After the perceived so-called ‘Star Wars fatigue’ that accompanied the ‘Han Solo’ movie, Disney recently pulled the plug on releasing any more Star Wars stories for a while. It appears that nothing remotely similar is affecting the Spider-man brand at the moment. With ‘Spider-man Homecoming’ having done very well at the box office (thank you very much!), now we learn that the Spider-verse big screen appearances will mushroom very soon.

No less than two major announcements were made in recent days regarding Spider-man related projects. These announcements, along with the already slated for release animated feature (Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse- coming out this Christmas), will apparently see the- also planned- Tom Hardy Venom film, the Silver and Black film (featuring Silver Sable and Black Cat), and a rumored Morbius the Living Vampire movie, possibly being joined by two more Spider-people getting the VIP treatment and re-packaged for movie/small screen projects.

The characters are Cindy Moon aka Silk, and Kevin Trench aka Nightwatch. It will be interesting to see what live action appearances, if they happen, do for the value of the key comics that introduce these characters. Signs are strong that the news is already having an effect, as the first appearance of Silk is starting to command higher prices on Ebay sales. The first appearance of Miles Morales was already on the rise; will the Nightwatch announcement see that obscure comic also begin to be sought out?

Let’s take a look at the relevant comics and their current values:

Web of Spider-man #97 (February 1993) – First Kevin Trench/Nightwatch

This issue is the first appearance of Dr. Kevin Barry Trench who becomes Nightwatch. Created by Kevin Kavanagh, Nightwatch looks like a Marvel version of the Todd McFarlane character Spawn, but his story is a little different. In the Spider-man comics Nightwatch has a suit of nano-technology that allows him to increase his strength and stamina. Trench started off a villain called Nighteater, but looking into the future, he saw that he would die if he remained a villain and so decided to change his fate by becoming a hero instead. Spike Lee has expressed an interest in making a Nightwatch series and Luke Cage director Cheo Hodari Coker has expressed interest in writing the script. Currently Web of Spider-man #97 is valued at $160.00 for a 9.8 graded copy which gives it an 86% rise in value from what it sold for in 2016. Will a Nightwatch series push the price of this comic even higher?

Ultimate Fallout #4 (October 2011) – First Miles Morales/Spider-man

The Ultimate Universe allowed Marvel to ignore their complex continuity and re-introduce characters who had either become predictable or lackluster. It also allowed for the creation of entirely new versions of some of the older standby heroes in order to shake things up a bit. This was certainly the case with Spider-man who, at the hands of Brian Michael Bendis, had the mantle of Wall-Crawler handed to Miles Morales. For the most part, the Ultimates were fun comics and popular too. There are a lot of Peter Parker fans who hate Miles, but he is a great Spider-man and hopefully his animated debut will do him justice. Miles’ first appearance is Ultimate Fallout #4, this comic is worth seeking out. 9.8 graded copies are currently hovering at $210.00. Best returns have been on 9.4 grades.

Amazing Spider-man v3 #4 (September 2014) – First Silk

In the flagship Spider-man books, some radical changes happened at the beginning of 2013 and into 2014. After Peter Parker's 'death' in Amazing Spider-man #700, we learn that Peter had actually had his mind taken over by Otto Octavius (i.e. Doc Ock). This led to Doctor Octopus becoming both Peter and the ‘Superior Spider-man’ and eventually learning about heroism and even sacrificing himself; thus allowing for the possibility of the original Peter’s return. The re-launch of Amazing Spider-man in 2014 dealt with the consequences and the fallout of Doc Ock’s actions as Peter. It was written by Dan Slott with illustrations by Humberto Ramos. The Korean-American super-heroine, Silk was also introduced in the Amazing re-launch. Since Silk has only been around since 2014, there are not that many key comics surrounding her character. This is one of them. Cindy Moon first appears in cameo in ASM v3 #1, where we learn that, like Peter, she was also bitten by a radio-active/super-spider. Her first full appearance as Silk can be found here. The Sony Entertainment announcement that the producer Amy Pascal wants to make a Silk film (the character, as Cindy Moon, has already appeared onscreen in the Marvel Spidey re-launch, Spider-man: Homecoming portrayed by actress Tiffany Espensen) led to an immediate bump on Ebay sales of this comic. The Humberto Ramos 1:10 variant cover is the one I would recommend getting, if, that is, you can find it. Until recently 9.8 grades were selling for an average of $110.00.