Don't rush! It's all fabricated fomo so you'll paymo.

Greetings Barragers,

I hope this post finds you all well. I wanted to speak to something that's morphing comic books into a TCG. Odd statement right. The core of said transition goes well beyond the bounds of comic books and is a glaring concern related to an addictive habit. Worse, it's a known addiction that's openly being exploited to drive sales of many different products. What is this abuse I speak of you ask? Well.... it's gambling of course...

Let's take a step back and think this through in hopes it might open some eyes. First let's jump into the concept of gambling and WHY it's deemed as an addiction. Here's my googled short hand notes to get everyone up to speed.

"Gambling is addictive because it triggers a powerful release of dopamine—a brain chemical tied to pleasure and reward—using unpredictable outcomes that hook the mind"

The Dopamine Rush

• Brain reward system: Placing a bet activates the same brain pathways as drugs or alcohol.

• Excitement chemical: Your brain releases dopamine when you feel excited, making you want to repeat the action.

• Tolerance: Over time, the brain gets used to the rush and needs bigger bets to feel the same excitement.

Variable Reinforcement

• Unpredictable rewards: Wins do not happen on a set schedule.

• The guessing game: Not knowing when a payout will happen creates a powerful neurological pull that is harder to resist than predictable rewards.

The Scarcity Loop

• Opportunity: You have the chance to win a high-value reward like money from a small investment.

• The "What If" Trap: FOMO whispers that the next ticket, spin, or sports parlay is the life-changing hit.

• Social Proof and Hype: Seeing peers or online groups post winning <object> creates pressure to join in so you do not feel left out of the victory.

• Chasing the Moment: The fear of stopping too soon—just before a turnaround—makes it hard to walk away

The "Near-Miss" Effect

• Almost winning: Coming close to a win (like two matching slot icons and a third just off) triggers the brain almost as strongly as an actual win.

• False confidence: A near-miss tricks your brain into thinking you have skill or a "hot streak," which encourages you to keep playing.

Chasing Losses

• Trying to get money back: Losing money makes people want to bet again immediately to recover their cash.

• Endless cycle: This behavior leads to bigger losses and deeper emotional distress.

Modern Digital Access

• Phones and apps: Online betting apps mean gambling is available 24/7.

• Faster play: Digital games allow rapid betting cycles with instant notifications, raising the risk of addiction

Without me having to point out the specifics above, I think most of you can already see the relations I'm eluding to. There are many different fronts were having to wage war against as comic collectors. The fabricated illusion of scarcity has been used for many years now, with comic collecting being the latest to jump on the band wagon. Don't believe the hype? Well let me point out a few of the tactics being use to make us "hurry up and buy" Menace to Society ref JIC some of ya'll don't have that level of street cred. Oo I'll connect each habit to a method described above.

The top 3 dopamine topics apply to all of these.

• Blind Bags - well that was an easy one to prove... (Unpredictable Rewards)

• Whatnot etc - exclusive releases that can only be purchased via auction style purchasing. Winning a low bid leads to more attempts, not all are won as cheaply. (Almost Winning, False Confidence, Unpredictable Rewards, Opportunity, The "What If" Trap, Social Proof and Hype, Chasing the Moment)

• Limited Exclusives - Comics, most of which have no value in terms of story or first appearance, receiving exclusively drawn exclusives only sold by artists directly or at conventions. Welcome to the world of the after market. Conventions let comic sellers in early, Bots roam the internet swooping up fresh drops given nothing as bad as the Pokemon card pandemic. (Opportunity, Social Proof and Hype)

• Weak Keys - The generation of new characters and events just to hook people on what if. No longer is the motivation by collectors to read about the potential impacts to their favorite story line by a new addition, people are after that Invincible #1 and the spike in value it received once the series took off. IE the absolute universe, it exploded because of the epic story and character rewrites, now every later issue of the various series is dropping more firsts of anything and everyone from the DC universe... (The "What If" Trap)

Who can we thank for creating this modern era of low key gambling? Well like I said, it's been ramping up and been in place for a long time. Sadly longer than some collectors have been alive.

"The modern trading card insert craze began in the early 1990s, driven by innovations like Donruss Elite serial-numbered cards and popular sets like Fleer Rookie Sensations.

• Chasing Rarities: Following that success, sets like Leaf Gold Rookies in 1991 and Fleer Rookie Sensations in 1992 turned finding rare, shiny, or player-specific inserts into an obsession for collectors

• The bust: Manufacturers massively overproduced cards, making ordinary cards entirely worthless and causing the market to crash by the mid-1990s"

That word 'shiny' is pretty interesting right. It's a perfect Segway into the TCG rage that's the true main driver for gamble bag/pack chasers. TBH just watch how those peeps open packs on steam, they just go through the motions so mechanically to perform for the views.... it's always right to the end then on to whatnot! right? Just kidding I'm sure they all go into their person collection binders Oo ....

Back on topic, what I find really interesting is that bust period that came not long after the 'boom'. Collectors swarming to buy packs in hopes of getting that new age Mickey Mantle or rookie. Keep in mind this is also when Tops apparently lost its hold on the sports card market when Donruss and Fleer dove in with both feet to get a cut of that cash. I find this interesting given the rise of independent comic sellers like Image really beginning to rival Marvel and DC... not to mention all the others like MadCave, IDW, Boom, Dynamite what evs else.

Perfect example:

Absolute Batman #20

140 variants.... many... many ... many of which were exclusive. With issue 19 being the first appearance of the robins, this issue was the debut of their mech suits. So I get the concept could be popular to some degree but this was overloaded and sold sooooo hard. The shock factor of all these new variant releases of old characters has been the driving force of the absolute universe, maybe not at first but its deff the fomo vibe now.

TBH I think the absolute universe kinda killed normal Batman... I don't know what they can do to bring all this new readership back over into the main universal design... but that's a tale for another day.

Let's pull down a bit more OSINT on this tactic to get us hype so we swipe. The concept overall is call "neuromarketing tactics" and they literally have human nature down to a science. Lock all this into your heads, cause it's very real. Its like the come to reality moment to understanding we're all basically in that pod Neo woke up in during the Matrix. The system simply feeds off our instinctual habits.

Corporations use "dopamine loops" to drive sales by exploiting human biology to create habit-forming behaviors. Dopamine is the brain chemical responsible for motivation, pleasure, and reward. By triggering unpredictable or highly satisfying rewards, companies train consumers to repeatedly engage with their products, apps, and platforms.

Here is a breakdown of how different industries systematically abuse dopamine to maximize profit. They and think of how many of the following you've been duped by recently. Like it or not you have been.

Tech & Social Media: The "Slot Machine" Effect

Social media companies hire behavioral scientists to design platforms that maximize user engagement through variable reward schedules.

• Infinite Scroll: Removing natural stopping points (like pages) keeps the brain looking for the next piece of content.

• Variable Rewards: Likes, comments, and notifications arrive unpredictably. This mirrors the psychological mechanism of a casino slot machine.

• The Pull-to-Refresh Gesture: Mimics the physical action of pulling a slot machine lever, triggering a brief moment of anticipation followed by a dopamine hit.

E-Commerce & Retail: Artificial Urgency

Online retailers design user interfaces to trigger FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which spikes cortisol (stress) and dopamine (the reward of escaping that stress).

• Countdown Timers: "Sale ends in 11:59" creates a sense of scarcity that forces fast, impulsive decision-making.

• Low Stock Alerts: Warning signs like "Only 2 left in stock!" activate the brain's competitive drive to secure the item.

• One-Click Ordering: Removing checkout friction (like entering shipping or billing info) allows consumers to act on a dopamine spike before logical thinking can intervene.

Gaming: "Pay-to-Win" & Loot Boxes

The video game industry shifted from selling flat-fee games to continuous monetization models built on neurological hooks.

• Loot Boxes: Virtual items that players purchase without knowing what is inside. The mystery of the reward releases more dopamine than a guaranteed reward.

• Daily Streaks: Rewarding players for logging in every consecutive day creates a habit loop where missing a day feels like a painful loss.

• Near-Miss Architecture: Designing games so players lose by a tiny margin, convincing the brain that the next paid upgrade will guarantee a win

Fast Food & CPG: The "Bliss Point". (Including this one given we all eat)

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) and fast-food corporations engineer food to override natural fullness signals.

• The Bliss Point: The precise mathematical combination of sugar, salt, and fat that maximizes dopamine release without triggering the brain's "I'm full" response

• Vanishing Caloric Density: Foods (like Cheetos) that melt rapidly in the mouth trick the brain into thinking the calories have disappeared, prompting overeating

If this hasn't been enough proof to show we're being gamed by the system, I'm not sure I have enough space in a blog to open your eyes.

But I'm going to try anyway :)

The king of comic hype ATM is the site Covrprice. I totally review their material but with a grain of salt, the site just screams kick backs. Supply and demand can cause all kinds of businesses to emerge, they stepped in right after covid fear subsided and all the people that lived in fear wanted to revisit all those old comics they had been reading in their dusty collections.

In the name of not trying to make it seem like I'm covering my tracks, I too started collecting right after the 'pandemic' was waning. Given I jumped back in because I discovered a bunch of people dumped collections by the butt loads trying to earn extra money during said time frame. Which got me hunting every antique and used book store I could find. And here I am today... still truckin.

So back to the hype train and a bit of insight about the station at the end of the line. Covrprice has a useful section, which they may cancel after this lol... that's reflects on big titles of the month from years past and where hey are in terms of today. IE did they truly MOON SHOT or simply show you a full moon. Oo

Here's a sample for the month of AUG.

https://covrprice.com/cp-content/2026/08/four-year-reflective-august-2022-2026/

Lets just list out the key breakdown comments for these titles that got hyped up 4 years ago.

I'm not going to add titles just the main gist of each of the top ten they covered that month. I could show you month after month where this sample set plays out the same way, it's overwhelmingly the same vibe...

• What a difference a few years make. Today we see that collectors have pivoted away from Ben Reilly as prices are currently DOWN

• Four years later, we see that prices are way DOWN on this first appearance.

• Prices are DOWN on all Skaar issues as collectors have pivoted to other interests.

• Today we see that prices are DOWN on this once-hot book.

• Fast forward to 2026 and prices on this book are a PUSH. Raw NM copies are down to around $60

• This lack of excitement has led to nearly all She-Hulk books dropping and prices being DOWN on this first issue.

• Prices are DOWN on this ashcan in 2026. Sellers flooded the aftermarket with copies, and prices dropped soon after.

• Today we see that this 1:25 has become much more difficult to find for cheap and prices are UP. Many collectors have their copies stored away, and this has led to a gradual increase in the aftermarket.

• Four years on, prices are DOWN on this book. The four characters failed to make much of an impact since the debut, and the aftermarket movement has been relatively flat.

• The lack of news updates has led to a sharp decline in interest and prices being DOWN four years later. The same raw NM copy today is only $5, and a recent sale of $45 for a graded 9.8 is a clear sign of how far this book has dropped.

I wanted to spotlight two parts listed in the above that I find very telling. The one that says 'flooded the market with copies and prices dropped afterwards" really drives home that sports card flop of the 90's. Now apply that logic to Abs. Batman #20, sure you got the Mark Brooks variant but you better sell it while its got hot hype because there are 139 other alternative covers people will check down to and not think about what they missed. Thus the long term outlook comes back to the true collector, the only people who will be watching and waiting for that Mark Brooks GITD bird cover to show up will be true fans of the artist or the story. On top of that they aren't looking for copies at a premium they are looking for the deals and they wait for 3/4 years until one happens to catch their eye. That really crushes a lot of the investment potential right.

The more positive aspect of the 4 year review is that note about the 1:25. Now this I find really interesting. You wanna be a collector of scarcity, then hunt incentive cover's put out by your favorite artist or issues containing a big key event. Incentives continue to be the true rarity given all this push and flooding of the Market with exclusives that over shadow the general print versions. Orders are lower thus fewer incentives are produced / placed out in circulation. This is actually where my interest lies as a hunter, I chase slightly older books that had lower awareness thus may not have received huge print runs. I go and hunt for incentives or variant covers for those books. Many comic stores will tell you the 'A' cover is historically the most efficient retainer of value if it becomes popular. This meaning even the variant covers for some older titles would be a better investment than hyped exclusives off an artist site or something released at a comic con.

I'll give you a couple examples of issues better worth your investment if you must chase the hype. OK OK I get it.. after I've bashed all this hype concept I'm going to show you how to really do it right? LOL, not at all, I just wanna show you possible smarter ways to spend your money. I am truly a comic book fan, yet I'm not so ignorant to ignore a chance for making better investment decisions with my purchases.

• All-New Ghost Rider #1 - 1st appearance and origin of Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes

This book has long been a hard find in a dollar bin :) but is a perfect example of some points I already made. It's an established book of a more rare version of Ghost-Rider. It has multiple incentives that are hard to find because at the time it was a no name newb GR remake thus didn't get Absolute batman number printings.

Checks these incentives for the issue (1:25, 1:50) :

But the issue that caught my particular interest was the second printing, why?

• Copies ordered by retailers: 2,567

This is very real candidate to be the next generation of Ghost-Rider, also this isn't hyped scarcity this is factual scarcity. Compare 2,567 to the 'SCARCE' printing totals for Invincible #1 - 10,800.

Lets keep riding the pseudo hype train, lets feed on some of that Absolute momentum.

• Far Sector #1 - 1st appearance of Green Lantern, Sojourner Mullein

Another hard book to find in good shape just loitering a shelve. Guess who's the main lantern in the Absolute Green Lantern series... Sojourner. I mean they can remake all the DC characters they want but they all originate from a traditional DC title. Buum.

So this is another case like Robbie, a no name new face to the corp and not getting spider-man (I had to flip the publisher titled comparison to keep the flow right) print number. Let's have a look at our options shall we. Oi... no incentives but wait another 2nd print.

• Copies ordered by retailers: 2,090

And maybe one more... why not push another Absolute title given this is a blog about hype but let's see how it can be performed smartly. That being use your own deductive reasoning to try and predict how you should invest your money. This one might not be as straight forward as a 1st appearance with a near 2k print run. But I think it's already shown it's potential for a few reasons.

The Absolute batman series started off kinda slow in terms of mass adoption but ramped up after the first couple issues were firmly in place. This current 'first appearance all the people' ride didn't begin until deep into the run and people were swiping up the reprints just for the readability, it being that good. Issue two and three of a series are traditionally lower print distributions with comics in general. Thus many actual collectors were doubling back to pick up these early issues which caused the price to rise. I was able to get the 1:25 Jeffery-Allen Love 1:25 cover for 20 bucks.

Some times our tools don't always reflect the true level of scarcity. I'm finding high watcher counts in places like eBay are a positive identifier to reenforce you're on the right track.

An additional piece of insight for this cover, I spoke with Love at the last Heroscon and got him to sign my cover (With a very unique remark style fyi :) ) he spoke of Nick Dragotta kinda taking him under his wing given he's a newer artist on the scene and pushed for him to get that 1:25 cover. With Dragotta in his corner I think we can expect greater things from Jeffery. Plus his style was perfect for the title.

With all that said, I think I drug this episode of 'lets talk a whole bunch' out long enough. My hope is this insight helps ya'll be more mindful as to what you purchase and learn to watch for the signs of being sold on something over it being something you were truly looking for.

I wish everyone the best and happy hunting.

God Bless.

DD