It was another tough outing for Special Marvel Edition #15 as it led the pack in this week’s Coldest Comics.

Wait. How can Special Marvel Edition #15 be a cold comic when it is still selling for over $10k this year? 

That’s the thing about the Hottest Comics - or in this case, the Coldest Comics. The rankings are not based on fair market value. True, a graded 9.8 SME #15 sold for $10,500 on January 3. In fact, none of the comics on today’s list are cheap buys. So how do they end up on the Coldest Comics?

Sales, my friend. No matter how expensive a comic may be, the index is about the number of copies sold in a 30-day span. Just because a 9.8 SME #15 had a $10k price tag doesn’t mean buyers are lining up to own any copies they can find. The result is the Coldest Comics list. Step inside this wintry edition for more.

99. SPECIAL MARVEL EDITION #15 (-57)

When it comes to collecting, Shang-Chi is a story of polar opposites. On one hand, the character has never been more popular. In the course of about a year, in the eyes of moviegoers, he went from complete unknown to superstar. After the success of the movie, mainstream audiences around the world have fallen in love with him, and Marvel announced that a sequel is in the works. 

On the other end of the spectrum, there is Shang-Chi’s first appearance in Special Marvel Edition #15. Early last year, it was selling at a rapid pace, and it remained one of the hottest comics on the market for months. Practically every grade was setting record highs with no indication of slowing down. As collectors and investors know, a key issue is only as hot as the movie. Once audiences see the film and move on to the next MCU entry, those keys can take an impressive nosedive. While SME #15 hasn’t bottomed out in terms of pricing, the sales volume has been dipping. 

This doesn’t mean that it’s time to abandon ship and accept any losses you might incur. It also doesn’t mean SME #15 isn’t still selling for high prices. What it indicates is that the rate at which buyers were adding these to their eBay shopping carts has slowed significantly. Over the past 30 days’ worth of data, the overall sales for this issue have dropped it nearly outside the top 100, which is a rarity for this issue. 

Before you worry about your investment, just remember that a sequel is on the way. Between now and then, we are likely to see Shang-Chi make a cameo or two in other movies. That will help keep his name fresh in the minds of mainstream audiences, which in turn will keep those FMVs up.

71. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #361 NEWSSTAND (-55)

The live-action adaptations fuel the market, there is no questioning that fact. In the case of Carnage, the movies giveth and the movies taketh away. 

Before Venom hit theaters in 2018, there were rumors that Carnage would make an appearance in the film. Based simply on the gossip at the time, all editions and grades of ASM #361 were shattering records month after month. By the time Let There Be Carnage rolled around, we didn’t see many new records, but the sales volume kept the issue in high regard. In fact, there was a time when ASM #361 hardly ever fell below the top-five Hottest Comics.

The bloom is off the rose, it would seem. With mixed reactions from fans, Let There Be Carnage gave a sales boost to Carnage’s first appearance in ASM #361, but it wasn’t as much as many had predicted. Once the character met his far-from-legendary demise at the hands of Venom, buyers began pulling away from this modern classic. The result is what we see today with the newsstand edition of ASM #361 falling by more than 50 spots. Another 30 days like this, and it may not rank inside the top 100.

To be fair, the newsstands typically earn higher prices than the direct editions; that has to be factored into the equation. Look at the most recent sales. This month, a 9.8 standard edition sold for $601 while a newsstand brought $925. Those values may seem high, but consider that the standard edition averaged $924 last year while the newsstand had an FMV of $1,231.

91. NEW MUTANTS #87 (-47)

Cable’s situation is similar to that of Carnage. Going into Deadpool 2 three years go, there was plenty of hype for the time-traveling mutant, and it helped New Mutants #87 earn record sales figures. While Cable didn’t die at the end of the movie, we haven’t seen him since; there is no talk of whether or not he will join Deadpool in the MCU. It creates a recipe for declining sales. This is how it ended up on today’s list despite prices mostly being up for the past year.

Of all the key issues that consistently rank among the Hottest Comics, NM #87 may be the most polarizing with fans. One week, it will rocket up the ladder by leaps and bounds. Days later, it is getting the cold shoulder from buyers and is in danger of falling outside the top 100. This week, it is the latter we’re seeing, and much of that can be blamed on the lack of MCU rumors. On that note, all it takes is one round of gossip to turn things around, and the MCU is never lacking in gossip, especially anything tied to the X-Men.

73. EDGE OF SPIDER-VERSE #2 (-40)

Here is a key issue that is a victim of its own success. Spider-Gwen is one of the hottest characters on the market at the moment. Why wouldn’t she be? Besides being one of the stars of the upcoming Across the Spider-Verse, there has been an abundance of theories and speculations concerning her return to live action. 

Now that No Way Home has opened the door to the Sony-verse, it could easily lead to an alternate reality in which Gwen Stacy contracted spider-powers instead of Peter Parker. As we saw in Into the Spider-Verse and NWH, fans love the idea of various interdimensional Spider-People meeting together on the silver screen. That has led to theories that Spider-Gwen will arrive in the MCU or possibly get her own Sony spinoff at some point in the future.

With all the potential for Spider-Gwen, why would Edge of Spider-Verse #2 rank toward the bottom of this week’s list? Popularity is a double-edged sword in the collecting world. While it makes for high prices - a 9.8 sold for a record $2,040 in the past week - those same inflated values can drive away buyers. I suspect that is the case with Edge of Spider-Verse #2.

51. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 NEWSSTAND (-37)

Once again, we have a newsstand taking a downward turn in this week’s coldest comics rankings. Seeing a newsstand edition of practically any key take a slide is not exactly uncommon. After all, these are generally harder to find compared to the direct editions. 

For those not familiar with the terms, a newsstand copy is a comic that is sold to stores that do not cater specifically to comic collectors. These comics, which will have a barcode on the bottom left, are found in grocery and department stores. They're also found on magazine racks and newsstands, as the name suggests. Since these issues are intended for the general consumers, they are not handled with the loving touch of a collector. This makes finding them in near-mint grades more difficult.

On the other side, there are the direct editions. These are sold directly to local comic shops, where they are treated as collectibles and usually kept in much higher quality than the newsstands. In the old days, the direct editions would have artwork instead of barcodes in the lower-left corners. Modern comics typically all have barcodes, but a newsstand edition is labeled as such above the actual code.

In recent years, collecting newsstands has become big business for major keys. In the case of an issue like ASM #252 that features one of the early appearances of Spider-Man in the black suit, finding a high-graded newsstand can fetch impressive sums. At the same time, not all collectors are after the coveted newsstand barcode, especially not at their current prices. Considering that a 9.8 newsstand ASM #252 sells for around $2k, not everyone is willing to pay that high price when a direct edition of the same grade averages about $200 less. It results in a fickle market for newsstands with high price tags, and that is what we are seeing here.

What do you think we'll see land in the next edition of Coldest Comics? Let us know in the comments!

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not reflect advice from GoCollect