Cheap(ish) Star Wars Spec

They are better than WW84 :joy:

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All this trashing on WW84 has me wanting to watch it like rubber-necking a multi car pile up.

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It’s better if you picture Max Lord in the Mando armor

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Thanks again, 2 new names for me to look up Cade Skywlker and Darth Krayt. (No doubt out of range, but the knowledge shared here for free is invaluable) One spec that I’m not feeling is the Avar Kriss cameo in Rise of Kylo Renn. It’s a hologram, not named and non speaking unless I missed something?

@AceGarp Quinlan Vos is another character you may enjoy looking into & heading down the rabbit hole on! Hasn’t shot up quite as much as some of these others which is also nice.

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Now is probably not the time to be buying a lot of the more well known Star Wars issues, unless like a few of of you, you really know what you are doing. Getting the knowledge in now for some back bin searching or Ebay in a few weeks if things cool down though, is a sound idea. Meanwhile here is a list for some spec I see a relatively low buy in for. (Sub £25 or 35$)
Full Disclosure, I have purchased all of these but I am not selling.

Darth Maul 3 - 1st Cover of Cad Bane / Aurra Sing. (Darth Maul 2 is 1st app of both but seems to be above that price range now )
Darth Vader 1 2015 - 1st App Black Krrrsantan *264,399 copies distributed according to Comichron, so probably a variant or later print may be the way to go.
Dark Horse Comics 7 - 1st Nomi Sunrider. 1st Star Wars Dark Horse comic. (I have a few but that’s based on low price rather than me thinking it’s a worth spec.I’ve seen it mentioned by a few people though and can be found for peanuts.
Star Wars 16 1979 - 1st Beilert Vallance - Cool looking bounty hunter from The Bounty Hunters series.
Darth Vader 7 2020 1st Full Ochi of Bestoon / 1st Cameo Webbish Bog.
Darth Vader 8 2020 1st Full Webbish Bog.
Star Wars The High Republic - 1st / 2nd Print - Eyes peeled on wednesday! - New 1st apps. Also worth keeping an eye on this as an ongoiung series, ripe for new characters.
Star Wars The High Republic Aventures. - New 1st Apps
Star Wars Bounty Hunters 1 - Some new 1st apps of bounty Hunters, possible short lived? Series has some Nice Boba Fett Covers.
Doctor Aphra 40 Last Issue of Vol 1 - Copies Distributed 19,430 split between Cover A and a Greatest Moments Variant.

This last one is not cheap Spec or even Spec at all. It’s a store variant by Forbidden Planet . But a great Adi Granov Boba Fett cover…
51YswARqzBL.SX327_BO1,204,203,200

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I think its the rarity in addition to brief first cameo. Considering her first full will be heavily ordered. But I agree its a weak first.

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Aurra Sing first app is Star Wars #7 from the 1998 Dark Horse series.

Not a cheap book anymore due to the Krayt/Hett hype.

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I love Star Wars and collect all first apps.

But I’d be cautious on paying big prices for the hyped Dark Horse characters until Disney decides to start using them. Yes I have most of them, but I got them cheap before the hype got out of control.

Disney so far with Sequel Trilogy, Rogue One, Mando, etc…has created all new characters to be leads in their product. And has added in some Disney property characters as well (specifically from Clone Wars).

If you want to spec on Disney Star Wars, I’d focus on the last few years of Marvel books and characters out of their properties like Clone Wars, Rebels, etc… You are on the right track with people like Cad Bane, Valance, Aphra, Krrsantan, etc…

Ventress has already climbed but she’s one likely to appear. Darth Bane is another, he’s a Dark Horse creation but he is mentioned in Clone Wars and was in a deleted scene so there’s a chance.

More likely to see them vs Nomi, Cade, Krayt, Revan, etc…

One more thing on TFA 1…is it a bit undervalued, yes…but if an entire trilogy didn’t get that book to pop, why would a 4th appearance do the trick?

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Thank you for your reply Comp82. You make some solid points. That is very intersting about using Marvel/Disney characters over Dark Horse ones? I assume Dark Horse own the rights to creations in their books or would the rights revert to disney?

With The Mandorian being so popular, I think this is a massive area for growth. Star Wars Fans seem to really want their comics and are happy to pay top dollar. I wanted to start a conversation on this topic, but I know I am not knowledgable enough to lead the conversation. When I saw articles suggesting cool sounding characters, they were already more than I wanted to pay which got me thinking what could be good low risk purchases now.
I don’t know if these appearance will become valuable, but there is a low buy in, and in Kylo Renn, it looks like there is a character with comic stories being written. So it wouldn’t necesarily need a 4th film or TV show. It may just need a few years years of stories being published and the teenagers who watched these films getting interested. Maybe I should put it down as a long term spec rather than a quick flip.

I have some new Dark Horse stories to read too, sort of an added bonus from this thread. Is there a good series to suggest a Dark Horse beginner to start on? Clone Wars / Legacy / or X-Wing Squadron?

Here are some of my pickups from the last month. (Please note the Attack of the clones 2 was based on some incorrect info. But you live and you learn.
A B C D E F G H I J K

look for side character of those spiking in price. for example dr aphra is way up, but her side kicks are still pretty cheap.

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Not sure of the contracts negotiated but usually movie type of rights like this get passed back over I’d imagine since Dark Horse only got the rights to publish the brand and title. I don’t think any media property would make it so the last publisher rights and any new characters end up being owned by them so they’re split between two entities.

My guess is Marvel/Disney owns them completely since Thrawn was also a novel but made his first appearance in Dark Horse yet we had a Thrawn Marvel solo title as well. I’d imagine the rights likely pass back and forth and the “creators” as in writers/artists get small royalties on any characters they might of created.

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One of the interesting things I’ve generally found with comic appearances and values is that they have lagged behind the rising values and highly sought after action figures for the same characters. It’s certainly not 100%, but if you look at the majority of the very high value and key, sought after modern era action figures you will see a big pattern. Keep in mind, the values and craze began on these figures long before anyone was excited about them in comics for the most part.

Ahsoka, Darth Revan, Darth Malak, large majority of the comic packs which features characters such as Darth Krayt, Darth Talon, Cad Bane, Exar Kun, Cad Bane figures, Honda Ohnaka figures, etc, etc.
In some cases I had purchased the comic packs for these figures and am thankful I did as they also have the accompanying comic (Jango Fett Open Seasons comes immediately to mind).

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  • Legacy
  • Dark Empire I and II (quality falls off in Empire’s End but the Cam Kennedy art in these is classic 90s)
  • Crimson Empire I, II, III
  • Heir to the Empire (although I’d read Zahn’s novels in the Thrawn Trilogy instead of he comics)
  • knights of the Old Republic
  • Dawn of the Jedi
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Aphra’s love interest, arch rival, and allies are no brainer cover price buy ins.

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Everyone above answered a lot of your questions and I’d agree with others above on stuff to read. Knights of the Old Republic would be my suggestion for reading.

As others mentioned above books like Aphra 3 from her first title is a great book that isn’t crazy yet.

Disney owns all the rights. But I believe everything Dark Horse is still considered non-canon until they are used in a Disney property.

Since you like Kylo, he is loosely based on Jacen Solo who first appears in Dark Empire II #5.

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I know next to nothing about Star Wars comics but this seems like incredibly sound reasonable advice.

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I’m really digging Aphra and think there’s a ton of potential there. I’ve got about 8-10 Aphra-related books, including DV3, but I don’t know that character’s universe very well.

Does anyone in the know have a list of Aphra characters/books to target? It seems like those titles are readily available now, but in a few years when she gets a movie, those will be long gone.

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