If one thing can drive interest and prices higher for a comic book series, an upcoming action-packed high-cost movie with multiple stars can do it. This is where Marvel comic book The Eternals comes into play. The trailer is out for a November 5, 2021 cinematic release. Now the question begs about what will happen to comic book prices for the first edition and appearance of The Eternals. Will The Eternals movie drive comic book prices higher?

Apparently, it already has. The Eternals is a comic book series that was less-followed by many traditional comic book collectors.

For those who are unfamiliar with The Eternals, this cadre of characters is a fictional race of humanoids which were an offshoot of evolution. The original alien Celestials behind the group intended for the Eternals to be the defenders of Earth. This ultimately leads to a war against the Deviants, who are their less than friendly counterparts.

There is a backstory here that will explain why many comic book collectors have either overlooked or ignored The Eternals. Jack Kirby had decided to leave Marvel Comics in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics. This was where he started working on a new saga called The New Gods. This was supposed to be an epic blend of mythology and sci-fi. Unfortunately (or something else), New Gods was cancelled and was left incomplete. Kirby returned to Marvel where a very similar saga unfolded for The Eternals.

Guess which series of comics also was closed out with many plots left unresolved, at least until the Thor issue #301. The Eternals and the their lore have been mentioned and/or appeared in numerous Marvel comic stories since. Despite a newer effort, The Eternals saga has seen many stop and start efforts within Marvel and now it may hinge on the success of the movie.

Jack Kirby had decided to leave Marvel Comics in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics. This was where he started working on a new saga called The New Gods. This was an epic blend of mythology and sci-fi. Unfortunately (or something), The New Gods was cancelled and was left incomplete — and Kirby returned to Marvel where a very similar saga unfolded for The Eternals.

Jack Kirby created The Eternals and their first appearance was in the July, 1976 Marvel release of its name (The Eternals) rather than making appearances elsewhere first.

Movies do drive interest in comic books. The go-to comic book valuation and tracking website GoCollect.com had an entire strategy article about investing in movie characters. Its analysis indicates that movie news is one of the biggest drivers for comic book sales, and they noted that movie news drives hype and sales volumes. Their analysis also points out that movie-themed comic books do rise in value, but there may be even better investments being ignored.

The team of actors is led by Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie. Both actors can bring strong box office sales.

As with most comic books from the 1970s and more recently, it is generally only the examples in the highest grades which command the best prices. Heritage Auctions has seen multiple copies of The Eternals #1 sell over time. Here are the prices for the more recent sales:

• The Eternals #1 CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on May 30, 2021 sold for $3,360.00
• The Eternals #1 CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on June 6, 2021 sold for $3,000.00
• The Eternals #1 CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Jun 27, 2021 sold for $2,880.00
• The Eternals #1 CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on April 11, 2021 sold for $2,880.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on August 15, 2021 sold for $2,760.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on March 14, 2021 sold for $2,520.00
• The Eternals #1 30-Cent Variant CGC NM+ 9.6 White pages on October 11, 2020 sold for $2,220.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Jan. 3, 2021 sold for $2,040.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Feb. 28, 2021 sold for $1,920.00

(Image provided by Heritage Auctions.) What is interesting s where the price was before 2021. Heritage showed the following CGC 9.8 sales:

• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Dec. 20, 2020 sold for $1,380.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Dec. 6, 2020 sold for $1,620.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Nov. 8, 2020 sold for $1,560.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages Oct. 18, 2020 sold for $1,200.00
• The Eternals #1 (Marvel, 1976) CGC NM/MT 9.8 White pages on Sep 27, 2020 sold for $1,140.0

Auction giant eBay has many examples of The Eternals that are selling in a Buy It Now (or Best Offer) with sellers fishing for higher prices. Some of these are even up above the $5,000 to $8,000 price range. After filtering out the 1-off bids and the Buy It Now prices, the CGC 9.8 graded examples have sold most recently in a price range of $2,550 to $3,200. One other ungraded warehouse find of 10 (high-grade, est. 9.2) examples also sold for $4,550.00 after 48 bids.

As for The New Gods comics from DC in 1971, Heritage did manage to sell a 9.8 CGC universal grade on October 18, 2020 for $2,160.00. Outside of that, most sales are lower priced at less than $1,000. Also worth noting is that examples of the New Gods #1 also come up on eBay but most were ungraded. (Image provided by Heritage Auctions)

As for the cast and crew of the film, these were the top ten actors from the IMDB list, with character name if listed:

• Salma Hayek (Ajak)
• Angelina Jolie (Thena)
• Kit Harington (as Dane Whitman)
• Gemma Chan (Sersi)
• Richard Madden (Ikaris)
• Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos)
• Barry Keoghan (Druig)
• Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo)
• Gil Birmingham
• Lauren Ridloff (Makkari)

Anyhow, comic book prices for The Eternals have already risen handily. Readers should watch the movie trailer ahead of the November 5, 2021 release to decide if this film will be able to keep the interest going in this saga. And that is a decision for each of you to make on your own.