Comic Book Speculation Chat Summary #6
Another week, another chat summary. If you are not engaging the community via the chat, you are missing out on a lot of book discussions, tips and tricks and more importantly, “spilling coffee” kind of humor.
1. Comics heating up
Batman vs Predator #1
With news of Predator going to Marvel, it means that there will be no more reprints of any DC related Predator issues. This lead to a sudden rush of buying activity for this book. Sets have been selling well over $100.
If you got them, sell them now. I don’t think such books tend to hold value over time as it is very event driven.
Point One, Bradshaw Color Variant
Dabears, who has been very diligent in updating the chats on hot books, shown us that this book is slowly heating up.
This squares well with what I said in my latest article on modern 9.8 to invest for 2020 . If you do not want to go for the sketch version, this colored one is more affordable and has good upside as well.
All New Marvel Point One
This book has finally seen some movement after casting news came out. 9.8s of this book is especially hot, with prices reaching $600.
Currently, there are less than 200 copies on the census, despite the high submissions. Here is hoping that this will replace Captain Marvel #14 as the more important Ms Marvel book.
Star Wars Legacy #1
Star Wars #1 in 9.8 has been selling very well. The latest sales was more than $600 and might reach $1k in the next few months.
There was also discussion on the 3rd print of this book (shown above). This edition currently sells the best.
For all Adam Hughes fans, issue 1 to 7 all features his art work on the cover, which is another reason for buying this series.
2. Comic book speculation
2.1 Comics related to games
There was a short discussion on what possible comic segments to speculate on outside of Star Wars. One genre that came out are comics related to games.
Ross mentioned that this segment caught his attention after noticing the price on Uncharted 3 years ago.
From the discussion, these are basic tips or advice if you want to get in on this relatively new segment of collecting:
- Focus on first issues. There are less focus on ‘first appearances’ especially for games such as Call of Duty where the lead character is basically the gamer.
- Some titles might have strong appeal and can be good long term investments. Title mentioned included Diable, Zelda. As Ross said: “these aren’t cheap in high grades already”.
- Other titles mentioned in the discussion include: Valiant Nintendo comics, Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Call of Duty Ashcan.
2.2 Star Wars speculation
It is not Mewe chat if there was no Star Wars talk. The most recent speculation is for these cover appearances that predates the characters actual appearances.
If the Solo Disney+ show is a reality, the above characters will probably show up. The first 2 characters debuted in the Solo Adaption series but these are their first cover appearances. Lando and Solo made their first appearances in the older Star Wars comics but these are their first cover with the new actors.
The issues are:
- Qi-ra: Star Wars #47
- Enfys Nest: Darth Vader #16
- Lando: Doctor Aphra #19 (this book was highlighted in chat summary #5)
- Han: Star Wars #46
My personal favorite will be the Qi-ra character. With Emilia Clarke potentially returning to this role, I can see her becoming pretty popular.
3. Tips and tricks
3.1 Have a portfolio of lottery books
One of the key things that comic speculators like to do is to buy lottery books. These are low priced comics which might have a big upside. Usually, if it becomes hot, it will be enough to pay for the rest.
Chris Ferreira shown us how he has done it with his amazing hoard.
Chris also mentioned there are other lottery books that did not pan well such as Exiles #2. However, this is always part of the game. If all the comics strike, they wouldn’t be called lottery lol.
However, if you hit one like Clone Wars #1, you are set. So, as you look at your own portfolio, do you have lottery books like Clone Wars or Blue Marvel waiting to break out?
Below is one of mine that broke out.
4. Others
4.1 Comic Connect poor services
There was a number of members who complaint about the lousy customer services they are getting from Comic Connect. These negative experiences include
- Getting an invoice for a book that was declined via a CC offer – Chris
- Long shipping times with no tracking confirmation of any sorts – Blue (Smick) and Ross
Do you share similar experiences with CC? If you have more stories to add, please leave them in the comments.
4.2 Examining the value of Marvel Spotlight #32
I promised Don I will do an analysis into the price potential for Marvel Spotlight #32 9.8 so here it is.
Below is a bench marking table for books that are published within the years of 1976-77.
| Issue | 9.8 copies | Total | 9.8 to Total Ratio | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel Spotlight #32 | 170 | 2697 | 6% | USD1,700 |
| Iron Fist #14 | 192 | 4737 | 4% | USD2,300 |
| Nova #1 | 426 | 5029 | 8% | USD1,100 |
The first issue to address is scarcity. Specifically, is Marvel Spotlight #32 in 9.8 more scarce than other similar books? The answer, unfortunately is no. If you look at Iron Fist #14 for example, it is actually has a lower 9.8 ratio.
Of course, if we compare to #1 issues such as Nova or Eternals #1, Marvel Spotlight #32 will be more scarce. This is due to massive copies being printed for #1 issues that was released in the 1976-78 period.
In terms of price wise, Marvel Spotlight #32 has about 50% more growth left. It might reached higher at the peak of its hype i.e. there really is a Spider-Woman movie but it is not going to give you 2-5X kind of returns.
Conclusion
I will end by applying what what Forrest Gump said to our little chat “Mewe Chat is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
