Amazing Spider-Man by Dan Slott is on a run similar to the Dark Nights Metal series. Everyone wants a piece of this comic series. Why? This is the first full appearance of the Red Goblin, and he is one mustache twirling villain. The pace of this comic has been like watching Jesse Owens in the 1939 Olympics pass every runner at full speed. Dan Slott's creations are making the other comic books look like they are standing in place with no interest. Meanwhile, Marvel's captured the top five new books in June, Amazing Spider-Man #798, #797,#796 and even #795 with the Alex Ross virgin cover dominating the fifth place. This increase in pace in June has locked this series into first place and it was already one of the top books in May. In fact, the top five new comics in May were the same books in different order. What does this mean for these books as speculations? Is it too late to jump on this Amazing Spider-Man bandwagon?

Marvel Dominates June Rankings

I don't see another publisher except for Marvel in the top thirteen new comics in June. The closest competitor is at 14th rank from Image Comics the Oblivion Song #1. Furthermore, the first sign of a DC comic book is Batgirl #23 (Variant Cover) and it ranks 18th. Whew! That is nothing less than creative domination of the entire new comics genre, with one story and one first appearance. This is a provocative question: Why has DC fallen so far? They have great stories but for some reason no tempo. The fans are percolating the pace of Amazing Spider-Man to new heights. Now we should not confuse investment tempo with returns, they are not the same thing. Let's tackle this conundrum and dive deep into the Amazing Spider-Man #798 effect. How we can make money if at all, from this book or books?

Amazing Spider #798 Effect

Spidey has always been a fan favorite in the Marvel universe, something about his youth revisited and pure heroic heart shines through on every page. In reality, Spider-Man by this time would be one of the most deadly UFC fighters the world has ever seen, I mean this guy has fought everyone. He even upper-cut the Hulk once, great McFarlane cover. Dan Slott at the helm as the writer for Amazing Spider-Man created one of the creepy and most vile villains. Ultimately, it is not power or speed but exploiting the vulnerability with Spider-Man's loved ones. The Red Goblin terrifies and threatens them. I was skeptical but Slott was truly creative in this story and gave it bite. Obviously, we haven't seen the last of Red-Gobbie.

Contradiction Between Tempo and Price

The numbers are just plain odd; they tell a different story, a more accurate one. Amazing Spider-Man #798 created by Dan Slott and Stuart Immonen has dominated the ranking of popularity. However, ASM #798 has failed on the investment returns,  speculative or otherwise. Currently, the FM Value of $40 for (9.8) mint has not changed for the last two months. Odd considering in the month of June alone there were  85 total sales of graded copies. This is a huge number for the second month in a row. Unfortunately, the returns have been worse than Red-Gobbie's pumpkin bombs. This book has been an amazing defeat for speculators, grade (9.8) has returned -10%, (9.6) -4.7% and worst of all the sickening loss of -37.3% in (9.4) grade. Yet, the purchase pace is continuing. Why? This is one of those books that has caught on with fans and they are pushing the Red-Gobbie story to new Manhattan heights. The real question is how long can this continue without a decent return?

Counting Actual Sales Figures

Ultimately, the top five books are all by Dan Slott, ASM #795, #796, # 797, #798 with the last one being the virgin variant dominating the fifth place. Let's check out the pace of these books for clarity: ASM #795 had 38 sales in the month of June, ASM #796 had 29 sales, ASM #797 had 23 sales in the month of June. Compared to the next best comic book; the 6th ranked new comic X-Men: Red #1 (Lee Edition), had only 20 sales. With the closest competitor at only half as many sales, we know the tempo is quick as Spider-Man's reaction time.

How do we analyze the lack of return from this number one comic? I am going to guess that the full-first appearance of Red-Gobbie was a publisher's dream. They printed way more than they thought they could sell. The glut on the market means this hollow ranking could continue. But if I am right the pace will fade and the books price will fall. When we revisit this book in six months it might be much cheaper. This issues inflated tempo will collapse and turn out as a hollow victory, and ultimately a money pitfall. Wait several months and you can pick up Amazing Spider-Man #798 at a discount to current prices.