For the most part, it seems like the comic book market is similar to the stock market: you can make a killing, lose a fortune, sell at the wrong time, or hold too long.  How the comic book market differs is that there seems to be a bit more emotion in comics than in stock, along with a rarity factor, the collector mentality, and multiple other factors make speculators and collectors alike question their knowledge and process.  A year ago, the market was abound with speculation about Tom Hardy's upcoming Venom movie.  Since that time, it has been quite the roller coaster for the anti-hero.

I will be honest and give full disclosure here...I have not seen the Venom movie...however I do not expect it to be extremely good in spite of its fiduciary success.  I will try to hold judgement until I see the movie, but I will talk directly to the comic market for Venom and how the movie could have played into the data.  Prior to release of the movie during the initial pre-trailer hype, a 9.8 graded copy of Venom: Lethal Protector #1 (which was the main story motivation for the movie, and the first solo comic offering for Venom) would sell for around $80.  Soon after the initial hype for the movie, the market started to rumble.  Copies soon shot up to the $90 mark, then $100.  After the release of the first movie trailer, the movement continued up and finally settled at approximately $120.  Newsstand copies of the same book had a similar trajectory but at a 20% market premium.  Amazingly, several newsstand copies of this book pushed the $200 mark.

I was scanning through the recent sales the other day and I noticed a copy of Venom: Lethal Protector #1...a newsstand copy nonetheless...had sold on eBay for $92 plus shipping.  I was so shocked I took a screen shot of it so I could remember to write a blog about the miraculous fall of this book, and here we are.  What had happened to the Venom market?  I was under the impression the movie was a success and had made the character more popular, was this not the case?

It appears in the case of Venom, the hype machine was actually more of a market mover than the actual film.  This was the opposite for the groundbreaking character Erik Killmonger who did not have the same value before and after Black Panther debuted.  Although I did not expect stagnation in the pricing I surely did not buy into Venom comics being a financial windfall due to the movie either, as many speculators and collectors had.  You could argue that the Amazing Spider-Man 300 made some gains, but I attribute this more to the overall rise in Spider-Man titles over the past few years, and not due to the Venom character.  There certainly was not a pop Eddie Brock appearances across the board.

Venom is not going away, he is not going to get less popular, and with the apparent sequel tease...the hype will go on.  It appears that now is the lull in the market and it might be a good time to take advantage of Venom prices having the bell rung on them (quick symbiote joke there!).

Are you a Venom buyer or seller currently and did the movie sway you one way or another?  Do you like the idea of a Spider-Man universe sans Spider-Man?  Drop us your comments and join the conversation!