The original concept of John Constantine had him aging in real-time, but his popularity and demon blood have made that an impossibility. In theory, he’d be 66 this year if that had continued. It does also make one wonder if there was also an originally planned conclusion to that real-time aging. Moving forward, here we take a closer look at the current market for a few of Constantine’s key comic books.
On a side note, with all the Keanu Reeves joining the MCU rumors and fan-casting, why not give Constantine (2005) a rewatch?
John Constantine makes his first appearance in Swamp Thing #37, in which Constantine’s investigation of the impending return of an evil entity leads him to seek out the Swamp Thing. The first meeting of the two heroes is a short one, with Constantine teaching Swamp Thing more about himself and his abilities. Sales prices for Swamp Thing #37, graded CGC 9.8 (the top 14.9%), are shown.
The sales history of Swamp Thing #37 brought to you by Nike; not really, but it does look like a swoop. Jokes aside, the book experienced a dramatic decline in sales prices in late-2014 and throughout 2015; this negative sentiment can be primarily attributed to the cancellation of the live-action TV series in a similar time period. From there, the book’s sales prices grew for a year before it quickly reversed in early 2017. Interestingly, this second decline in prices stopped at the same bottoming price levels experienced in 2015. From this strong support level, Swamp Thing #37 has been on quite a bit of an upwards tear. Over the last two years, sales prices have almost doubled. At the moment, the book appears to be a cautious addition due primarily to the relatively short and recent positive trend; should this be sustained for a few more months and display a more extended track record, the book could potentially be upgraded to a more confident buy.
While Swamp Thing #37 is widely recognized as the first appearance of Constantine; the character or at least someone that looks like him (such as Sting) made a short background cameo a year earlier in Swamp Thing #25. For the sake of thoroughness, this book has been included. While the possible cameo is brought up from time to time in conversations about Constantine’s key books, the market for the book is comparatively sparse. Due to the low volume of sales, the data below shows Swamp Thing #25, graded CGC 9.8 and 9.6.
Overall, Swamp Thing #25 has seen flat sales prices at the 9.6 grade and a very slightly positive growth in the 9.8 grade. The same 2015 dip from above is also observed in the 9.8 grade of this book, but slightly less obvious due to the low volume of sales. It is also this low volume of sales that make this book a poor investment. Other than the interesting talking point of a possible John Constantine cameo, Swamp Thing #25 does not offer an attractive outlook.
To round out the Constantine collection is Hellblazer #1, in which the hero leads his first self-titled book. John leaves the swamp behind as he journeys to solve the supernatural threats around the world. The chart below shows the sales for Hellblazer #1, graded CGC 9.8 (the top 19.1%).
Like the above books, Hellblazer #1 also experienced the same late-2014/early 2015 loss in value; however, in a much greater percentage. Since then, the sales prices have followed a trend similar to that of Swamp Thing #25. The good news is that at least the lower end of the price range appears to be holding, but the bad news is that the upside is very minimal.
THE BOTTOM LINE
- Swamp Thing #37 (1985) - ADD
- Swamp Thing #25 (1984) - REDUCE
- Hellblazer #1 (1988) - REDUCE
“I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness.” – Constantine
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