For comic book speculation, what’s better than a character that gets a movie? One that keeps getting promised to be made but never does. It’s almost like a rollercoaster that only goes up but never experiences the first drop; the actual release of the movie. One such character who fits this mold is the original “Terminator”… Deathstroke.
Is there a limit to how much the market value of Deathstroke’s key first appearance comic book can build up? Here we examine how the market of The New Teen Titans #2 (1980) is directly affected due to the seemingly endless news bumps.
THE NEW TEEN TITANS #2
In 2016, the first one-two punch of Deathstroke news came in the form of test footage of Deathstroke and DC Comics President Geoff Johns confirming the inclusion of Deathstroke into the DC Extended Universe. We can see the effects on the sales in the graph below; which shows sales for The New Teen Titans #2, graded CGC 9.8 (the top 16.6% of census).
In this timeframe, sales for the book did temporarily increase in volatility following the news of a Batman script rewrite in March 2017. You can see this in the above chart; the sales prices during subsequent months increased to a wider range between $700 and $450.
This uncertainty was short lived as the upward price movement resumed with a triple event at the end of 2017. The first was in September, Deathstroke is reported to be the villain in the next standalone Batman movie. The second occurred in October with reports of a solo Deathstroke movie having found a writer/director in Gareth Evans. The final one was in November, Deathstroke makes his first silver screen appearance in a post-credits scene for Justice League.
This quick succession of Deathstroke events caused the market volatility of The New Teen Titans #2 to stabilize at the higher end of the price range. This behavior is readily apparent in the graph below, showing the CGC 9.8 sales from 2017 to the first half of 2018.
With the stabilization of prices, sales prices also flattened during the first few months of 2018. This too was short lived. In April 2018, this time we get another news bump from the Deathstroke actor himself that the standalone Deathstroke movie is still in the works. The price plateau is immediately broken and sales experience a spike.
This brings us to the sales for the last year. The spike was short lived and volatility has returned. The New Teen Titans #2 is selling for anywhere between $600-800.
THE BOTTOM LINE
For the last 4 years, the sales prices for New Teen Titans #2 have experienced a relatively larger volume of news pumps compared to most other comic book characters. Any time there is a drought of news and uncertainty, some more news gets dropped. Like clockwork.
Although the prolonged development of a standalone Deathstroke movie may frustrate fans wanting to see the movie, it has oddly benefited the market value of New Teen Titans #2. The next news bump will surely occur any day now. And if Deathstoke’s history serves as any indication, there will probably be plenty more.
At the moment, the movie still appears to be in Warner Bros’ plans, but there exists an unfortunate risk that it could change at any given moment; a la Cyborg’s canceled standalone movie. The book’s current value is entirely built on a house of cards made of continual news bumps.
“Take me in. I’ve got lawyers that make Darkseid look like a librarian.” - Deathstroke
