Timely put this out in January 1940, a few months after Marvel Comics #1 had done well. It did not repeat the trick. The title struggled, the schedule was irregular, and the print runs were modest.
Which is exactly why it is now the scarcest of the earliest Timely anthologies. Commercial failure is one of the most reliable routes to scarcity in this hobby, and it catches people out because the instinct is to assume the famous books are the rare ones.
The same grade, three times apart
| Copy | Result | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| CGC 9.2, pedigree | $132,000 | ComicConnect, October 2024 |
| CGC 8.0 | $46,000 | ComicConnect, March 2026 |
| CGC 9.2, no pedigree | $46,500 | ComicConnect, 2014 (same source) |
The first and third lines are the instructive pair. Both are 9.2s. One brought $132,000 in 2024, the other $46,500 in 2014, and the difference between them is a pedigree label and ten years of market movement.
You cannot cleanly separate those two factors from the outside, and I am not going to pretend I can. What is safe to say is that a pedigree copy at 9.2 and a plain copy at 9.2 are not the same asset, and the gap here is close to three times. Until an unpedigreed high-grade copy sells again, the 2024 record should be read as describing pedigree copies specifically. One more honesty note: the write-up that records both sales does not name which collection the 2024 copy carries, which is why I have not.
The middle line is the most useful for most owners: a CGC 8.0 at $46,000 in March 2026. Recent, documented, and a grade that a genuinely well-kept copy can reach — though it sold inside the Eric Groves Collection event, which ran hot, and that is worth remembering when using it as a benchmark.
What is inside it
The book carries the first Fiery Mask, an early Joe Simon creation, and a cover by Alex Schomburg. Neither is a household name, and that is part of why the issue gets overlooked relative to its scarcity.
Simon would go on, with Jack Kirby, to create Captain America the following year, which makes his early Timely work collectible on the creator side rather than the character side. Schomburg covers carry their own premium across the whole period.
So this is a book collected by people who know the era rather than by people chasing a famous character. That tends to mean steadier demand and thinner, less predictable sale volume — which is exactly the pattern the three sales above show.
The pattern worth taking away from this one
This book is a good illustration of something that applies well beyond it, and it is probably the most useful thing on this page for anyone going through a collection.
The comics that survive in the smallest numbers are frequently not the famous ones. Famous books had large print runs and, eventually, people who knew to keep them. The genuinely scarce material is often a title that failed quickly, an anthology nobody remembers, or the last issues of a run that was being canceled.
None of those look valuable in a stack. They have unfamiliar titles, no character you recognize on the cover, and nothing about them suggests they should be pulled aside. So they get sorted into the discard pile by people being perfectly sensible.
If you are working through a box of Golden Age comics, the safest rule is that unfamiliar is not the same as unimportant. Set aside anything you cannot identify rather than anything you can.
Selling a Daring Mystery Comics #1
- Do not assume an unfamiliar title is a minor one. This is the mistake that costs money on early Timely anthologies, and it is common.
- Establish whether there is provenance. If the copy came from a documented collection, that is worth pursuing before it is sold, because the pedigree premium here is large.
- Expect very few comps. Three public sales across twelve years is the whole record. Anyone quoting confidently is guessing.
- Leave the paper alone. 1940 Timely stock is fragile and any intervention shows.
I would want to handle this one before quoting, because so few pass through that photographs leave real questions open. I will say so rather than give you a number I am not confident in.
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
- Marvel Comics #1, the Timely anthology that worked.
- Captain America Comics #74, another book made scarce by poor sales.
- 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.
