Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 48, 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 48…
Cool comics in my collection #309: The Amazing Spider-Man #140, January 1975.
Every comic book this week is from the Seventies (my favorite period of comics…nostalgia runs through my veins) and is a Marvel Comic. Don’t worry, fans of the “other” company, as next week looks to be all DC, unless I get someone itching to guest host, and then it’s up to them. Anyway, back to good old Spidey. This issue features the first appearance of Glory Grant, and has a couple interesting villains in the Grizzly and the Jackal. And remember those Marvel Value Stamps? Morbius the Living Vampire is the stamp. And now it’s time to fess up. I didn’t cut this one out, but there were a few that I took my mother’s scissors too. Why would anyone do that to a perfectly good comic book? Who knows. You cut them out then stuck them in a desk drawer or shoebox and completely devalued your comic book. Why did Marvel tempt us like that? The cover price of The Amazing Spider-Man #140 is 25 cents, while the current value is $50.
Cool comics in my collection #310: Captain America #195, March 1976.
Does it get any better than a Captain America comic during our Bicentennial year? But weirdly enough, the cover tells us that the savage world of 1984 is here! As far as I know, George Orwell had nothing to do with any of this. Moving one, this issue continues the “Madbomb” story and features a Marvel Value Stamp of none other than The Incredible Hulk. As much as I loved Spider-Man in the Seventies, my young heart also craved stories with Captain America. Maybe it’s the red, white, and blue costume, or his values, or his fighting style. But none of that really matters when a character “clicks” with us. We read the comic because we enjoy it and it brings us a little pleasure during a break in our day, whether we are seven or seventy-seven. Live on, Steve Rogers. The cover price of Captain America #195 is 25 cents, while the current value is $18.
Cool comics in my collection #311: Marvel Team-Up #27, November 1974.
My grandfather died in November of 1974, and when I see comics with this date, I can’t help but fondly remember him and the great times we had together. He was a volunteer fireman for years in my small hometown, and sometimes we’d go to the station where he’d worked and they would let my sisters and me in the firetruck. The memories don’t die. In this issue of Marvel Team-Up, Spider-Man is paired with none other than the Hulk, and that’s never an easy task. And don’t forget, friends, it’s the Seventies, so I’m going to report on the Marvel Value Stamp. This issue proudly presents The Son of Satan. Yes, believe it or not, if you’ve never run across Daimon Hellstrom before, he’s an actual character in the Marvel Universe. And a pretty interesting one at that. If you were a Spider-Man fan back in these days, you felt like you had it made, with the Amazing Spider-Man, Marvel Tales (older reprints of Amazing), and Marvel Team-Up, most of which featured Spider-Man. The cover price of Marvel Team-Up #27 is 25 cents, while the current value is $13.
Cool comics in my collection #312: Marvel Premiere #41, April 1978.
Marvel Premiere was not a comic I collected in the Seventies, but each issue I own came out of back issue boxes during my third phase of comic book collecting (1993-2003). This anthology series produced some interesting runs, as some characters and teams were just in one issue, and some in several issues. This particular issue featuring Seeker 3000 isn’t a comic I was looking for, but there it was, in a back issue box for less than a dollar, and I do love the Seventies anthology comics, so I grabbed it up. The science fiction theme goes with so much of what I lived through in the time period, with Star Trek being in syndication, old reruns of Lost in Space, Space 1999, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, and even The Six Million Dollar Man. It fit the mold. The cover price of Marvel Premiere #41 is 35 cents, while the current value is $4.
Cool comics in my collection #313: Captain Marvel #21, August 1970.
Doesn’t it just warm your heart to see a couple of powerhouses like Captain Marvel and the Hulk going at it? There is a long history in comic books of good guys fighting each other due to misunderstandings, and this vehicle allows us to see fights that shouldn’t take place, but that we love to see. In comic books. In real life, if people with these powers really existed, it would be so scary that we wouldn’t need the Saturday night horror hosts to get us primed to witness King Kong and Godzilla battle it out, or Frankenstein’s monster facing off against the Wolf Man. Speaking of Godzilla, Marvel gave him a short-lived series from 1977 to 1979, and they didn’t keep him separated from the superheroes. He faced off against Hercules and the Champions, the Fantastic Four and the fists of the Thing, and also against the Mighty Thor and the Avengers. I used to own 18 out of the 24 issues, but sold them when I needed extra space. I hadn’t even read them. Now I wish…oh well, if I could make wishes come true, I’d have bought all the Captain Marvel comics when they originally came out. The cover price of Captain Marvel #21 is 15 cents, while the current value is $40.
Cool comics in my collection #314: Nova #2, October 1976.
There is a mighty big drop in value from Nova #1 to Nova #2, but if you’re just trying to fill in issues of comics you missed out on back when you were young and didn’t realize just how badly you would someday want to have all these Seventies comics, then lower values aren’t such a bad thing. Nova is a fun character and I really enjoy reading his stories. Unfortunately, I never bought any of the issues when I was a kid, and I own just five of the 25 issue original run. Sounds like I need to make a run to my local comic book store and start searching. The cover price of Nova #2 is 30 cents, while the current value is $12.
Cool comics in my collection #315 (One that got away): The Incredible Hulk #196, February 1976.
I wasn’t a buyer of Hulk when I was a kid, but I did get some issues from a used bookstore, and then some more when I lived in Atlanta in the Nineties, and that’s where I bought this issue. Often I question why I kept some comics and sold others, but I had so many that it none of it was easy, and now, I sort of wish I’d kept this one. It was from the mid-Seventies and has a Marvel Value Stamp. And if that’s not a good enough reason, I don’t know what else to say. Oh yeah, the stamp is Conan the Barbarian, and who doesn’t like Conan? The cover price of The Incredible Hulk #196 is 25 cents, while the current value is $20.
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Another solid list and a fond walk down memory lane!
Glad you enjoyed it, Rob!