Flashback Friday – One Year Later

One year ago, we spec’d on new books hitting the shelves. Now it’s time to see what books from a year ago are doing now on the secondary and direct market.

First, let’s review the top ten books from January of 2019 to get a fresh reminder of what the popular most ordered books were this time last year.

1. Batman Who Laughs #2 – 116,827
2. Captain Marvel #1 – 111,391
3. Guardians of the Galaxy #1 – 104,916
4. Conan The Barbarian #1 – 100,963
5. Amazing Spider-Man #14 – 91,697
6. Batman #62 – 90,634
7. Batman #63 – 83,659
8. Heroes In Crisis #4 – 82,151
9. Heroes In Crisis #5 – 79,087
10. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1 – 78,021

Now let’s review some of the highlight books from a year ago that stand out whether they’ve heated up, maintained heat or were just overall spec books from a year ago.

Marvel Tales Venom #1 Bartel Virgin Variant is one of those early Bartel Virgin books for these Marvel Tales series that reprint some of the classic issues of the highlight character before some of them really took off.

This was one that Midtown originally listed at $55 but as these were sought after since these were 1:50 variants and not many shops were ordering these that carried a $5.99 price tag, people started to take notice on the scarcity of these.

What’s this book doing a year later? Well, the only recent solds were $28 and $38 respectively. There was a VF/NM 9.0 listing that was an auction that ended at $11.50 with 6 bids.

So if this was a book on your hit list of nabbing, now’s the time to seek these out as they’re pretty cheap. Currently most listings are still holding out around the $70+ range but I’m sure you can keep an eye out for deals when they come about.

Uncanny X-Men #10 David Finch Variant was a book that heated up due to the hot cover art.

What’s it doing a year later? Well, it’s still selling well.

Most sells still around the $20 to $25 range.

There was an auction that ended at $4.25 from 5 bids but from the pictures, you can clearly tell there was a banged up corner on the comic.

This is one of those books if you do find cheap, you throw it in the personal collection. It is a pretty awesome cover. I recall none of my local shops got any, at least none set them out on the shelves.

Wonder Woman #62 Scalera Variant was another great looking cover last year. DC was pumping out some pretty cool Killer B variants for Wonder Woman and their other titles. They really screwed the pooch on those didn’t they in 2019?

I recall this book slightly heating up, it was mostly a double cover book. What’s it doing a year later? Well, it’s a cover price book and on a good buyer day, you can nab for under cover with a few solds going for around a buck with auctions.

I can only imagine it’s sellers just trying to dump off their extras at this point to make up losses or holding for too long.

I still love this cover though as I grabbed them for the personal collection myself.

Remember Winter Soldier #2 that caught some heat due to the new first appearance of RJ? I recall this reaching around the $20 range I think on average at first.

What’s it doing a year later? It’s a cover price book nowadays for the most part but there are a few sales around the $7.99 range.

It’s a mixture. If this character ever catches on in the future, could be a nice long term hold and gamble if you still have them.

Captain Marvel #1 hit shelves around this time last year and unknown at the time was the first appearance of Ryan Ripley who would turn out to be Star in issue #8.

Once people learned this was indeed Ryan Ripley that made her first appearance in the first issue, this one saw some love on the secondary market.

These are now a $6 to $10 book. If Star sticks around and becomes a main player in the Marvel Universe, this isn’t a bad pickup if you ask me. Buy a few, tuck them away cause you just never know.

Harley Quinn #57 saw some love with the Tedesco Variant. This didn’t take off like Batgirl #23 but it was still a great looking cover.

What’s it doing a year later?

Well, the prices are all over the place. Recents go between $10 and $25 on a good day. The strange thing is, a few CGC 9.8’s sold between $30 and $50 with a few BIN still listed at $49.99 with a quick glance lookup.

I say if you still want this in your collection and you like slabs, spend a little more and you can get it cheaper than buying raw and shipping off to CGC to get slabbed.

Young Justice #1 Superboy Variant saw some heat last year upon release. A year later its still anywhere from an $8 book to $18 on a good day. Not too shabby if you ask me. This Young Justice was the first appearance of Teen Lantern if I’m recalling it correctly. Please do correct me if I’m wrong.

Immortal Hulk was all the rave this time last year. Immortal Hulk #12 hit shelves late last January was an instant hit.

The story was driving the heat on this title.

Things have since cooled off, with not as much focus on the issues coming out now but it’s still seeing good numbers as a Hulk book.

A year later you can still sell this issue with what most are saying is the One Below All first true appearance around the $15 range. On  a good day it might fetch close to $20.

This next book didn’t heat up right away but at it’s peak it was closing in on the $125 range at one point.

Naomi #1, the new breakout character from DC was dominating the secondary market late winter and early spring of 2019.

What’s it doing now? Well, I’m glad you asked. The most recent solds are anywhere from $25 range up to the $50 range. Graded 9.8’s are going for around $125.

I did well with this book last year. I picked up around 6 copies at $10 each and was selling them for $60 to $100. I kept one for the long term gamble.

West Coast Avengers #7 saw some heat last year. A year later it’s now a cover price book with the most recent sold listings. There seems to be a few listings still holding out trying to sell their copies at $15 but I  think at this time that’s a far stretch.

Wonder Woman #63 Shirahama Killer B was a great cover which I think is still underrated. It saw some heat last year but quickly cooled off, being a bit too easy to nab as retailers didn’t let this one slip by them when ordering.

A year later this book is selling for cover price and at times less than cover price. Some auctions even ending at just a buck.

This is a book you grab and hold for the personal collection in my opinion. It’s just too bad most of the Wonder Woman series was pretty uneventful. If they had better story lines and first appearances, these could have been bigger hits. DC was killing it with their B variants though, it certainly was boosting their print numbers. Like Field of Dreams, draw it and they will come…  it’s just too bad they stopped drawing it and then tried to take advantage of consumers by doing the card stock covers and bumping the price up by a $1.

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That’s it for this Flashback Friday. If I missed a book, let me know. January was a big month last year with it’s 5 weeks and a lot of things going on in the comic book world. It was definitely hotter last year compared to 2020 thus far.