Hollywood news can have an impact on the collectibles world and comic book movies are the perfect example of what an influx of mainstream pop culture focus can do.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a Gambit film starring Channing Tatum is a go for Valentine’s Day 2019, bringing the card-throwing, slick-talking member of the X-Men to the screen solo for the first time.
Just like Deadpool, certain characters pick up steam with fans and news like this prompts added interest in first appearances of the characters and the one-of-a-kind original comic art that helped bring those books to life. A movie with Tatum in the main role? With apologies to Yogi Berra, it could be déjà vu all over again.
Gambit’s first appearance — a cover shot — is from back in 1990 on the cover of Uncanny X-Men No. 266. Ungraded it’s roughly a $100 comic book on eBay — original price $1 — but in a CGC slab you can multiply that by four. Add some ink from artist Andy Kubert and Stan Lee and you can get about $800 — but that’s just eBay. (Want another surprise? Check out the Mile High Comics prices on this one … whoa.)
And yet those still seem a bit low compared to Deadpool’s debut in The New Mutants No. 98 and other key issues that also will get a Hollywood bump soon such as The New Mutants No. 87, which is the first appearance of Cable. The New Mutants will take to the screen on April 13, followed by Deadpool 2 on June 1 and X-Men: The Dark Phoenix next November — so there will be plenty of interest coming for key X-Men books of the past.
Original comic art is where there’s truly been explosive growth in demand and markets in the last decade, though, with the art for Uncanny X-Men 266 being one recent example of that. Earlier this year, the cover for that appearance sold for $130,000 via ComicLink Auctions — and that’s without the Hollywood attention, though the Gambit film has been bouncing around Hollywood projects lists for some time without a “go.”
With that “go,” though, it may be time to pick off that first book for Remy LeBeau before they’re even more energized.
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