Locke & Load, Baby!

If you've been listening to the show, yol know that we've been pimping IDWs Locke & Key on Market Spotlight since January 8, 2008. (a month before the first issue shipped) This is the comics debut of critically acclaimed novelist Joe Hill, also known as Stephen King's kid.

Let's get right to the point - Locke & Key just went BOOM. Over the past seven days, Issue # 1 has been fetching $25-$50, and issues 2-3 have been spiking toward $15-$25 an issue. If you took our advice and ordered multiple copies of these books, you're sitting on a little pile of dynamite right now.

Hard to say how things will shake out since we're only at the birthing stages right now. Issue # 1 is king for the moment, but I'm not sure that it will stay that way. The print run on # 1 was 7,559 copies, and we now know that issue # 2 went down to 6,122 orders. No hard data on # 3 yet, but it certainly appears to be the most difficult issue of the series to find up for sale, even if it isn't commanding the bigger dollars yet.

Should you sell your copies now? In a word, fucking yes. The closest parallel we have for this book in my mind is the original 30 Days of Night mini. We're already approaching those figures on Locke & Key, so there is no good sense in getting greedy.

IDW has begun to reprint the issues, and you know there is a TPB coming. Both of those factors should bring prices back down to earth a bit.

I fully endorse buying any of the first three issues at double cover and dumping them immediately. And remember - IDW has been going back to press. If you want to sell for a profit, make sure you've got a first print in your hands. Open up the book and look at the small gobbledygook on the first page. Comics are more honest then people. They'll tell you right up front if their an original or not.

Incidentally, the real reason we're seeing this spike is that the print runs are microscopic and the story is bloody good. Hill has a real gift for dialogue, creating tension, and telling a story with a well-paced plan. It's comics done right.

- Ryan