Not sure if anyone is following along but Year Zero #1 from AWA is starting to heat up. This was one of the new AWA series that kind of got smacked down due to Cover-19. Cover A is selling in the $40 range with cover B in the $60. some sets have been blown out in the $50 range.
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My LCS still hasn’t gotten their order in. I did get the preview book though.
I wonder why it’s heating up. LOTS of copies listed on July 20th…which is suspicious of a Pump and Dump.
That’s a good question and good observation. I haven’t noticed any of the other AWA books popping like that.
Definitely an interesting spike. Almost like there is some option rumors out there somewhere.
It was put on Key Collectors Hot Keys I believe right around then. They did note it was moving above cover price for no known reason. It might’ve caused some FOMO that there was rumors out there that hadn’t gotten widespread yet.
I do not get alerts from key collector so had no idea why
So Key Collector is now automatically creating FOMO from silly updates… Hey look, my 2020 iWolverine #1 sold for 2 cents over cover… quick, everyone, go buy… something is up with that comic… 
Yes and no. Does Key have a lot of flaws, sure. But I think it gets a lot of unfair complaints as well.
Does a Key alert cause people to buy books and cause FOMO, sure. But so does an article from CHU. If you or Anthony put out an article out on a book, many people go out and buy it as well. Alana’s lists as well. I know I went to my LCS and grabbed a few books off her lists that I didn’t have.
Now I’m not saying Key, CHU, CBSI, pick your favorite spec site, are pumping books. Not at all. Verrry different then what some pump and dump people are doing. But it’s just human nature that you read about a book, like what you read, then go out and buy it. It’s just the nature of the market (any market really). If you don’t have something that you read about, FOMO kicks in in a lot of people.
Year 1 was on hot keys. Which is where they list books that are selling higher then previously. Wasn’t on spec deck where they put rumors/spec. So Year 1 was selling above higher so they noted it. And even noted on the listing there was no reason known as to why it was climbing. I think that’s pretty fair on their part and not trying to create unnecessary hype.
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Additionally it looks that Year Zero has been selling consistently for $15-25 for about 3-4 weeks now and several $30-40 sales from 7/17 to 7/19 before it got put on Hot Keys.
I can’t really fault them for putting a new book selling 8-9 times cover on their hot keys section. It was moving books well before Key noted it.
So back to the original point. Not sure why it’s moving like it is as it was moving pre Key. I gotta imagine there is news out there somewhere or someone pumping it. Sure it got washed out with Covid, but even reader buzz on it, won’t cause it to spike to 8 times cover. Got to be more reason out there.
I added #1 awhile back. Gonna hold it and see what it does here.
The topic of the book could not be more timely. I’m amazed this was written pre-Covid 19. That would be enough to cause a spike on it’s own.
My problem with Key Collector is that he takes no responsibility for his actions. Anthony and Poyo do their due diligence and research when posting spec. They don’t just put it up without vetting their source. In the few instances they get bad information, they’ll admit it and put it up. Key Collector does not do that. He hears whispers and blasts it to all of his subscribers. When it turns out bad, he just shrugs it off. “30 days return policy, bro!”
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I hate having egg on my face and from time to time it happens. But I do admit when I am wrong
True, we talk about books but rarely (or never that I recall) do we create an article because books are selling a buck or two over cover price. 
Yes, we try our best to vet info to best of our ability. This is why you don’t see us posting a new article every 30 minutes as well. Yes, content drives traffic, traffic is good for websites but I think at CHU we try to strive for quality over quantity.
Have we been wrong before, yes. Will we be wrong in the future, more than likely. Do we admit when we’re wrong, absolutely every time.
Well the book in question was going 3-8 times cover for a few weeks. I know you are being a little tongue in cheek though. Lol
Yeah, my initial response was just poking fun…
I agree if anyone gets something wrong, own it.
Sometimes though I think people just like to pile on Key.
An example that comes to mind is the Mime situation. Someone somewhere decided Mime could be punchline. So that book started moving. It was climbing. After it was climbing a bit, I believe it was under Key Spec Deck or Hot books, not an alert, but I could be wrong, but Key listed Mime and stated something along the lines of the price is climbing as some people think Punchline may be Mime. There’s nothing “wrong” there, it’s simply stating what’s causing ebay prices to rise, it’s not anything that could be vetted unless you know Tynion, it was simply that some people think this so it’s climbing.
I don’t think anything is exactly “wrong” there. It’s up to the consumer to then decide what they want to do. If you were crazy enough to think Punchline was mime that’s on you. Key wasn’t saying buy the book, just that the price is climbing and here’s why. Take it for what it’s worth.
If Key said…I’m hearing that punchline is Mime or sources tell me that punchline is Mime…that’s a VERY different statement…one that would be wrong and then that is a mistake that should be owned.
The difference being when you are the reporter/source/speculation and thus need to vet how accurate your information is before becoming that spec, versus stating a trend and saying copies are moving because of this rumor. One is creating the spec, the other is reporting trends.
Another example is the Wednesday variant cover thing. Anthony had it from a solid credible source that Wednesday variant would have art. That was solid info, well vetted. CHU is then the source reporting it. It sold copies. It didn’t pan out, not Anthony’s fault, it was solid info from a good source. He owned it even though I don’t think he had to as he did his due diligence.
If after CHU put that out, if Key puts on their spec deck that Anthony from CHU believes Wednesday variants will have art and thus Venom 26 Wednesday is climbing (they didn’t here but I have seen them mention different people as sources like Jim’s Comics where him mentioning what he merely thinks on YouTube has caused books to climb) that’s not a wrong statement. It’s accurate. It’s not Keys job to vet CHUs sources, they are just reporting the trend. What you do with it is up to you.
I guess that’s my point however long winded that was. I’m not even sure i made sense. Ha. I think CHU is the best site out there no question, I spend more time here then anywhere else combined, I just feel sometimes Key gets a bad rap when it’s not exactly their fault.
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At least it’s not as bad as other places. I use key collector their lists are not very thorough is my only complaint with them. Like Miles list of keys is 47 variants with no keyness in my opinion barely any 1st appearances. One place I regularly visit is by far the worst they write up one book a day with pages of text, more dialogue than what would be in the actual comic. I have to read an essay just to find out why they think Strawberry Shortcake #1 is a good purchase.