What up CHUn-Li’s!?! Shawn B., the One Year Later Investigator, back with another One Year Later round up. This is where we take a look at some of the comics that Anthony, Mel and Poyo specced on one year ago. Their specs turn out to be quick flips, slow burns, straight up misses, straight up winners and on and on. Sometimes they spec with their hearts out of their passion for comics. Sometimes they spec based on data. And sometimes they spec based off the word on the street. Either way, all their specs appeal to a few or many collectors whether it is due to them having similar taste in writing or art, or just an opportunity for a collector to flip a book and make money to “support their habit”. So, this is our weekly chance to look back at how some of our buys from a year ago are doing today.
Sorry about my absence these past few weeks. Work has been crazy for me and my social life has also been booked up more than usual. The research involved with these postings takes some time and I just haven’t had it. I am now back to a more normal schedule for me. Meaning I am at work now and working on this. It’s only fun to be the boss when things are going good. To make up for it I am going to do three weeks all in one posting here.
Spec Review for 9/21/16
Winners
Street Fighter Swimsuit Special #1 Nei Ruffino Homage Variant Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $20 Current Value: $35
CHUn-Li!
Seven to Eternity #1 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: Regular Cover – $35, Cover B – $17, Cover C – $20, Blank – $52
No surprise here unless you just started collecting comics yesterday. This Remender hit continues to sell for high dollar!
Near Misses
Harley Quinn #4 Variant Bill Sienkiewicz Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $3 Current Value: Copies on eBay have sold from $4-10 but it looks like Midtown is the only on-line retailer with copies close to cover price.
I’m a firm believer that the majority of these great DC B Covers are slow burns.
Misses
Civil War II #5 Phil Noto Black Panther Variant Cover – Mel & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $7 Current Value: $7 or less. Still available at on-line retailers.
Noto and Black Panther = A Great Cover. As I have said before Noto doesn’t always get the love he deserves.
Britannia #1 – Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at on-line retailers.
To be fair this was only Poyo’s Honorable Mention based more on his personal taste. But I know he loves when he makes the Misses section so I figured I’d oblige. JK buddy!
Civil War II: X-Men #4 Brittney L Williams Black Panther 50th Anniversary Variant Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $15 Current Value: Not a ton of sales to pinpoint a value but there are copies for sale from $8-18
Unspecced Winners
Extraordinary X-Men Annual #1 Variant Skottie Young Baby Cover
Original Value: $5 Current Value: $9
Spec Review for 9/28/16
Winners
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #12 Cosplay Variant Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $25 Current Value: $35
This one was on fire for a while. Up to $60+. Sold out everywhere and only a couple copies on the bay for $50. Some recent sales were closer to original value. Collectors seem to be hanging onto these.
Hillbilly #3 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $8
Still a popular series with plenty of sales activity for early issues.
Near Misses
Surgeon X #1– Anthony Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4
Put this in Near Misses because I believe it may be a slow burn. You can find it for cover price up to $8 at on-line retailers. And there are sold copies for above and below cover price.
Misses
Sentient #1 Variant Emmanuel Xerx Cover – Mel Pick & Poyo Pick on Regular Cover
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at on-line retailers.
Not a ton of movement here.
Spider-Man / Deadpool #9 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at on-line retailers.
First appearance of Itsy-Bitsy Spider. I jumped on this band wagon pretty early. The Story Thus Far Variant has sold for a couple bucks above cover.
Unspecced Winners
Lady Mechanika: La Dama De La Muerte #1
Original Value: $4 Current Value: Cover A $7 Cover B $12
Wonder Woman #7 Frison Variant
Original Value: $3 Current Value: $9
Spec Review for 10/5/16
Winners
Jessica Jones #1 Alex Maleev Variant Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $30 Current Value: $40
Sold out at most on-line retailers. Copies for sale here and there from $35-70.
He-Man/Thundercats #1 – Anthony Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $9
To be fair Anthony said there probably wouldn’t be spec value here but his taste still gets him into the Winner’s column.
Near Misses
Cannibal #1 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at on-line retailers.
Put this one in near misses because it is an Image #1 book, there have been sales for over cover price and it is also a great series that I believe still has potential.
Black #1 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at some on-line retailers.
This is a tough one, optioned for movie but hasn’t shot up in price too high. Was sold out at one point and copies on the bay are going for $9-12.
Hillbilly #1 Second Printing – Anthony Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at some on-line retailers.
Still potential here for the second printing of the first issue of a very popular series. The bay has most copies going for above cover.
Misses
Champions #1 Alex Ross 1:100 Variant – Mel Pick
Original Value: $100 Current Value: $30
Probably valued too high from the start, but if you get your variants for as cheap as my LCS sells them you probably broke even. Midtown still has copies for waaaay too much. All that being said it is a cool cover for the PC.
Disney Kingdom’s Enchanted Tiki Room #1 Jason Grandt Orange Bird Variant Cover – Mel Pick
Original Value: $50 Current Value: $30
While sold out at on-line retailers there isn’t a ton of activity for this one right now. I believe the early success of Disney’s Haunted Mansion may have created some false hype here.
Moonshine #1 Frank Miller Variant – Mel Pick & Poyo Pick on Regular Cover
Original Value: $3 Current Value: $3 Still available at on-line retailers.
Great series. Living legend in the business. I’m hanging onto mine for the long haul.
Girrion #1 – Anthony Pick & Poyo Pick
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $4 Still available at on-line retailers.
I believe that Henchgirl and Solar Man being optioned created some buzz early on for this one but things got back to normal fairly quickly. You probably could have made a couple bucks as a quick flip here.
Deadman: Dark Mansion Of Forbidden Love #1 – Poyo Pick
Original Value: $6 Current Value: $6 Still available at on-line retailers.
Still a lot of sales activity for this issue with prices all over the place.
Unspecced Winners
All-New Wolverine #13 Variant Arthur Adams Champions Cover
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $10
Cage #1 Variant Damion Scott Run The Jewels Cover
Original Value: $4 Current Value: $11
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Informed Comic Book Speculation and Pop Culture News
I think Sentient #2 (whenever it is released) will set a record for most time elapsed between issues 1 and 2. Any idea what the deal is there? They’re making Black Mask comics look good!
Picked up Seven to Eternity because I liked the cover (A). Glad I did….Wish I bought more than one!
I loaded up on them but I wish I loaded up on more of cover A than the others. I think I ended up with 7 of each originally. I sold A, B and C that covered my cost for all of them and paid to get another A, B and C sent off to CBCS as 9.8’s after Anthony got Remender to sign them.
This one heated up on it’s own so I’m holding out when it actually gets optioned or a media deal. That’s gonna be a good day.
That’s my problem. I may make some profit on one or two books. But lose on the other 5-6 books to break even. How do you know when to buy 10 copies of a winner? That’s what is getting old. Love the hobby but I’ll keep my day job. Lol
I gambled on S2E. No one knows what book to load up on. It’s just sometimes you load up and win and other times you load up and lose. I loaded up on Babyteeth… so far I’m losing that one.
As for S2E, I only sold 3 total books, at their highest peak. Cover A netted me I think over $100. The other 2 were $25 or $30 each if I recall correctly.
At my current discount, I paid around $50 or so for all the S2E books I obtained and I paid I think $80 or so to get 3 of them graded. So with that in mind, I’m still sitting on a $20-$30 profit. The remaining books I could sell now or just hold in hopes they heat up again when it actually gets a media deal, which is gonna be hopefully a really good day.
That’s the gamble. You don’t know. I have two 9.8 Signed by Rick Remender. I had bought 6 sets of the covers from my LCS who were bundling them and at the time the Blank was the one to have. I sold all but two of cover A (forgot to list them) and they are the ones I ended up getting signed and graded.
I do think this one will not only get optioned but something will actually be done with it…Could take a while though. If I see another #1A at a good price at some point I will probably pick it up, It is a very good long term spec book.
I did Ok here with 72E, Harley, Hiillbilly and new wolverine. Ive still got some Black no 1’s and will hold them for a while yet. Cheers guys !
Thanks. Great read as always. Please keep it up!