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The most sought-after Copper Age Batman books

Started by Bosco685,

153 posts in this topic

Bosco685

Bosco685

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I'm a fan of the Copper Age Batman story arcs, and especially Year One, Year Two, Ten Nights of the Beast, and of course, The Dark Knight Returns.

 

What would you consider to be the most sought after issues? My vote:

 

Detective Comics 523 - 1st cameo, Killer Croc.

 

Batman 357 - 1st full appearance, Killer Croc and Jason Todd.

 

Batman 366 (my favorite) - 1st Jason Todd in Robin outfit.

 

Batman 368 - Officially, Jason Todd becomes the new Robin.

 

Batman 404 - Frank Miller retools Batman origin, post-Crisis (considered a much grittier approach due to Dark Knight persona dominating Bruce Wayne). Much more critical, in my opinion.

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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No props for RMA's Batman 428? (shrug) I've argued against it being a 'best Copper investment' in the other thread, but it's still a very cool book with a cool event/backstory. (thumbs u

Honestly, I do consider it an important book to the Batman universe. Think about it - even years after, Batman is haunted by the events of 428. So any collector would appreciate the influence it has on their favorite character.

 

But as far as the most desired book of the Copper Age, I went after Batman 357, 366, 368, and 404 in 9.8 long before I even considered looking into 428. I just didn't see it as being key enough to throw crazy cash at acquiring one for my collection.

 

But that's not to say I wouldn't want one or two to round out my Death in the Family sets.

 

 

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Bosco685

Bosco685

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Not sure if it was Copper, but all the books that Don Newton touched. :cloud9:

From details posted on wiki, it appears his Batman run was in the Bronze Age.

 

Batman #328, 331, 346, 352-357, 360-379; (Catwoman) #332; (Robin) #337-338 (1980-85); (Batman unsolved cases) #305-306 (1978).

 

Fantastic work, though.

 

batmanfam13_17.jpg

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kdoginohio

kdoginohio

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Not sure if it was Copper, but all the books that Don Newton touched. :cloud9:

From details posted on wiki, it appears his Batman run was in the Bronze Age.

 

Batman #328, 331, 346, 352-357, 360-379; (Catwoman) #332; (Robin) #337-338 (1980-85); (Batman unsolved cases) #305-306 (1978).

 

Fantastic work, though.

 

batmanfam13_17.jpg

:(
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Bosco685

Bosco685

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I'm not sure if they were in Batman or 'Tec or both, but "Ten Nights of the Beast" was and is my favorite storyline...important, maybe not, but they are GREAT copper reading.

Actually, I love this storyline, and it is in Batman 417-420.

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

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No props for RMA's Batman 428? (shrug) I've argued against it being a 'best Copper investment' in the other thread, but it's still a very cool book with a cool event/backstory. (thumbs u

 

The most valuable (in 9.8) books are still, in oder, Dark Knight #1, Batman #428, Batman #427, and Batman #400.

 

Whether that means highest demand, or is simply a function of the census, is debatable.

 

The problem with gauging "most sought after" is that nothing in Copper Bats is a bank breaker anymore.

 

When Death in the Family sets were nearing $150, and Dark Knight #1 $50 in the insanity of summer, 1989, these were real deal breakers for a lot of collectors. That was considerably more money then than it is now.

 

Now, there's not a single Bat book that can't be had for $25 or less (grade aside), with the vast majority under $5 How does one gauge demand on $1 books?

 

It has been said before that Batman is the only DC title that acts like a Marvel title, and it's still been an uphill battle for a long time. There's simply not the demand, even for the most in-demand DC character of all, for back issues.

 

Sad but true.

 

But this is the list that I cannot avoid buying, when the price is right:

 

Batman #353, 357, 359, 366-368, 400, 404-407, 417-420, 426-429, 436-442 (but the right price for these is somewhere near 25 cents)

 

Dark Knight #1-4

 

Killing Joke

 

Detective Comics #524-526 (I LOVE #526. It was one of those "too expensive to buy when I first got into collecting" books, and it was genuinely hard[er] to find than most. I CANNOT resist it for $1 or less.) 532, 535, 569-570, 572, 575-578, 598-600.

 

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seanfingh

seanfingh

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What the hell happened to this thread? Both Bronty and RMA had compelling arguments. Quite frankly both were arguing a different standard. DKR is the most influential and certainly most important for ongoing posterity and contribution to batman lore.

 

But nothing, and I mean nothing, in batman history has ever even come close to the hype surrounding 426-429, and 428 was the eye of the storm. I had to resort to hitting newstands to try and get copies, and most of them were savvy enough that they did not put their copies out for sale either. In Indy, I never could get my hands on any copies of any of them except 429, which I got from a downtown newstand owner, on a Sunday about 7:30 a.m. if I recall correctly, that my dad had known for years.

 

I didn't get my first copies of 426-428 until 1997 long after the other shoe had fallen for the comic market. Death in the family was also the first trade paperback I ever purchased, out of necessity. I was vaguely underwhelmed by the story, as I had assumed the story would exceed the hype. lol

 

So, in sum, as is often the case, it comes down to what "sought-after" means. If it means sought after in terms of intellectual stimulation and progress of Batman as an icon, go DKR. If sought after means, making a teenager willing to get up at 7:30 on a Sunday to try and track down copies of floppies, the winner is Death in the family.

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