The pace of publishing tribute covers has really picked up in comics. Can investors, and speculators profit from purchasing these comic books? One of the most striking covers ever was Amazing Spider-Man #300, and we continuously see homage covers paying reverence to this classic. The Master of Image: Todd McFarlane created that striking pose for ASM #300 thirty years ago. Why is that cover so popular today? Perhaps the artist is a unique perfectionist within his craft, and that our collective eyes want to see that image again, and again. Should we all be chasing homage covers? Speculators beware, these newer comics might end up being profit pinatas. Once the pinata is completely destroyed; it no longer holds anymore treats. Are these revered issues homage-pinatas? More importantly, can speculators make money in these tribute covers? Let's see if we can flesh out a hypothesis for this cover craze.
Amazing Spider-Man #700 (second printing)
This was a huge key when it first came out over five years ago. Now, this book has definitely slowed but still shows promise as a good investment even years later. Though Octo-Spidey is on the cover, this book came out a while ago and seemed to be holding value as a long-term consistent key. This cover by Humberto Ramos is an homage to ASM #300 which everyone loves. This is the death of Peter Parker in Amazing Spider-Man #700 (second printing). Admittedly, it has a real pull for investors to own the last Peter Parker. If you are a Spidey fan at all, it seems a no-brainer. Who doesn't want to own the death of Peter Parker? But, can this shocking story send the price of Amazing Spider-Man #700 soaring, even today five years later?
Speculating in comics is fraught with difficulty: what cover, what issue, and with multiple covers which one do you pick? Perhaps, buying the classic covers tributes to ASM #300 are the way to guarantee your returns. Currently, Amazing Spider-Man #700 (second printing) sells for a fair market value of $70 in mint condition. Not bad five years later, and Peter Parker has already returned from the dead, shocker. Is it possible this cover plays a role? The numbers definitely support the hypothesis that ASM #300 homage covers, retain value, and even increase value substantially over time. You almost need Doc Ock's tentacles, to juggle the number of grades with positive returns for this book. The grade mint (9.8) has positive +56% ROI, near mint (9.6) has positive +66% returns, (9.4) positive +30%, and grade (9.2) has given up +30% ROI (GoCollect). There have been about 70 sales of graded copies, and even raw copies are well over $20 online.
Spawn #227 has a nice homage cover to ASM #300 with Spawn leaping out of the page like Spidey. It was produced by Image Comics in 2012. Six years later it is still going strong with mint grade (9.8) at a fair market value of $140 with the last sale in July 2018. Even a (9.0) in this comic book sold for $34. Not bad for a non-key comic, that only sports a cool retro cover. This book has sold in (9.9) grade condition (I don't really know what the difference is between mint and what mint plus?) for $727 back a year ago in 2017.
The returns on this investment have been phenomenal in comics with a mint grade (9.8) earning +35.2% with 85 sales to boot and a recent purchase last month. What is the magic here? I think there are just some covers people want to own and they are timeless. I tried to verify with Overstreet Guide 47th Edition, but the only thing they mention is a "cover swipe." Finally, it looks as if this cover has moved 292 ranks to the #309th spot, which is really shocking. Not surprising for its rank, but that it moves at all is impressive for a six-year-old non-key.
Spider-Gwen #1 (Phantom Variant Cover)
Though not as sought after as Spawn above, Spider-Gwen does her best to entertain us with the Spidey ASM #300 pose. Jason Latour (writer) and Javier Rodriguez (artist) created this Spider-Gwen #1 (Phantom Variant Cover) back in 2015. It is still going strong today with a sale in May 2018 and a fair market value of $34 for a grade mint condition (9.8). There are a total of 100 sales for this book in a slab format, not bad. Now, this is a first self-titled book which gives it some advantage. However, the number of variant covers created for her first title is staggering.
Spider-Gwen is just a cool new character that brings a fresh audience. Spider-Gwen #1 (Phantom Variant Cover) has the hypnotic effect of an ASM #300 homage cover. The numbers look healthy with this book returning positive +28.8% in mint (9.8) and a positively stunning +54.9% in (9.6) grade. With all these great longer-term returns for homage covers; my hypothesis: a tribute cover is profitable. I posit that any homage to ASM #300 is not only highly sought after, but provides lucrative returns.
