It's been a week since Netflix announced Neil Gaiman's Sandman will be coming to life on the streaming platform. How has that affected the first appearance of Morpheus?
After titles like the Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen paved the way for more mature content at DC Comics, the company published a second volume of the Sandman in 1989. Since then, it has become essential reading for fans of horror-themed comics, and Neil Gaiman has become a modern literary icon.
For years, there had been talk of Sandman being adapted for screens, but it never panned out. While the superhero boom of the past decade may have spurred talk of rekindling the idea, Gaiman's classic is anything but a superhero story. It's very 1990s with its dark and brooding pace and fantasy-styled artwork. It even questions what a story truly is, and how stories are eternal and characters are immortal in the dream world. My personal favorite characters are the darkly comedic interpretations of Cain and Abel; Cain is the sadistic brother who murders his brother daily, and Abel is soon reborn. I'm crossing my fingers they make it into the series.
Before I get into the collecting side of things, this is a series that everyone should try out. Even if the original issues are too much for your budget, find used copies of the trade paperback. I made it through the first three volumes a year ago, and I was amazed.
Last year, the Sandman Universe brought Morpheus back into the mainstream with a series of spin offs from various comic writers. That gave us a clue that something bigger was coming for the Master of Dreams. Now that the proverbial cat is out of its bag, where does that leave prices for Sandman #1? Not surprisingly, they're on the move.
The two most popular grades so far in 2019 have been the 9.8 and the 9.6, so I'll start there. In the past week, the average has risen exponentially for both grades. The 9.8 went from being a $300-$400 comic to a $550 average since July 2. What's impressive is that on July 6 it didn't sell for less than $575. In fact, one of those sales was for $635, which is the second-highest sale since a 9.8 went for $700 in 2008.
Whereas the 9.8 is edging toward record-high numbers, the 9.6 has already reached that summit when a July 3 sale netted $340. Prior to that, the record was $277 in 2014. This has been the best-selling grade, and it has ascended to new sales territory all around. Prior to June 30, sales averaged between $150-$165. Since June 30, it's risen to sales of $200 and the aforementioned $340.
It's not just the high grades that are jumping. The lowest grade sold in July, the 7.5, has gone from a fair market value of $49 in 2018 to an FMV of $83 this year. What's more telling is that the latest sale on July 6 was for $99.
As I've written before, the real action will come when Netflix drops the first trailer for the Sandman series. Prices will keep rising, but it won't reach the insane level until then.
