Moon Knight WTF

zikaatlaw

I was cruising through eBay tonight and found every issue of Werewolf by Night 32 (1st Moon Knight) is listed at least 5x book value. Looks that way across the Internet. WTF is up with that? Do people people actually think a 40 year old marginal character is going to go Walking Dead on popular culture? Guardians was one of the biggest movies ever and there are plenty of their books under book value.

Brack

You should probably be asking the people who are buying it.

But if we have to speculate, a combination of the fact that while there's not a lot of people who like Moon Knight, those people REALLY LIKE MOON KNIGHT. And the fact that he's a character that Marvel can make a film / TV show of, so people are speculating on it.

But I would say it's mainly the first, because the price has been silly for a while now.

bralinator

Speculation regarding a possible Netflix series aside, as well Moon Knight's fan base, looks like you may have it figured out.

phansford

Midtown has copies on their website and they at or below guide. In fact they have a near mint copy for $156.53. If you're look at ebay or similar sites, you're seeing speculation. And remember…. anyone can ask any amount of money for an item. That doesn't mean its worth that much or that there is actually a demand.

That said, finding high grade copies of Werewolf by Night is tough. Not many survived. While those books are great….. they didn't really have much of a following at the time. While I had a nice run of Werewolf by Night, I don't think I found a copy of #32 that I would put in the collection. (Of course, the majority of my collecting was pre-internet- HaHa).

BTW - you want to read some great Marvel horror - read Tomb of Dracula. Once Wolfman and Colan got on that title, it was must read stuff.

bralinator

If you're going to spend $150 on a single comic, AND you're a Werewolf by Night fan, as I am, may I recommend the recently released Werewolf By Night Omnibus that came out less than 2 weeks ago and is selling for $112 brand new (even cheaper on InStockTrades.com where it's available for $72.50 + shipping).

This thing is awesome! It collects Marvel Spotlight 2-3, Werewolf By Night 1-44 (full run), Marvel Team-Up 12, Tomb of Dracula 18, Giant-size Creatures 1 (first Tigra), Giant-size Werewolf 2-5, Marvel Premiere 28 (Legion of Monsters), and material from Monsters Unleashed magazine 6-7. It's printed on matte finish paper, and clocks in at 1176 pages containing over 54 issues worth of material, ordered chronologically by date of release, along with several pages of bonus material.

As for collect-ability or increasing in value, the Tomb of Dracula omnibus which came out in 2008 has doubled in price, originally selling for $125 (before discounts, same as this WBN omni), is now selling for $250+. On the other hand, WBN issue #32 is probably at its peak value and will probably never increase by more than inflation.

Matt

There is a new MK series on tap. That possibly could be a factor. Doubtful, but still a possibility.

M

Hex

I love to watch the speculator market. I find it hilarious/intriguing what "they" think will become valuable. I recall a while back, D-list character Sleepwalker made an appearance in the FF's book toward the end of the current title. Key issues from his original run tripled overnight on the speculation that he would play a key role in Secret Wars.

I can understand the films driving speculator frenzy, but I love trying to figure out what else drives up the price of a particular book.

mwhitt80

Hex said:

I love to watch the speculator market. I find it hilarious/intriguing what "they" think will become valuable. I recall a while back, D-list character Sleepwalker made an appearance in the FF's book toward the end of the current title. Key issues from his original run tripled overnight on the speculation that he would play a key role in Secret Wars.

I can understand the films driving speculator frenzy, but I love trying to figure out what else drives up the price of a particular book.

Sleepwalker really?
I'm not sure what surprised me more that people (was it a mega retailer from Colorado perhaps) thought sleepwalker would have demand or that there are key issues of the series.

Remember kids buy from newkadia.com for back issues from 1987 and up.

Elsiebub

Brack said:

But if we have to speculate, a combination of the fact that while there's not a lot of people who like Moon Knight, those people REALLY LIKE MOON KNIGHT. And the fact that he's a character that Marvel can make a film / TV show of, so people are speculating on it.

But I would say it's mainly the first, because the price has been silly for a while now.

^That's it exactly, from my understanding at least.

MK is a cult character, but people who are into him REALLY like him and drive the prices waaay up. I'm guessing that some of these guys probably own multiple copies of key issues.

And even before the semi-recent reemergence of speculation-boom economics, those Stephen Platt issues of Moon Knight were still going for big money. STILL. (Yes, the stray issues of MK that made it onto Wizard's Top Ten list twenty years ago because the artist got hot once he went to Image and did Prophet.)

Hex said:

I love to watch the speculator market. I find it hilarious/intriguing what "they" think will become valuable. I recall a while back, D-list character Sleepwalker made an appearance in the FF's book toward the end of the current title. Key issues from his original run tripled overnight on the speculation that he would play a key role in Secret Wars.

I can understand the films driving speculator frenzy, but I love trying to figure out what else drives up the price of a particular book.

Yeah, I'm right there with you. It's fun to watch.

Earlier this year I sold a copy of Sleepwalker #1 on eBay, and the buyer contacted me to ask if I had another copy I'd sell him. I said yes, I did have another copy. He eagerly bought both copies and told me that he was "crossing his fingers that the movie's good!"

So, somehow the speculation (based on nothing!) that Sleepwalker was going to play into the end of the 616 universe via Secret Wars had transformed into people thinking that Marvel was going to give him his own movie.

compsolut

phansford said:

Midtown has copies on their website and they at or below guide. In fact they have a near mint copy for $156.53. If you're look at ebay or similar sites, you're seeing speculation. And remember…. anyone can ask any amount of money for an item. That doesn't mean its worth that much or that there is actually a demand.

Exactly, to see what things are truly selling at, scroll down a bit, and on the left hand side, select "Sold Listings". You can put any price on anything, but that doesn't mean people are willing to buy it :)

For our shop, we tend to use eBay sold listings as our barometer for pricing. This is for two reasons - one, we want to be competitive with the online market. So, if you come in and get it from us, you same $5 on shipping, and potential damage. Reason #2, if we keep consistent with eBay and determine we need to get rid of a book, we know what to expect from it on eBay.

Hex

Elsiebub said:

Yeah, I'm right there with you. It's fun to watch.

Earlier this year I sold a copy of Sleepwalker #1 on eBay, and the buyer contacted me to ask if I had another copy I'd sell him. I said yes, I did have another copy. He eagerly bought both copies and told me that he was "crossing his fingers that the movie's good!"

So, somehow the speculation (based on nothing!) that Sleepwalker was going to play into the end of the 616 universe via Secret Wars had transformed into people thinking that Marvel was going to give him his own movie.

Well... to be fair, Sleepwalker's costume was in Big Hero 6. It was in a glass case, in the background of Fred's bedroom!
...and that movie WAS good!