Antiques Roadshow

GUEST: My husband is out of town, and I went into his comic box and pulled out these.

There's about 60 more where these came from.

APPRAISER: Well, you seem like you said that with pa... "Pulled out those comic books."

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: What, do you want them out of the closet?

GUEST: (inhales) My husband thinks they're worth millions and billions of dollars.

That's, that's his heart, right?

Me, maybe a few hundred.

APPRAISER: All the books here range from the Silver Age of comics.

Silver Age being about 1956 to 1970.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: You have a mix of both books published by DC Comics and Marvel.

You see Batman, the Hulk, Sea Devils, "Strange Tales."

Any clue of which one might be better than the other?

GUEST: Well, you know, I think Green Lantern is pretty popular.

APPRAISER: Ooh, intere...

Okay, you have a good eye.

This is "Showcase" issue 22.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: Now, this is the first appearance of the Silver Age Green Lantern, being Hal Jordan.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: The original Green Lantern was introduced in 1940-- "All-American Comics," Alan Scott.

This is the second iteration of the Green Lantern, introduced in 1959.

Now, when it comes to comic books, condition is everything.

It is fully ripped all the way through the spine.

You have several losses along the back cover here.

Staple tears, pulls.

Numerically speaking, this comic is a 0.5 out of ten.

It's horrible.

It's the worst-conditioned comic you could ever possibly ask for.

GUSET: (laughing) APPRAISER: But still, as a first appearance of the Silver Age Green Lantern, in this shape, as a 0.5, easily $1,000 to $1,500 today.

GUEST: (chuckling): Oh, my gosh.

Fabulous!

APPRAISER: And that's just one.

We haven't even tangoed with the rest of them.

GUEST: Oh, my gosh!

APPRAISER: Conservatively, uh, at auction for the collection, easily $3,000 to $5,000.

GUEST: Whoo!

(laughs) I'm happy!

I hope my husband can hear that.

APPRAISER: Better than $300, right?

GUEST: Right, absolutely.

APPRAISER: Yeah, there we go!

GUEST: Yeah!