As The Boys’ streaming audience builds on the popularity of its third season, that attention has elevated the title’s first issue, making The Boys #1 this week’s Hottest Comic.

Love it or hate it, the secondary market revolves around the plethora of movies and shows stemming from the world of superheroes. There are so many franchises that virtually every major character from Marvel and DC has been featured in some sort of film or streaming series. The MCU rules the roost, no question, and that puts the biggest target on those related key issues. In a distant second, we have the DCEU keys. That makes this week’s biggest mover all the more impressive. 

On the heels of its third season on Amazon Prime, Wildstorm’s The Boys #1 had a rocket welded to its back, and it flew nearly into the top-25 Hottest Comics. In a world dominated by Marvel and DC, it is refreshing to see a smaller publisher get a taste of the action, if only for one week.

Remember, the Hottest Comics is all about those sales. This list is built around sales volume, which explains why many historic Golden Age keys are missing from the top 100. It’s not to say those higher-priced comics aren’t enviable, but those price tags deter buyers. That’s why the list is filled with more modern comics that are easier to find at lower prices. 

That being said, let’s take a closer look at the five comics that gained the most spots in the Hottest Comics.

27. THE BOYS #1 (+56)

The Boys’ third season has wrapped, and more viewers than ever have discovered arguably the best superhero show on streaming. If you haven’t seen it, keep this in mind: The Boys is not for the squeamish. The blood and gore in every episode is enough to make The Walking Dead jealous. Suffice to say, it’s a show you won’t find on Disney+, and that is part of the appeal. The other factor is the smart writing that does a better satire of modern America than practically any other show today.

The latest season has made headlines outside the comic circles for its political commentary. While infusing social issues into the plot is nothing new for The Boys, the first two seasons were more clearly aimed at parodying the corporate world’s meticulous control over public perception, specifically Disney and its Marvel superheroes. This time around, the show was less a Disney parody and took a more direct aim at political leaders and their most obsessive followers. All of this is personified in Homelander, whose egomania and violence have made him a bigger star than ever.

With The Boys making more mainstream news outlets, it casts a brighter spotlight on the show’s comic ties. As always, the top item on a collector’s wish list is the first appearance. That has catapulted The Boys #1 through the rankings. After a 56-position surge, it is inching closer to the top 20, making it this week’s biggest mover. 

Remember there is more than one version of The Boys #1.

Originally, Garth Ennis’ magnum opus was published by Wildstorm before Dynamite Comics took up the reins. That means the true first appearance has the Wildstorm logo, and that’s the one making the biggest waves. As of late, it’s hitting record numbers. Two years ago, the high sale for a 9.8 was set at $600, a mark that fell only this week with a $700 sale on Monday. Outside of that massive price tag, most copies being sold in the past month have been in the $400-$500 range.

39. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #252 NEWSSTAND (+48)

There are certain issues that find their ways among the movers and shakers week after week. Somewhere in the top-100 Hottest Comics you will find mainstays the collector’s edition of  X-Men Vol. 2, #1, 1990’s Spider-Man #1, Amazing Spider-Man #363, and this week’s second-highest mover, ASM #252.

As I have mentioned several times in recent months, the Spider-Man: No Way Home post-credits scene has kept all the symbiote keys in the spotlight. To the disappointment of Venom fans everywhere, Tom Hardy was stuck in a hotel bar getting the lowdown on the MCU from a bartender. When Doctor Strange sent all the Spider-verse characters back to their universes, Venom left behind a piece of the symbiote. That has kept the MCU fandom speculating on what is to come of the symbiote and Spider-Man.

As collectors scour the auction sites for those Venom keys, it leads to ASM #252, which is tied for both the second appearance of the symbiote costume and its debut in the Marvel-616. What makes this particular edition more special is it being a newsstand copy, and finding one in a higher grade can be a challenge. That’s why a 9.8 ASM #252 newsstand averages over $2,700 as of late.

32. DARTH VADER #3 (+37)

Now that Kenobi has wrapped its first season, the fans’ full attention has shifted back to The Mandalorian. The champion of Disney’s Star Wars franchise, audiences are more than ready for the third season, especially after Mando hijacked The Book of Boba Fett. With that enthusiasm for the adventures of Din Djarin come theories of who will appear in the next season.

BOBF planted the seeds for one of the modern comics’ most popular additions to the mythos, Doctor Aphra. Basically an intergalactic cross between Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, she is a planet-hopping treasure hunter. One of her frequent accomplices is the bounty-hunting Wookie, Black Krrsantan, so when he debuted in BOBF, it sent shockwaves through the secondary market. 

Collectors quickly took to the auction sites to find their copies of Aphra’s first appearance in Darth Vader #3. It sent the prices to a 12-month average over $400. The lack of news and rumors on the Aphra front has cooled those sales figures to a more reasonable $349 30-day average. If she does make her live-action premiere in Mandalorian’s third season, that could be a bargain compared to the coming price surge.

58. SPIDER-MAN #1 GOLD EDITION (+33)

Todd McFarlane fans can’t call their collections complete without all the variants for 1990’s Spider-Man #1. The Toddfather has the market cornered on iconic covers, and this is one of the most popular. Considering how much fans love all of his covers, the fact that his Spider-Man #1 art is among the most duplicated is a testament to this issue’s legacy.

Along with 1991’s X-Men #1, Spider-Man #1 helped begin the age of variants. Counting newsstands and direct editions, there were eight different editions of Spider-Man #1. To this day, the number of copies of Spider-Man #1 printed remains among the biggest print runs in comics history. Out of all those different variants, it’s typically the gold edition that gets the most attention from collectors. 

Considering the volume of available copies in circulation, it is surprising that the 12-month average is over $200. Sure, that’s for a pristine, graded 9.8, but these are not hard to come by. The 30-day FMV dips only slightly to $190.

69. AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #362 (+31)

Speaking of the symbiote keys, here is another issue that continues to move up and down the ladder. No matter how far ASM #362 falls, it never quite drops outside the top 100 Hottest Comics. Just after it takes a dip, buyers give it a push back up the ladder, and that is exactly what we are seeing this week.

As symbiote fans know, this issue marked the second full appearance of Carnage. The spawn of Venom had appeared in cameo teases prior to his full debut in ASM #361. As the Carnage saga began, ASM #362 saw the first team-up between arch-rivals Spider-Man and Venom. That could be part of the reason for this issue’s consummate popularity. When we combine Carnage with the Spider-Man/Venom team, it makes more sense that buyers can’t ignore this issue.

Again, this is a comic that is not hard to find. The early 1990s saw huge print runs compared to today, and getting a higher grade ASM #362 is not challenging. Still, buyers had been willing to spend $176 for a graded 9.8 based on the 12-month FMV. Lately, the prices have come back to reality, and the 30-day average sits at $117.

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*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.