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Good morning. A sketch-cover Absolute Batman #25 fetched $19K on auction, Harvard's Houghton Library opened a new superhero repository, and Marvel announced a 2027 Hulk relaunch with a free first issue.
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An Absolute Batman #25 sketch cover featuring original art by Nick Dragotta, Jim Lee, and Clay Mann sold for $18,850 on WhatNot auction last week. The three-artist collaboration pushed the modern variant into five-figure territory, a price point typically reserved for Golden Age keys or high-grade Silver Age books.
The sale demonstrates how triple-signature sketch covers can command premiums that rival vintage comics. Dragotta draws the current Absolute Batman run, Lee remains one of the industry's most bankable names, and Mann's interior work on the series added a third marquee signature. The book also cracked the top 400 bestselling comics for the week, showing retail strength beyond the variant market.
Sketch covers have evolved from commission curiosities into a recognized collectible tier. When a mainstream title like Absolute Batman pairs blank-cover availability with A-list artist access at conventions, the convergence creates auction heat. This sale lands near the top of the 2026 sketch-cover leaderboard, behind only a handful of heritage-character pieces.
The price also reflects DC's Absolute line momentum. Absolute Batman #1 became one of the year's bestselling launches, and sustained demand through issue #25 signals that the imprint has staying power beyond its first arc. Retailers who ordered heavily into the line are seeing back-issue velocity that justifies deep variant buys.
Why it matters: High-dollar sketch covers validate modern variants as investment-grade collectibles and show that contemporary runs can generate auction results once reserved for vintage books. The result also confirms that DC's Absolute imprint has created lasting collector interest, not just launch hype.
Read at source (Bleeding Cool) →
Buying and Selling Comics 2026.
Current fees and policies on eBay, Whatnot, Instagram and Facebook, then shipping, taxes and consignment, plus the Dealer Buy-Rate Sheet.
What’s in the 2026 Comics Guide →Harvard's Houghton Library announced it has become a permanent repository for a major comic book collection. The library, Harvard's primary rare-book facility, will house superhero and comic book materials alongside its existing collections of manuscripts and early printed works. The move places comics in the same institutional tier as literary first editions and historical documents, a milestone for academic recognition of the medium. Read at source (Harvard Gazette) →
Marvel is relaunching Hulk in 2027 with the first issue available for free. The relaunch follows Marvel's recent pattern of zero-dollar #1 issues to drive sampling and retailer orders. No creative team or story details have been announced, but the free first issue suggests Marvel is betting on the Hulk to anchor a new wave of relaunches after the success of recent Avengers and X-Men reboots. Read at source (IGN Nordic) →
Eight comic book stores closed recently, but sixteen new shops opened. The net gain of eight stores marks a rare positive quarter for brick-and-mortar retail. The closures included longstanding shops in suburban markets, while most openings occurred in urban centers and college towns. The data suggests the direct market is consolidating around locations with foot traffic and event-hosting capacity rather than pure pull-list volume. Read at source (Bleeding Cool) →
Image Comics' The Darkness celebrates 30 years with limited-edition exclusives. The supernatural anti-hero series, created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl in 1996, will receive anniversary variants and collected editions. The Darkness remains one of Image's longest-running creator-owned franchises and spawned video games, a film adaptation in development, and multiple spin-off series during its run. Read at source (CBR) →
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| 2026-11-05 | No One Escapes the Dialectic #1 (second printing) |
Full calendar (The Comics Beat) →
January 2027 Previews: Image, Dark Horse, BOOM, IDW, Titan, Fantagraphics, Mad Cave, Oni Press
Near Mint Condition · @NearMintCondition · 139K subscribers
January 2027 comic solicitations overview covering Image, Dark Horse, BOOM, IDW and other publishers.
Watch on YouTube →The Batman Grade Bumps Keep Getting Worse..
Swagglehaus · @swagglehaus · 27.6K subscribers
Analysis of grade bumps when crossing Batman 1 comics from CGC to PSA.
Watch on YouTube →Find more comic creators on CollectiblesFamous (92) →
A collector attended their first in-person estate sale and scored key comics for $3 each. The haul included multiple books purchased at the flat rate, continuing a hot streak of estate-sale finds reported by the community over the past month. See the discussion (Reddit - r/comicbookcollecting) →
A 4.0 copy of Amazing Spider-Man #14 with white pages is tempting a collector at $1,700. The poster called the book a personal grail that fits their budget and asked the community for buying advice. See the discussion (Reddit - r/comicbookcollecting) →
Ziggurat Interactive announced that BloodRayne is shifting from a video-game franchise to a comic-first model. BloodRayne #1 will launch next year and finally resolve the cliffhanger ending from the 2004 BloodRayne 2 game. See the discussion (Reddit - r/comicbooks) →
A collector celebrated turning 40 by buying themselves a long-sought birthday present comic. The post sparked dozens of comments from others sharing their own milestone-birthday grail purchases. See the discussion (Reddit - r/comicbookcollecting) →
 | ★ Marquee find Journey Into Mystery 107 CGC 9.6 1964 Marvel Comics Silver Age 1st Appearance 2x$2,895 · CGC 9.6, high grade, key/1st app. View on eBay → |
 | Key · Top Pick Dexter #1 CGC 9.8 Dalibor Talajic 1:25 Variant, 1st Appearance, Rare, Marvel$450 · CGC 9.8, high grade, key/1st app. View on eBay → |
 | Key · Top Pick Fantastic Four #245 CGC 9.6 Byrne 1st Appearance Franklin Richards Avatar Marvel$59.99 · CGC 9.6, high grade, key/1st app. View on eBay → |
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