ThunderCats #5 Newsstand 95¢ Variant Value

From: The 2024 CPV Price Guide for Canadian Price Variants (Type 1A) by Bill Alexander, Tim Bildhauser, Paul Clairmont, Greg Holland, Jon McClure, Jayden Mitchell, Benjamin Nobel, Conan Saunders, Doug Sulipa, and Angelo Virone [ introduction, table of contents, all titles, other price guide editions]

Within the top 500 most valuable variants of our 2024 CPV Price Guide, you'll find ThunderCats #5, at a 95¢ variant NM- value of $38. With everything the issue has going for it (as detailed in the issue notes in the page above), and a value that puts it in the top ten percent of all variants in our guide, 95¢ price variant copies of ThunderCats #5 are watchlist-worthy and we give them a rating of FOUR POINT TWO FIVE STARS as a collectible. Regular copies in 9.2 have increased in value by $3 since 2018, or about +33% on a percentage basis. Meanwhile, CPV newsstand copies in 9.2 have outperformed notably, increasing in value by $18 since 2018, or about +90%.

What is the value of ThunderCats #5?
I have a copy of ThunderCats #5 and I want to know what this comic book is worth in different grades as a first printing?

✔️Accepted answer: The answer depends on the type that you own. For ThunderCats #5, Star published a direct edition type (exceptionally well preserved by collectors as direct edition comics were the type sold in comic shops), and two newsstand types which were sold to the general public on newsstands (a regular cover price version and the 95¢ price variant). If you own a price variant, lucky you, it is worth $38 in 9.2 (Near Mint Minus).

  Suggested answer: Check whether the cover of your copy of ThunderCats #5 has a graphical logo or a bar code box. If it has a graphical logo, sorry to break it to you but you own a commonplace direct edition copy which is worth about $12.

  Suggested answer: If your copy of ThunderCats #5 has a bar code box on the cover, then you've got a newsstand copy! Is it the more-rare price variant? Now for the moment of excitement: is the cover price of your newsstand copy 95¢? If so, congratulations, you own the cover price variant!!

✔️Accepted answer: The direct edition (logo on cover) is worth about $10 in VF/NM whereas the 95¢ newsstand variants are worth $33.

✔️Accepted answer: As collectibles, direct edition copies are already at a disadvantage compared to newsstand copies in the highest grades, because direct editions were extraordinarily well preserved as the distinct type sold in specialty comic shops. The comic shop owners ordered direct edition copies of ThunderCats #5 at a discount to cover price, but on a non-returnable basis (the graphical logo was to tell non-returnable copies apart from their returnable newsstand counterparts). When their orders arrived, the comic shop staff handled the books with extreme care to preserve their condition, and then the comic book collectors who shopped there typically preserved their purchases in plastic bags with backing boards. By contrast, newsstand copies were treated as reading material with no staff training to handle the books with any semblance of care, and they were then sold to the general public; unsold copies were returned for credit and typically pulped/recycled forward. Only those newsstand copies of ThunderCats #5 that were taken home and preserved by collectors would survive today in the highest grades. Among surviving newsstand copies of ThunderCats #5, the market area that received the 95¢ cover price newsstand copies was a restricted area representing less than 10% the population of the total North American newsstand market. That's because the destination market for 95¢ copies of ThunderCats #5 was Canadian newsstands — hence the name Canadian Price Variant as a short-hand for 95¢ Price Variant. All of this adds up to a market value for the 95¢ variant approximately 230% higher than the direct edition in Very Fine / Near Mint (9.0) condition, as of our 2024 CPV Price Guide Edition.

✔️Accepted answer: The direct edition version of ThunderCats #5 is worth about $8 in Very Fine (8.0) whereas the 95¢ newsstand variants are worth $27.

✔️Accepted answer: In FN (6.0) shape, the direct edition version of ThunderCats #5 is worth about $6 whereas the 95¢ newsstand variants are worth $19.

✔️Accepted answer: Down in VG (4.0) Very Good condition, the direct edition version of ThunderCats #5 is worth about $4 whereas the 95¢ newsstand variants are worth $13.

✔️Accepted answer: The price guide value way down in GD (2.0) Good condition for ThunderCats #5 is about $2 for the direct edition version whereas the 95¢ newsstand variants are worth $6.

✔️Accepted answer: ThunderCats #5 95¢ variant newsstand copies in 9.2 have produced gains, increasing in value by $18 since 2018, or about +90% in 7 years (from our 2018 guide edition to our 2024 guide edition).