2023, A Period of Adjustment

By Tim Bildhauser, International Comic Specialist, Warehouse Comics, Cards & Games, October 2023

“The market for CPVs doesn’t look to have been as drastically affected as the comic market overall.”

Looking at the last year, there seems to be quite a bit of change in the overall market, not limited to Canadian Prive Variants. The pandemic years saw prices jumping faster than anyone could keep up with but now the pendulum is swinging in the opposite direction. Even some of the bigger key books are seeing dips in price, both through online outlets and the big auction houses. A plethora of books shot up in price far more than they ever should have due to speculation and affordability. In my many years of watching the comic market I’ve noticed a trend. As books climb outside of many collectors price range, their focus turns to books that they can afford and have the potential to increase in value. This creates market growth and is usually a good sign. From mid-2020 through early 2023 though, it happened so quickly and resembled a feeding frenzy of sharks.

CPV prices for some keys like GI Joe #21 and ASM #238 came down in 2023.

That being said… the market for CPVs doesn’t look to have been as drastically affected as the comic market overall. There’s definitely a bit more stability in this corner of the market. Some of the bigger books (i.e. ASM #238, G.I. Joe #21) have seen a slight decrease but nowhere near the 20-40% drops that are plaguing the mainstream market and CPVs under $50 have, seemingly, barely been affected at all. I suspect this is because CPVs are still far more limited in supply and the demand is still strong.

Moving forward I think we’ll see most of the market rebound but it’s going to take some time. And, truth be told, some of the books that skyrocketed during the pandemic most likely won’t ever return to the values they reached during that period.

This year, as usual, I traveled to a number of conventions in both the US & Canada. Based on the sales activity I saw and the conversations I had with both dealers and collectors I’m confident that the hobby in general is going to be just fine.

And now for a shameless plug… I have to apologize to Ben, Angelo and the rest of the team that my market report isn’t more in depth but I’ve been exceptionally busy as of late. I’ve entered into a venture with a few other people and we’ve opened a store here in Northwest Indiana, Warehouse Comics, Cards & Games (https://warehousecomics.com/). It’s a nice little place, roughly 15,000 square feet, so if you happen to find yourself in the area stop in and check it out.

— Tim Bildhauser

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