How Interview with Star from Max's The Penguin Revealed Undervalued Comic

GoCollect visits comic conventions to measure the pulse of the collecting world. This provides insight into buying trends and targets BEFORE they begin to be revealed in the sales data. Imagine GoCollect's surprise when a star from comic book television shows put us on to a truly undervalued comic book many readers do not even know exists.

GoCollect once again covered the going-ons at Astronomicon. One of the reasons people attend this con is because of the unique fan interactions. It also provides key media news, like when GoCollect was one of the first media outlets to interview actor Doug Bradley after he was cast as Joe Chill. This time a star led us to a comic book that is drastically undervalued. Astronomicon delivered again.

Theo Rossi is a fan favorite among fans on the convention circuit. He may be known for his role on Sons of Anarchy, but comic fans know better. He played Hernan "Shades" Alvarez in the MCU's Luke Cage. Recently he played Dr. Julian Rush in the Max's The Penguin. At Astronomicon he provided a very unique panel presentation. The usual career introspection was provided, but then Rossi provided a very insightful take on pop culture that could benefit even the most experienced collector.

This writer has attended in person seminars and speeches from noted scholars, industry leaders, and experts in their fields. The panel Theo Rossi put on matched those events for the information presented. GoCollect was then granted rare access to sit down individually with Mr. Rossi for a more in depth interview on his views. That interview will be provided at a later date because there is so much more to digest than allowed here. This article is but a teaser of how Rossi's views can be so important to our readers.

Theo Rossi mentioned during his panel the Mount Rushmore of horror characters. This made many in attendance compose their lists. Almost 100 years ago Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein's monster, and the Mummy were featured in film after film. Around the 80's Michael Myers, Jason, Freddy Krueger, Chucky and Pinhead were the new horror icons. Theo then asked the audience if there were any real big horror stars since then besides Ghostface.

He said many fans and society get stuck on the big picture and fail to realize there are things that exist that are big but not known by the mainstream. Theo then mentioned a horror character that has a very large following that would be on the new Mt. Rushmore because of their fanbase, and yet many people are unaware of his story. Theo Rossi was correct.

Theo stated that the Damien Leone Terrifier film series is a very successful film franchise. The last film cost $2 million to make and yet earned $90 million. That may seem small, yet in the horror genre that is nothing to ignore. Scream 6 had a budget of around $35 million and earned roughly $169 million.

Art the Clown is hot. David Howard Thornton, the actor behind the mask, has his line cut with a 3 hour wait at Astronomicon. His wait times have been getting longer as have those for his other cast members. Many fans dress up as Art in horror conventions, both his cosplay fans are appearing in greater numbers in comic cons as well. His merchandise is also appearing with great cross appeal. This information caused GoCollect to dive deeper.

Leone maintains strict control of the licensing for the film series. He did release a two issue limited comic book series with two variant covers. These issues are very very rare. Brad from Brad's Comics and Collectibles has never seen a copy of any issue. The same was said from EVERY member of State of Comics. These are vendors that have done it all and yet have never seen a copy of any issue. Keith Daggett from Daggett's Comics has never seen these books as well, but he did sell a program that featured art of Art the Clown for $200. Even this writer has never seen a copy in his travels at conventions or any LCS.

A 9.8 #1 Terrifier Variant Cover has an FMV of $950. That is with a TOTAL of 37 copies in the CGC census. No copies exist in any grade for the #1 regular issue. GoCollect does not even have data or pictures for any issue besides the #1 Variant Cover. Raw books on eBay are listed for even more than the FMV of graded books. That is a small price to pay because fans of this series are very rabid. They collect EVERYTHING of their favorite character. Even non-comic book fans in attendance would pay top dollar for those books if they could find them and trust me they have looked for them.

Theo Rossi's panel went into a lot of areas that fans, collectors, and investors of collectibles should seriously take note of. His take on where fans should look and how they should open their eyes was quite refreshing. It was interesting to take note that he is also a fan who reads comic books. The passion that came out about his roles was inspiring. Did he comment about a possible second season of The Penguin...?

The interview was so vast that once again it could not be given justice in this small section but as a courtesy to those who could not make it to Astronomicon, GoCollect has got you covered. Look for that interview in the near future. Oh, and if you see a copy of the Terrifier comic......BUY IT!!!!