Carnage crossovers: Maximum Carnage, Absolute Carnage

This file is the only one in this corpus where a crossover counts more than the first appearance— or at least, where it matters as much.

It also poses a very particular collection problem: how to approach an event whose fourteen parts are scattered across five different titles?

Maximum Carnage (1993): fourteen parts, five series

The event which definitively establishes the character, one year after his introduction.

Its structure is unusual: the story moves from one series to another over the episodes, without any one carrying it entirely. A reader who followed a single title only obtained one fragment out of five.

This corpus indicates what this formula implied at the time: it required the purchase of five series over four months. That was the editorial goal, and it worked.

The collection problem it poses

Thirty years later, this dispersion produces a curious situation.

Taken in isolation, none of these fourteen numbers has any particular value: they are ordinary numbers from widely printed series. Together, they form a set that collectors really want.

In other words,the value is in completeness, not in numbers. This is the opposite of the usual market logic, where a key number is worth in itself.

Practical consequence: building the set number by number costs very little, but requires patience. Buying it ready-made costs significantly more — you pay for the assembly work, not the booklets.

Absolute Carnage (2019): the resettlement

After a long period of erasure, the character returns to the center of an event constructed for him.

The approach is explicit: take a character from the 1990s and reintroduce him to a readership who had not known him.

More readable structure than that of 1993 – a main series, supplements – which makes the collection significantly simpler.

⚠️ Recent and very busy period, with a large number of alternative covers. This is the main point of vigilance in this segment: the price differences between variants are considerable and not always justified.

Footage from the late 1990s

Between the two major events, the character appears regularly in sequences that no one mentions anymore.

They belong to an unloved period in the catalog, and are at the lowest price.

Their interest is real for those who want to understand why the character has faded: these stories use the same formula without renewing it, and the wear and tear is visible.

The particularity of this file

An observation that explains its behavior on the market.

Unlike most of the characters covered here, Carnage has no structural value: nothing in the editorial architecture depends on it, and it disappeared for almost twenty years without this causing any problem.

Its demand therefore rests almost entirely on its exploitation on screen and on the nostalgia of a specific generation of readers.

This corpus draws a direct consequence from it, and it is frank: this file is cyclic. It goes up when the character is visible, it goes down when it is no longer visible, and it does not have a floor guaranteed by its place in the catalog.

This is exactly the opposite of cases where a character has become essential to the functioning of his franchise - and that does not call for the same purchasing strategy.

Collection strategy

Build Maximum Carnage number by number. The fourteen parts can be found separately for next to nothing. It's the best deal on the case, and it just takes time.

Buy outside visibility period. Since demand is cyclical, the timing of purchase really matters here — unlike cases driven by a structural position.

On 2019, stick to the main series. Complements and variations multiply the lines without adding anything to the story.

Don't overlook the footage from the late 1990s. They will not increase in value, but they cost the price of paper and document the character's trajectory.

As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on real recent sales is strongly recommended.

Find the complete selection in ourkey numbersand ourcollection guide.