You had a long and exciting year of comic collecting!  Congratulations and I hope that you had some success.  Did you scoop up a copy of that comic you have been wanting?  Were you able to win an auction at a price that was almost unbelievable?  Did a comic you thought "non-existent" make its way onto the market giving you a renewed sense of hope for your dream list?  For me, if any of these are true it is wonderful, but more often than not, the end of the year is a review of what could have been, should have been, and might have been.  Even more worrisome is, what is going to happen next?

So here you sit.  It is a few months until the next Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) offering is upon us.  Summer is "go time" for the speculation game, and winter is a cold, lonely place in which speculators sit and wait for prosperity.  I always find this time of year to be the best and worst of the hobby.  If you have a beat on Black Widow or The Eternals, you are sitting pretty and just waiting for the time to cash in.  If not, you can reassess in 2021...wait...are there only two Marvel movies scheduled for release this year?  Oh, crap...that is not only depressing but bad for speculation.  If movies drive comic values, and I am not getting a giant slate of movies coming out, that should mean I am going to have to hunt for gains.  Winter now seems bleaker.

So is the solution to go out and hunt down every copy of Incredible Hulk #181 and assume you are going to make out in the long run?  Perhaps...but I prefer a bit more diversity to make my collection fun.  Now is the time to make a rumor instead of listening to it.  What do you expect to be the next big thing?  Is there a character nobody is thinking about?  Do you see a plot-twist coming that nobody has thought of?  Is there a value play that everyone is missing?

Like a bear hibernating in a cave, you are tucked away with your thoughts, ideas, and a collection of books just waiting to explode in value...if only something would happen before May.  People are busy with the holidays and then spend the bulk of January focused on recovery and financial restitution from all that gift-giving.  This makes them too busy to focus on comics and the market seems to take a siesta as a result.

Much like the natural rebirth seen in spring, we see the comic market begin to heat up at the beginning of March.  Without a catalyst like Black Panther or Captain Marvel to jump-start the market in February, it should be interesting to see how collectors react and how the market handles the lull.  Now may be a good time to get ahead of 2021 with Shang-Chi's early release and a group of 5 possible Marvel movies delivered.  It is never too soon to speculate!

Are you a "buyer" in the winter, or are you awaiting the next speculation drop?  Who is your biggest sleeper this summer?  Drop your comments and join in the speculation!

 

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