Speculation is not that far off from gambling. You are hoping that you select an appropriate character, or comic title, to wager on, you roll the dice and wait to see if you made a long-term win or instead wasted your money on a worthless book of paper with cartoons on it.  How do you beat the house and get an edge up on all of the sellers, buyers, collectors, speculators, fans, etc.?  You have to be in a thinking and calculating mode.  There has to be some finite rules, methods, or strategies that you follow to be successful, but ultimately it comes down to your gut and some luck!  Let's take a look at some comics that may have hit, or missed, as gambles and speculate on their future.

Marvel Team Up #65 -  A comic that I have been keeping an eye on for a few years.  This book has always seemed undervalued with sales around $400, and it appears the market felt the same because this book recently shifted up around the $500 range (UPDATE: since drafting this blog, a copy sold for $1000).  Captain Britain's first appearance should be enough for a book to succeed, but this book also has the first appearance of Arcade and Miss Locke.  Odds of increased value: HIGH

Amazing Spider-Man #212 - This is the first appearance of Hydroman and it has had some recent value success because of the unreasonable rumors that came from the Far From Home set.  Those gains were immediately wiped out with a flood of stock to the market and everyone who wanted a Hydroman filling their need.  This book may make a comeback as other titles around the same time-frame begin to blow up and never forget...Amazing Spider-Man books are always popular with collectors.  Keep your eye out for newsstand variants to distinguish your collection.  Odds of increased value: LOW/MEDIUM

The New Mutants #87 - Cable had a good showing in Deadpool 2, but his first appearance did not see the type of market response that other movie characters have received.  Now may be the time to grab a copy and see if the next sequel will swell the market enough to capture some gains.  Odds of increased value: MEDIUM

Incredible Hulk #271 - Rocket Raccoon has been a beloved character in the MCU and his comic values have seen some wonderful gains over time.  However, Incredible Hulk #271 still appears to be reasonably priced on the market.  It may be a longer-term play, but I assume this book will make a leap to near $1000 by the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie release.  Odds of increased value: HIGH

Avengers #196 - With Taskmaster making an appearance in the upcoming Black Widow movie, we have seen prices for his first appearance soar. 9.8 copies have been selling above the $1200 mark but a sudden appearance of copies on the market took a bit of the momentum out of this book.  I expect a lull in value as copies sit on the market, overpriced.  Odds of increased value: LOW

Thor #225 - The first appearance of the herald of Galactus, known as Firelord, has seen some tremendous gains as pointed out here.  It looks like another copy, at 9.8 grade, sold for over $2000.  If you picked up a Thor #225 at $2000, what were you expecting as a high price point?  I find it hard to imagine that book hitting $3000 for any reason.  Odds of increased value: LOW

Do you have odds on your favorite books or characters?  Is there a book that you would love to target but cannot find?  Drop your comments and join the speculation!

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