Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 84, 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 84…
Cool Comics News!
This week I’m focusing on three comic series that never made it past 50 issues. But there was something about them that I find attractive, especially today. I’m the sort of guy who often tends to cheer for the underdog, and maybe that’s what these three less popular heroes have in common. An interesting aside is that all three are issue #6. That’s right. 666. Coincidence?
Cool comics in my collection #425: Omega the Unknown #6, January 1977.
Poor Omega the Unknown! His original run back in 1976-77 lasted just 10 issues, and I’m getting close to the end of being able to show them off to you. I suppose I’ll have to hunt down the Defenders issues that contain some of his story. That’s right! Omega the Unknown makes an appearance in the Defenders in 1979. I don’t own those issues, but someday…if I can find them…I will. I’m not sure how many of you readers out there have ever picked up this obscure comic, but back in the Seventies I thought he looked cool, and I loved the mystery concept they built around him and the boy, James-Michael Starling. When I think back to those days of buying comics in my youth, this one always comes to the forefront of my mind. If I close my eyes and shut out the rest of the world, I can visualize myself, on my knees, in the little store named Slicks in Martins Ferry, Ohio, gazing over all those beautiful comic books. They didn’t cost much back then, but I had so little money that I had to choose carefully. Omega the Unknown was worth every penny. The cover price of Omega the Unknown #6 is 30 cents, while the current value of this variant is $8.
Cool comics in my collection #426: Spider-Woman #6, September 1978.
There’s no doubt that my favorite hero throughout the Seventies was Peter Parker, the Amazing Spider-Man. Notice I used his civilian name first, before his hero identity? That’s because the writers and artists found a way to make readers care about the guy wearing the suit. Otherwise, does it really bother us all that much if the Green Goblin beats him up? But when Marvel came out with a new hero named Spider-Woman, I think most of the guys in my neighborhood thought it was just some gimmick the company was trying to pull on us to make more sales with Spider-Man’s name. Or part of his name. But Jessica Drew, the first woman to bear the title, has stuck around Marvel for several decades now, and I’m glad to have a few of her first series comics in my collection. When this issue came out, my comic book buying days were wrapping up for a few years, and I didn’t purchase it. Years later, when my third phase of comic collecting was going full blazes, I found this issue in a quarter box, and seeing Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night, on the cover, I couldn’t resist. So, to be honest, I bought it more for the werewolf. I’ve mentioned here before that I didn’t buy the monster comics when they came out in the Seventies, and that’s one of my regrets. I make up for it when I can find them at good prices, and when they make an appearance in another title, I can’t resist! The cover price of Spider-Woman #6 is 35 cents, while the current value is $8.
Cool comics in my collection #427: Moon Knight #6, April 1981.
It’s fun having some “monsters” during a week that features issues 6, 6, and 6! In Spider-Woman, Werewolf by Night is on the prowl, and in Moon Knight, Marc Spector faces off against Zombies (or, as they are called here, Zuvembies)! Moon Knight is one of those heroes I didn’t collect the first time around, but if I see some issues in clearance boxes, I tend to buy them. What I wish I’d done was buy the first comic book I ever saw him on the cover of. Back in August of 1975, on the cover of issue #32 of Werewolf by Night (there he is again!), Moon Knight was revealed to the Marvel Universe. I remember seeing the issue, but I didn’t even lay a finger on it. Too bad, because it’s worth about $1,000 today. It would have been so easy to clunk down a quarter and a penny or two to cover the tax, but that’s the way it goes. Such is life. But though I’ll probably never own that issue, I occasionally find some fun Moon Knight issues from the early Eighties and enjoy every minute of them. The cover price of Moon Knight #6 is 50 cents, while the current value is $5.
Recently Read Digital Comics
This week I read the Marvel Limited Series “House of M” on my Android tablet. Currently selling for $14.99 on comiXology, I bought this 8-issue series on Amazon for just $3.99. You get 182 pages, and even at the full price it’s a nice deal. This series came out in 2005, just a couple years after I went cold turkey and quit buying new comics, so it wasn’t long after I’d been pretty deep in the game. This collection reads like a “What If?” to me, and while I know it crossed over into other titles, I felt this was too big a deal for the amount of change that takes place. Although that was probably the intention. At any rate, the problem is that not everyone can afford to follow along in every title. And this is part of the reason I like the Seventies comics so much. Still, I enjoyed it for the most part, but I didn’t like some of the writer’s (Brian Michael Bendis) decisions. Some of the character interactions I was hoping for weren’t there (of course these things may have happened in some of the other 55 issues involved in The House of M, but I’m not going to hunt them down), and that’s part of the trouble when you have a cast of dozens. All-in-all, it was worth my $3.99 plus tax.
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I’ve always been a big Moon Knight fan, I first started getting his comment during the Vol 2 “Fist of Khonshu” years. I’d treck over to the college comic shop and grab it every month.
I was excited to see him come back in the David Finch reboot in 2006, but I can’t say I was much of a fan of that version of “Crazy Moon Knight.” I never really got the extreme(!) versions of heroes that seemed to abound since the ’90s. So, largely passed on that one. I did think that Bendis did a pretty good job on his version of “crazy” but, still, not a huge fan of that take on the character.
But, the Warren Ellis “Mr Knight/protect night travelers” take has been, in my opinion, the best spin on that character ever. It’s really elevated him from just another hero in tights to this driven, purposeful, entity. Not exactly a super-hero, per se, but a fascinating character. To be honest, it sort of reminds me of Moore’s Rorshach, in that his pursuit of justice is more like a force of nature than anything else. And, it’s really well done.
Rob, the only Moon Knight I’ve read have been some occasional issues from the early 80’s. If any digital collections exist that you recommend, I’m all ears!
Rob, I followed your link from my Facebook page and purchased all three digital collections, as they were on sale. Thanks! Here’s the link for anyone else who wants some good Moon Knight reading. https://thirdscribe.com/books/moon-knight-vol-1-from-the-dead/
I agree with Rob up there. Moon Knight is an often overlooked character that is sometimes written off as “Marvel’s Batman”. While there ARE some obvious common points between the two, I think that his inner conflict and battle against mental illness, as well as the mystical nature of his powers, sets him well apart from the Caped Crusader. I also have to agree that the Warren Ellis take on the character is probably the best, but my favorite was the sadly very short Fist of Konshu run.
Atom and Rob, I definitely need to read more Moon Knight, thanks to your comments! My experience with the character is pretty limited at this point.