The Ultimate Universe takeover continues into this week! Once again, the top ten see appearances from Ultimate Spider-Man, Black Panther, and X-Men, and they take up 5 top 10 spots! Not to worry. Deadpool reemerges onto our lists this week, attempting to dethrone a few Ultimate books. In other recent movie news, we have new confirmations of projects in development that bring back several billion genies, and a Marvel character you may have forgotten was rumored to appear in a film. The new issue of Dark Horses’ Star Wars series was released last week, and it is the definition of a key book, debuting several new characters. The unique appearance of the week goes to a highly controversial DC villain who recently returned to the spotlight thanks to the never-ending curiosity of Redditors. Find out who that villain is below!
(Photo: CovrPrice)
#10: ULTIMATE UNIVERSE #1 | MARVEL | 2023: Ultimate Universe #1 kicked off the new universe that is still going strong four months later! It features cameos of the new Black Panther and the new Momoko character, Maystorm. While the top ten has primarily focused on Ultimate Spider-Man and, recently, Ultimate Black Panther, this book is getting the recognition it deserves. Fans are tracking down earlier copies of this new Ultimate Universe as the books’ reception has been overwhelmingly positive. We tracked it at a high sale of $40 for a raw copy and a current NM FMV of $29.
#9: NOVA #1 | MARVEL | 1976: In 2022, a rumor began that a Nova movie was developing at Marvel. As the release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 approached, many fans thought we would see a tease for the character in the movie. Prior to release, James Gunn took to Twitter to reveal this was not the case. Since then, news on the Nova project hit a hiatus. Just this past weekend, production and development executive at Marvel Studios, Brad Winderbaum, confirmed that a Nova project was in early development. It is important to note that this was immediately followed by a statement saying, “We’re going to be developing more than we will actually produce.” While the character may be worked on now, there is no guarantee that a final product will make it to the silver screen or streaming services. Until then, fans have gambled on a character’s first appearance issue. We tracked it at a high sale of $1,104 for a CGC 9.8, and a raw VF FMV of $45.
#8: THE NEW GUARDIANS #1 | DC | 1988: Reddit is a fascinating place to revisit faux pas of the past. Screen Rant originally covered the “worst DC villain” back in Aug of 2022, but thanks to Redditors, the Hemo-Goblin is again in the spotlight! The post was about Hemo-Goblin being the worst/most controversial villain; he’s a white supremacist vampire whose power allows him to bite enemies and give them AIDS/HIV. The post was shared eight days ago, receiving over 13K reactions, and has a thriving comments section of over 500 replies. PopCultureBrain then highlighted the villain in one of their videos, informing countless thousands more of this dastardly scoundrel. This attention led to a new all-time high sale of $152 for a graded 9.8 copy! Wow. He’s already popular, but I wonder if he can reach the upper echelon of DC’s cocaine-powered villain infamy. We tracked it at a high sale of $23 for a raw copy and a current raw VF FMV of $6.
#7: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 – MARCO CHECCHETTO – REGULAR | MARVEL | 2024: This book has been a 2024 all-star! Starting the new year with a bang, this issue put the new Ultimate Universe on the map. It’s been two months since the release of this book and the mark it made on the collecting community. Sales have recently started fluctuating, dropping in sales since last week and causing this book to fall to 7th place from 2nd. Even among the swings in sales, this book is still moving enough to keep it in the top ten! With no MCU rumors/ties, this book has been pushing sales all on its own. That speaks to the staying power of this new series and the awesome talent behind it! We tracked it at a high sale of $230 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current raw NM FMV of $82.
#6: STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC ADVENTURES PHASE III #4 – HARVEY TOLIBAO | DARK HORSE | 2024: If you’re a Star Wars fan and a key collector, this book is probably high on your want list. Star Wars comics are known for debuting a whole roster of new characters in a single issue. This book introduces not 1, not 2… but a staggering eight new characters! It’s been a week since the release of this book, and it has seen a meteoric rise. The FMV on this book has jumped over 4x the cover price! It has a healthy aftermarket demand, and Star Wars fans have been known to keep a book hot for weeks after its debut. Let’s see how this book fares in next week’s numbers! We tracked it at a high sale of $18 for a raw copy and a current NM FMV of $12.
#5: EIGHT BILLION GENIES #1 | IMAGE | 2022: Welcome back, Genies! This book was in previous top ten lists during its release and, subsequently, following the announcement that Amazon was looking into the property for a future production. News has been non-existent since the initial announcement, but this last week changed all of this! This book is now on the radar of every collector out there as we learned that Seth Rogen and Point Grey Pictures will be producing a movie for this property! Not only that, but they have also tapped Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse co-director Rodney Rothman to adapt the storyline. Those are heavy hitters in the industry, leading many to believe this is a film to keep an eye on… and a comic to pick up sooner rather than later! We tracked it at a high sale of $110 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a raw NM FMV of $32.
#4: THE NEW MUTANTS #98 | MARVEL | 1991: In case you haven’t heard, and we really don’t know how you haven’t, Deadpool 3 is set to debut in July this year! We’re about four months away from the only MCU movie to hit the silver screen this year. Not only is this Deadpool’s first introduction into the MCU but Deadpool is also being tasked with repairing it. The trailer strongly hinted at Deadpool taking to different timelines/universes for assignments tasked by the TVA. This movie has been rife with countless cameo rumors. The latest comes from a comment by James Marsden (aka Cyclops). In an interview for Sonic 3, he subtly commented that he filmed Sonic 3 next to the Deadpool 3 stages. This statement has led fans to believe he may make a cameo appearance. All it takes is a spark, and the rumor wildfire begins! We tracked it at a high sale of $1,380 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a raw NM FMV of $378.
#3: ULTIMATE X-MEN #1 – PEACH MOMOKO – REGULAR | MARVEL | 2024: This book has moved slower than the debut of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Black Panther. This week, it made a huge jump and took us to the 3rd spot on our top ten list! This book likely took time to gain traction due to no significant first appearances, like the other first issue Ultimate books. As fans get a hold of more Ultimate Universe books, they are likely attempting to complete the trifecta of number ones. The Ultimate X-Men is a fresh take on the X-Men, drawing little influence from previous X-Men titles. Whatever Momoko has been writing has been clearly a hit with fans. We tracked it at a high sale of $20 for a raw copy and a current NM FMV of $12.
#2: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #2 – MARCO CHECCHETTO – REGULAR | MARVEL | 2024: This Thursday marks a month since the release of the first in-story appearance of the new Earth-6160 Spider-Man, and it’s still a top book! This week, we see the second issue takeover the top ten and beat out the first issue. This is likely due to the lower buy-in of collecting this book. However, you also have to consider this book is also the first appearance of the new Ultimate universe Shocker. Either way, this series has gotten praise from critics and fans alike, making it a great series to collect whether you’re a reader or value collector! We tracked it at a high sale of $70 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current NM FMV of $16.
#1: ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER #1 – STEFANO CASELLI – REGULAR | MARVEL | 2024: The Ultimate Universe has been the universe to watch! Since its launch, we have regularly seen a multitude of Ultimate books hit the top ten. For the most part, it has always been a trade-off between Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate Black Panther. Ultimate Black Panther took the top spot this week. Even though it’s been a month since the debut of the new Earth-6160 Black Panther, sales are still strong! We tracked it at a high sale of $91 for a CGC 9.8 copy and a current raw NM FMV of $27
