Someone forgot to tell magazine collectors that Halloween is over! A monster villain, a monster baseball star, monster comedy, and some famous monsters of filmland invaded our hottest magazines list. The Hottest Magazines is a curated list of the magazines moving up eBay and auction sales lists. GoCollect pulls the stats straight from eBay and auction houses, and sorts them by volume moving in the marketplace over the past 30 days.

6. Sports Illustrated #v132 #11 (Ohtani Cover) (New to the list!)

Nothing like a stellar performance in baseball’s postseason to bring out the buyers. Featuring Shohei Ohtani’s first Sports illustrated cover, this October 2021 issue jumped into the top ten based on a bump in sales beginning on October 20. Tops was a 9.6 going for $215 in an October 24 fixed price eBay sale. That’s a bit up from a June 25 sale for $185. The record holder is a 9.8 that went for $521 in a June 2024 Goldin auction. Note for Ohtani collectors: while this variant cover features Ohtani as a hitter, the regular edition – Sports Illustrated #v132 #11 – features the two-way star as a pitcher.

8. Playboy #v40 #8 (New to the list!)

Sometimes, it’s hard to explain what causes a particular issue of Playboy to really pop for collectors, and it’s often not for the prurient interests that one would typically imagine. Take this 1993 issue featuring Dan Aykroyd in SNL Conehead guise. It’s a humorous Pamela Anderson cover and Aykroyd’s an interesting interview, but there’s really no reason why this issue suddenly saw five sales since October 19 after only seeing five sales in a three-month period, and ended up back on the hottest magazines list. It’s a relatively cheap issue, too, based on the sale of a 9.0 for $103 in a November 5 eBay auction. The highest price ever paid was $500 for a 9.4 in a 2023 fixed price eBay sale, higher than the $203 paid for a 9.6 in 2023. Neither of the two 9.8 graded copies has ever sold.

41. Famous Monsters of Filmland #5, Famous Monsters of Filmland #31, and Famous Monsters of Filmland #156 (All New to the list!)

Heritage Auctions held a Famous Monsters of Filmland auction on November 1 that included some high grade copies that are rarely available. A trio of the issues made our hottest magazines list. Famous Monsters of Filmland #5, published in 1959 features Bela Lugosi wearing test makeup for his role in Island of Lost Souls. The cover was painted by Albert Nuetzell. A 9.0 graded copy sold in the auction for $1,080. That, in turn, caused an 8.5 to sell in a November 10 eBay fixed price sale for $855.

A 9.8 graded copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland #31, published in 1964 and featuring Boris Karloff as the Mummy on the cover, sold in the auction for $3,120. The singular top graded copy set a record with the sale. The sale of a 9.4 graded copy followed quickly on its heels, going for $720 in a November 4 fixed price eBay sale.

A 9.6 graded copy of Famous Monsters of Filmland #156, published in 1979 and featuring Alien on the cover and a preview of The Empire Strikes Back in the interior, sold for $288. The sale was a big jump in value for the 9.6 grade, which last sold in a March 9 eBay auction for $100. It’s topped only by the 2024 sale of a 9.8 on eBay for a slashed $900.

33. Time #v115 #20 (New to the list!)

Two 7.0 graded copies of this May 1980 issue featuring Darth Vader on the cover sold on November 9 for $161 and $150 respectively. Both were sold by the same seller in fixed price eBay sales. The prices paid were roughly $100 more than what was paid in eBay and Goldin auctions earlier in the year for 7.5 graded copies. While that does raise some questions, those 7.5 sales are lower than the $500 paid in 2023. With only 36 graded copies in the CGC census, it isn’t unreasonable to see some large swings in value.