Thursday, August 11, 2011

Market Spotlight: You're Thor? I Can Barely Sit Down Edition!

























Mighty Thor Artist's Edition
IDW
ISBN:  unknown at posting
SRP:    $100.00

IDW is a strange and wonderful beast when it comes to releasing collected material.  This book contains scans of Walt Simonson's original artwork from Mighty Thor # 337-340, and 360-363.  These are Marvel books, in case that wasn't apparent.  So how does IDW have the ability to publish these?  I don't know.  I suppose that these days the artist does own their original art, but under those parameters, what would stop a creator from self-publishing a "Marvel Essential" style book?  Kinda weird.

And also kinda cool.  I'll say this about IDW, they have a real knack for producing quality material and packaging it in a most attractive manner, and this book is no exception.  I'll say this as well - they also have a knack for making sure that nobody has the ability to back order or purchase their attractive product after initial release.

Which is a long way around saying that I think this book has all the makings of a very solid earner.  This isn't the first "Artist's Edition" of the series.  There's a Dave Stevens collection or three somewhere out there.  You can expect to pay $250 to obtain a copy of that book.  Good luck finding anybody with one.

Incidentally, there is also a variant cover edition available, it was available exclusively at this year's San Diego Comic Con.  That's a nice one to have as well.  $100 is a steep price to pay, but it's a really nice product with a track record, and I don't see people losing interest in that Thor run of Simonson's.

One more incidentally.  Somewhere down the line IDW also plan on producing a Will Eisner Spirit Artist's Edition.  You'll probably want to pre-order that.

Thor Visionaries:  Walt Simonson Vol 5
Marvel Comics
ISBN:  0785127372
SRP:   $24.99

See, I told you Marvel owns this stuff.  I've made quite a bit of money on Vol 2 and Vol 3 on this series, at least I did before they went back to press on new editions.  Right now Amazon min on this book is sitting right around $45.  It's tough to advocate paying full retail on a copy with the prices in that range.

Still, there is some wiggle room there, and if you can score something at Half Price or eBay dirt cheap I think this is a pretty easy sell.  As mentioned earlier, there is strong interest in Simonson's Thor run.  And there should be, because it's bad ass.

Complete Dick Tracy Volume 10
Complete Dick Tracy Vol 9/10
IDW
ISBN:  1600105327/1600105785
SRP:     $39.99

Hey, look, IDW created a high quality series of books that nobody can get hold of.  That's odd. These books are just a year or two old, mind you.

These are reprints of the old Dick Tracy comic strips.  It's hard core niche stuff, which often makes for the best profit opportunities.  I don't need the most popular thing in the world.  I need something that a few people just have to have, and can't seem to find it.

Amazon min on Volume 9 is sitting around $130 as I type this, and Volume 10 has a min price of $165.  It's appropriate to wonder if those prices are actually out in space or feasible.  All I can tell you is that I had a copy of Volume 10 last week, posted it for $125 and it popped inside of 24 hours.  So I feel pretty comfortable buying either book at full retail.

Detective Comics # 871
DC Comics
SRP:   $3.99


Every time I open my mouth I'm extolling the virtues of Scott Snyder's run on Detective, and apparently I'm not the only person who has noticed how ridiculously good it is.

Prices are a little spotty right now, but this issue is consistently closing on eBay for $15-$20, and I don't think it's a fluke.  My guess is that the floppy dips a bit (or a lot) when the material is available in collected form, because I think that market is being driven by people trying to read the issue, not invest.

It's an interesting window right now, though, and I do like the comic long term at $4 because I think history will look very kindly on Snyder's run, and print runs are relatively tiny in 2011.

- Ryan

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