Everyone knows the next big Marvel project this spring, and the sole release before the second installment of the 'Avengers Infinity War', will be ‘Captain Marvel’.

This movie is a big deal. The last Marvel release ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ was a solid entry storywise, but it was both a sequel and a lighthearted film at that - with minimal connection to the larger Infinity War sub-plot that’s been gripping the attention of the fans since April.

So Captain Marvel will be important no less for introducing a new character into the established MCU than for dropping direct hints as to how the second part of Infinity War film may play out and how the Thanos story-arc will conclude. I’m guessing people will want to see this film.

That leads us to the comics:

Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (March 1968) - Second appearance of Captain Marvel; First appearance of Carol Danvers

Is the very first appearance of Carol Danvers, has been selling solidly and is seeing positively Marvelous returns in lower, higher and most mid-grades. This comic currently has a fair market value of $17, 000.00 in certified 9.8 graded condition (but no recorded sales in that grade) and $9,750.00 in certified 9.6 condition. The last sale in 9.6 was for $414.00 on Heritage Auction on August 13, 2003, but a 9.4 CGC copy sold for $3,825.00 on Ebay on April 13, 2017. This comic has a positive roi of +0.3% in 9.2 grade and +55.2% in 9.0 grade after six recorded sales this past year.

Ms. Marvel’s first self-titled comic:

Ms. Marvel #1 (January 1977) - First appearance of Ms. Marvel

Featuring a plucky Carol Danvers gracing its cover, is also red hot at the moment, especially in higher grades. Ms. Marvel’s self-titled debut has a fair market value of $2,450.00 in certified 9.8 grade. Recent sales have recorded a $2,850.00 price tag, on October 1, 2018, and a $3,275.00 sale on September 18, 2018. This gives it a positive roi of +89.6% in 9.8 grade on 5 sales during the last 12 months.

And finally,

Avenging Spider-Man #9 (September 2012) - First Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel

Is the first appearance of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel and currently has a fair market value of $600.00 in 9.8 certified grade after 25 recorded sales since 2012. The last three sales have been for: $621.00, $625.00 (both October 8, 2018) and $625.00 (on September 24, 2018). Currently this grade shows a positive roi of +2.4% after 46 sales all in 2018.

This leads to the point of this post. Given the peaks currently holding for all key comics Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel related, should we be buying or selling these comics right now?

A good rule of thumb for collectors in the game for the long haul, and not trying to merely earn a quick buck, is to always have patience- buy at the right time, and sell at the right time so that you can buy other books that interest you or were unavailable to you previously.

Way back in August, I took a look at the movie/tv publicity to comic book nexus. Here I want to put the lessons I learned there to work in the present case.

Looking at Ms/Captain Marvel comics and applying the rules outlined in my previous article, I noticed that -in general - every time there’s a theatrical or television premiere of a comic book character or team, there are three pronounced bumps in price that happen in the comic book market.

The first bump is when a comic or character is picked up by a studio and the initial publicity leads to an immediate spike in the fair market value. The second uptick in price happens after just before or just after the first promotional trailer or marketing art is released. Finally, there’s a slight bump just before the actual film/show premieres and especially if the film is successful.

Based on the above pattern, now is actually still a good time to pick up these books, especially if you can find a good deal on any of them.

Think of it this way: the release of the 'Captain Marvel' movie (assuming it’s a good film and, more importantly, loved by comic fans) will either see a very slight increase in prices before slipping down again or will see a slight increase that’s sustained with momentum building for future Captain Marvel projects.

Obviously, the very best time to buy was BEFORE the announced Marvel movie. Heck, back then you could have gotten Ms. Marvel #1 in 9.8 for $500.00, but people might have laughed at you for spending so much on that comic. To which the proper reply would have been: 'It’s called ‘speculating’ for a reason…'