Star Wars Tales #1Star Wars Tales--a recent Star Wars series that is worth your spec consideration and your bin digging.  These recent Star Wars series are monsters right now.  Why?  Say it with me: The Mandalorian Season 2, and the possibility of new Star Wars series from Disney+ on the way.

Star Wars Tales is a 24 issue series published by Dark Horse from September 1999 to July 2005.  Each issue has an illustrated cover and photo cover.  So, we're going to look at which issues you could consider from this series and also dive into which of the two covers would be the best pick.  This series definitely has some emerging keys that are worthy of a hard look for potential growth.  Let's look at some possibilities:

 

Star Wars Tales #23

First up are a Darth Revan and Darth Malek issue that has reached some serious value.  In this issue, we have the first cameo appearance of Darth Revan AND Darth Malak.  Both characters are huge right now and continue to gather fans in the market.  Star Wars Tales #23 had no graded sales until 1 lonely sale in 2019, and no FMV value established until 2020.  Currently,  a graded 9.8 Star Wars Tales #23 has an FMV of $450!

The photo cover and the illustrated cover are about even when it comes to FMV.  So no clear winner there.  Neither cover is stellar but my pick is the illustrated cover--at least it's not a static cover.

 

 

 

Star Wars Tales #24

Next up, is Star Wars Tales #24.  Got to love the killer photo cover variant for this issue as the clear winner over the illustrated one.  What first appearance can be found here?  Darth Nihilus.  Darth Nihilus was first introduced as a character in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords video game.  Darth Nihilus was an extremely powerful Sith Lord that lived on the life-force of others and is without a doubt bad-to-the-bone.

Star Wars Tales #24 has an FMV of $575 for a graded 9.8 with a graded 9.6 coming in an FMV of $350.  This issue had no graded sales whatsoever until 2020 when it exploded to present FMV levels.

 

Star Wars Tales #9

I've got to get in a cover that is a fav of mine--the photo cover variant of Star Wars Tales #9.   It sort of reminds me of a UFC Fight Night advertisement: Vader vs. Maul--The Throw Down!!  There's Only Room for One!!  Who wins?  (Spoiler alert: Maul goes down for the count).

Both covers are keepers but go with this photo cover variant cover which has a higher FMV for a graded 9.8 than the illustrated cover.  Also, the same story as before with other emerging keys in this series: No graded sales prior to 2020 and then a big jump in value.  FMV is $230 for a graded 9.8.

 

 

 

Best Of The Rest

There are two other issues from this series that are also of interest: SWT #7 with an Ailyn Vel cameo/1st appearance (Boba Fett's daughter) and 1st appearance of Sintas Vel (Ailyn Vela's mother), and SWT #19 with a nice Hans Solo photo cover.  The #19 will run you around $130 for a 9.8 and the #7 illustrated Boba Fett cover lands at a $375 FMV for a graded 9.8.

 

Conclusion

What is the level of spec opportunity with the Star Wars Tales series?  It depends.  The early adopters are buying, the treasure hunters are scouring back issue bins for these issues, and the cautious consider these rises in values as simply FOMO.  Here are some of the pros and cons:

Pros: Several of these recent back issue Star Wars series are heating up right now.  Disney+ could follow The Mandalorian success with other new Star Wars series and use some of these characters found in these recent Star Wars series.

Cons:  Total sales are still low for these emerging keys, and most of the sales have been only in 2020.  The rise in values could be just part of the nuclear comic market right now that will eventually fade.

Definitely be a treasure hunter.  After that, it depends on your tolerance level for the unproven spec risk.

So, which category are you in?  Are you in or out on Star Wars Tales?  Let me know in the comments!