Welcome once again to the another installment of the One Week Later Report. This week we’ll cover the books released on 05/22/2019.
Hopefully this report helps anyone reading while picking out new books at the local shops for things to keep a look out for.
DC Books
Not a whole lot of action for DC books last week.
Batgirl #35 (Middleton Variant) can still be found at most online retailers. Grab it for the Middleton collection in your long box.
Martian Manhunter #5 (of 12) was my own reader of the week. It’s a great series but no love on the secondary market. These are reader picks anyways, unless a new character is introduced that catches people off guard, don’t expect these to heat up but still worth mentioning as a reminder to pick up and read if you need more reader books on your pull list.
Marvel Books
Miles Morales Spider-Man #6 is getting some love on the secondary market due to the new character and first full appearance of Starling.
The nice thing about this issue is also knocks out the first cover appearance as well which makes it that much more desirable if this new gal sticks around in the Spider-Man and Marvel universe.
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Miles Morales Spider-Man #5 (which you can still order from TFAW) as well and might not be a bad pickup as well for future possible gains. It carries the cameo appearance for Starling. Sales for issue #5 aren’t seeing as much love yet on the secondary market but seem to boost the sales of issue #6, reaching the $20 range while issue #6 alone is reaching as high as $15.
This next book sold out online pretty quickly. War of the Realms Agents of Atlas #2 is seeing some success on the secondary market, regular and the ratio variant.
Sales of the regular cover between $10 and $15 on a good day. So if you can find them, grab’em as they could be quick flip to pay for a few books or perhaps long term if the hype sticks, creating and maintaining demand.
You can pre-order the second printing already from TFAW at War of Realms New Agents of Atlas #2 (of 4) (2nd Printing).
These are selling out fast so you can still pre-order War of Realms New Agents of Atlas #3 (of 4) and War of Realms New Agents of Atlas #4 (of 4) to ensure you get your copies. This is a War of the Realms spin-off but we all know now with this success Marvel should be planning an ongoing title or another series with this new team of agents since the first appearance of Agents of Atlas was way back in 1978 in What If #9 and they had a stand-alone title in 2006
. Might not be bad pickups as they are still pretty cheap.
Maybe these are sort of like what they did with Guardians of the Galaxy. New members being introduced different from the old original members, except James Woo who is an existing team member and surprisingly has been around for quite sometime. His first appearance was way back in 1956 in Yellow Claw #1, which there was only one listed at $1500. So not so easy to get but would be a nice addition to any collection for this new team.
Indie and Small Publisher Books
Road of Bones #1 was the surprise winner of last week out of the indies and small publishers.
Reaching as high as $17.99 (with free shipping) but has settled as a solid $10 book on average with most recent sales.
I will also mention the new Ghost Tree #2 and the second print of issue #1 sold out online pretty quickly but not a lot of love on the secondary.
Great read though from what I’ve heard as I have yet to read them yet, but they’re on the short stack of must reads for me.
Nothing else made the list. It was a really small and light week for indie books.
Spider-Man #5 is a ghost in my area now, along w/ #6. I found 4 copies of #5 yesterday so all my #6s are now paired w/ #5s, to make sets.
I didn’t see any at my shops when I found the last #6 they had last Friday. Looks like TFAW sold out fast too from my link in my post.
I left one on the shelf today. Already have 2 copies.
Road of Bones was a good read. Great horror and Slavic folklore.
Yeah and somehow I totally skipped over this book last week when doing my picks and such. Guess I’m gonna wait for the trade, I’m not paying secondary prices to read.
Saw another 4 copies of Miles #5&6 along with Agents of A #2 (2 copies) and road of bones #1 (2 copies). Passed on all of them.
Im sitting on 5 sets of A&B. Ive sold 4-5 copies of #6 that has paid for my remaining 5 sets. Zero investment for me at this point, for that book. I think these books will have legs.
*5 sets of #5/#6.
I honestly believe that Marvel and DC are fully aware of this ‘spec’ culture in comics and intentionally create new characters to pump sales. Lobo’s Daughter anyone? How about RiRi Williams? (She is a great character but she is not as popular as you think she is). The list goes on and on. Creating new characters is no longer an organic and creative process. When I read a comic as a kid, and a new character showed up, I didn’t get this desire to run out and grab 50 copies of the book. That is nonsense to me. I am okay with money being made but this ‘spec’ bs is ruining the hobby. I went to a small con months ago and it was infected with ‘spec’. The sellers were jacking the prices of books and following the ‘trends’ set by the spec crowd (You know who they are). In a year Marvel will do another Miles book with a new creative team that will ignore this current book (The book is not that great). Bendis’s Miles is the definitive in my opinion and don’t be surprised if he ends up back in the Ultimate Universe. Modern Comics are worthless. That is the conversation collectors don’t want to have. Golden and Silver Age I get. Those are real investments. Early issues of Action and Detective. The first 100 issues of the Fantastic Four. The Silver Age Spider-Man etc. but this modern stuff we pump and pretend is something is a joke. The creativity of comics is dying. Now its covers, incentives, and variants. Now its CGC census and blah blah. Look at all the CBSI predictions from the last two years. 99 percent of them were nothing. I don’t have time to allow a group of basement dwellers to play games with my wallet. Just my opinion.
Marvel & DC do what they do to sell comics, no different than most any Company .. do they sometimes throw a bone out as far as a new character, etc .. ?? Sure .. they have done it forever, it’s nothing new .. however, it’s the Spec Market that drives the Spec .. no different than any manufactured collectible ..
Terming folks as “basement dwellers” .. ?? Really .. ??
So buy comics to read and ignore the speculation bit of it all. If you buy comics to read and enjoy, then the speculation aspect of it shouldn’t even affect you as a reader.
If you’re calling speculation “BS” then can I ask why you’re on a website that is primarily based on “speculation”?
I like for people to voice their opinions, but ComicJack is a tool. The people running out and buying new books at $50 a pop won’t last long. Readers always have the “inside spec” and can get the jump on the people playing the market. Wolverine WAS pumped by Marvel……..the writers want new characters to work with. They want new characters to sell. Starling was NOT overly pumped, which is why there is a demand for the book out of the gate. Crush WAS, books will sit at cover for years. Don’t get mad. You may not have run out and bought 50 copies of Hulk 181, but I bet you wish you did!!
Deadpool is another character that was totally pushed onto the consumers by Marvel.
I stand by what I said. I’m many things but a tool? The truth hurts I know. Nah no tool I just happen to have enough sense to see this comic game for the sham it has become. Im not afraid to call BS and it is filled with BS. No I domt wish I had bought 50.copies of Hulk 181. Its a great book but 50? No. Detective Comics 27 or Amazing Fantasy 15 yep. A lot of you ‘comic newbies’ make a lot of noise but say nothing. Wolverine was not ‘pumped’ by Marvel. His popularity and fanbase grew for years thanks to solid writing and character development. Thank Len Wein, Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Frank Miller, Larry Hama , Marc Silvestri etc.. It didn’t happen over night. He became a marketing gimmick in the 90s.
Im a fan of the genre and a consumer. As a consumer I am pissed because modern spec is fools gold and it is killing shops and encouraging bad business practices. I stand by how I feel. I heard that a store owner sold his AF 15 to keep his doors open. He has to stop Basement dwelling spec boys from raiding his stock every Wednesday and chasing away his real patrons. Another store decided to price stock by Ebay standards. They lost customers fast. Now they are now closed. They had a Rom 1 for 75 dollars in a glass case. LOL why? Because Russ and Tom said it was the next thing. Nope it wasn’t. Comics suck right now as a hobby because of spec clowns. Period.
I still regret not picking up a new mutants 98 back when they were all over the place!
Most speculators are also fans or collectors. They help boost comic industry by spending money. Without profit incentive, there would less reason to buy more comics. Lower sales would be bad for an industry that has been struggling to survive.
And Joshua Middleton is doing some great B covers for Martian Manhunter, too.