The Strain #1 a comic heating up (again)

I had promised myself no more Strain stories for a while. I felt like I was beating a dead horse by constantly talking about it. I love the comic and have been excited for the show. I have sold a lot of copies of #1 since the TV show announcement and have been watching the trends. In fact, I stopped selling copies of it and held on to the rest of them to see how it played out.
This is counter to my “cash out ASAP” theory of flipping. Well I am glad I did. The Strain number 1 has pushed over the $50 mark and continues to rise. There has been healthy growth on the book. It has gone in waves. The first wave was the announcement were it shot up to $15-$20. Then it dipped down. Then casting news came out and it shot back up. Then it dipped back down. Now, with the trailers out it has shot back up over $50 with the variant over $60.
If you happen to stumble on cheap copies buy and flip. But keep at least one in reserve for a while.
The Strain #1 on Ebay

40 thoughts on “The Strain #1 a comic heating up (again)”

  1. Have you heard anything about izombie lately? I have a copy of #1 and House of Mystery Halloween Annual #1 I was thinking about selling but it looks like prices have leveled off. Just wondering if now’s a good time or if I missed the boat.

    1. I sold a very fine copy starting at .99 cents that ended at $2.50. But when you start so low you assume the risk. I got it out of a quarter bin so I did ok with it. These books are cyclical they move up on news. So iZombie moved on the announcement then leveled off and will move again on any additional news like casting and such. I always try to get my money out of things but take a hold position on iZombie at the moment.

    1. I think we may end up seeing a feeding frenzy with not only issue #1 but the whole first series. I think that part of issue 1’s appeal is that originally stores and collectors saw the $1 book and thought of it as a “throw away” book. If it got damaged, who cares it was only a buck. Also it was based on a book so it initially had no collectors value. Yes, it had a decent print run but how many copies made it to the store shelves in nm. And from there how many copies adze it to a bag and board in nm. The subsequent issues had a smaller print run and higher price. There is room for growth in the while run. I also expect Dark Horse to do a #1 for $1 edition in the near future.

  3. reason being is if #1 is starting to see a significant spike then it could spill over in the other issues. especially since they are even lower print runs then the first one. food for thought.

  4. another angle for the izombie is any key appearances in later books that you guys think are worth picking up? i haven’t read the series so I’m not familiar with them. I just sold my #1 tonight for $20 and I had it listed at 15, buy it now 20, so it went for a premium. maybe that will start to heat up as well.

  5. I still can’t seem to find a #2 and #3 copy for sale (although I admit I haven’t checked in a while). I actually had to buy the digital versions so I didn’t skip over a huge gap when finally reading it.

    1. Occasionally I see 2 and 3 pop up on eBay for between $15 and $20 a piece, so I would keep looking there. I can’t seem to find them anywhere else either.

      2. You should pick up one of each for me then if they do have them, I’ll pay you a premium of what you pay if ya want! šŸ™‚
        I hate having incomplete run sets. Hopefully the show does well, if it keeps getting picked up, I can see the “The Strain The Fall” going up as well. Wasn’t the plan of this series to be in 3 type of installments, each having about 10-12 comics in each series to complete the full series from the books?

      3. Actually, if someone has #2 or #3 and wants Dredd Underbelly, I’m willing to swap or trade, etc. šŸ™‚

        1. When I go to the shops tomorrow I will try to grab nm copies. You should sell the Dredd and I would sell the books for cover plus shipping if they still have them. I hit two shops tomorrow so should be able to find them.

  6. I just completed my run of the strain last month. Bought the majority of the issues from TFAW (when they had that awesome black Friday sale) and midtown. Issue #2 was by far the hardest to attain, as I searched EBay daily for almost two months trying to find a decently priced copy. I finally won an auction, which included a fine copy of #1, for $20. If you see cheap #2s around, I would suggest grabbing them as they are extremely hard to find.

  8. Anyone heard anything about a TV show/movie based on Bunker from Oni Press that’s coming out tomorrow?

    2. Yes, i posted about it a while ago. Expect the print run to be around Letter 44 #1 from what Oni is saying. It was a web comic that will be printed now. i am hoping for good things as the story sounds really good.

      2. I just read The Bunker online yesterday at work (free promo code from Comixology) and yes, it is good. I’ve already got some of them pre-ordered. The Francesco cover just makes it even more appealing.. I love Francesco art… definitely one of my favorites. I buy Lone Ranger currently just because he does the covers for them. šŸ™‚

  9. Mycomicshop has Bunker #1 for $3.99!
    They are sold out of #2……….Hmmmmmmm!!!!!!
    I grabbed 5X #1 AND #2 from a different source.
    I’m assuming #2 is super-short printed, and highly sought after….why else would a #2 issue that doesn’t come out until 26 March 2014, be SOLD OUT AT SUCH A LARGE COMICS OUTLET LIKE MYCOMICSHOP???????
    I may pick up a few more copies of #1 and #2…we’ll see!
    If i find a Francavilla variant for a decent price, I’ll grab that as well!
    UK

    1. Mycomicshop displays The Bunker #2 as in “Not in Stock”, not sold out. They likely aren’t taking pre-orders for it and since it’s not released yet, it would be impossible for them to have them “In Stock”.. šŸ˜‰

      1. Drew, thanks for the correction. I just read the inserted information in the #2 slot on the mycomicshop website, and went on a tangent…as I do….lol!
        That makes MUCH MORE sense that #2 being ‘sold out’ already…thanks for that excellent explanation of the situation; I appreciate it!
        UK

    2. Midtown has them for $3.39 (they’re normal 15% off new releases).
      All comics shops should be listing them for retail price, any that try to charge a premium before it’s even release is kind of craptastic. šŸ˜‰

  10. I decided to pick up the 2009 first printing of the book the comic is based off of, cost me $10.40. Wouldn’t be a bad investment for anyone with the complete comic set to flip the set with the book. Just an idea.

  12. WOW! I won Strain #1 on ebay the other day THREE copies. Doing the math with shipping I paid $26.61 an issue. Hoping to flip these down the line with the Strain issues I already have. As always thank you for the tips Tony!!

          1. I’m set for a spike in price which feels pretty good. Not sure if you saw my post about the 2009 printing of the book itself, but I picked that up cheap too. I’ll decide on the divisions later. My buddy (who turned me on to your site a while back) sent me a few links for potential heating up books. Here’s a list if you’re interested.
            – A series from 2003 called Sleepers by ed brubaker and sean phillips
            -Sheltered by Image
            -First appearances of Black Widow (movie coming?)
            Not sure if you’ve speculated any of those or not, but never hurts to hear a tip twice.

            1. Yeah, I saw the post about the book. While I am a huge reader I never got involved with dealing or selling books.
              I have sold some copies of Sleeper. They were dollar bin grabs I flipped for $10 when the deal was announced.
              I have about 10 copies of sheltered. There was some movement when that deal was announced but I bought on the news instead of selling.

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