Department of Accountability: Picks of the Week One Year Later

Trying something new this week.  Shawn B., a regular reader, hit me up about analyzing the past weeks specs from a year ago I said sure, go for it. So handing it over to Shawn.
What’s up CHU people!? Shawn B. here. Just a big fan of the site and an avid collector like most of you. CHU and some on-line sellers are the last sites I check each week before sending my pull list off to my LCS. I’ve been using CHU for a couple years now but honestly have only been collecting for three years.
Every week I tell myself, “Self….this is your week. You’re gonna start making those quick flips, start saving the earnings and one day get that Walking Dead #1 or Batman Adventures #12.” And each week I can never bring myself to do so. Separation anxiety, fear of abandonment, lack of self-control, addictive personality……call it what you will! A pile of 13,000 comics and even a couple years of therapy (not really) has not broken me of this vicious cycle. This all led me to ask myself (yes I talk to myself a lot), “Self, what is happening with all of these comics I refuse to sell? Which ones should I have flipped quickly? Which ones from months ago should I sell now?” So, I started researching trends in my selections going back 1 year. After that I looked at my pile of comics and what I have spent in the past year and then I curled up into a little ball and went back and forth between crying over missed opportunity and laughing maniacally over my triumphant pile of comics. After regaining my composure, I reached out to Anthony to see how he felt about me posting my findings and he agreed that it could be an interesting exercise on spec-ing and if nothing else an entertaining in-depth look into the mind of a CHU madman.
While going through what you’ve picked up that may be on these lists, it’s important to remember that predicting what comics are going to heat up and possibly hold that greater value is very difficult. There are quick flips, slow burns, unexpected hits, artists that heat up, print runs, etc. On top of that it seems like a new series is optioned for the big screen or television every other day. While not all of them make it to production, the announcements of them being optioned alone impacts the market values even if just for a small time. Some of these are just bought so that no one can ever make them. While others take years and years to make happen. And so on and so on. Point being…spec-ing ain’t easy!
1 Year Ago – 4/6/16
Winners!

Black Panther #1 – Poyo Pick
 Original Value – $4.99 Current Value – $8.00
 Good call Poyo. This one has gone up and down but with movie coming out next February it should pick up again!

Black Panther #1 Brian Stelfreeze Hip Hop Variant – Mel Pick
 Original Value – $4.99 Current Value – $15.00
 Tadow! Tripled in value and holding strong!

Spider-Women Alpha #1 Cover D Incentive Stacey Lee Variant Cover – Mel Pick
 Original Value – $30.00 Current Value – $40.00 
Mel’s sleeper pick. Nice pick Mel!

The Fix #1 – Anthony Pick 
Original Value – $3.99 Current Value – $9.00 – $10.00 – 
The Fix is in! One of my favorite series. If not already optioned, it should be.

Old Man Logan #4 Civil War Variant 
Original Value – $3.99 Current Value – $5.00 – $7.00 
Just started trending up this past March. Guessing the movie helped.

The Walking Dead #153 – Anthony & Poyo Pick 
Original Value – $2.99 Current Value – $4.00 – $6.00
 Always a good pick up! Just over ten issues later and already picking up a little steam.

The Vision Vol.2 #6
 Original Value – $3.99 Current Value – $10.00 
Small print run and an unexpected hit!
Luke Warm Picks

Black Panther Vol 6 #1 Cover L Incentive Alex Ross Variant Cover – Mel Pick 
Original Value – $80.00 Current Value – $80.00
 The fact that this is still holding strong speaks to the series and the cover. Most variants tend to drop in value over time unless the artist and/or series is popular. Still a solid investment and probably more of a slow burn.

Empress #1 Cover B Variant Stuart Immonen – Mel & Anthony (Regular Cover) Pick
 Original Value – $3.99 Current Value – $3.99
 Bottom line, it’s a Millar series so still worth it to pick up and see what happens down the road.

Spider-Women Alpha #1 Cover B Variant J Scott Campbell Connecting A Cover – Mel & Anthony Pick 
Original Value – $4.99 Current Value – $4.99. 
High print run. Possible value down the road or a nice Campbell cover to have at low cost. Still available on line.

Miss Fury Vol 3 #1 Cover D Incentive Jonathan Lau Virgin Cover – Mel Pick 
Original Value – $15 Current Value – $15
 More of a cool cover than a spec and still available at Midtown.

Harley Quinn and Suicide Squad April Fools Special #1 Jim Lee Cover – Anthony Pick
 Original Value – $4.99 Current Value – $4.99 or less 
Maybe a little “scratch and sniff” would have helped on this one.
Misses

Star Wars Poe Dameron #1 – Poyo Pick 
Original Value – $4.99 Current Value – Less than Cover. 
Heavily printed. That being said, anything can happen with Star Wars and Poyo did say this was one to tuck away for a while.

Star Wars Poe Dameron #1 Cover F Incentive Movie Variant Cover – Mel Pick
 Original Value – $10.00 Current Value – $8.00 
Sorry Mel. Guess the ladies don’t love Poe as much as we may have thought.

Grizzly Shark #1 – Anthony Pick 
Original Value – $3.50 Current Value – Less than Cover
Saw where Anthony was going with this one based on the original One-Shot. Call it a near miss and let the laughter subside. (Editors Note: It is a shark book, a shark who hunts on land, dang straight I am going to pick it -Anthony)

2 out of 3 Spec-ers also chose Bruce Lee Dragon Rises #1. I won’t say which two it was but it wasn’t Anthony. Still holding at cover value.
That’s all for this week everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my findings. And if anyone has any suggestions on how to make this posting better or anything that I may have missed please comment below.

51 thoughts on “Department of Accountability: Picks of the Week One Year Later”

  6. Nice to see you guys laying it all out there for the world to see. Gutsy AND cool. I enjoy all 3 of your picks and the Wednesday open forum. Keep up the great work.

    1. Thanks brother. Not every book pans out. Some picks definitely seem like they should be instant gold and don’t turn out to be or you get books that quickly rise in price but under cutting or whatever quickly kills the buzz.

    2. Poyo is wrong most of the time so don’t listen to him but.. but, every so often I surprise myself! 🙂

  8. A nice reminder of books I’m sitting on and don’t think about. This is a fun ideas and I look forward to more. Thanks Shawn!

  10. This is very interesting. I look forward to more of these. Also gives a noob like me more insight on the world of comics and how quickly things can change.

    1. The hardest part about doing a one year out post is it does miss out on any initial spike and quick flip opportunity. The data doesn’t capture that. Other than that, Shawn did a fantastic and fun job and is holding our feet to the fire.

      2. True true. It’s crazy how fast something will sell the same day it comes out/the day after only to see prices fizzle.

  11. So you also find sometimes you get to the store and land up spec’ng on a few other comics u think may do well, or variants that you see that have only one or two pieces at ure LC? I wonder how much of these “extra purchases” effect the overall return when you factor that in? Or perhaps I’m just a another compulsive buyer 🙁

    1. I look at it as my accountant does, cash in vs cash out. At the end of the year is it profitable. But yes, man of us are compulsive buyers too.

  13. Thanks for all the kind words everyone! I’m really glad that so far everyone likes the post.
    Hats off to Anthony, Poyo and Mel for being so cool with having their past picks checked on by one of the sites fans. And the findings go to all the fans that may have taken their advice a year ago.
    That takes some “Beach Ball Sized Lady Nuts!”
    4/13/16 Review Next Week

  16. Nice Article, I like the idea. one suggestion for the next one, you should show the highest selling price as well for the raws. Some of those books spiked early and should have been quick flips instead of long holds, it might help people decide for the future.

    1. I agree that it would be nice to see their highest, I am not sure that ebay holds the information for very long though.

  17. I love this new article. Is great to see how some of these issues do from launch till now. Great job guys.

  19. Damn this described me perfectly. I’m always hesitant to sell when I first see the hype, and wanna hang on to not mess up a gold mine later. Then it ends up sitting on eBay for 2 years.

  21. I like this. It vindicates my “yearly purge” policy. Under my policy, everything needs to survive a vicious trial of scrutiny once a year. Most of my key issues (FF 48-50, Iron Man 55, ASM 252, 300, Hulk 181) survive and all of my Star Wars survives, but indies get sold in lots often. I replace them with humble bundle digital editions for later reading. A LOT of Marvel events and tie-ins go the way of the buffalo. This was Secret Wars before I purged: http://imgur.com/a/5B9fs
    The purge is good because it leaves you with guilt-free ebay money you can roll into that key you’ve been eyeing all year.
    Just my two cents. Keep up the DOA, Shawn B.!

  25. Love it. Keep going with this Shawn!
    I often wish I had more to offer writing wise.
    Tony, it’s not us who are wrong about grizzly shark. It’s them. Everyone else is wrong.
    Look at these and tell me I’m wrong.
    https://imgur.com/a/pnyVY

    2. Thanks Brennan!
      Oh my! The sand in the bear’s eye may be one of the most entertaining action sequences in comics history. And one glance at the smiling, bloody mouthed shark driving the boat made me lose faith in humanity…..now that’s true art!

      1. The shark fighting dirty are my favourite pair of panels in comics. No joke. The boat isn’t too far behind.
        Have you seen it as a tattoo?? It’s out there.

      3. It’s all from grizzly shark vs sea bear.
        Except for the first pic. That’s a signed print from a con.

  26. Generally, CHU picks are as good as anywhere else on the internet. For examples, Hoknes, investcomics, comicbookinvest, etc.

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