2018 Year In Review – Part III

The final trip of 2018 which should still be fresh in our minds continues the year in review, covering the months from September through December.

September

September started off strong. Elric The White Wolf quickly turned into a $30 book. It’s still selling quite well 4 months later as a solid $15 to $20 book for cover B.

The character design still seems to do just as well with most recent listings.

Early September also brought us the new Border Town from Vertigo. The Jorge Jimenez cover was a hit on the secondary market before it was actually released.

Resulting into a solid $10 to $15 book, sadly we learned a few weeks back about the allegations against the writer, killing any and all spec for this book and series. I think even Vertigo is allowing retailers to return any and all books for refund.

I’m actually tired of mentioning this book, but here we are again, talking about Antarctic Press new hit Rags.

Each release has made waves or ripples on the secondary market. The self published was pushing into the hundreds value range in the market. Sadly, that soon passed after they made these print to order, killing all after market value.

So the AP books are now the issues to obtain as they’re harder to come by.

Star Wars Last Jedi #6 Mayhew variant if I’m recalling correctly was the spark of these adaptation ratio variants as possible spec books we’ve seen in the past few months. This one still doesn’t have a lot listed but still sells in the $30 range with the most recent sold listings.

Probably not a whole lot left out there but if you do find one or cheap, can be a nice pickup for the collection and or flip.

Just like issue #1, Riptide #2 saw some success on the secondary market as well back in September as most retailers likely ordered these before the success of #1 while the window was already closed.

Justice League #8 Jim Lee Joker Variant was a great cover. The pencil variant if you found cheap has done well and is still doing quite well. The regular is still a solid $8 to $10 book.

For a book not that hard to get, this one could be a solid grower over time when more and more get tucked away into collections, making quantities limited.

I think Midtown still has these listed as available but for a $9 price tag currently.

Keenspot had a hit with their new Junior High Horrors, particularly the Exorcist Movie Poster homage.

All the covers did quite well but that has since passed with most going for cover price.

This next book doesn’t need much explanation. It’s pretty much dominated the market since it was released.

Star Wars Doctor Aphra #24 Galactic Icon Cover was a ghost cover for some. This book quickly heated up and is still a $10 book.

Although it was a Midtown exclusive, the Stranger Things Mattina Variant was just an awesome cover for the hit Netflix show.

This didn’t see much action on the secondary market until Midtown listed signed copies by Mattina at the same $10 price which people were gobbling up and listing on the secondary market for $20 or more.

October

October brought us all those media news around the time NYCC was starting. We learned that The Mall and Long Lost from Scout Comics was optioned along with Ice Cream Man getting optioned by Syfy.

October started us off with the awesome Cover A variant of Deadpool #5 Garbage Pail by Nic Klein.

I know the variant of the year poll is doing mostly variants that are not the regular cover but this one deserves to be in the category of cover of the year.

Deathstroke #36 Mattina was under ordered. I was in NY on release day and apparently none of the shops (Midtown) got any of these (which I find hard to believe). Ironically you can now order this online at Midtown for $11.

This was selling as high as $50 but good things come to those who wait and have patience. If you are a Mattina collector and missed out, you can now find this one for $10 or less. A recent listing ended at $14.99 that had free shipping. Another sold listing was at just $6.99.

A CGC 9.8 ended around $50.

It’s still a great cover. Now’s the time to buy if you really want it.

Another artist started to get noticed on his Witching Hour variants for Justice League and Wonder Woman. Federici Variants were seeing some success as great pickups for the personal collection along with a quick flip for some.

9 days into October is when we learned that God Country from Donny Cates was optioned. This caused waves on the after market again for this book, since it heated up once all on it’s own with just great writing and story. Prices have cooled back down since but like Poyo always claims, Cover A was the one to have or get.

Dredd Final Judgement was just another Dredd book until the market realized it was going to have a Jock cover, which caught most off guard. Quickly becoming a $20 to $30 book, it’s still selling well being a solid $10 book on a good day.

Suicide Squad #47 Mattina Killer B saw some pre-sales hype making this a $20 book. Lucky for us, shops were prepared or didn’t yank (yes, my conspiracy theorists hat is on at times) and these weren’t as hard to obtain.

The heat sizzled and recent sales put this at cover price or a few bucks over. A CGC 9.8 even sold at $35.

Venom #7 had a Secret Variant if you could nab one. Still selling well if you can find them out in the wild.

Flying under the radar and quickly heated up was The Source from Scout Comics. You can find these now are more reasonable prices now that the intial hype has died off but with such a small print run and if it’s ever optioned, might not be a bad idea to grab some to hold for a small gamble.

Scout recently optioned both The Mall and Long Lost, only seems logical they’re shopping other titles they have under their belt.

Marvel gave us a really cool Marvel Zombie #1 cover by the up and coming In-Hyuk Lee. It peaked as an average $10 book at one point but you can find these for much cheaper now.

The book that can buy you a lot of great Silver or Bronze age key books goes to Spider-Gwen Ghost Spider #1 Jee Hyung 1:100 Variant. It’s rare, it was impossible to find since it was a 1:100 variant but I still don’t get it. Jee Hyung is talented but this cover is not great by any means if you ask me.

Buy what you want or like but I’d rather spend $500 or more on something else than what others are spending for this book.

November

Piggy backing off Rags success, people gobbled up the new Punchline book out from Antarctic Press.

It’s still doing quite well on the secondary market. So if you can find them, buy’em and flip’em while you still can.

Rags #2 hit stands this same week and was selling like crazy as well, particularly the ratio incentive.

In fact the second print comes out next week on January 2nd and was limited to just 1 per customer at Midtown.

The second week wasn’t a big week for comics but we did get the first issue of Bitter Root, one of my new favorite reads.

Life Is Strange from Titan Comics saw some slight success this week for comics as well, selling out initially with some secondary market love but it was brief.

The real winner from this week was the In-Hyuk Lee and JTC Black Order variants. The In-Hyuk Lee although was a marked up variant from most retailers, it’s seeing really nice success on the secondary market.

JTC’s (that’s John Tyler Christopher for you comic newbies) variant was a solid $10 book and still impossible to find out in the wild.

Mid-November we also learned that the new Dead Rabbit series from Gerry Duggan and Image Comics had been canceled, with Image Comics even recalling the books. Fat chance for that, that just gets people to list and sell them. It’s like telling the fat kid to not eat the cookies out of the cookie jar, they’re gonna eat the cookies every time.

The market went wild for Ironheart Stephanie Hans variant. Another book I don’t get, it’s just not that good if you ask me. To those who spent $200 for this book, you should have waited. For a 1:50 book, it sure is easy to find. It currently has over 30 listings, the cheapest listing starting at $35.

December

We’ll make this one brief since well, it’s still December of 2018. And with the really slow week this past week, there’s just not going to be much to review or highlight.

Rags #1 second print was the winner to start December off. Selling as high as $50 at one point, it’s settled down since then.

Martian Manhunter out from DC became my new favorite DC book. I just hope Orlando keeps my interest for this book moving forward into 2019.

X-23 #7 gave us a first glimpse of the new X-Assassin character. Cover B was selling well but Cover A from Ashley Witter I think is the better artwork. I love Ashley Witter and have been thinking about doing an artist spotlight for her.

Batman Who Laughs #1 brought us the new Punisher type Batman called Grim Knight. Will this new character catch on like the Batman Who Laughs? Maybe but he’s already getting his one shot. What would be awesome is if the guy under the mask ended up being named Castle Frank.

Despite the new guy, seems the first appearance of BWL out of the pages of Teen Titans #12 started to see new life as it started to heat up again in the secondary market.

The other book that was a winner this last month of 2018 was Grumble #1 Bubble Variants. This was sort of a surprise winner.

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That’s 2018 in a nutshell. Here’s to 2019 which I hope is just as exciting as 2018 was.