The comic news at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019 was spectacular! Specifically, Marvel Studios delivered game-changing information about their phase 4 and 5 movies cinematic lineup. The announcement of movie debuts in the upcoming phases included Black Widow, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Blade. I know there were other movie announcements mentioned, but I decided to focus on these movies for this blog. For comic speculators, the groundbreaking news meant big financial gains for books they have invested for years and felt it is the time to sell their books. A year has passed, let's see how the comics associated with these movies are fairing. Please note the timeframe I am analyzing is the dates of July 18 2019 to the current year to date.
Black Widow:
The news at San Diego Comic-Con confirmed the release date for the Black Widow for May 1, 2020. There are two books associated with this movie that speculators bought after this announcement. Tales of Suspense #52 is the first appearance of Natasha Romanoff, the current Black Widow in the MCU. Black Widow #1 is the first appearance of Yelena Belova, who is rumored in the movie and speculated to carry the mantle of Black Widow going forward.
There has been 147 Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) graded copies of Tales Suspense #52 sold during this timeframe. High grades that range from 7.5 to 9.0 were either relatively flat or had low scarcity in sales. CGC 7.0 grades averaged around $2,000 per sale and actually maintained a similar price to the grade of 7.5. A CGC grade of 6.5 had a high price of $1,800 on 12/22/2019 but has yet since fizzled around $1,200. The CGC grade of 4.0 accumulated 29 sales during this time span. The book hit its highest price of $975 on 07/29/2019. Since that sale, the book would average around $500-600 once news of the movie would be delayed.
The Black Widow #1 analysis is much easier to explain. The book came out in 1999 and so the high grades are the ones that interest collectors. For a CGC 9.8, the bulk of the year saw the book average around $130-140. Lately, in the last month, the book has been surging around $180 with speculators believing Yelena will take the mantle of Black Widow. In addition, comic fans also believe that the movie could be premiering on the Disney Plus app fairly soon, rather than be released in movie theatres. These factors alone have spiked the price of the book in the last couple of weeks.
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings:
San Diego Comic-Con revealed this movie would make its cinematic debut on February 21, 2021, in phase 4. With the worldwide pandemic, the movie has been delayed past this date. Movie production is starting to get back to work so a re-confirmed premiere date could be announced in the coming months. The main book benefiting from the announcement is Special Marvel Edition #15. This comic debuts the first appearance of Shang Chi, the Master of Kung Fu, and the main character in the upcoming movie.
CGC grades of 9.8, 9.4, 9.2, 9.0, & 8.5 saw all-time high prices shortly after the movie announcement, but have now fizzled due to the movie delays. 9.8 grades reached a high price of $1,500 on 07/24/2019, and now settling under $1,000 since November 2019. A CGC grade of 9.6 has maintained a steady price of about $1700 in the last year. Overall, all low and mid-grade copies experienced a positive growth trend since the movie announcement.
Blade:
The Blade movie announcement came as a bit of a surprise to fans at San Diego Comic-Con. The reason is since the most recent Blade movie trilogy completed not too long ago in 2006, starring Wesley Snipes. Another reason it was unexpected is that this movie was reserved for phase 5. Many of the movies announced were confirmed for the upcoming phase 4 movie slots. Either way, it is still very exciting news for fans. Comics mostly impacted by this news would be the Marvel Tomb Of Dracula series written in the 1970s. Specifically, Tomb of Dracula #10 benefited the most from the news. The issue details the first appearance of Blade the Vampire Slayer.
Tomb of Dracula #10 clearly benefited from the announcement and should continue to increase once we get a confirmed movie trailer. Prior to the announcement, a CGC 9.8 grade did not even sell for $10,000. The book peaked at $14,99.95 on 08/19/2019 and fizzled down to $12,000 on 05/03/2019. Sales consistently hit double digits from mid to high-grade copies. The grade of CGC 5.5 had the most sales during the one-year time span. It had a confirmed 26 sales and the value of the book has doubled since the announcement.
Overall, all the books mentioned in the article have benefited greatly from the San Diego Comic-Con announcement last year. We can expect the price of these books to steadily increase once the economy is back on track and the official confirmation that companies can resume production on movies. Any of these titles are pretty much a lock to produce financial gains in the distant future. Personally, I picked up some high-grade copies of the Special Marvel Edition #15 as I am fully engaged and excited about the movie.
