The standard cover Prophet #21 from Image Comics has just successfully sold for $9.99 plus $4.50 shipping.

The variants are going for more.

The first was published two weeks ago for $3.50. The second yesterday for $2.99.

Did you fill your boots?

In related news, Jan’s Atomic Heart, a future sci-fi graphic novel by Prophet artist Simon Roy is proving a little hard to find. With a copy on Amazon going for just shy of $90. Here’s a 22 page preview.

And as a bonus, Prophet writer Brandon Graham reposts the bits from his Newsarama interview that the site declined to run. Including this bon mot.

Brandon: But I kind of think that sort of stuff’s okay.  It’s all about owning your shit.  I don’t have any problem with DC’s Catwoman because of the content; it’s because the dork from fuckin’ MTV’s Real World is a shitty writer.  That’s what bothers me.

Joe: Whoa!

Brandon: It’s okay.  DC’s not calling me anyway.

The backbone of the success of the DC Relaunch was the publisher offering retailers incentives to order more of the comics, so they could be easily bought off the shelf when the media promotions hit. Variant covers, extra discount, returnability, it enabled retailers to take more of a risk, and in some cases reap the rewards. It is unlikely a book like Animal Man would have caught on quite so quickly if there weren’t plenty of copies for people to try when they read the rewards.

In March, DC’s mature readers imprint, Vertigo, is having a mini-relaunch of its own with four new series starting, Fairest, Saucer Country, The New Deadwardians and Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child.

Firstly, DC are significantly increasing the discount on retail price that retailers receive on those four first issues, to encourage them to order more copies, with a reduced risk – and a chance of making greater profit.

Retailers who order 150% of Fairest #1 compared to Fables #111, will alos be able to get increased discount on any Fables trade paperbacks they order in that month.

The four titles will also come with a 1:10 variant cover for their first issues – Fairest by Phil Jimenez, Saucer Country by Sean Murphy, Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child by Rafael Grampá and The New Deadwardians by Cliff Chiang – which may encoyrage retailers to up the orders – and certainly round them up to the nearest ten.

It may not quite be the returnability that the majority of the new 52 still enjoy, but it’s should hopefully be a way to make sure those titles are all on the shelf of most comic shops, one each week of March.

UPDATE: Now with added Rob Liefeld variant and original cover, in their street trade dress.

Over the last few years, there has been a rule for speculating in modern comic books. Pick a first issue title, preferably from Image, by someone with a little history and fanbase, who has lucked onto a strong high concept. The odds are it will be underordered and you’ll be able to flip it in the first few weeks of sale before the market settles. If you’re lucky you might also get something that may pay off in the long term, if you want to risk it. Bleeding Cool has followed the likes of Chew, Morning Glories, Skullkickers, Nonplayer and more along that path.

But the first comic of 2012 that may have the potential to follow them, doesn’t quite follow that pattern. By being issue 21.

Prophet, a revival of an old Extreme Studios title, bears very little resemblance to its original. By Brandon Graham and SImon Roy, it has, however, the visible and vocal support of the likes of Warren Ellis. Oh, and Bleeding Cool.

But, until you read it, it may have the taint of Extreme – which may have dragged retailer orders down, as they recall the later copies of Prophet back in the day they may have had to throw in the dumpster.

Put it this way. Prophet #21 is underordered. It has critical acclaim and A-List backing. When it hits, it will hit with media impact and great reviews. And will sell out in seconds, before racing up the eBay charts. If you want a copy, get your retailer to reserve you one. Out on January 18th, it’s too late to up the print run now.

Say, I wonder if it will have an affect on the value of Prophet #1-20? Now that would be funny…

A couple of weeks ago a CGC slabbed signed Chew #1 9.8 sold for $909 on eBay. Was it a complete and total fluke?

No, no it wasn’t. This week a copy of Chew #1 slabbed at 9.9 by CBC signed by just by John Layman sold for $850.

Chew has been probably Image’s biggest successful launch over the last couple of years, and Eric Stephenson states that despite generous overprints, the comic books still managing to sell out fast every month. And with the TV series on the way, that can only increase demand for this title.

There are a couple of hundred registered 9.8 Chew #1. There are thirty-ish 9.9. There is one 10.0. When that comes onto the market, there may be a certain amount of bidding…

Walking Dead #1 with a 9.9 CGC hit $2500 earlier in the year, you know…

25 — original Diamond order

11 — this week’s Diamond reorder

15 — comps for staff

8 — copies for BOOM! archive

10 — overage in case of shipping damages, either from CGC to Diamond, or from Diamond breaking ones themselves

6 — creator comps

75 — TOTAL

It comes with a 1-in-200 variant for the first issue featuring a Joe Jusko cover. Basically, if you wanted a copy, the store had to order 200 copies of the comic.

Not many stores did.

Every issue would come slabbed, guaranteed in a 9.8 condition by CCG, this was a comic destined never to be read. They could have printed blank pages. What you were getting was basically a limited edition Joe Jusko print in slabbed comic form.

There are 25 copies being sent to retailers, across the whole world.

The rest of the copies printed? Boom! president Roiss Richie is going to burn them. Burn them all.

It’s currently at $81 on eBay. I think that may be a little low.

With rare exceptions, not so well.

One of those rare exceptions happens to be Animal Man #1, which continues to sell well online. One this morning went for $12.50, with three sales yesterday ranging from $8.50 to $17.00. Over the past week, the average appears to be around $10, around where we reported it was at the end of last month, and still quite impressive.

While the first printings of Justice League #1 have been coming down in price, the second printing continues to command high prices. While sales of the second printing of #1 have been rare, as is the comic, the ones that do sell are going for at least $14, including this sale yesterday for $16. Third printings, however, hold little value, with the overwhelming majority of sales of late going for cover price or less.

The International edition of the League is not doing so well, however, with multiple sales over the last two days at cover price of late, and the same too with Justice League Dark #1. One international team that is doing well is Stormwatch, with sales of Stormwatch #1 going for $9.99 and $7.39 in two sales over the past week.

As Rich reported last month, Batgirl #1 had hit a high of $6 but was coming back down. There were three sales over the weekend for $5, but there were multiples sales where the final tally was cover price or less, including one that sold on Thanksgiving for $1, and one yesterday for $2.

Sales for Detective Comics #1 have been all over the place this past week. There have been two sales over the weekend for $5, one for $9, two sales for $10, and two sales at $13. Batwoman, a former star of Detective, is not doing so well on her own, with sales this past week all going for cover price or less, with far more copies simply not selling.

Maybe Batwoman did not have enough sex appeal going for it, which is not a problem for Red Hood and the Outlaws #1, with three sales this week that all came in over $5. Then again, maybe not, as the New 52’s resident stripper sold only once this past week, for a whopping $0.99.

Demon Knights and Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E are both just cover price, despite both featuring solid writing from fan favorite writers. So too for Aquaman, which is on its seventh #1 and ninth overall relaunch.

With DC continuing to keep these in circulation in a variety of ways, it was always going to be difficult for them to hold value for long. As seen in most titles, it wasn’t even for that long.

Yesterday, we ran a list of modern comics breaking the $200 barrier. Now we set our sights a little lower to the still-impressive $100 successful sale price point.

These books do not include signed, variant, CGC or similar ways of raising a book’s value. Just raw, is they come off the comic rack.

So… anyone got these in their collection? Don’t floood your marketplace with your Uncanny X-Force #4s people…

Cursed Pirate Girl #1 by Jeremy Bastion from Olympian Publishing. Cover price $4.95. Current market price $190.

Knights Of The Dinner Table #1 from Alderac Group by Jolly R. Blackburn. Cover price $2.95. Current market price $152.50

Namorita #1 from Marvel and Metro Dade Police. Cover price $1.50. Current market price $150.

Miracleman #15 from Eclipse by Alan Moore and John Totleben. Current market price $140.

NYX #3 from Marvel by Joe Quesada and Josh Middleton. Cover price $2.99. Current market price $128.

Our Love Is Real #1 first print by Sam Humnphries and Steven Sanders. Cover price $3. Current market price $125.

The Walking Dead #3 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Cover price $2.99. Current market price $115.

Invincible #1 by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker from Image, Cover price $2.95. Current market price $114.

Uncanny X-Force #4 by Rick Remender and XXX. Cover price $3.99. Current market price $107. Boom in the room! Look at that thing go! Man, that’s something else.

GI Joe Special #1 from Marvel by Todd McFarlane. Cover price $1.50. Current market price $100.

GI Joe #155 from Marvel. Cover price $1.50. Current market price $100.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2 by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman from Mirage. Cover price $1.50. Current market price $100.

Y The Last Man #1 by Brian Vaughan and Pia Guerra. Cover price $2.99. Current market price $100.

Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Brian Bendis and Mark Bagley from Marvel. Cover price $1.99. Current market price $100.

1. The Walking Dead #1 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, Image. Original price $2.99. Current market price: $420 – twenty dollars more than it was selling for  in July.

2. Love And Rockets #1 by the Hernandez Brothers, self published. Original price $1. Current market price $350.

3. Walking Dead #2 by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, Image. More from the zombie comic turning into a TV series. Really strong performance. Original price $2.99. Current market price $300. Up almost double from it’s $175 in July.

4. Bone #1 by Jeff Smith from Cartoon books. Original price $3.99. Current market price $290.

5. Chew #1 by John Layman and Rob Guillory, Image. Original price $2.99. Current market price $270. Slipping a little from July’s $300 high. The TV show should fix that.

6. Elseworlds Eighty Page Giant by various, DC Comics. Original price $7.99. Current market price $217.50.

7. Amazing Spider-Man #300 by David Michelenie and Todd McFarlane, Marvel. Original price $1.50. Current market price $212.50.

8. Cursed Pirate Girl #2 by Jeremy Bastion from Olympian Publishing. Original price $4.95. Current price $200. A massive jump for this in demand comic, with issue 1 in the high hundred-and-something as well…

9. Dime Press #4 from Bonelliano, featuring the first appearance of Hellboy. Original market price 4000 lira. Current market price $200.

This is the highest number of modern day comics to join the $200 Dollar Club.

Well, the price have been falling a little this week. Like Animal Man #1 going for $13, but generally going for $10. Batgirl #1 managed to hit $6 but generally goes for less. Detective Comics managed to hit $10… once. Batman #1 got $7 but generally the shine has gone off the high numbers the books were achieving only a couple of weeks ago. And a number of th New 52 are back around cover price?

Why so sudden a change, when the books had been nudging $20 and $30 in some cases?

Well it may have had something to do with this week and last week, a number of comic stores receiving surprised first prints of DC #1s with their second prints. Backorders for the first print that were thought unfilled, have suddenly seen stores receiving hundreds of extra copies of the non-red cover versions . Could be a glitch in the system, could be returned copies injected into the rest of the distribution network, could be a warehouse find. Whatever it is, it does seem to have dulled the speculators a tad.

When I asked DC about the new copies, they declined to comment. Of course, it may explain how the comic store in the Big Bang Theory is fully stocked with issue 1s, week after week after week…