The question is why this one is so much cheaper than the other Timely number ones, and the answer is straightforward.
A CGC 8.0 of All Winners Comics #1 sold for $16,500 at ComicLink in January 2023. A comparable grade of Captain America Comics #1 is a six-figure comic several times over.
No first appearance
That is the whole explanation. All Winners #1 from 1941 collects Captain America, the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner into one anthology, and every one of those characters had already debuted elsewhere.
A first issue with no first appearance in it prices on scarcity alone, and scarcity by itself never commands what scarcity plus a debut does. The comic is genuinely hard to find in high grade — it is a 1941 Timely, with all the paper problems that implies — but there is no character whose origin a collector must own it to have.
That is not a criticism of the book. It is the mechanism, and understanding it stops a seller expecting Captain America money for a Captain America cover.
Why that makes it interesting anyway
This is the wartime Timely first issue I would point a collector at who wants one and cannot spend six figures.
You get a Schomburg-era cover, the big three characters together, a genuine 1941 Timely first issue, and a book that is legitimately scarce — for the price of a mid-grade copy of something more famous. Among people who collect the era rather than the characters, that is a well-understood value.
It also means the downside is limited in a way character-driven books are not. Nothing about this comic depends on a film schedule or a character’s current profile, because it never had that support to begin with.
Where the wartime Timely first issues actually sit
Rough ordering, because these get compared constantly and the gaps are much wider than people expect.
Captain America Comics #1 is in a category of its own — first appearance, the most famous cover of the era, six figures in almost any grade. Sub-Mariner Comics #1 and Human Torch #2 follow, both carrying solo-title firsts for major characters.
Then a considerable drop to the team-up books: All Select, USA Comics, and this one. All genuinely scarce, none carrying a debut, all priced accordingly.
The gap between those two groups is the single most useful thing to understand about wartime Timely, and it is where I see the most disappointment. A Timely first issue with a famous character on the cover feels like it should be a major book. Whether it is depends entirely on whether something started inside it.
Selling an All Winners Comics #1
- Be realistic about the comparison. The Timely name does not mean Captain America #1 money on a book with no debut in it.
- Grade is doing most of the work. The documented sale is an 8.0, which is high for 1941 Timely, and the number reflects that.
- Expect tanning. Wartime stock browns and it is priced in.
- Sell it with its siblings if you have them. All Select and USA Comics are collected alongside it.
Have a copy?
Send three photos: front, back, and the small print. That is all I need to tell you where your copy really sits.
Related
- All Select Comics #1, the other Timely team-up first issue.
- Captain America Comics #1, at the other end of the price range.
- The 100 most valuable Golden Age comics, and what each one really sold for.
Cover images on this page are shown small, for identification, with the publisher credited in the caption. If you are a rights holder and want an image removed, contact me and it comes down.
