George Pérez’s JLA/Avengers In Shops For Sale Next Week, Already $200

Last year, after the news about George Pérez‘s cancer and his decision not to undergo treatment, there were calls from across the industry for DC Comics and Marvel Comics to put differences aside and republish the classic JLA/Avengers crossover by George Pérez and Kurt Busiek. There was also a widely shared Bleeding Cool petition from people committing to purchase the book if DC and Marvel chose to put it back into print. And now, in conjunction with the creator charity the Hero Initiative, who Pérezhas worked with for decades, they published a new limited-edition reprint of the book, but limited to 7000 copies with a cover price of $29.99. Bleeding Cool has been told that there will only ever be one print run. A source familiar with non-profit partnerships with major publishers says that printing caps are often common when putting together fundraising projects. But in this case, 7000 copies was all that could be put together so that they could get a print run out in time, given the pressures that are hitting the printing industry as a whole now, especially for larger printing projects that haven’t been set up a long time in advance. And, for George Pérez, it is sad to say that speed is of the essence. A 7000 print run now, meant that Pérez will get to see it. Copies have hit stores for sale on Wednesday and the expected has happened.

The JLA/Avengers Hero Initiative edition just sold for $215 on eBay, with multiple sales around the $200 mark. That is also the price that Midtown Comics are selling the volume for. Many stores, limited to the copies they have received are selling them for around $200,m with the excess value being donated to Hero Initiative. But not every store is doing that. The original series has also been ballooning in value.

And a set of all four raw for $115 while all four in a CGC 9.8 graded value together, have sold for $550.

While the previously released JLA/Avengers Collector’s Edition HC with slipcase selling for a whopping $1000. And the original JLA/Avengers trade paperback selling for $250.

Capitalism at work, folks! And at least it will earn a lot of money for the charity, though maybe not as much as if it had actually had a cover price of $200 and was pitched as a purely revenue-raising effort for the charity.