sfcityduck

There are literally hundreds of ads in which superheros were previewed. These include in-house ads for Action 1, Detective 27, and, perhaps closest to being a "first" the ad for Action 252 in issue 251. They also include preview ads in numerous industry preview publications and fanzines. Electra was on the cover of the Comics Journal long before she was in Daredevil, same is true for numerous characters in the pages of other publications like Amazing Heroes, Comics Buyers Guide (which also included preview posters and flyers), the ones you name, etc. etc. etc. NONE of these are first appearances. They are just preview ads. And the market does not deem those true "first appearances," UNLESS they are an actual comic story (like DC Comics Presents 26). Hell, the market has enough trouble with Incredible Hulk 180 being the first appearance of Wolverine (which it is as an actual in story plotline and reveal). So I completely agree that FOOM, Comics Interview, publisher previews, Comics Journal, etc. are just footnotes, not real "first appearances." And I also agree the market is not going to change that attitude. As an aside, hard for me to take seriously anyone who thinks FOOM 2 is anything notable, as it has nothing to do with anything.

Only two copies of Short Order on the census, print run is unknown but small, and you are looking at what is presently the best copy on the census (I have another better copy I have not submitted yet). The Funny Aminals has got 7 9.8s on the census with a 9.9 as well. To be honest "Prisoner of the Hell Planet" is my favorite part of his Maus opus. It was drawn when Spiegelman was in his early 20s and only two years removed from his mother's suicide. It is the most raw biographical comic storytelling I've ever seen. A very very underrated comic. First appearance of any part of the Maus and an absolute classic in its own right. It is also the part of Maus that is being used to justify calls for banning Maus from public schools. Really important work. Oh and one other thing few people seem to know:

Buy these if they have them in high grade: They are:

My LCS in the U.S. sold them off the stand. So they were direct distributed in U.S. Also true for other UK editions I own, including annuals.

NOW WE HAVE FOUR 1956 Aquaman covers! The one you posted is 1956 from what I can tell.

AF 15 isn't rare. But, yeah, I'd expect 1956 Australian to be a lot rarer than early 1960s U.S.

Yeah, claiming something is a pedigree based on one cursive letter, seems the opposite of preserving provenance. Especially when there are distributor markings that are just one letter.

Sheet! I double checked "Hundred Comic Monthly" to see if it had Aquaman covers? Guess what, it did! You win an even bigger no-prize. Now I got three contenders for the first Aquaman cover (problem is month of publication info is not clear for all contenders). Here's the third contender (dated Oct. 1956):

Sheet! Over on the SA Board, they came up with a third contender for the first Aquaman cover, also an Australian comic supposedly dated October 1956 (problem is that month info is missing for some contenders):

I'm not thinking that they are that rare. I've seen them around.

Cool info! Austrailia had a lot of Aquaman covers prior to his first cover in the U.S. I chalk that up to surfing and the fact its a big Island making him a bigger selling point over there than in the U.S. I can't explain why the UK has Aquaman covers. Even in other countries where I've seen many Green Arrow and Speedy covers in 1950s comics, such as Sweden, I've seen no Aquaman.

You win one of the no-prizes! It is called Color Giant 1 and you're on the spot that it is an Australian comic (from 1956): To make sense of one of the second hint image, here's Color Giant 2 (also an Aquaman cover, not in the running for first because it came out in 1957): Still waiting to see if anyone gets the other contender.

To make sense of one of the second hint image, here's Color Giant 2 (also an Aquaman cover, not in the running for first because it came out in 1957): Still waiting to see if anyone gets the other contender.

Good guess. You are right about Australia. There are two candidates, both from 1956. Over on the GA board they got the first: Color Giant 1 Is this what you were thinking of?

Winnah! That's one of two candidates! I'll give folks a chance to come up with the other candidate. Neither are rare or expensive I forgot to bid on that one you did. But that's what got me thinking about this topic.

It's just Aquaman ... I understand. LoL!

Brave & The Bold 28 was February 1960. But, there were non-US covers in the 1950s! The candidates I know of are all English language comics.

And here's the hints:

Here's the hints:

I posted this question over the SA board but I think there is more firepower on this board so I'm curious to see if anyone can answer the question: I think we all know that Aquaman was featured on ZERO comic book covers of the Golden Age. Green Arrow got covers on More Fun (so did Jonny Quick), but Aquaman nada. Heck, Vigilante and Shining Knight appeared on many more covers than Aquaman. Even Robotman had more covers. Aquaman was so lame he was not invited to join the JSA or the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Which begs the question: What was Aquaman's first comic cover of the Silver Age? The conventional answer is BB 28, the first big break of Aquaman's career when he somehow was miraculously picked to be part of the JLA. (Probably because he can talk to fish!) But, that's not the correct answer. I believe that Aquaman's first comic cover was in a non-U.S. Silver Age comic which predates BB 28. C'mon Aquaman fans: Anyone own it? Anyone even know what it is? This comic should be an Aquaman grail. (cue the Jeopardy music)

Let's face it Aquaman is probably the lamest "major" comic hero of all time. I think we all know that he was featured on ZERO comic book covers of the Golden Age. Green Arrow got covers on More Fun (so did Jonny Quick), but Aquaman nada. Heck, Vigilante and Shining Knight appeared on many more covers than Aquaman. Even Robotman had more covers. Aquaman was so lame he was not invited to join the JSA or the Seven Soldiers of Victory. Which begs the question: What was Aquaman's first comic cover of the Silver Age? The conventional answer is BB 28, the first big break of Aquaman's career when he somehow was miraculously picked to be part of the JLA. (Probably because he can talk to fish!) But, that's not the correct answer. I believe that Aquaman's first comic cover was in a non-U.S. Silver Age comic which predates BB 28. C'mon Aquaman fans: Anyone own it? Anyone even know what it is? This comic should be an Aquaman grail. (cue the Jeopardy music)

I could not agree more. I remember when this poster named Big Moov shared these tidbits back in 2015: Here we are seven years later, no MF 73 has ever sold for more than what, $150K? Am I right? I know a 7.5 and 8.0 barely topped $100K. A 9.0 is rumored to have hit $140K. Are you aware of some big MF 73 sale I've missed? If anyone is, it should be you. Meanwhile, the MH Superman 1 8.5 (highest graded) just sold for $5.3M. An Action 1 8.5 (4th best at most) has hit $3.25M. Heck, even a lowly Batman 1 8.0 has sold for $1.44M. And a 9.4 for $2.22M. That is a heck of a lot more than a 4x multiplier (or 3x or 2x) for Superman and Batman over "Aquaman and Green Arrow put together" in similar grades. And that's not even raising the issue of how many multiples the MH Action 1 or Allentown D27 would get over the MH MF 73 9.4. (I'm guessing 10x at least). And that's post hitting the bullseye with Arrow on tv and the cresting of the wave with Aquaman movie. So, yeah, I've seen some bad advice on this site.

So long as you display comics out of sunlight, using non-UV bulbs, rotate them in out of display, and keep track of color quality using reference photos (also key for foxing), you should generally be ok. Use of a UV filtering material, like Optium museum acrylic, also would be wise. Lots of art collectors display posters, prints, and water colors with no damage.

Great thread and pics of your collection! I started collecting a bit after you, in the late 1970s, but I was instantly picking up Comics Journals and Comic Readers as soon as I discovered comic stores. (I was into Star Wars when it first came out, and first learned about a publication aimed at fans when I bought Starlog 1 off the stands, but comic fanzines were a step down in quality and a step up in passion!) In the 80s, I started reading Amazing Heroes and NEMO, and occasionally buying weird little "investment" oriented zines like Future Gold and a monthly market report publication. And, of course, I got a subscription to CBG. Had a long run stacked up in a closet at my parents house. Tossed the CBGs in the 2000s because I'd stop actively collecting ten years earlier. Ouch. At least I saved all the promo posters etc. that they used to have in those as inserts. Really regret tossing those when I read a thread like this. What got me back interested in GA was undoubtedly CBM. Started buying those from local comic shops I'd wander into. Also bought some Alter Egos. I'm still buying the CBM back issues I'm missing from my run, which is mostly complete. For me, CBM was the best overall publication for comic history ever produced. But CBG's ads were undoubtedly the best in my time. Thanks for bringing back some memories ... and regret about that decade of CBGs.

Bob's posts may describe something that is more typical than some might think. I know guys who are in the that mid-60s+ sweet spot who started back when collectors got a ton of great stuff they are sitting on, who, like Bob, are starting to flip a switch on comic collecting. It's not just that those ordinary guys have collections that are worth way more than they could afford to buy today, and they could use some extra retirement income, but also that selling can take a burden off their heirs and open doors to explore that may be as fun as collecting comics. If we see more of those guys selling comics, as seems inevitable, I think it would have a mixed impact on prices.