December 2020 (2nd week) Comic Book Sales Charts and Figures
This week saw a 30% jump in the number of units being sold. In total, 136 newsstand comics published after 1997 were sold. I believe a big reason was the Marvel investor day presentation, which lead to new speculation as well as renewed heat on known keys. Star Wars comics sold especially well this week.
- 35% of newsstand comics sold are sold at $10 and below prices. Star Wars comics took the lead here with a 27% market share. The second biggest share went to the X-Men/Deadpool titles which account for 25%.
- 27% of newsstand sales are sold between $11 and $30. In this price category, Star Wars comics again took the largest share with almost 50% of the sales belonging to it. The Star Wars titles that sold well here includes Jango Fett, Star Wars Republic and Knights of the Old Republic. The 2nd and 3rd best selling titles went to Spider-Man (13%) and Batman (8%). However, they are way behind the Star Wars comics in volume.
- 25% of newsstand sales are sold between $30 and $100. Not surprisingly, Star Wars took the majority of the market share here as well, accounting for a staggering 65%. Titles that sold well are Star Wars Tales, Clone Wars, Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, Jango Fett and Boba Fett. None of the other titles are able to command even a 10% share here.
- 12.5% of newsstand sales are sold above $100. As explained last week, anything beyond a 10% share in this price category is a healthy sign as it indicates a higher and higher price ceilings. This week, 17 comics sold above the $100 market, with one titles selling in the 4 digits.
Below are the top 10 newsstand sales for the week.
Knights of the Old Republic #9
Copies sold: 3
Average Sales: $350 – $1,100
Our top spot holder this week comes from Knights of the Old Republic #9, featuring one of the first appearance of Darth Revan. I said “one of the first” as there are other cameos which technically can also claim to be the first.
This entry is the book’s 4th chart entry, with its 3rd on the 2nd week of Nov. That sale saw a CGC 9.6 being sold for $1,399. Compared to this week’s CGC 9.6 of $1,100, there is a bit of price retrace of 15%.
Nevertheless, with the direct edition CGC 9.6 selling for $450, there is still a healthy newsstand premium of 150%.
Star Wars #17
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $275
This week’s first entry comes from Star Wars #17, featuring the first appearance of Quinlan Vos. He is one of the few remaining Jedi who hasn’t been heavily speculated on, until now.
This sale is for a raw VFNM copy and went for $275. Regular editions of this book is selling in the range of $50, which means the newsstand premium for this sale is around 400%.
This is pretty high for a Star Wars comic but lets see if the premium is sustainable over the new few sales, or will it retrace like Clone Wars #1?
Spider-Men #1
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $200
Another new entry this week comes from Spider-Men #1. This book features the first meeting between Marvel 616’s Peter Park and Miles Morales.
The $200 sale this week is for a raw NM copy. In contrast, direct NM copies are only selling for $15. This translates to gigantic premium of 1200%! Like Star Wars #17, let’s see if this remains.
Amazing Spider-Man #606
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $152
After missing the chart for the whole of last month, Amazing Spider-Man #606 finally made its 6th entry this week. Its previous entry was on the 5th week of Oct.
While a sale is always good, the amount is not ideal. This week’s $150 sale is for a CGC 9.2 while for previous entries, it was for raw VF, which sold for a higher amount of $192. This indicates a price retracement of around 30-40%.
A direct edition in CGC 9.2 is currently selling for $40. Relative to this sale, the premium is still an impressive 300%.
Star Wars #7
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $126
Another new entry this week is Star Wars #7, featuring the first appearance of Aurra Sing. She is one of the bounty hunters that I am bullish on, as stated in my article on Star Wars bounty hunters to invest in.
This week, a raw VF- copy sold for $125. In comparison, a direct edition of this book in NM was selling for $20+. This implies a newsstand premium of 500%.
However, prices of the direct edition of this book are currently increasing, leading to a reduced newsstand premium over time.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars #1
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $900
Occupying the same spot as last week, the first appearance of Ahsoka continues to be demanded. With a confirmed Disney + show, this book will probably cement itself as a blue chip Star Wars book in the years to come.
This week’s sale is Clone Wars #1’s 9th entry and was for a raw NM copy. If you compare this week to the one in July 1st week where the book took off, price actually retrace from $1500 to 900.
To me, this represent a good buying opportunity if you are into this book, especially when the direct is also selling in the same price range.
Phantom Menace #3
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $210
With a character as popular as Darth Maul, it is surprising to see his first appearance making only its 2nd chart entry. Its debut was way back in the 3rd week of September.
That sale was for a CGC 9.8 newsstand and went for $500. This week’s $210 sale is for a CGC 9.6 so it isn’t too far off.
In terms of newsstand premium, this sale suffers the same fate of having no premium as its previous chart entry. I think this represents a good opportunity to invest in a newsstand copy if you can find them.
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol 2, #1
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $199
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 makes it 12th entry this week, just after making its 11th last week. This sale of $199 is a steal as it is for a CGC 9.4. In comparison, last week’s sale is for a CGC 9.2 and it went for $700! That is a drop of more than 50%.
Due to this underpricing, the newsstand is only 100% for this sale, compared to last week’s 500%.
Star Wars Legacy #1
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $150
After breaking the 2 digit chart entry just last week, Star Wars Legacy #1 continues its selling streak this week with its 11th entry.
This week’s sales amount is similar to last week. However, the condition of the book differs. This week’s book is a raw VF- while last week is for a NM- raw.
Unfortunately, the price increase is due to overall price movement of this book, rather than an increasing newsstand premium. Direct editions in similar conditions are selling around the same price so there is actually zero newsstand premium. Undervalued?
Star Wars Legacy #2
Copies sold: 1
Average Sales: $125
The final new entry this week also hails from the Star Wars Legacy series. This issue contains the first in story appearance of Darth Talon, a popular Darth character. You might have noticed her on the cover to Star Wars Legacy #1.
I bought this book way back in July as a honorable mention. It is good to see that it is finally getting some recognition from the market.
Direct editions of this book is selling for $50+ currently. This means this sale has a newsstand premium of 150%.
This is great info. Where do you get this data and some of the other data like number of copies printed (for your SWOT style grid) and number of appearances? Love your blog and happy I found it!
Star wars and miles morales are definitely hot and long term holds. To go of topic slightly just fought i could say about FOMO amongst the comic community at present. You could do an article on this giving your view as i would find this very interessting about what is going on. From what i am seeing amongst spec sites and ebay and now comic shops dollar bin comics that noone has wanted for decades 1990s for example are now becoming $40+ examples even though the art is still atrocious. extremely high print runs, terrible stories etc and are being sold as the next hot item even though they are still worthless. Manipulation in our hobby is becoming widespread for profit and people are getting obsessed with buying anything thinking within days they can quadruple there profit immediately on rubbish. I do believe this will continue and at least true hot comics are still profitable. Star wars and Miles as said examples. Comics with diversity will flourish long term i dont know. Silver age and bronze age will keep increasing. Certain moderns will but not as seems to be the case of every issue on anything suddenly massively increasing in price from day one due to a possible whisper. Anyways have a good new year to everyone who enjoys comic collection and speculation and lets hope the vaccine will wipe out covid around the world early in 2021 and a big thank you to all the frontline nurses and doctors around the world. We love you.