There has been a longstanding relationship where movies or filmed series will have an influence on the interest of comic books. The Batman movie is nearly here with a March 4, 2022 release date. Batman’s first appearance in Detective Comics no. 27 did not have a villain that returned in other issues. In this new movie release, Batman is battling The Riddler who first appears in Detective Comics #140 (October, 1948).

The cast is all new with Paul Dano playing The Riddler and Robert Pattinson starring as Batman for the first time. What is most significant about this film release are the parallels between The Riddler’s first comic appearance in Detective Comics #140 and the movie coming out March 4.

Yet again it seems that the movie influence is driving interest higher in the comic book. Whether or not that will continue to keep prices higher remains to be seen, and many outside factors (like the economy) and the geopolitical landscape have to play at least some role. And with any assets, there are no assurances that the price paid today will be higher tomorrow.

Heritage Auctions sold a CGC 9.6 Detective Comics #140 for a record $456,000.00 on June 18, 2021. At the time of the sale every collector was aware that the new villain was going to be The Riddler.

The film had an original release date of June 25, 2021. That was then pushed back twice because of production issues related to Covid and shutdowns. The film’s second release date was moved to October 2021 before arriving at March 4, 2022. What a long time to be thinking about Batman and his iconic fight against The Riddler.

As the entire brand looks for a boost of attention and value here are current issues that are available to the investor. (Image below by Heritage Auctions)

Heritage, Goldin, RallyRd…

Detective Comics #140 CGC FN-5.5 which opens for bidding March 18, 2022. The second example is in the same auction and is graded CGC 4.0. The auction is Heritage’s Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction April 7-8, 2022. Ahead of the film release or any sale related to that, the Price Guide value for CGC 4.0 is $5,600.00 and CGC 6.0 is $8,400.00. The CGC 9.6 that sold last summer for $456,000.00 was the highest known grade. There are 12 graded CGC 4.0 examples and 8 CGC 5.5 examples.

Batman #1 was recently sold at Goldin Auctions on February 23, 2022 after 21 bids. The price for the CGC 5.0 example achieved $510,000.00 after Buyer’s Premium. According to the CGC Census Report there are 14 CGC 5.5 examples known. Two examples will be in the Heritage Auction that also includes Detective Comics #140 that opens for bidding March 18 and closes April 7-8, 2022:

CGC 8.5 and CGC 1.8 examples are the two extremes for the collector and investor. Bidding begins March 18 with 6 CGC 8.5 known to exist and 10 CGC 1.8 examples known.

Most significant to all the movie/comic release attention was the announcement February 18, 2022 of Goldin Auctions record setting private deal for $1.8 million. The comic was brokered to RallyRd, one of the platforms for buying and selling equity shares in collectible assets. According to the report from Goldin, the sale was the second highest price paid ever for a Batman comic.

As for the RallyRd share offering, this has not yet come to pass. This particular Batman #1 will be available to purchase for $10 on March 11, 2022. As the pioneer investing platform for blue-chip and digital collectibles Goldin Auctions knew the potential in Rally’s nearly 400,000 users. A new class of investor is getting into the Batman spirit in the same way true fans of the comic did. True fans of the comic and investors alike know that this movie release has the potential most closely aligned with a Batman actor reboot in the form of Batman and The Riddler.

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Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. In short, high-end collectibles are attracting the same capital that could have just as easily (or more easily) been invested into stocks or bonds. If a comic book is going to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars, that same capital used for buying these could have easily been invested into traditional assets. And again, just because people are investing into this asset or similar assets does not come with any guaranteed profits. They might even lose money on the purchase.