This Week in Comic Collecting: Snake Eyes, DC x Fortnite and Injustice

The film, which was originally slated for a fall release, was pushed up to July in a seemingly good sign for GI Joe investors. Many in the comic market were skeptical coming into the debut of the trailer, as the previous GI Joe franchise, while a box office success, garnered little critical acclaim and did even less for the comic market. No matter how you felt about Snake Eyes' role in the first trailer, it is evident that this is an entirely different film from the previous GI Joe franchise. Another departure is the way characters are being introduced. In the previous films, the team was introduced when a couple new members were added and many of the characters received little backstory. This time, similar to what was done in the MCU by Marvel, we are getting solo origin stories. First through Snake Eyes, then later via a series on Amazon chronicling Lady Jaye.  This will presumably lead to a GI Joe team up in theaters similar to what we saw with the Avengers. In a world where every corporate entity seems to want to rush everything, I like Hasbro's approach here to develop slowly. 

If you're investing in Snake Eyes, you have an opportunity for a 2 for 1 with Baroness as she is also slated to appear in the film and shares a reappearance with Snake Eyes in GI Joe: Real American Hero #1. I previously wrote about that book right here with ONE37pm and the book was trading at $2,000 on April 9th. The book is now passing $2,500, showing solid gains, especially since we only saw very little from the debut trailer and the jury still seems out on the film. As more scenes are shown, including the costumed debut, more interest will head to this book. 

Another sleeper option is the source material for the film, the Snake Eyes origin story from GI Joe: Real American Hero #26 and 27. This details the origin and saga of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. 9.8 copies of #26 and #27 have traded for $150 and seem to have a lot of potential for growth. As issue #1 prices skyrocket, I really believe this origin story as well as iconic Snake Eyes covers will be the play for the silent Ninja soldier. 

One of this week's hot releases on New Comic Book Day (every Wednesday at your local comic shop) was Batman / Fortnite: Zero Point #3.  The DC Comics crossover comic shot to 2.5x cover price on the day of release following the trend of the first two issues and was rushed back to print for a second printing. This is a trend I have been talking about on social media for a few weeks as this crossover has been a huge success for comic shops who had the foresight to bet big on the popular video game making waves in comics. Issue #3 also paved the way for a unique crossover amongst comic book characters as it featured both Batman and Snake Eyes, appearing together in a comic for the very first time.  This is the kind of cool universe-bending stuff that can happen within the Fortnite Universe. The reason for the success of the new series is derived from more than just the utility it provides as the comic itself. Each issue includes a code for downloadable content in the game. The cost savings of buying the comic at retail over purchasing with V-bucks is roughly 50%, making sales of the comic to Fortnite players a no brainer. On top of which, if you collect all six issues and redeem the codes, you get a bonus 7th item, an armored Batman Zero Outfit.  To see a full schedule of release, see the table below:

Sticking with the comic book / video game relationship, DC also announced plans for an upcoming Animated Feature Film based on the popular 2013 video game and comic book series Injustice : Gods Among Us. This is Tom Taylor’s take on the DC Universe and the one that showed his true potential as a top line comic writer in the industry, going on to create the DCeased Universe, featuring a DC Comics Zombie Apocolypse of sorts. Injustice has been wildly popular since its debut, seeing a follow up to the video game in 2016 and several volumes of the comic's sequels and spinoffs. The original first volume first print is a tough book to find in the wild these days and trades for about $300 in a slabbed 9.8.  

There is also an incentive variant for this book which is a tougher find and sellers regularly charge 2-5x for it over Cover A, but the exposure that the initial media articles gave Cover A only solidify why I am a Cover A investor.  More often than not, similar to base cards in sports cards, Cover A may not be the most expensive option but most times offers the highest ROI opportunity. 

Video games and comics are a natural tie in with a huge overlap in fan base. I expect this film to get a lot of attention from both markets. DC has a rich history of success with their animated features and the Injustice story allows for them to tell a version of the DC Universe that traditional comic fans may not be aware of while grabbing viewership from the loyal video game audience the game garnered with both releases.