Caught in a never-ending shuffle of will they or won’t they give him a solo movie… the fan-favorite, molecule accelerating, card throwing, bo staff-wielding, Ragin' Cajun mutant named Gambit (aka Remy LeBeau) will surely have luck on his side one day. Until then, here we examine the past decade of sales for Gambit’s 1st cameo X-Men Annual #14 and his 1st full appearance The Uncanny X-Men #266.

 

 

X-MEN ANNUAL #14 (1990)

For Gambit, the biggest event that stirred the pot for the character’s key comic books was the Jan 2014 reveal of a solo movie in development with an actor attached to the role. Prior to that, sales for X-Men Annual #14 were rather flat, low volume, and low in sales price; which, keep in mind, does include the first big-screen portrayal of Gambit in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) movie. Following the announcement, sales prices tripled from the $50 level to highs of over $160 in just a year. It wasn’t just a single news event; rather, those months included a series of announcements including a planned Gambit cameo in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), a late 2016 worldwide release date of the Gambit solo movies, and movie director hiring. Quite the gas pedal of positive sentiment.

Unfortunately, in late 2015, everything fell apart. The series of positive news that pushed the book value upwards was met with an equal series of negative movie production news; which included the removal of the movie’s original planned release date. Below is the sales data surrounding this timeframe for X-Men Annual #14, graded CGC 9.8; the top 33.0% of the census. The up and down is almost symmetrical.

Not to be left behind in the shadow of Deadpool’s success, things started to come together again for the Gambit movie in late 2017. A new worldwide release date being set immediately changed the market sentiment for X-Men Annual #14; note the timeframe in the chart below (CGC 9.8). Interestingly, sales prices shot up with the same speed and magnitude similar to the prior 2014/15 move. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only similarity, the timing of the peak and reversal to the downside occurred in a similar fashion.

After much delay in the Gambit movie and the limbo due to the Disney/Fox deal, the Gambit solo movie was finally canceled. At the moment, it appears that sales prices for X-Men Annual #14 retraced much of any benefit surrounding movie news. For the CGC 9.8 grade, there is still about 30% downside to the lows seen in 2016/17.

 

 

THE UNCANNY X-MEN #266 (1990)

The graphs below show the sales for Uncanny X-Men #266 separated into the two parts, as previously observed with X-Men Annual #14. Likewise, they include the book, graded CGC 9.8, which represents the top 20.7% of the census.

Without repeating too much of the same information from the above X-Men Annual #14, the sales prices for Uncanny X-Men #266 behaved in a similar fashion in relation to the movie news influences. Outside of the higher overall market values for Uncanny X-Men #266, another major difference is that X-Men #266 has more stability with sales in a tighter price range. The current trend is indeed downwards; with a similar 30% downside risk to the lows of 2016/17.

 

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

A side-by-side of the sales for both X-Men Annual #14 (left) and Uncanny X-Men #266 (right) are shown below.

Overall, the market behavior of Gambit’s key comic books resembles Charlie Brown’s shirt. Jokes aside, the short-term outlook for both books is negative. Without any new Gambit movie news, it’s possible that lower prices levels of $70 for X-Men Annual #14 and $250 for Uncanny X-Men #266 (both in CGC 9.8 grade) could be seen by late next year.

 

 

“You can drain my energy any time, Chere. Gambit has plenty.” - Gambit

 

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