Ash gives his market predictions for 2023

Nobody has a crystal ball -- but I'll do my very best to try to predict what the new year has to bring for comic book buyers.

1) Foreign Comics will continue to gain traction
See my newsletter dedicated to this topic here, in the archive

2) The MCU will get back in its groove

There's no doubt that a series of so-so releases is never good for a brand. The Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn't picked the best of moments to play a few bum notes, but it's a proven machine and will get back to winning ways.

3) Silver Keys will find their floor and pick up again
Talking of proven machines, owning Silver Age key issues has never been a bad strategy. It's amazing how out of favor DC keys are compared to Marvel, and perhaps we'll see something major happen next year -- if somebody serious buys DC and starts cracking out DCU alternatives to the Marvel movies, then plenty of DC Silver Age books will get spikes.

4) Manufactured Scarcity will enter the comic book market

It's been a common practice in the sports card market: in the general production run of cards, special editions are randomly sorted into the packs. 1 of 100, 1 of 10 or even 1 of 1 cards trade for monster money. The Messi card above fetched $522,000! There simply is no equivalent in comic books -- almost no modern books break four figures -- and the publishers are missing a trick. Some savvy marketer will surely rectify this.

5) Pre-Code Horror will continue to appreciate

The big classic pre-Code horror books have barely felt a dip from the sellooff in comic books, and there is good reason for this, as they are pretty hard to find, especially in high grade, and so cool that theirs is a universal appeal. Books like Crime SuspenStories #22 and Astonishing! #30 won't ever go out of style.

What do you think will happen in the comic book market next year? Write to me using the link below.