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Which one would you choose ????
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Started by showcase4,

5,844 posts in this topic

seank

seank

Posted
Posted

Bat 1 7.0 v. Cap 1 8.5 -- I'm a lifelong Batman fan and am contemplating a Batman 1 purchase, but given those two, I'll take the low end of high-grade Cap 1 over the high end of mid-grade Batman 1. Plus, Batman 1 is much more common.

 

As far as Robin goes, I'll take Tec 38 over MM 9. Robin, love him or hate him, is a significant character. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if not for Robin, Batman wouldn't have made it out of the Golden Age. He needed a supporting cast, especially someone to interact with and Robin filled the void present in Tec 27-37. BUT, as I've said before, once Alfred appeared on the scene, Robin was superfluous. I'd take Alfred as a helper character over Robin any day.

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ciorac

ciorac

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I would take Tec 38. Despite all the hatred of Robin on these boards, he's one of the most important characters in comic-dom, and Tec 38 introduced him and kicked off the popularity of the side-kick, which love it or hate it was a dominant trend in superhero comics for many years.

 

Everyone talks about a big 3 of universally known comic characters--Superman, Batman and Spiderman, but actually it's a big 4 because I would argue that Robin is known just as well.

 

Big 4, you must be kidding. Not so sure what is so important about Robin other than the fact that he rode Batman's coat tails and has downgraded the franchise ever since.

Setting aside your personal feelings about the character, the indisputable fact that makes Robin important is that he is one of the 4 most recognized comic book characters. Until the Spiderman movies became so successful, there was only a Big 3--Superman, Batman and Robin. I loathe Spiderman about as much as you seem to loathe Robin, but that doesn't mean I don't recognize his high profile.

 

Sorry that logic just doesn't fly as you can't ignore the level of disgust associated with the character and side kicks in general these days.

I think hatred of Robin is a relatively recent phenomenon as a generation of Batman collectors who grew up in a post-Miller Dark Knight Batman grew up and became the dominant Batman collectors.

 

Clearly he was a phenomenon in his day. Publishers weren't altruistic and they copied anything that was successful unmercifully. If he hadn't been wildly successful, side-kicks wouldn't have been rolled out like crazy.

 

You will have to explain why pre-Robin Tec's in the same grade would (for the most part) out price issue #38 (specifically issues #29, #31 and #35 -and why, because of better covers for the most part and NO ROBIN).

Again, I'm not disputing that the current "cool" collector mentality is to hate all things Robin and therefore focus on the pre-Robin Tecs. The pre-Robin Tecs also featured Batman still in his initial Dark Knight phase, before he became more cartoonish and kid-friendly. And of course there's also the scarcity thing helping to make the early Tecs particularly valuable.

 

MMC#9 is a classic cover, about as good as it gets, and it showcases the first time two superhero's duking it out (much more exciting than a "sidekick").

Yes, we know you're in the tank for Timelys. :baiting:

 

:applause:

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ciorac

ciorac

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Batman #1 or Captain America Comics #1?

 

1st Catwoman vs 1st Captain America? A scarce in grade book versus a semi scarce book?

 

Captain America, by a hair....

 

First Joker too :baiting:

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tth2

tth2

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Nicely put, Tim. (thumbs u

Thanks Adam and Bill. I find all this constant anti-Robin sentiment, applied by people with post-1980s sensibilities, to be tiresome. I'm not a fan of Robin, although I'm not a fan of Batman either. But to dispute the significance of Robin in the comicbook universe is just ridiculous.

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Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

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Posted (edited)

"Post 1980 sensibilities", oh what a kick in the shins. :( What irks me is that his value is being constantly overstated. Just because he is well known doesn't necessarily mean its a good thing. :slapfight: The same arguement about the Torch and Sub-Mariner not being well know by the mainstream is used all the time but Robin today is about as irrelevant as they get (and has been for a long time) and it somehow doesn't matter?

Edited by Silver Surfer
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Wayne-Tec

Wayne-Tec

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Both sold for approx. $97,000 1 year ago .....which one would you choose, and why????

 

I was tempted at first to go with Cap #1.

 

Growing up, it always seemed (according to the guide which is always reflective of the true market) that the two books were equal in value. In recent years, Batman #1 has pulled ahead.

 

So the difference in a grade and a half might have swayed me in Cap's favor.

 

But thinking logically...no. It would be Batman #1 all of the way.

 

Of couse I think Batman #1 is the greatest book of all time in some respects, but lets put my blatant bias aside. Batman is a cultural icon, and while Cap is also to a certain extent, they are not equals.

 

The value of a Batman #1 would fair better outside of regular collectors simply due to the status his character has managed to amount and his expansion through various forms of media.

 

They say buy the book and not the label so in that sense, the books don't look all that different. If suddenly the label on the Batman #1 read 7.5 and the label on the Cap #1 read 8.0; I don't think anyone would be going crazy.

 

Batman #1 is the more valuable book. Batman #1 (to me) is the more marketable book.

 

I'd take it over the Cap #1.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Nicely put, Tim. (thumbs u

Thanks Adam and Bill. I find all this constant anti-Robin sentiment, applied by people with post-1980s sensibilities, to be tiresome. I'm not a fan of Robin, although I'm not a fan of Batman either. But to dispute the significance of Robin in the comicbook universe is just ridiculous.

It made me realize you might make a living out of this law career thingy you do. :kidaround:
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Silver Surfer

Silver Surfer

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One thing to consider with the Cap #1 is that with the Avengers movie and the Cap movie around the corner are done well we could see key Cap books sky rocket in value. I think Iron Man is quickly becoming one of the hottest most recognized characters in the last few years and Cap could easily see a similar spike in interest.

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ashrael

ashrael

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Captain America 1 CGC 8.5 over Batman 1 CGC 7.0

 

1st Captain America & 1st Red Skull & Higher Grade vs. 1st Joker & 1st Catwoman & Rarer in Grade. I would have to say Cap 1, though it is once again very close. The Joker is THE comic book villain, but Captain America is the essence of GA Timely's. Cap by a hair.

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ciorac

ciorac

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Nicely put, Tim. (thumbs u

Thanks Adam and Bill. I find all this constant anti-Robin sentiment, applied by people with post-1980s sensibilities, to be tiresome. I'm not a fan of Robin, although I'm not a fan of Batman either. But to dispute the significance of Robin in the comicbook universe is just ridiculous.

 

I'm not a fan, per se, of Robin either, but I do love Tec 38. Very important book in my opinion. Sidekicks aren't my favorite genre in the hobby by any stretch of the imagination, but clearly Robin is the only important one in the grand scheme of things. Not very many people in the world could even name another comic hero sidekick.

 

And for that matter, a small percentage of the world even knows who Captain America is. I know that is hard for us to believe as he is so iconic to us comic geeks, but I can't tell you how many times I've brought him up to non-comic friends and they had no idea who he was. The same was true for characters like Flash. I'd say "Flash" and they'd say "Flash Gordon?"

 

Robin on the otherhand, is known by almost everyone I've mentioned him to.

 

So there you have it.

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piper

piper

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Posted
Batman #1 or Captain America Comics #1?

 

1st Catwoman vs 1st Captain America? A scarce in grade book versus a semi scarce book?

 

Captain America, by a hair....

 

Ditto here. Tough call but Cap #1 is a really big book IMO.

 

+1

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