October 2018 in Review – Part I

We saw a pretty solid month for October 2018. It was a big month so I’m splitting it up into two parts.
So welcome once again to the monthly review where we check the status of all the weekly picks and books we covered from the previous month.

We find out how right or wrong we were, what we missed and what you can likely still find at cover price, likely at the local comic shop or online.
First things first, we start off with the top ten books from October based on Comichron print run totals.

1. Batman #56 – 107,578
2. Walking Dead #1 15th Anniversary – 106,090 (This was not the polybagged variant, this was the Homage variant that also included all the store exclusives)
3. Spider-Geddon #1 – 104,899
4. Batman #57 – 95,296
5. Spider-Gwen Ghost-Spider #1 – 88,923
6. Heroes in Crisis #2 – 88,547
7. Venom #7 – 87,198
8. Justice League #10 – 84,179
9. Amazing Spider-Man #7 – 83,013
10. Amazing Spider-Man #8 – 82,833

Last month I reported how much Walking Dead issues have dropped going back to January 2018. October issue #184 dropped to 60k roughly, which puts it at another 2k loss from the previous month. Walking Dead reported stable numbers for the show due to Rick’s departure but overall they’re still seeing the lowest ratings ever. I don’t think anyone can save the show now despite if it’s rebounding with good scripts and writing. As for the comic, I think it’s only going to keep dropping.

October 3rd, 2018

Deadpool #5 Nic Klein Garbage Pail Kid Variant – 37,189
This book was a success if you ask me. I don’t think anyone was expecting it to demand what it did on the secondary market and shops just ordered it based on their pre-orders and then whatever they planned to stick out on the shelves for the walk-in customers.
We’ll never know the true print run on this one but we can likely assume it was the larger out of the variants as this was Cover A.
We saw sales peak at $37 range around the time of release and current sales are still hovering around the $10 range, with even a few recents at the $15 mark.
If you can find them out in the wild, still not a bad pickup. I think it’ll be that cover that a lot of collectors will seek out over time, making this a solid $10 or more book for the long haul.
Barack Panther #1 – 4,721
This book seemed popular but didn’t really reach it’s full potential I think.
Maybe with the recent Antarctic Press books gaining heat, perhaps this one will catch on but it’s hard to tell when it’s political in nature.
The regular cover never really spilled over cover price. The foil variants did okay if you got them for cover or cheap as the one pictured reached a peak of around $25 (Midtown listed theirs for $17) so not a bad flip if you got for cover and sold for over $15.
Now there was a limited Green Foil that was limited to 100 copies. If you got a hold of one those, there were some sales over the $50 range.
At time of writing you can still find the regular cover and the silver screen variants at Midtown.
Deathstroke #36 Mattina – 27,299
This book was hot to start off before it hit store shelves.
I was actually at Midtown Times Square that Wednesday morning when they were claiming they were shorted and none of the shops had any available.
Well, guess what? At time of writing Midtown has these in stock but they’ve been jacked up to almost secondary going rate prices currently at $12.40 after a 20% discount.
Since the peak, these have now settled into the $8 to $15 dollar range. Not bad if you find them for cover.
Wonder Woman and Justice League Dark Witching Hour #1 Federici Variant – 48,946
This book didn’t see the same success as the Deathstroke book got from this week but it still reached the $15 range early on after release.
Since then it’s cooled off and most copies are selling in the $6 range. So if you missed out, could be a good time to pick it up for cheaper.
William the Last #1 – 1,392
With one of the smallest print runs reported on this list of books from October, William the Last never heated up.
Most sold listings were barely above cover price and you can still find this one at most online retailers.
I had this one particularly on my pick list, I was hoping for a great read which I still hope it is as I have yet to find time to catch up and read this one. I guess Antarctic Press can’t have every book heat up on the secondary market like they’ve had with Rags and Punchline.
Death Orb #1 – 4,645
Small print run and cool solicitation couldn’t save this one. Still can be found at most if not all shops. Not even worthy enough for a picture. I picked this one up so it’s likely just a good entertainment book. We’ll only see this one worthy if it ever gets optioned and beyond.
Mobster Graveyard #1 – ??
A print run so small it didn’t even register on Comichron’s list. That means there are less than 1,212 printed since that was the last one on the list for October.
Not a bad pick up if you can find it. This shot up to around the $20 range on average and has since cooled off to the $10 range, with a few stragglers around $5 to $6.
Not the same success as Rags or Punchline but history proves these small indie books usually cool down after a few weeks or months have passed, particularly if they’re a mini-series.
Still not a bad pick up though. with small print runs and these ever get optioned, we always see the next wave of heat with great opportunities to flip at nice profit margins.

October 10th, 2018

Catwoman #4 Artgerm – 72,130
Another Artgerm cover. You can’t go wrong with Artgerm, he does beautiful covers.
Unfortunately shops are well prepared for these so these are not heating up like they once did. You can still find these at your local shops and online retailers.
Red Hood Outlaw #27 Putri – 30,343
This one started off as a $10 book and has pretty much stayed around that price range.
With a few dipping slightly lower from time to time, recent sales still show this at $10.
A few were selling the Putri sets of issues #26 included at around the $20 range. So this isn’t a bad flip if you can find them to gamble on.
Putri certainly has their fan base so could even be a nice pickup for the long haul.
Suicide Squad #47 Mattina – 35,715
One sold listing reached the $22 range. Seems a lot of sold listings early on were for sets of 2 or 3 of the same cover, making this book a $10 on average.
Recent sales still put this around the same value with the most recent at $8 with other recents bouncing anywhere between cover price to $8.
Still not a bad Mattina variant to pick up for the personal collection. So if you missed out, now’s the time to definitely buy seeing some go for less than cover from time to time.
Transformers Unicron #5 Francavilla – 7,772
I’m not sure why I haven’t picked up on these Unicron Francavilla variants but I love them all.
Being a Francavilla fan, I might just have to seek these out but it seem some of these are getting harder and harder to find or come by.
Not a whole lot of listings and if you buy from Midtown they’re at the $17 or higher range as these were the higher ratio’d variants.
This was a Mel pick though and it’s a good pick. Most of the sales have all be $20 or higher and the two most recent sold listings for this Francavilla variant were at the $30 price tag. So if you can find these for cheap, not a bad flip.
Wonder Woman #56 Frison – 55,178
This did well in a pre-sale secondary market sold listing at $19.99 and then it seems it did really well being sold with other Frison previous covers for Wonder Woman.
Overall this became a $8 on sale average book until it cooled off and now you can find them for under cover price.
Elric White Wolf #2 – 3,597
This reached as high as $12 but has since cooled off to be a cover price book.
Seems a few sales mixing in #1 that saw some success makes these sell in the $15 range. Elric has been around for a while so it’s still not a bad pickup. Could be a long term hold and gamble as I don’t see this character going away any time soon.
Dredd Final Judgement #1 – 1,723
This book quickly heated up to the $30 to $35 range for the Jock cover. It stayed hot for a few weeks but has lost some of it’s steam.
It’s still not a bad pickup if you can find it for cheap. If you missed out and wanted to wait for things to cool down, now is the time to buy I think.
Great book for any Dredd fan and a great book for any Jock fan.
Cursed Comics Cavalcade #1 – 20,275
This was sort of a surprise book that became a quick flip of double your money at $20 initially. Not great but not bad either since it was a $9.99 retail price book.
I actually visited one local shop the other day and I can still find these on the shelf.
Seems some are still trying to get that $18 to $20 but most sales are at or right above cover price for the most recent sales.
Still a cool book to own I think. I picked up a copy myself to read and I just really dig the cover art as well.

That’s it for part I of this October Review. Stay tuned as I hope to have part II up in a few days where we cover the final 3 weeks of the 5 Wednesdays of October.