Comic Book Picks Archives

Hellboy 2 Comic Book Watchlist

Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm  
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Hellboy 2 will be released this week (July 11th) and it’s a good time to look at how this movie has affected the price of the issue to watch for the movie – Next Men 21 .

To get a little perspective on the situation, let’s look at the past sales history of this book.

A CGC 9.8 copy of this book hit it’s high in April of 2004 (the release month for the movie). It sold for about $470. It dropped all the way to the $100 to $150 range for most of 2006-2007. That’s some drop. Starting in early 2008 the book has consistently sold for over $200, making a nice rebound. If you want to learn more about these type of comic book movie connection take a look at the information here.

If you want to continue to track the behavior of this book, take a look at the auctions below. If you are going to purchase any of the books great, but if not, still track the final values in a spreadsheet or by some other method.

New Comic Book Picks and Values – Testing the Price Guides

Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 11:28 am  
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The number one topic I am asked to give my opinion about is comic book picks. This includes back issues and new issues. The problem I have with new comic book picks, and the reason I am very hesitant to give them, is selling the comic books for a decent price can be very difficult for collectors.

In a previous post I talked about “making money on the way in.” This can be done in several ways including buying at a discount, smart auction bidding, or a successful speculation on the future value of a book. But any purchase must have the selling process in mind. This includes the timing of the sale and the method of selling (E-bay, convention, store, website, etc.)  If you are purely a reader you don’t need my picks, you buy what you like.  Collectors who ask me for picks telegraph their intentions, they want to sell in the future and make a profit.

If you are a convention dealer or own a store you have an easy way to sell your new comic books at the “going rate.” But if you are a collector this can be a little more difficult. In order to prove this point I did some research on “hot” comics in the current issue of Wizard and Comics Buyer’s Guide. I actually picked these books completely at random. Here is what I found.

First pick: Thor #1

CBG (Apr 2008) says this book is selling for $7 versus a cover price of $2.99. It was difficult to find any price on E-bay for these books since almost all the completed auctions didn’t receive bids. I’m talking $0.99 auctions with $3.50 shipping folks! I did see a couple auctions with both covers (two books) sell for $5.50 plus $3.50 shipping. CGC 9.8 Coipel covers are going for $15.00 plus shipping. $15.00 doesn’t make back the money, time, trouble or grading risk of submitting!

Next Pick

X-men Messiah Complex one-shot Silvestri cover. Wizard March 2008 Value – $5.00

The results from E-bay? One bidder did buy this for $5.00 plus shipping, but another bought it for $2.25 plus $4.00 shipping. Maybe okay for the buyer, but not okay for the seller at $2.25. You could have a copy in CGC 9.6 for under $20 shipped.  There were several 99 cent auctions that did not sell.

How about another? Let’s try Halo: Uprising #1 (Wizard March 2008 Value $8)

I did see a copy sell for 99 cents plus $4 shipping on E-bay, but it was better for the sellers to go with a #1 and #2 bundle. The bundles were selling for around $7.77 + $3.95 shipping. I’ll call it a wash. With the proper packaging you could have made some money on these. Still, a lot of effort for a couple of bucks.

What is the Lesson Here?

  1. If you are going to dabble in new comic books and don’t sell at conventions or have a store, you must have a plan. It is difficult to find an outlet to sell your new comic picks for a profit. You better not pay retail! Order in bulk from someone like mailordercomics.com, they offer up to 75% off new comics.  A 75% discount allows you to sell for cover and still make a profit.
  2. A lot of the price guides, especially for new comics, are hype machines. They’re great to get you to pay the “value” at stores and conventions, but good luck to the collector to ever get that money out of them. Also, within a few months good luck to stores to even get that price (other than maybe once every six months).
  3. Don’t buy into the hype and you must have a sales plan! Plan your escape before you even enter the game.
  4. If you are a reader only, E-bay can be a great place for deals!

Until Next Time,

Buy and Sell Smart!!!

JLA Movie on Hold

Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 11:07 am  
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Warner has decided to put the Justice League of America movie on hold pending a script rewrite. This will have to wait until after the writers strike. Your guess is as good as mine as to when this will happen.

Should you still pick up some JLA comic book picks?

That depends on your timeline. If you don’t mind waiting an unknown amount of time before you sell, this could be a good time to get the books. If you want a solid plan and date, then wait. The speculation risk of this play has increased. Once the delays begin, you never know when the will end if ever. Decide what is right for your situation.

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