they escaped. The young boy kept pursuing Iron Jaw and once he died, Chuck decided to continue stopping villains as Crimebuster.

Boy Comics began in the spring of 1942 and ran for 117 issues through March 1956. Overstreet Pricing Editor Yolanda Ramirez did a Recent Valuation on the title and noted big increases in a few early titles. Issue 4 (June 1942) has gone up to $6,500 in Near Mint-/9.2 condition, showing an increase of $500.

Issue 10 with the return of Iron Jaw has increased in value by $2,000 and is now priced at $12,000 in 9.2. Issue 11 with an Iron Jaw cover is up to $6,000, marking a 50% increase. The biggest gain was in issue 29, which is now priced at $5,255 for a 9.2 copy. This shows a 951% increase from the last valuation.

Overstreet Access users can find the Recent Value Changes by clicking on the “Search Titles” tab in the Quick Navigation bar on the home page. Then click the green “Recent Value Changes” button on the “Titles” page.