HarrisonJohn

Kids are not interested in comic books, but most kids today are fans of the characters. And I see vintage comic book covers and artwork everywhere. On posters, t-shirts, toys, etc. So there is awareness of the source material. Will this generation of kids stay fans of these characters and want to own some key comics one day? Will it be trendy? IMO that's what it will come down to.

I've owned a dozen reprints of GS X-Men 1 across various formats since the 80s, but never owned an original. Flipping through the facsimile edition in a comic store a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see it included reprints of 60's X-Men material in the back. Never had any idea they were there, since they are (understandably) never reprinted with it.

X-Men 1-66 is the original X-Men team from the 60's. Was one of Marvels poorest selling titles. Towards the end they put some good artists on it, but not in time to save the book. X-Men 67-93 is reprints of past X-Men issues. Marvel realized the title had improved in sales towards the end and decided to keep it going as a reprint title. Giant Size X-Men 1 is a re-launch where a new international team is introduced (Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler, etc). This is the start of the book that went on to be a huge success.. Giant Size was a format Marvel was throwing around at the time, similar to an annual. The story continues in the X-Men title, which was still on the stands as a reprint title, with issue 94. So any reprinting of the bronze age X-Men begins with GS #1 followed by X-Men 94, 95 etc... Classic X-Men launched in the late 80's and was a unique reprint title in that corrections and additions were made to the stories, and new short stories were added. Plus lots of great new Arthur Adams covers. At some point in the run, sales were falling and it became a strictly reprint title with no added material. Generally, when Marvel reprints X-Men in any format, 60's X-Men and "New" X-Men (aka Uncanny X-Men) are separate.

A lot of his covers have random people standing there for no reason with nothing to do. Snake Eyes, character that can be colored in all black, may be the best book to put him on.

I love looking at entire runs laid out like this. This cover stands out as my favorite. So creepy!

Chris Claremont didn't want Wolverine to have his own series, he thought he was a less is more type of character and was better suited for mini series. Marvel let Chris have his way with the x-universe for many years, and didn't start stepping on his toes until the return of Jean Grey (1986). Had it not been for Claremont I think the Mini would have been the start of an ongoing. Dazzler was probably Marvel's attempt to try to get some female readers. They always seemed to have one or two titles going, with bad art and writing, trying to accomplish that.

I remember in the mid 80's when I first became aware of the title (probably around the time of the Paul Smith run) the X-Men were the be all end all of comics at my LCS, but nobody outside of comic book collectors had ever heard of them. The book may have been really uneven in awareness and sales at comic stores vs. supermarkets and newsstands.

Interesting. Marvel would occasionally publish direct editions with no box at all, seemingly for no particular reason to do with the cover artwork or anything (like Uncanny X-Men 214)- have always been curious what made those books different.

The annoying thing is they could have just left the box off for the direct editions. If that's how it had happened, I wonder what the direct/ newsstand desirability ratio would be today. Even in cases where they are rarer, I think that would have completely killed newsstands. As for the line through the bar code, even as a child I could tell they were printed like that.

I agree. I said in another thread where this came up, if pre-internet a kid went into a store and asked for the first appearance of Wolverine, it would be mean to sell him 180 as the kid most likely wants to read Wolverine's first story, not "omg I must own the first time Wolverine appears on a page be it an ad or a one panel introduction because I collect these random things". Something else I remember from reading back then, is that if you liked a character, their first appearance was often referenced in editor's notes (where there was an * telling you what issue was being referenced) which, of course, would make you want to read that issue. Now that these stories and character information are easily accessible in trades, or even Wikipedia, these seems to be confusion about why these issues are sought after, and why it is not about the LITERAL first appearance in the form of an ad or shadow.

She-Hulk 1 $400 with 4 days to go https://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-She-Hulk-1-CGC-9-8-White-Pages/143215596741

Ran from 80-82, I guess for some collectors it is teetering, artwork has bronze age feel IMO

I bough an $89 BIN 9.8 in 2010 which I remember was on the more expensive BIN side but I liked how it presented. Seller added a raw NM/Mint copy which seemed like a nice bonus, not like he was giving away $$. Bought a Stan Lee SS 9.8 in 2014 for $400.

I'm shocked to see Savage She-Hulk #1 9.8's hitting $400-500 now. There are only a few BINs on ebay and all asking $500-600.

That's interesting, the Captain America head next to the price box. Is this issue NOT approved by the comics code authority?

It's an odd name for a newspaper. I guess Grime and Blah were already taken.

Google 'Grit family newspaper', looks like it was a general news newspaper. https://www.ebay.com/itm/GRIT-AMERICAS-FAMILY-NEWSPAPER-FEBRUARY-9-1975-/262711509848

Hulk 179 makes a vague guest star reference

I think I got a notice like this from them a year or two ago. Must be a very slow rollout.

The letter suggests there was an announcement a while back, maybe there was more info if we can find the issue. If it's any clue, the only issues of the Len Wein run not penciled by the long time regulars (Trimpe/ Buscema) were 222 (Starlin) and the Doc Sampson stand alone 218.

What is happening with the leg the kid is grabbing?? Whenever Rob draws blond guys, they always look like him.

Is the black object protruding from directly between Cap's legs.... a dress shoe? A rare foot sighting??

An art book of his work with him explaining what he was thinking could be an interesting read. On this particular piece, I would be interested to know why he spent time making their cheeks so gaunt.