On the heels of a PS5 tease and the new movie, Venom: Lethal Protector #1 soared through the rankings, making it the hottest comic on the market. Which issues were on Venom’s heels? Let’s find out with a look at this week's hottest comics!

What are the Hottest Comics? Ranked by sales volume, the hottest comics are the 1,001 most-traded single issues on eBay for the past week. The index is not based on fair market value, but the two tend to coalesce. This is the one place where a five-figure holy grail can fall behind a cheap comic because those less expensive issues are easier to come by.

What causes a comic to suddenly balloon in price and popularity? Mainstream exposure does the trick every time, and there’s none bigger than the MCU. All it takes is an MCU mention or even a rumor to light the fires under an issue. That is also why most of the Hottest Comics are Marvel titles.

This week, Venom ruled the roost and for good reason, considering how much pop culture attention he has at the moment. Hot on his trail is the flaming skull himself, Ghost Rider, in his first solo comic. They were not alone, either, as the Joker, Star Wars, and Alpha Flight all made significant gains of their own.

On that note, let’s explore the biggest movers and shakers of the week and take a closer look at the current market data as well as why these issues are making such progress.

3.VENOM: LETHAL PROTECTOR #1 (+997)

There is so much Venom in the mainstream media right now. For one, everyone’s favorite symbiote stole the spotlight in the Spider-Man 2 game trailer, appearing as a cameo in the closing moments. Then there is the new movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is only a couple weeks from its United States premiere. 

In the comics, Al Ewing is switching gears from his horror-inspired run on Immortal Hulk and taking over Venom from fan-favorite writer, Donny Cates.

[caption id="attachment_144462" align="alignright" width="300"] Venom #1 Recent Sales - GoCollect[/caption]

Ewing will have big shoes to fill after Cates wrote arguably Venom’s best run of all time, but that only amps up fans for Ewing’s debut issue on the title.

Speaking of the comics, Venom’s story as an anti-hero began in Lethal Protector, the limited series that inspired the first Venom movie. Collectors have flocked to this issue for years now, and the added attention on the character is making this one of the premiere collectibles in all of comics. This week, it picked up nearly 1,000 places to secure the #3 overall Hottest comic on the index.

For the most part, the 9.8 has remained a $150-$200 comic in 2021, which is a reasonable price for Venom’s first solo title.  

7. GHOST RIDER #1 (+993)

Ghost Rider remains in the spotlight for another week, and for good reason. Earlier this month, Marvel released the Midnight Suns role-playing game’s first trailer. The game’s hero lineup featured the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, complete with staple jacket. That also helped raise awareness for one of Ghost Rider’s more famous teams, the Midnight Sons.

The 1990s supernatural all-stars have often been rumored for the MCU, and the game along with the Blade reboot has fueled the speculation that the team will be put together for the big screen. It has made for a hot market for anything Ghost Rider.

This week, his first self-titled comic outraced his first appearance, and Ghost Rider #1 landed in the top 10 after climbing an impressive 993 positions in a week. One of the higher grades sold in September has been the 9.0, and the past two sales have each netted $1,100. On Saturday, a 6.5 sold for $650. Meanwhile, a 5.5 brought $360 earlier this month.

12. THE JOKER #1 (+988)

The newest Batman movie has taken over the comic news feeds as of late. It all started with the stellar reports from the first test audience. Although the rough cut they reportedly watched was about three hours long, those in attendance were said to be on the edges of their seats the entire time. The word is that the movie was along the lines of a psychological thriller, something that is new and different from the superhero genre. 

Following the test audience reports, news spread of a Penguin spinoff series on HBO Max along with a new trailer for The Batman. If that weren’t enough, DC Comics’ newest Batman creative team is about to give the Dark Knight’s greatest foe a new identity. In DC’s Future State, the creative teams have reimagined the superhero world for a new generation. Tim “Jace” Fox is the first African-American Batman, and now he will have his very own Joker in Future State: Gotham #8. 

Between the excitement for the new movie and the Future State Joker, it has created a renewed interest in the Joker’s first comic series. An 8.0 sold for $110 on Monday, and a 9.0 brought $235 that Sunday.

13. STAR WARS #8 (+987)

Star Wars is ever-expanding its live-action universe, beginning this year with the Book of Boba Fett. After the huge success of The Mandalorian’s first two seasons, the market for anything under the Star Wars banner has inflated exponentially. The real value lies in the characters with the best chances of appearing in one of the numerous Star Wars series coming to Disney+. For that matter, even characters with a remote chance of being incorporated into a live-action show have seen their key issues skyrocket in value.

Here we have Star Wars #8. Not only is this one of the early comics with an original story outside the first movie, it features a host of first appearances. There’s Amaiza Foxtrain, Don-Won Kihotay (a bit on the nose, but okay), FE-9Q, Hedji, Jimm Doshun, and the infamous green rabbit, Jaxxon. It is hard to imagine Dave Filoni or John Favreau adding any of these characters to The Mandalorian or any other live-action show, but with everything on the table, speculators are not taking any chances.

What helped this issue get so hot were the low prices. The last two raw copies sold on eBay went for only $0.99 with only one bid apiece. Before that, prices ranged anywhere from $5 to nearly $30. The most recent graded SW #8 was a 9.6 that brought $102.50 on September 12.

14. X-MEN #120 (+986)

Nathan Fillion’s comments are still reverberating within the collecting community. A few weeks ago during a The Suicide Squad watch party, the actor was struck by the scene of the misfit superheroes’ slow-motion walk in front of an American flag. He said that he wanted to see that play out in the MCU, but with Alpha Flight presented before a Canadian flag. Fillion went on to say that he wants to play Walter Langkowski, aka Sasquatch.

Almost immediately, sales for those Alpha Flight keys were ignited, beginning with the team’s cameo appearance in X-Men #120. While Fillion’s remarks were anything but official, that didn’t matter to collectors or investors, and sales remain strong.

Will we see Fillion sport a motion-capture suit for Sasquatch in an Alpha Flight movie? Time will tell. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how high the prices can go on these keys.

On September 20, a high-grade raw copy sold for $157. Around that time, other copies sold for $93 and $46. The real attention-grabber was a 9.8 that brought $3,150 on September 19.

What did you think about this week's Hottest Comics roundup? Let us know in the comments!

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