Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 77, where we take a nostalgic look at comic books I currently own, and in some sad cases, ones that I let get away.
For each of the comic books I include in this blog, 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), with a maximum of seven issues. 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 77…
Cool Comic News!
Back in episode 42, I had a guest blogger, Hank Garner, who runs the Author Stories podcast. Please click on the link and go check out his website, because if you appreciate stories and the people who write them, this is a great place to listen to your favorite authors, including Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alan Dean Foster, Jerry Pournelle, and Anne Rice, just to name a few. Besides, I’m a current sponsor on Hank’s page, so find my ad on the right-hand side and listen to the last couple podcasts, because Hank put in a little commercial for Cool Comics in My Collection just past the 2-minute mark. Awesome!
Cool comics in my collection #404: Supergirl #1 (Walmart Variant), April 2017.
On a recent trip to my local Walmart, I decided to take a quick look at the area where I found those DC Walmart Variants last month, and lo and behold, they’d issued another batch! I was able to scoop up all 8 of the sealed 3 issues for $5 sets. Like before, the majority contained Rebirth titles facing the buyer, and it was fun making sure I had each set (the backs show you what’s available) before I left that area. I ended up opening them and putting all the customer facing issues on top of the pile, but if DC and Walmart do more of these in the future, I’ll probably blog about each individual package per week, revealing what mine contain underneath the first issue. Last month when I wrote about these, I just told you about the covers you see in the stores. But this time I’m going to let you know about every issue (24 in all). Supergirl #1, as you can see in the picture, is a Rebirth title. She’s currently popular, due in no small part because of her TV show on The CW. If you’re a fan of the show, just don’t expect these to be part of the same universe. There are some similarities, but the comic is the comic. The cover price of Supergirl #1 is $2.99, while the current value of this variant is $5.
Cool comics in my collection #405: Batman: Trinity #1 (Walmart Variant), April 2017.
This title adds to the confusion some of the Walmart Variants have caused. This is actually a variant of the Rebirth comic titled “Trinity.” Why did they feel they needed to make it a Batman-centric title? Probably because he’s a big seller for them, but anyone can see the big three are on the cover, and should have no problem discerning that it’s a comic worth buying. This is the second Rebirth comic I’ve read with the “other” Clark Kent, along with his son, Jon, and of course Lois is his wife. I like seeing the super son in action, because he doesn’t have control of his powers yet, which adds to the conflict. If anyone out there is currently reading this title, let me know what you think of it, since this is the only issue I’ve read. These Rebirth titles are entertaining and I’ll probably end up getting more in the future, although digital comics may be the way I go, because storage space is a never-ending battle for me when it comes to comic books. The cover price of Trinity #1 is $2.99, while the current value of this variant is $5.
Cool comics in my collection #406: Batman #52, July 2016.
This is the last published issue of Batman, Volume 2, and it was one of the hidden comics in one of my Walmart Variant sets. It came out just before the whole Rebirth thing started. Of course, I’ve had no idea what’s been going on with Batman and the whole New 52 thing since I stopped reading new comics regularly back in 2003, but I really enjoyed this issue. When I was a child, Batman became my first hero. The campy, live-action TV show caught me in its snare, and I was sold! But my affections drifted away to a certain web-swinger, and though I’d get the occasional Batman issue through the years, it wasn’t until Bruce had his back broken by Bane (alliteration again…it’s been a few weeks since I’ve done that!) that I became a regular reader for a while. I’ve heard mixed reviews on the whole New 52 thing, but I really enjoyed this issue of the caped crusader. The last batch of Walmart Variants gave me a couple other Batman issues from the New 52 years, and I enjoyed them just as much. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older and more nostalgic as the years pass too rapidly, but maybe he’s growing on me again. The cover price of Batman #52 is $3.99, while the current value is $4.
Recently Read Digital Comics
When I became a proponent of digital comics a couple months ago, I really loved the deals you could get with collections of 5 or 6 or even more comics. The problem comes in finding enough time to read them all the way through and then tell you a little about them here each week. We’re all busy these days, even if it’s time spent binging the newest hot show on Netflix. Doggone it, that sort of busy takes away from comic book reading time. And novels and day jobs tend to do the same. I have some really cool collections on my tablet just waiting for me to read them, but I’m trying to keep it to one at a time. And then Thursday quickly rolls around again, and I have too many issues to read to get it done, so then I end up looking over my digital library of free comics for something a little shorter to feature here. So this week I read Wolverine / Punisher #1, which came out in the usual paper format in April 2004 (well, they usually come out a couple months earlier than the date listed on the cover, but that’s what I go by on here). This was part of the Marvel Knights lineup, which started a short time before my retirement from weekly trips to the comic store, and they tend to be a little more on the violent side. And what else do you expect when you throw these two characters into the ring together? This mini-series had a five-issue run, and while I wouldn’t mind reading the rest, I’ve got too much else to read for the next several years. If you’re a big fan of either, and you missed this before, now you can read it on your tablet or PC.
Back during my third phase (1993-2003) of regular comic buying and reading, the X-Men and all their off-shoot comics became a huge part of my purchases. You could buy about 7 or so monthly titles, and I got to a point where I was reading them all, which certainly helped during crossover events, but it smacked me hard in the wallet. Those mutants didn’t mean much to me until the Nineties, and the Saturday morning cartoon that first aired in 1992 must have influenced my change of heart. I’d read a short run during my lean, second foray into comic collecting in 1982, but I didn’t stick around them long enough to really care, and besides, newer X-Men entered the scene during the in-between years and changed the dynamics, not to mention the writers and artists I discovered in phase 3. No surprise, then, that I was excited to read X-Men #188 on my tablet. Yet it didn’t take many panel flips (that’s a digital comics thing, for the uninitiated) for me to not like the art or the direction of the story. I know, things change, and this issue came out three full years after I’d stopped buying the X-Men. Still…just the thought of this family of mutants makes me yearn for those early days in the Nineties when I was discovering Gambit, Jubilee, and Bishop for the first time, and geeking out on their powers and personalities.
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