Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 47, where we take a nostalgic look at six cool comic books I currently own, and one that I let get away.
For each of the comic books below, I list the current secondary market value. This is according to the listings at the website www.comicbookrealm.com. They list out the near mint prices, which are on the comic book grading scale of 9.4. If you go to the website to look up any in your collection, you can click on the price and see the value at different grades. Not all of my comics are 9.4. Some are probably better, and some are worse. But to simplify it, that’s the grading price I use here. And remember, a comic book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Have you considered being a guest host for Cool Comics? You can do a theme or just pick any of your comics for inclusion (this blog is for all ages, so please keep that in mind), as long as there are seven comics in your episode (you can still own all seven, or do it like me and include one you no longer own). Repeat guest hosts are permitted and encouraged. Send your completed blog to edgosney62@gmail.com.
If you have any questions or comments, please scroll to the bottom of the page to where it says, “Leave a reply.” I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I do writing about them. And now, Episode 47…
Cool comics in my collection #302: The Power of Shazam #1, March 1995.
So I’m doing a theme this week of heroes with super strength, and it goes without saying that the Big Red Cheese MUST be one of my featured comics. When I was a kid, I never bought any of the DC Shazam issues in the Seventies because I thought they just looked too hokey. I did watch the Saturday morning live-action show, but something kept me from spending my hard-earned quarters on the comic book. But today, as I’m much older and wiser, hokey is perfectly okay with me, and I may just try to find some back issues sometime. Of course I’d much rather have some of the original Fawcett issues, such as his first appearance in Whiz Comics (if I had $95,000…), because my dad owned some of these and really loved them. But I don’t have a problem with my issues I bought in 1995. The cover price of The Power of Shazam #1 is $1.50, while the current value is $4.
Cool comics in my collection #303: Ms. Marvel #3, March 1977.
Yes, Ms. Marvel has super strength and is a worthy addition for this week. I never bought any of her comics back in the Seventies, but during my third phase of comic collecting I started buying up her back issues, especially after learning about the whole Rogue stealing her powers deal, which I first saw in The X-Men cartoon from the Nineties that was so awesome. I guess I felt sorry for her and wanted to show my support. At any rate, I now own the 23 issue run, and I think they are cool comics. Undoubtedly, collecting comics, especially entire runs when I can, from the Seventies is now my favorite comic buying activity. The cover price of Ms. Marvel #3 is 30 cents, while the current value is $18.
Cool comics in my collection #304: Thor #261, July 1977.
There are lots of heroes with super strength in the Marvel Universe, and while there are some that I don’t cover here, there is no way I would leave Goldilocks out. I like the nobility he exhibits, I dig his Norse costume, and with Thor, it’s always “hammer time!” And oh yeah, he says cool things like, “I say thee, nay!” When I was a kid in the Seventies, I didn’t appreciate these attributes (probably because as a kid, Thor was kind of hard to understand, plus he and I had absolutely nothing in common), but I do now, and I certainly did in the early Nineties when I started grabbing up old back issues of Thor. The cover price of Thor #261 is 30 cents, while the current value is $10.
Cool comics in my collection #305: The Incredible Hulk vs Superman #1, July 1999.
Whether you liked this comic book or not, there is no doubt that these are two of the strongest, toughest heroes in the two major comic book universes. The Man of Steel has a long, storied history, full of TV shows, cartoons, movies, daily strips, and many different iterations between the pages of comic books. For those who don’t know it, I live just 30 miles south of Cleveland, where Superman was born. The Cleveland Hopkins airport has a really cool Superman display down by the baggage claim area, welcoming travelers to his birthplace. And while the Hulk is 24 years younger than Superman, he also has a history of Saturday morning cartoons, a TV show, movies, and lots of green merchandise. You can’t go wrong with either of these heroes. The cover price of The Incredible Hulk vs Superman #1 is $5.99, while the current value is $6.
Cool comics in my collection #306: Prime #1, June 1993.
I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who absolutely hate the Malibu (then Marvel) Ultraverse comics, but I’m not one of them. They came out when I was just getting started in my third phase of collecting, and I wanted to try some new things, besides the typical Marvel and DC comics. I even got to meet one of the Ultraverse artists, Cully Hamner (Firearm), and went to his studio near Atlanta, Georgia, which made me an even bigger fan. At any rate, Prime was a super strong hero who, much like the “Shazam” Captain Marvel, turned out to be a kid. I enjoyed reading his adventures, and for a while there were action figures and Saturday morning cartoons. The cover price of Prime #1 is $1.95, while the current value is $3.
Cool comics in my collection #307: Icon #1, May 1993.
Okay, here’s another super strong hero that’s not of the usual Marvel/DC mold. Though the Milestone Comics were published and distributed by DC, Milestone Media created its own universe with minority heroes. DC did a “World’s Collide” crossover, and it was a fun way to introduce these characters to readers who perhaps didn’t bother to try them out before. Much like my reasons for buying and trying the Ultraverse comics, I did the same with the Milestone titles. I bought lots of these out of quarter and fifty-cent boxes back in the mid-Nineties in Atlanta, and have a pretty decent collection. When I had a big garage sale a few years back because I had too many comics and had to get rid of some, I kept all my Milestone titles. It may seem strange that I sold X-Men, Superman, Batman, and Incredible Hulk comics for bargain prices, but I’d read them all, and I wanted to keep some different things. I plan on piecing together complete runs on all the titles and then reading through them chronologically at some point in the future. The cover price of Icon #1 is $1.50, while the current value is $2.50.
Cool comics in my collection #308 (One that got away): Wonder Woman #279, May 1981.
I bought this 1981 issue of Wonder Woman in the mid-Nineties out of a back issue box, and read it a few years ago. I’d never been a reader of Wonder Woman (although I did watch the TV show with Linda Carter), but I did buy and read it monthly for a while during that third phase of collecting, and there were some good stories. But when I pared down my collection several years ago, I decided to give all my Wonder Woman comics (about 45 of them) to my oldest daughter. Comics books make great gifts, and it was fun to pass some of my heroes on to my kids. If I had the space, I would have loved to done the same with the ones I sold, but since they still live at home (although two will soon be off to college once again), the space issue would have remained. The cover price of Wonder Woman #279 is 50 cents, while the current value is $6.
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