Biggest Spec Fails Part 1 (….of many) :-)

Hey all. In the comic world we all hear on the forums and on Facebook etc .. that we bought this comic for £1, and now its worth £1000 - now thats only happened to me a few times! More often than not I've sunk a significant proportion of money into supposedly spec books only to be left with a long box full of comics that nobody wants.

We've all been here and, if you haven't, you're either lying to yourself or you're lying to your wife 🙂  I'm not a big player in the spec market, I'm more of a collector. But I do like to sell comics from time to time to fuel my collection. There's nothing like the thrill of the hunt for me. Finding a key book for £1 in a market stall or bookshop makes my day. I like buying books that I think are undervalued and speculating on up and coming movie characters etc...

A lot of people don't like the movie spec game but let's be honest, nothing pushes the price of a book up like a movie appearance, less so for a TV appearance (take it from me - don't invest in Super Girl or Flash villains !). I like my classic key books, but they tend to rise gradually. There's nothing like the excitement of holding a first appearance of a character who's about to debut in the latest Marvel/DC blockbuster, and you got it cheap!

So let's be honest about these things. We all like to tell stories of massive gains, but what about the fails? We have to have a retrospective attitude to these things so we become wiser, more astute. It makes us think before we pull the trigger.

Let's call it therapy, but we have to learn from our mistakes!

So here we go. This book is something that I had a lot of faith in at the time and was the talk of the town.

We Can Never Go Home 3

Back in 2015 Bleeding Cool wrote an article about how this issue is a collectors item, as the characters in the book were trying on different Marvel and DC characters outfits. They called out licensing issues and how the comic would be recalled and would never again be reprinted yada yada yada! Wow! I thought. Instantly I went on Ebay and bought 10 copies for £70 (after quite a bit of haggling) thinking the following week I could retire, tell my boss to f*ck themselves and pack my bags heading for the sandy beaches of somewhere tropical!

But no, no one was bothered. The comic has had a bit of a resurgence with the news that maybe it's going to be made into a film (isn't everything optioned?!), but it isn't worth £7 a copy. At least not yet ! Those 10 copies are still taking up space in the long box waiting for a movie when they try on DC and Marvel swimming costumes!

Lesson Learned : Don't fall for the hype !

As a footnote I'd just like to say that I've had plenty of success as well , and I'll balance these articles out with tales of great wins!! Watch this space !

Why not tell me of your biggest fails. What, you haven't got any? You big fat liar ! Come on, open up and let me know in the comments!