Crimebuster

One weird question that occurred to me is about the blank variant version of #1.

Which is this: Since the blank is so rare, is it actually worth more blank than it would be with art on it?

Usually, the value of "blanks" is determined by the artist who draws on it and the quality of their original art. But since the Rat Queens #1 blank is so much rarer than the other versions of the issue, is it possible that it's better to keep it blank rather than potentially devalue it by having someone draw on it? I mean, as long as it's blank, it still has unlimited potential, whereas once someone draws on it, its appeal is strictly defined and limited by what is drawn on it. Plus, every time someone draws on one, that's one less copy that is still blank, making the remaining blank copies even more scarce.

Has that ever happened with a blank before? I don't get into collecting moderns very much, so this is new territory for me. Am I nuts?

I tried to buy a lot of Rat Queens #1-5 on ebay over the weekend so I could read the series and see what it's all about.

It ended up selling for $36 plus shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RAT-QUEENS-5-Issue-Comic-Run-1-2-3-4-5-iMAGE-1st-print-Lot-/310951459732?pt=US_Comic_Books&hash=item486626bb94

If you look at the sold listings for similar lots on ebay, it's pretty crazy.

April 29 - $13.48 (plus $5.98 shipping)

May 2 - $25

May 9 - $36 (plus $5.98 shipping)

Of course, i think that April 29 price might be an outlier on the low end. But what's particularly odd about this last lot going for $42 after shipping is that that breaks down to $8.40 per issue. You can buy each individual issue on ebay for less than that even if you factor in the fact that buying them individually means you'll be paying five times the shipping cost! So I don't see what value the buyer was getting from buying the whole lot.

I am curious if this is just an anomaly, or if it represents new interest generated by people reading the first trade.

I find that a bit bizarre, and not just because I have a nice copy I found in a 50 cent bin last year. The issue is comprised of reprints from 2000 A.D. I don't believe there's any new content in it.

I like the cover to New Mutants #87.

Of course, besides being inked by McFarlane, the layout is swiped from the great Gil Kane. But hey, whatever works.

I was extremely fortunate today to buy the original art to one of my favorite Archie covers, the Jeff Shultz "Nighthawks" variant from Archie #649!

Jeff was at my LCS today for Free Comic Book Day and he had some original art with him for sale. I was very surprised to find he still had this cover; i was sure he would have sold it already at this point.

Couldn't be happier. Here's a look at the published coer along with my new original art purchase:

A closer look at the detail:

I went to Free Comic Book Day today at my LCS. Longtime Archie artist Jeff Shultz was on hand. He's been doing a series of great variant covers for Archie, re-imagining classic art from the 40's and 50's with an Archie slant, like Norman Rockwell and the poster for Casablanca.

My favorite so far as been his version of the painting Nighthawks. Turnso ut he still had the original art, which really surprised me, and it was for sale. I had to have it.

So here's the published version along with the original art, which is now on display in my home office:

Closer look at the detail:

Archie has been putting out 400-450 page collections called "The Best of Archie Comics" for a little while now. There are three volumes so far, and each has a selection of stories from every decade of Archie publication, going chronologically from the 40's through the present. My recommendation is to buy the first one - they are full color for just $9.99 - and give it a shot.

I did and now I have over a thousand Archie back issues. So, yeah, just be warned it is a slippery slope.

Count me in the hate category on Millar. If his name is on it, I won't read it.

Captain America #359 NM- @ $22 & 5 bids.

 

yeesh, i can't sell a VF/NM copy here for $5

If people only opened the comics and actually read what they were buying...

#362, people! #362 is the one you want!

Even #360 is significantly better than #359.

The "appearance" in #359 is almost as bad as Doomsday's fist or Venom's hand. Seriously, one panel of a guy in silhouette?

Hey, at least he has a thought balloon!

p.s. How exactly can he hear what they are saying inside an airplane flying overhead? Even Daredevil couldn't pull that one off.

I got a question So is "Blackout" the character used in the last episode the Ghost rider villain of the same name or someone different?

I believe the Ghost Rider villain was the second Blackout, while the guy who appeared on SHIELD was the first Blackout. He had some memorable appearances, most notably as part of the Masters of Evil during the Mansion Siege storyline in Avengers #273-277.

 

 

Love the standalone. Not sure if you ever noticed, but the Superman is a different image than the one used on the tin topper for the spinner rack version (both 4 and 5 sides spinner versions)

 

Hmm. I have a 4-sided spinner rack, but my Superman is the same as the one shown on the standalone, not the one you are displaying here. I wonder if the one you are showing might be an earlier version that was later changed because that Superman face is so fugly?

Mark millar's Superior..

Huh. That's odd. I've read some Millar and my impression is that he is decidedly inferior.

On the Blackhawk cover, Catman appears to be wearing the Golden Age Sandman's costume, only with little cat ears glued to it.

Last year I finished putting together a full set of all Superman titles from the line wide soft reboot in September/October 1970 when Mort Weisinger stepped down through the end of Crisis in 1986 (with the exception of the Superboy titles since those aren't in "current" continuity).

This includes full runs from this 16 year period of Superman, Superman Family, World's Finest, DC Comics Presents, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Supergirl, Supergirl in Adventure Comics and, of course, Action Comics.

I'm reading through the whole line month by month to try and replicate what the reading experience would have been like for Superman fans in the Bronze Age. So far I'm up to about midway through 1973. Reading has kind of been slow going because, frankly, a lot of these issues aren't very good.

Action Comics is an interesting title though. Murray Boltinoff took over from Weisinger as editor beginning with #393. Honestly, there's not much of a difference between Weisinger's Silver Age stuff and Boltinoff's early Bronze Age stuff. Boltinoff is a very old schol guy and he just sticks with the forumla, even as the editors on the other titles are trying to modernize things. The closest Boltinoff gets to being modern is just token references to stuff like Morgan Edge's involvement in Jack Kirby's Fourth World storyline in Jimmy Olsen. But there's very little actual change in the title.

Change does come very abruptly with #419 though. Julie Schwartz takes over as editor and the difference is immediate. Schwartz kicks things off with a Neal Adams photo cover, immediately jerking the title visually into a more modern era. Schwartz also adds a rotating back-up feature, which he calls "Action Plus." So the title isn't just Superman - Superman merely is the lead feature on an anthology book that also includes The Atom, Green Arrow, and new creation Human Target.

Schwartz brings in Nick Cardy as a regular cover artist. He also tweaked the design, going back to the original "big logo" design from the Golden Age. And because of the shorter page count for Superman, Superman's adventures start being multi-part stories on a regular basis instead of one-and-done stories.

That's as far as I have gotten so far in my readathon - I'm up to #435. The book is certainly more modern than it was under Boltinoff, as it finally joined the Bronze Age with #419, long after the rest of the Superman line of comics had modernized. The stories themselves aren't all that much better, but with Cary Bates and Elliott S! Maggin doing most of the stories, the formula isn't as Silver Agey, even though it's still definitely a formula.

The main problem with the stories form this era, though, is that every time they come up with a good idea or tweak to the status quo - such as the additions of Steve Lombard and Morgan Edge and the move to TV for Clark - they immediately freeze things in place, just creating a different status quo. The titles don't even have the illusion of change that Marvel was doing. There was a big shakeup when they moved from SA to BA under Schwartz, but once he figured out what he wanted, it settled into a stasis that was different from but no less stagnant than what Weisinger we doing.

At least, that's my impression of the first four years of Bronze Age Superman and Action Comics.

I got a beat up copy of DC Comics Presents #26 for 50 cents two months ago or so at a well known comic store in my area. Apparently not everybody is on board this train just yet. I gave it away already in the PIF thread, so I guess I just screwed up my retirement fund.

Here's my copy. I used to have a different copy, way back in the 80's, with a sweet date stamp on the front. This is my current copy, which I got four or five years ago at a show - traded a high grade X-Men #101 (with some major tanning on the first page) for it:

Best part of CAP 2 was proving that anyone can look how they want even at age 50!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Grillo

 

No joke!

 

I was curious as to why they showed him at the end, are they planning on using him in the future?

His character is Brock Rumlow.

And in the comics, Brock Rumlow is one of Cap's coolest enemies, Crossbones:

They could have been LMDs. We haven't seen any yet in the MU that I recall, but they have been referenced several times.

Time for another cover.

 

This is Planet #71 with a Maurice Whitman cover.

 

It is the best.

 

Planet Comics in general are awesome, but #71? It looks like some combination of Steranko, Dave Stevens and Heaven.

 

I don't even understand everything that's going on with that space suit, but it's awesome. Like best space suit from the 50s awesome. The mix of colors on the suit, that contrast with the colors of space. Knee pads, Self Propulsion, a ray gun. Air tanks, some sort of hand held rocket to throw/aim at people.

 

There's great detail in the spacecraft below (see the guy in restraints on the examining table?

 

Is that New York City being towed into space off on the right? It looks like someone wrapped the Statue of Liberty for transport!

 

I wish my work scanner was better... After buying a few CGC 2s and a few 4s, I definitely think 4s are my threshold. Less than that and the condition is distracting from the book/cover image. Lesson learned.

One of my all-time favorite covers. I need to get a copy of this. Such a great book.

I had no problem selling NM copies of 359 and 360.

 

362 is getting a little attention, but no where near the same. Looks like the market has spoken.

Maybe. But the market sometimes rethinks things. Not often, so 360 is probably where it's at I guess. But these things do sometimes shift.

Cap #360 to me is basically the same as Hulk #180. Except, in Hulk #180, Wolverine was actually named and had dialogue.

One way the market could change its mind is if Crossbones actually becomes popular to the point where the people buying the comics are fans of the character and therefore want to read the story. I know if I was a fan of a character and bought a first appearance, I would feel pretty let down when I opened it and found three silent panels. If I buy something for a specific character, I want to read about that character! And if you want to read about Crossbones, #362 is where it's at, just as Hulk #181 is where it's at with Wolverine.

We'll see, though. As first appearances go, #360 just isn't very satisfying to me, but it's at least better than a fist punching a wall.

come on easter egg bumps

 

 

 

X-Men #4, Strange Tales #110?

 

 

I missed the

Dr. Strange

reference can you clarify?

 

 

 

Jasper Sitwell listed Stephen Strange among the high profile targets the algorithm had flagged as threats to Hydra

 

 

I noticed the Dr. Strange reference, that was great.

When the computer began showing targets for the Helli-carriers to eliminate, I could'a sworn I saw the name "Ant-Man" as one of the targets. It went by fast, I'm going to see if I can notice it on a subsequent viewing. Maybe I imagined it?

I have a feeling there are a ton of Easter Eggs in that sequence that we're only going to be able to find when it comes out on Blu-ray and we can freeze frame it.

was their two end credits scenes with Cap 2

 

Yes. Just like Avengers and Thor 2 - one in the middle of the credits that sets up the Marvel Universe, and one at the end that ties in to this film.

what was the second one put it in has a spoiler?

was their two end credits scenes with Cap 2

Yes. Just like Avengers and Thor 2 - one in the middle of the credits that sets up the Marvel Universe, and one at the end that ties in to this film.

Personally, I'm not really convinced #360 is the issue to get anyway though. Crossbones is one of those characters whose introduction is spread out over several issues. I think he's seen in silhouette in #358 or 359 if I am remembering correctly. Then he does appear in three whole panels in #360, two of which show his costume. You know, whoopee. This is followed up by a whopping one panel in #361.

#362, though, has Crossbones on the cover. He also appears on multiple pages inside, including a page where he gives his name for the first time. And then he plays a direct role in the climax of the story.

If people actually read the Bloodstone Hunt storyline - which I know is a silly thing to suggest since most people buying these issues are just trying to speculate - it seems pretty clear that #362 is the important issue for Crossbones. It's hard for me to get too excited about five panels spread over three issues, which is what #359-361 are. #362 is where the character is really introduced in a meaningful way rather than just teased at.

Though, again, if anybody was actually buying this to read the stories, they would need all of these issues for the story to make any sense anyway.

He's not called Crossbones in the movie, but he is a major character in it. Minor spoilers here: