Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: copper age, mirage studios, Sales Record, tmnt

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 CGC 9.8 Sells for Record $250,000

Published Mon, 13 Dec 2021 14:32:08 -0600

Last updated Wed, 26 Jan 2022 20:02:51 -0600

2021 may go down in history as one of the strongest years ever in the vintage comic book market. Among numerous examples, the first Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 9.6 for $3.6M, the debut of Ghost Rider in Marvel Spotlight #5 CGC 9.8 for $264,000, the first appearance of the Riddler in Detective Comics #140 CGC 9.6 for $456,000 and any number of prices realized from the Promise Collection are among countless stand-out results for the year. Now ComicConnect has surpassed a record they set in September 2021 with the sale today of another copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 CGC 9.8 for $250,000. The 1984 release by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird is the origin and first appearance of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As of this writing, there are 8 listings for the issue in CGC 9.8 and none higher on the CGC Census.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, Mirage Studios 1984.

TMNT #1 has been considered a pricey comic book since shortly after its publication. Commenting in 1985 on the immediate success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, Peter Laird noted, "The comic book we were afraid would sit around our living room in unsold boxes upon boxes is now being sold for approximately what a Conan #1 would go for. Believe me — this really blows our minds!"

He's referring of course to Marvel's Conan the Barbarian #1, a 1970 release by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith which was long considered one of the most expensive keys of the Bronze Age. I'm too lazy to dig through boxes to find my copy of the 1985 Overstreet Price Guide, but the 1987 edition I have handy lists Conan the Barbarian #1 at $70, while noting that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 had gone for prices in excess of $100 over the prior year. A Conan the Barbarian #1 CGC 9.8 can be had for around $6000 in 2021, which makes me wonder what Laird would think about the notion that a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 now goes for over 40x the price of a Conan the Barbarian #1. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 was also such an instant back issue pricing phenomenon that someone produced counterfeit copies in an attempt to take advantage of the market within the first year. There are also several later printings that were produced by Eastman and Laird's Mirage Studios.

In addition to the near-immediate success that TMNT became, this issue has always been pricey in high grade due to a print run of around 3,000 copies, a mostly black cover that makes even the smallest defects obvious, and a non-standard size that historically made it a slight storage challenge compared to standard-sized comic books.