Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman continue their hugely successful Venom run as Venom #3 hit shelves yesterday. As the series continues to spark sales, Venom #1 is where you can make your money on the comic market.

Venom #3 gives us our first full look at the "symbiote god" that's been teased since the first issue. Cates has added to the mythology of Venom and taken the symbiotes back to their more monstrous roots. This alien "god"is being positioned to have a major impact in the "Venomverse," and that makes it collectible. If you haven't already gotten your copies of this one, you'll want to visit your local comic shop soon, and put this in your collection.

I'm admittedly a Cates fan, so I was into this series as soon as I heard he was writing it. But let's face it; Venom's popularity surged last year when Sony announced the solo movie. Since the newest trailer has been released, the original symbiote has hit the stratosphere. Marvel has heavily pushed the character in the comics over the past year (I've said before that he's become the new cash cow for the company, rivaling Deadpool for the title), and that's only added to the Venom craze.

There's been no shortage of new Venom titles over the past few years. Since 2011, there have been six different Venom titles, including Venomized, and surely there are more to come. That leaves to wonder if this newest installment in the Venom pantheon is going to hold its value in the long run.

So far, Venom #1 (2018) has been steadily rising. Sure, there are variants galore, just like every other comic these days, but this time they are worth collecting. I'd even recommend grabbing up the second and third printings.

Where is Venom #1 at the moment?

The standard cover is doing quite well, and it's not going to slow down, so long as Cates and Stegman keep churning out the hit comics. Although it was only released in May and we're only three issues in, two CGC-graded 9.8s have already sold on eBay; the first went for $60 on June 3. A day later, the second one earned a respectable $51, earning an average of $55. If you need a raw copy, those are much cheaper; you can find high grades for less than $10, so there's no reason not to have one in your collection.

Where the higher values are in the variants, specifically the Mike Mayhew Amazing Spider-Man #300 variant cover. A graded 9.8 has already sold for $170. Other versions of the Mayhew cover, including a black and white sketch variant, were being sold at Megacon Orlando, and those CGC slabs will be popping up on eBay soon, which will give us more data to work with.

So what about the other variant covers? The Rivera variant has sold for as much as $70, and the Lucio Parillo cover brought $103 in its first sale, but keep in mind that one was signed by Parillo. The cover that grabbed my attention was the Stegman virgin variant. On May 30, two 9.8s sold for $130 each, while the latest sale on June 9 brought a whopping $180.  I'll keep you posted on the state of the Venom #1 variants. In the meantime, find yourself some raw copies and get them graded.