With a one and done movie appearance, I suppose the first Suicide Squad team lived up to the name. By looking at the performance of the past Suicide Squad members’ key comic books, perhaps we can be better informed of the potential market performance of the new characters to be featured in the next Suicide Squad movie.

Due to the full breadth of members in the 2016 Suicide Squad, the analyses for the various characters is broken down into separate, more manageable articles. Here we will begin by taking a closer look at the flagship key comics containing the first appearances of the Suicide Squad and Amanda Waller.

 

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #25 (1959)

To kick things off, the first appearance of the “Suicide Squad” team and the leader Rick Flag was in The Brave and the Bold #25. In the Mission #1: The Three Waves of Doom! Story, the Suicide Squad is summoned to investigate a strange anomaly in the sea after all other options have failed. To their surprise, the Red Wave Beast reveals itself and attacks the Suicide Squad. They defeat the beast by tricking it onto a rocket ship and sending it towards the sun.

Due to the low CGC census, a wider net was cast for the sales data. The graphs below show sales of The Brave and the Bold #25 grouped together by the grades CGC 4.0/4.5 and 6.0/6.5/7.0.

With a limited sales data set, The Brave and the Bold #25 appears to be trending down both on the high and low end grades; with the low grades of CGC 4.0/4.5 decreasing at a noticeably faster rate that the higher graders of CGC 6.0/6.5/7.0. This negative trend has held throughout 2016 to present, which encompasses the worldwide release of the Suicide Squad feature film in late 2016. During the movie’s release, sales volume did drastically decrease, but when sales resumed, the negative trend also returned.

From here on out, an investment in The Brave and the Bold #25 is less a bet on the 1st appearance of Rick Flag, and more on the 1st appearance of the “Suicide Squad” team name. As a book deriving much of its value on its team name, it’s difficult to compare to Avengers #1 or Brave and the Bold #28, because the majority of the core members from the movie iterations of Suicide Squad aren’t present in the issue; unlike the Avengers or the Justice League. The more apt comparison could to the Guardians of the Galaxy’s first team appearance of Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (1969), which also did not include the movie’s iteration of members. It would be beneficial to examine this aspect in a future article.

Although the prevailing trend is sales prices is negative, a pending sequel movie is indeed on the way. Compared with the other DC movies that have been cancelled or are stuck in the planning phase, all signs point to it coming into fruition.

 

LEGENDS #1 (1986)

Amanda Waller (aka “the Wall”), the government official who oversees the Suicide Squad, first appeared in Legends #1. In the issue, Amanda Waller intends on rebuilding Task Force X with capable people like Rick Flag who can follow orders and get the job done.

Below is sales data for Legends #1 in the CGC 9.8 grade, which encompasses a majority of the market of the book.

Sales prices for Legends #1 have been in rapid decline since early 2015. The market and trailers throughout 2015 surrounding the release of Suicide Squad (2016) failed to provide any upward movement in prices. This is rather surprising and points to an overall market sentiment for Legends #1 as most comic book movie characters experience temporary spikes around trailer releases. On the bright side, much of the downside appears to be over shown by the book’s flat sales prices for the last 2.5 years.

At the moment, Amanda Waller does appear to be returning in the Suicide Squad sequel movie. With that, at the current low prices the potential gain could outweigh the risk of further downside. The problem is that it’s a 2 year investment until the sequel movie’s release in 2021; assuming it doesn’t get delayed. In this case, it is up to the individual whether or not it’s worth waiting 2 years to for a $50 dollar book to possibly reach the $100-150 level; assuming previous highs can be reached again.

 

THE BOTTOM LINE

  • The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959) – HOLD
  • Legends #1 (1986) – HOLD. It’s difficult to say if the book’s value will ever return to the highs surrounding the release of the first Suicide Squad movie, but if and when Amanda Waller returns for the sequel, SELL during the timeframe between the 1st trailer and the movie’s release; weighted closer to the trailer’s release.

 

 

“We'll do whatever it takes, throw it all at the wall until something works.” - Amanda Waller