kimik

Batman #423 is pricey even in low grade. I had one or two CGC 9.6 Canadian Newsstand copies from a collection a few years ago that I sold for $1000 CAD apiece since I thought the market would top as more copies entered the census.

I pre-ordered a couple just in case. I think stores went close to order on it since the 1st apps are hit and miss with the Murphy Bat-verse. The Neo-Joker 1st app is the only one that has held a bit of a premium.

Nice results on your magazines, Greggy.

The new upcoming Batman Beyond Neo Year mini looks like it is chock full of first apps. That will be a good one to buy a few sets of to tuck away.

I am also hearing of stores being sold out and asking $20 CAD today for their last copies of TMNT #127. If anyone is still looking for them at cover price, my file store still had plenty on the shelf: https://variantedmonton.com/

And the fact that Batman Beyond appears to be the DC poor man's version of Miles Morales. There is demand for BB related 1st apps across all series.

ASM 93 Gleason webhead cover is selling nicely in addition to the White Knight Batman Beyond 1.

The Turtles market is funny to me right now. I have no problem selling raw copies of 6.0 - 8.0 grade books at GPA, but higher grade slabs are fairly cool at GPA.

There is increased demand for most Copper runs to start the year based on what I am seeing at shows so far this spring. With SA and BA common issues jumping the past year and a bit, it was only a matter of time.

The live-action movie/TV characters will rarely be close to their movie counterparts since what works in comics does not necessarily translate to the silver screen. However, look at the IP grab by studios for Image/other independent properties, and/or concepts being tested in comics while simultaneously being optioned (e.g. recently Shadecraft). It is much cheaper to publish a mini-series comic/regular series comic/youth book/novel to test a concept and establish IP. Look at what Marvel/Lucasfilm is doing with the High Republic as an example. Start cheap with novels/comics/youth books then look at animated/live streaming shows and video games. The last step will be the movies. However, all of the IP will be in place and have an audience thanks to the printed platforms.

+1 This looks cool. I hope it hits so we see more of the darker side of Marvel properties hit streaming and then the big screen.

Interesting to see that ASM 93 is now starting to pop a bit on eBay. I thought that was telegraphed pretty hard by the Gleason cover? Then again, Goblin Queen was as well and I know stores here that somehow missed going bigger than a few extra shelf copies on it.

In the past reading did, but now it is video games/movies/streaming shows that give characters longevity. Comics are a cheap way to capture IP via copyright that can generate better economic returns through other platforms. The impact of those platforms on comics is reflected in the price gains due to movies and now streaming. A lot of the new entrants are also chasing slabbed comics/runs, so reading is not as big of a concern.

The one big effect of certified grading is it has turned coins/comics/cards/video games/etc. into commodities that can be bought and sold more readily like other assets. Comics are a legitimate investment collectible now as a result. Way back when CGC started it was not. I started selling books at local shows in university for party money in 1998, and back then the collector base was so small it was the just the same usual suspects buying for years. Now, even at the one day shows there are all sorts of new collectors filling older runs, buying keys/hot covers to press and slab, and locking in CGC 9.8 newer keys. While single issue readership numbers are not high relative to times in the past, you need to also look at GNs/TPBs/collected editions. That is where the growth is now as readers prefer to consume entire story arcs/mini-series at once, just like they consume streaming content.

As long as they hoarded the right stuff, it will be easy to move. The past couple of years have seen an influx of new collectors chasing older books. Those VG-to-FN/VF books that used to go unsold are now being readily snapped up, and it is not boomers buying them as they cannot afford the books now.

Production quality was bad on HR 1. I have 88 copies from my order that all have scrapes/holes in the spine and other damages from the printer. And, even though I filed the damage claim to my LCS the night they came out, I ended up with a refund instead of damage replacements as the print run did not meet the back order demand. I guess the other option was second or third prints, but I had already ordered them so no use. The same thing happened with Alien 1 as well. I had a case get destroyed during shipping (the box was literally ripped open on the side due to an impact and all of the books were damaged) and they could not replace them.

@Lobstrosity To echo the comments above, great work and thank you so much for sharing the resource you developed.

There are plenty of books that will continue to grow in price. While 1st Miles is an easy pick, there are others like Spider-Gwen, Dr. Aphra, Silk, Strange Academy, Saga etc. that are hitting big dollars. Then you have the ratio variants of those 1st apps which are already 4 figure books (or five figure in the case of UF 4 ratio). It is actually a great time to be collecting as the ratio variants + multiple print to order covers on most books mean more opportunities to make money on the same 1st app. And the nice thing is that a lot of these properties have not hit the big screen or streaming TV series yet.

As the Batman should. His Marvel equivalent is Spider-man from a property perspective, and the latest Spider-Man box office will be 2x+ what the Batman is going to do. That is where the comparison will be made at the corporate level.

I am not making anything up. The WOM on this film is not great here, as was evident at the comic/toy show this weekend. We will agree to disagree on expectations. WB executives were definitely expecting $1B for this film. They had everything lined up with positive pre-screening, mostly positive initial reviews right before opening, an audience coming out of Covid that was excited to get out to see a big budget hero film again, and the top DC property. The mistake WB have been making since Snyder left is a continuity issue within the DCU. Allowing Directors to do whatever they want is not working unless their name is James Wan (who understands what audiences want) - even Patty Jenkins bombed with her WW84. The reason the MCU works is that they have an overall vision tying all of the different films into a cohesive universe that builds towards a larger story film after film. If Directors don't like that, they can go elsewhere. Snyder was trying to do the same thing, but did not finish it. Discovery needs to can the WB exec team when they take over and bring in a leadership group that understands this.

Exaclty. And it should have, to be honest. Combining the top two properties for DC should have been a slam dunk $1B movie. And you can bet that WB execs were counting on it as well. From a business perspective, it made sense - your two biggest properties going head to head, what could go wrong?

I have just started to submit my HR books - 25 copies of HR 1 cover A is the first group. I will be sending in a bunch of them now that prices are starting to move. I am hoping that since IDW has better production quality that the HRAs will mostly hit 9.8 across the board. That will be a nice tidy profit, especially on the 1:10s. Regardless, another boardie and I that did the same bulk orders will be moving the needle on most of the issues as we start to send in more. Hopefully there are enough D+ and movie announcements to keep the prices running.

Hmmm......if the and journalists critics are panning it then it may be a hit from a contrarian perspective.

I dumped it with the intent of getting a copy that was not missing a decent chunk out of the bottom right corner. I figured it would be better to cash in on the gift grade and buy a more solid looking copy, but since prices stagnated I never got back to it. Maybe when I start selling off my High Republic hoard I will grab some SA Marvel keys again with the profits.