I disagree, I sense Wolverines popularity is waning somewhat. I don't think the movies are actually helping him too much as a character, which Wolverine would you rather have in collectors minds? The Claremont Wolvie and the limited series Wolvie, or an Australian actor trying to act tough? Unfortunately the latter is starting to become 'Wolvie' for a lot of people.
Plus lets face its face the older and hopefully wiser you get the character becomes less appealing I mean you can recapture your youth with a heroic Superman, but will you put your kid on your knee and show him a characters thats sometimes portrayed as a psychotic killer? He's had great moments, and his 1st appearance will always be big.
But everything thats ever been viewed as 'on another level' has cooled down if they get too big. Happened to Arnold after Terminator 2, and it will happen to Wolverine, its just a question of when and how cool his comics will get.
Dealers are quite happy to perputate that Wolverine is the biggest thing ever and deserves to be $10,000! Its been said so many times amongst dealers that Hulk 181 is bulletproof and will track upwards indefinitely that I think that if no actual collectors bought them that Hulk 181 would happily sell amongst dealers for a year without worry.
But the question is how much is a staunch Wolverine buff willing to pay for the first appearance of Wolverine given its relative lack of scarcity. Personally I see VF's going for about $500 as a reasonable long-term price.