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Please share this website with others in the collector community.  Tell your friends about Comicbookspeculation.com. We are on Instagram@cbs_daily and on facebook as Comic Book Speculation.  You can also find us on YouTube at Comic Book Wars where we discuss comic book news, market trends, speculation and investment strategies each and every Tuesday around 9:30 pm.  We’ll be back, each and every week to discuss comics, market trends, speculation, investment, sales strategies and more! Without further ado,

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This is your Weekend Update! 

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I’m here to champion the hobby and encourage you all to dig deeper, hunt longer and grow your collection one comic book excavation at a time.  Every week there is more and more to unearth. Sometimes I can feel like Indiana Jones a badass archeologist looking for treasure left behind by the Knights Templar.  I’ll jump in the car and go adventuring into the unknown wilds of the comic book market.

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Other times, I can feel like a psychiatric patient with a hoarding disorder.  It is easy to feel that way if I’m not curating my collection. This week I took time to sit down with bags and boards and try to get books ready to move.  I am the one of the only people in the comic book world that prefe’s re-sealable bags and I use two boards per bag unless its going in a dollar bin in which case I still bag and board, but I only use one board.

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I may be a quick learner, but I’m a quicker forgetter.  For example, I learn time and time again that comics are a team sport and those with the best team do the best at this hobby.  I want to thank Keith from Nerdbox Comics for joining us on this week’s episode of our YouTube podcast, Comic Book Wars. Keith is an integral part of my team and continues to challenge me in my collecting practices and help me be a better buyer, seller and investor.

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We are looking forward to having Keith and his partner Shawn on Nico Time in the very near future to discuss life in the small con circuit, among other things, and I will keep our readers updated about when they can expect to see these very talented collectors and shrewd speculators on the podcast.

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As I enter my second year writing the Weekend Update for comicbookspeculation.com, I want to take some time to thank my teammates.  You know who you are. In the trenches, laughing at the trolls, joining the live chat, commenting on the videos, in hangouts, chatting it up on the telephone.  Thank you all for your mentorship. Thank you for your friendship.

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Get your Popcorn Ready

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For those of us who are enamored with the wealth of media projects, the roaring 20’s are just getting started.  We are only two weeks into the new year and it appears that Marvel and Sony are now occupying the same universe.  Apparently we will be seeing Spider-Man wanted posters in the new Morbius film. This has sent many collectors out into the wild looking for the first appearance of Crown Hunger in Peter Parker Spider-Man #76 (1997).
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It looks like everyone’s favorite Doctor, Matt Smith will be playing Crown Hunger and I expect these books to move well because of Smith’s popularity.  This hasn’t been confirmed, and I am repeating this rumor because there are people buying these books. If you are reading this article faithfully, you may remember that we first told you about this book back on August 2nd and hopefully you have pulled a stack out of dollar bins and are already moving some of your copies online.

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There has also been a lot of renewed speculation about Norman Osborn entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe / Spider-verse now that it appears that Marvel and Sony are again trying to learn to play nice together.  While I find the recent rumors that Norman Osborn will be portrayed by Christian Bale to border on the absurd, I can appreciate that it is more probable now than it was in the past that we see the introduction of Norman Osborn as a major villain on the big screen.  Expect for interest in Amazing Spider-Man #37 (1966) to grow.
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Expect renewed interest in a Dark Avengers project to develop and for a forthcoming opportunity to move copies of Dark Avengers #1 and New Avengers #49 in all their printings and variations.  There is an opportunity for these projects to materialize and collectors will gravitate towards these books as rumors regarding Norman Osborn’s entry into the MCU continue to percolate.
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Recent reports have indicated Morbius will be the first step towards making the Sinister Six happen.  Remember that the first appearance of the Sinister Six is in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1.  This is not a cheap book and it is super hard in high grade condition because it is square bound.  Remember that there is a Canadian variant that is super cool because it has blank pages where the advertisements were removed from the book.  You can spot these copies by looking at the blank back cover.
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The Sinister Six doesn’t return in the comic universe until Amazing Spider-Man #334-339 which can be found cheap in dollar boxes and back issue bins.  I would think about grabbing these books out of dollar bins and putting together sets to sell as excitement for the Sinister Six will grow regardless of whether the film ever materializes there will be an opportunity to flip these books.

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There has also been a number of rumors that the forthcoming Hawkeye Disney Plus series has been put on hold.  Some are attributing this to Jeremy Renner’s recent personal problem and others are suggesting that Halie Steinfeld is being recast.  I doubt highly that we see a Young Avengers project before we see an adaptation of the acclaimed Matt Fraction mini-series and the forthcoming appearance of Wiccan and Speed in the WandaVision series seems all but certain.  Ultimately, time will tell how this will all shake out, but it is important to remember that CGC 9.8 copies of Young Avengers #1 dipped below the $200 mark before Christmas and show no signs of rebounding.

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To give some perspective to what the schizophrenic market looks like, CGC 9.8 copies of the first issue of the IDW series Canto #1 has been moving around the $250.00 mark.  Canto has had minor buzz, Young Avengers #1 features the first appearance of Kate Bishop, among others, and Bishop is set to star in her own Disney Plus series (according to the official word at Disney).

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Young Avengers #1 is not a rare book, but I suspect that Kate Bishop will become the darling of Disney Plus and encourage you to snag come copies of her key books while they are down.  The Fraction Hawkeye story was an awesome read and will translate brilliantly to serialized television.

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There are some amazing newsstand and second print variants of Hawkeye #9 from 2013.  These are the kinds of books that could catch fire when they dry up online and may go from a $25 to a $250 book in a matter of months.  Remember the lesson of Captain Marvel #14 (2013). While the direct market books have suffered profound dips in there price tag (CGC 9.8s are hitting around $300.00), the newsstand price variant is astronomical and continues to command a couple grand in high grade condition.  Captain Marvel #14 is a garbage pseudo appearance of a character, the Aja cover on Hawkeye #9 is iconic.

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The other Hawkeye book that I like is the the 1:25 David Aja variant from Hawkeye #1 in 2016.  This book is also down and can be found in high grade condition for less than $100.

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We’ve also seen reports that Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness got a massive shake-up this week when director Scott Derrickson left the project over creative differences with Marvel Studios.  The question is whether this is indicative of a totally new direction for the film or whether we will see characters like Clea who first appears in Strange Tales #126 (1964) or Brother Voodoo who first appears in Strange Tales #169 (1973) in the forthcoming film.  With all of this uncertainty in the market, now may be an opportune time to catch a deal on these books.

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Some sites are reporting that we will see the Illuminati who first appears in New Avengers #7.  I have no idea whether there is any truth to these rumors.  I’ve said it in the past, and I will say it again, I report these rumors so you can sell books to people who are hearing these rumors from other sites and believing them, not because I believe them or because you should necessarily believe them.  I imagine that almost anything that gets circulated as an idea at any of these studios is promptly reported as being “in the works” and that most of this stuff is tossed around as spitballing by creative only to be discarded in favor of the next idea.

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I for one believe that Marvel is setting up a long term trajectory towards Secret Wars.  I’ve been saying this for about a year now. I hope you have been squirrelling away those books when you have the opportunity.  We have talked before about Secret Wars 2 #3 which is a black cover and the first appearance of the Beyonder. Some have championed Secret Wars #1 (2nd print) and the Galactus printing error variant or the Canadian Price Variant.  I think you do yourself a disservice by leaving high grade copies of any of these books behind.  Clearly Julia Carpenter’s stock just went up following the Morbius trailer because if Marvel and Sony can cooperate on a Spider-verse Secret Wars #6 and #7 become cheap spec books with a lot of potential upside all over again.

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Remember we are less than a week away from the release of October Faction on Netflix.  The trailer looked awesome and I am hopeful that we will get a surprise hit on our hands.  Similarly, it is just a matter of a few short weeks until we get a Locke & Key season on Netflix.  Like October Faction, the trailer for Locke & Key looks great and I am hopeful that we have a hit on our hands.

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There is a really fascinating relationship between comics, television and film.  Every day we are breaking new ground and there are very few bright line rules. While it is easy to say that “you sell on the trailer” for some projects that rule certainly doesn’t apply universally.  The level of anticipation for shows like the Boys and Umbrella Academy was luke warm at best. However, when the shows hit Amazon and Netflix all bets were off and fans devoured the digital and print media.  Ironically, we didn’t see a lot of Boba Fett books spike in price following the Mandalorean, but we did see Star Wars back issues receive more attention than at any time in my life time.

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It is an awesome time to be a comic collector.  For all of the complaints that people have about “modern comics” and all of the cry baby moans and belly aches that are made about the “current market,” I can’t say with absolute certainty that we are living in the greatest time in the history of comics.  I couldn’t have dreamt of this inter-relationship between Hollywood television and film projects and print comics. Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine a world where I could watch multiple seasons of the Boys on Amazon or Umbrella Academy on Netflix.  I couldn’t dream of a world where I would get a Marvel multiverse and a Moon Night television series.

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Perhaps the market is a little soft right now.  Cease the opportunity. Do not be discouraged by softer prices.  If anything be encouraged that you can hustle hard and grab those books that you never thought it would be possible to secure for your personal collection.  Every challenge is an opportunity and the growth is in the grind.

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I hope you enjoyed this installment of the Weekend Update. That ’s all for this week.  I’ll be back next week with more news. In the interim, “Happy hunting You bunch of savages!”

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– Nico, Esq.
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 Read more articles from Nico here.

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