Barbenheimer and Beyonce's tour aside for a moment, two of the hottest pop cultures phenomenons happening this summer are Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour and rumors about the X-Men in Deadpool 3. Swift's show in Seattle literally caused seismic activity and Wolverine's classic yellow costume on the set of Deadpool 3 went viral on social media.
On August 12th, Inside the Magic, CBR, and The News International all reported rumors that Taylor Swift would join the MCU as the X-Man, Dazzler. Talk about perfect casting!
Not only are Swift and Dazzler pop superstars who love to perform, but Taylor resembles the character from the comics with her blonde hair and blue eyes. And it wouldn't be the first time a major pop star has made a cameo in the MCU -- Harry Styles appeared as Eros briefly in the Eternals.
It appears these rumors have made an impact on the sales of Uncanny X-Men #13, which contains the first appearance of Dazzler. On August 12th alone, 18 copies of her first appearance sold on eBay. On a typical day, only three to five copies of X-Men #130 might sell on eBay. Although it's impossible to say if these rumors are driving these sales, there appears to be a strong correlation.
Based on historical data, X-Men #130 may have overcorrected.
And it might be a good time to pick up a copy of X-Men #130. Let's take a closer look at the value of the most common grade on the CGC Census for X-Men #130: a 9.4. Just prior to the "comic boom" of 2021, a 9.4 typically sold for around $180 in late 2020. Five years before that, in late 2015, a 9.4 sold for around $100.
In other words, the value of a 9.4 grew at a 12% annual rate from late 2015 to late 2020. That's a pretty good ROI -- it would beat the average historical returns of the S&P500 (just over 9%).
If you ignore what happened during the comic boom (and you probably should since that was a historical outlier), and assume this book's value continued to increase at a 12% rate, you'd expect a 9.4 to be worth around $250 today. Interestingly, according to CoCollect, the 90-day average sale for a 9.4 is only $227.
To me, this data may be an indicator that a 9.4 may have actually slightly overcorrected since its peak value during the comic boom ($508). Personally, I think you're doing really well if you buy this book at around $225 and are still probably paying FMV if you purchase a copy at the $250 price point. If Swift is confirmed, this book is going to get a jump too.
Since there is some data that suggests this book has overcorrected, my educated guess is that this book has reached its market floor after two years of steady declines. As I suggested in a previous blog, I have reasons to expect that better days are ahead in 2024 for the comic market, so my recommendation would be to buy if you like this character.
Do you think it's a good time to invest in X-Men #130? Let our community know your opinion in the comments section below!
