It seems every month these same three Modern Age books are always contending for first place. One superhero, one supervillain, and one smart mouth merc make the list, obviously, these are Deadpool, Carnage and the Millennial favorite Venom. The three have one thing in common; the amount of mayhem and chaos they project in comics is stupifying. Over the last month on GoCollect these bad boys of Marvel have dominated the top-ranked Modern Age for the month of October. This month lets look at two questions: First, which is the most valuable comic? Second, which has the highest return in grade?

 

 

 

 

 

The New Mutants #98

Rob Liefeld created Deadpool in the pages of New Mutants. He did the script, pencils, and ink. He brought us the regenerating merc in February of 1991 in The New Mutants #98. It should be noted that most fans see this character "merc with a mouth" as truly being created in a later series Deadpool #1 (1996)  which has the first appearance of T-Ray, Blind Al, and Patch, all created by Joe Kelly. The Joe Kelly run created a growing fanbase and added to what Liefeld had started. The New Mutants #98 is ranked third this month with the highest price to date for a 9.9 grade at $23,519, about six months ago. Yikes, no wonder Deadpool is so darn arrogant!

Short-Term (6-Months)

  • Grade 9.8 last sale $635 on 11/8/19 returns negative -10.3%
  • Grade 8.0 last sale $158 on 10/4/19 returns negative -45%
  • Grade 5.0 last sale $155 on 8/9/19 returns positive +8.3%

With these kinds of returns, your budget had better be Chimichangas for breakfast. The negative returns above probably have more to do with Deadpool's future uncertainty. Be that as it may, now is probably a good time to buy on the cheap. Should a movie come up, you are looking at a potential +45% return at grade 8.0.

 

Amazing Spider-Man #361

Venom's main protagonist appears to be Carnage. He is going to be played by Woody Harrelson in Venom 2. Woody is a solid actor despite his early start as an airhead bartender in Cheers. Carnage is a spawn of Venom and was created by David Michelinie (script) and Mark Bagley (pencils) in 1992. This book is always top three in the Modern Age, sickeningly so. Can Carnage create enough buzz to build our bank accounts?

Short-Term (6-Months)

  • Grade 9.8 last sale $351 on 11/6/19 returns negative -9.5%
  • Grade 8.0 last sale $76 9/9/19 returns negative -1.8%
  • Grade 7.0 last sale $76 10/3/19 returns negative -11.6%

This Amazing Spider-Man #361 dominated second place last month and is at the top of the pack every month for the most popular Modern Age comic. The top price paid recently for grade 9.8 was $1,802 for a double cover in December 2017.

 

Amazing Spider-Man #300

This is really the king of popularity in the Modern Age. Over the last several years it has dominated the top spot dozens of times. Of course, this month is no different Amazing Spider-Man #300 is the top most popular Modern Age comic last month. It appears the top price for this book was grade 9.9 at $13,500 in July 2017. How these people get 9.9 grades is beyond me. To quote my local presser, "I have only had one 9.9 in my career as speculator and presser," and this guy has been in the business three times as long as yours truly. Let's take a quick look at ASM #300 returns.

 

 

 

 

Short-Term (6-Months)

  • Grade 9.8 last sale $1,999 on 10/30/19 returns negative -6.4%
  • Grade 8.0 last sale $203 on 11/9/19 returns negative -9.9%
  • Grade 6.5 last sale $230 on 11/1/19 returns negative -6.5%

 

Conclusion:

As usual in the comics, Deadpool finds a way to win. Even against these unassailable popular comics. The New Mutants #98 has the only positive return of the last six months, and the highest price paid for 9.9 grade at $23,519. This time Deadpool puts out "maximum effort" for speculators everywhere and dominates the top two "usual suspects" from third place.

 

 

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