The King in Black is back. With visual confirmation of Knull in the trailer for Venom: The Last Dance, key issues related to Knull have rocketed to the top of GoCollect's Hottest Comics list, a compilation of sales data drawn from auction sites like eBay in real-time.
Both sales volume and FMV are rising for the 1st appearance of Venom.
Venom #3 (vol. 4) features the first full appearance of Knull, the supervillain who created the symbiote alien race. The alien symbiote race is, of course, most famous for having one of its members bond with Spider-Man in Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 on Battleworld and then later with Eddie Brock to form the anti-hero Venom in Amazing Spider-Man #300.
Although the Hottest Comics list tracks sales volume and not FMV, we do see evidence that Venom #3 is rising in value as well. The 30 day average sales price for a CGC 9.8 copy of Venom #3 (by far the most common grade on the CGC Census) is about 5% higher than the 90 day average sales price and about 17% higher than the one-year average. The current FMV of $260 is still far off of its pandemic-fueled all-time high of $400 which it achieved in July 2020.
Is this the beginning of a long-term upward trend or is it just FOMO-based buying? Unfortunately, considering how bad Sony produced Marvel films are, I just don't trust Sony to do a good job with Knull; in fact, based upon Sony's track record, the movie could easily be a disaster. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised when the movie comes out, but I won't be shocked if it bombs, and takes Venom #3 down with it. Personally, I wouldn't be investing in this book at the present time while the book is hot; probably best to wait at least six months if you're a Knull fan.
The market prefers the third printing of Venom #3 over the first printing.
Another book to pay close attention to is actually the third printing of Venom #3. It's unusual for the market to prefer a third printing over the first printing, but the data reveals that to be the case here. It's easy to see why the market may actually prefer the third printing; the cover features Knull prominently on its cover (unlike the first printing which doesn't display Knull at all):
The FMV of a CGC 9.8 of the third printing ($375) is considerably higher than the the FMV of a 9.8 copy of the first printing ($260):
The price differential between the two printings can also partially be explained by scarcity; there are roughly 3,700 more copies of the first printing on the CGC Census (5,603 total universal blue labels) than there are of the third printing (1,912 total universal blue labels). Even so, a 9.8 of the third printing has lost well over 50% of its value since it reached an all-time high of just over $800 back in August 2020.
One last book that is also seeing a bounce in terms of sales volume and FMV is Thor: God of Thunder #6 which includes the first cameo appearance of Knull. Just like Venom #3, God of Thunder #6's 30-day FMV exceeds both its 90-day and one-year averages:
