Daredevil Takes to the Sky while The Nightmare Sketchbook Lands!

Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 241, where we look at various comic books I own (and in some cases ones that I let get away), both new and old, often with a nostalgic leaning for those feelings of yesteryear. I hope you have as much fun reading about them as I had writing about these cool comics!

For each of the comic books I include here, I list the current secondary market pricing (except for of digital issues, which don’t have collectible value). This is according to the websites ComicBookRealm.com (CBR) and Zap-Kapow Comics (ZKC), using the comic book grading scale of 9.4 (if both sites have the same price, you’ll find just one price for that issue). Not all my comics meet that grade. Some are probably better, and some are certainly worse. But to simplify it, that’s the scale I use here. And remember, a comic book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. And for those who enjoy the additional fun of knowing some of the more important issues in your collection, I recognize each Cool Comic that is listed in Key Collector Comics

If you have any comments, please scroll to the bottom of the page to where it says, “Leave a Reply.” And now, Episode 241…

Cool Comics News!

I got an email a couple weeks ago from Felipe Kroll, an artist I wasn’t familiar with, and he wondered if I could read a digital version of a new graphic novel that he illustrated, The Nightmare Sketchbook #1: The Summoning, and do a review for all you Cool Comics readers out there. As most of you know, it’s rare that I do actual reviews. I consider myself more of a comic book commentator and typically try to keep the hobby fun and entertaining this way. I replied to the email and told Felipe I’d give The Nightmare Sketchbook a look and talk about it in a future episode, and WOW am I ever glad I did! Written by Vincent V. Cava, this reading experience is both fun and creepy, and made me reminisce a bit about Night Force, a DC series from the early Eighties. This story has mystery, demons, occultism, greed, and a mysterious being known as “The Illustrator.” If you click the name of the title above, the link will take you to a special Nightmare Sketchbook website that gives you more details, samples of Felipe’s fantastic art, a shopping link to buy this 72-page story, and even a trailer, which I recommend watching. This story won’t be for everyone, and even though I typically like my comics to be on the fun side, I was entranced with this chilling story and can’t wait for issue #2!

Cool Comics Battle of the Week!

Your Cool Comics Battle of the Week is The Prowler versus Robin! What do you think would happen if they faced each other in a titanic tussle, and how do you see the winner achieving victory? Let us know in the comments section below.

Cool Comics Creations!

This episode’s creation comes to us from illustrator Dan Gorman, a member of the National Cartoonists Society and one of the top sketch card artists on the planet. This card, featuring Princess Leia, is one of the 50 plus sketch cards Dan created for the Topps Star Wars Masterworks 2019 Set. For more about Dan and his art, please visit www.dangormanart.com.

You can have a piece of your art featured right here in Cool Comics Creations! Just send an electronic file in an email featuring one of your drawings, whether you’re a professional or amateur, (it can be just pencils, or inks too…or full color if you prefer) or a picture of a craft or sculpture that you’ve done, and as long as it’s family friendly (and not controversial…let’s try to keep this fun), you’ll be a part of an upcoming Cool Comics episode. We also want your name and any other background information you want to provide, such as a website or a way you can be contacted about your art (who knows, maybe someone will make you an offer for the original!). And then email it to edgosney62@gmail.com.

Cool Comics In My Collection

Contemporary Cool Comics

#1226 — Prowler #1, Marvel, December 2016.

The Prowler—the original Hobie Brown version—has been around since his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 1969), yet I feel like I hardly know him. I just haven’t read many comics he’s been in (although it may be more than I remember and it all just seems this way, as my mind could still be trapped in The Twilight Zone from our last episode!). And while I do believe he had a couple appearances in the Spider-Man cartoon from the Nineties, I can’t say for sure. The cover tells us this is a Clone Conspiracy Tie-In issue, but since it came out in 2016 and I wasn’t buying new comics at that time, I have no idea what the Clone Conspiracy was about. I was THERE when the original clone saga took place in Spider-Man (I was very caught up in the story!), and I was there again when we found out that Peter’s clone was still alive and took on the name Ben Reilly. Yet I’m lost when it comes to this clone storyline. In doing a little background check, I found out that Hobie is himself now a clone…it seems that Marvel went a little clone crazy! I found this issue in a quarter bin, and since there are a bunch of years in which I didn’t purchase new comics, I decided to give this one a try for the price. Not a bad story, and someday I may have to read more Clone Conspiracy tales. The cover price of The Prowler #1 is $3.99, while the current value is $4.

Cool Comics from the Quarter Bin

#1227 — DC Comics Presents: Batman #1, DC, September 2004.

During my digs in discount bins, it’s always fun to try some comics I missed out on when I took a super-sized comic book sabbatical from mid-2003 to mid-2017. Many of you are probably familiar with the old DC Comics Presents title back in the 20^th Century, so the powers that be must have decided that nostalgia has a way of pulling in readers, so why not a few special one-shots? This issue consists of two stories, the first one, titled “The Batman of Two Worlds,” written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Carmine Infantino, and makes a play on the Batman ’66 TV series. The second story, named “The Ratings War,” is written by Len Wein, with art by Andy Kuhn. Both stories are fun, with lots of bright colors, and certainly more than worth the quarter I plunked down for the issue. The cover price of DC Comics Presents: Batman #1 is $2.50, while the current value is $3.

FCBD the Cool Comics Way

#1228 — Comics Festival!, Legion of Evil Press, May 2009.

This week and next I’m diving into a couple Free Comic Book Day issues I came into possession of via buying a longbox stuffed with 419 comics for just the paltry sum of $20. When you make a purchase like that, there’s no telling what’s inside, and it contained both good and bad comics. And because I’m finally finished with the FCBD issues from 2019 and the 2020 FCBD issues are on a delay due to unfortunate worldwide circumstances, I decided to forage around for issues that were distributed for free that I haven’t talked about here yet. This Comics Festival issue from Legion of Evil Press is an anthology that has more stories than I’ve ever seen in a regular-sized comic…or any comic, for that matter. The table of contents lists 23 stories…and yes, many of them are quite short. Some were fun, so were strange, and some just didn’t do it for me. But I do think it’s pretty cool that they were able to fit so many individual stories in one regular-sized issue! The cover price of Comics Festival! Is free, while the current value is $0.

Cool Comics Kids

#1229 — Richie Rich #24, Harvey Comics, July 1994.

Though this comic is from the Nineties, I have a memory of seeing a girl, who was a few years older than me, in her backyard, sitting at a small table with a little stack of comics, and she had at least one Richie Rich issue. This was back in the Seventies, and the only comics I cared about back then were superheroes, especially of the Marvel brand. Nowadays when I find discount Richie Rich titles and add them to my Cool Comics Kids library, I often get that image in my head of being a kid and the girl with the Richie Rich in her collection. In our fast-paced world of constant worries about bills, putting food on the table, filing taxes, and trying to avoid diseases, maybe that girl who had a stack of kiddie comics had a great plan to escape from the worries of the world for a few hours. I know that when I read these comics now, they take me away to a world of feeling like I’m twelve again, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If you like time travel adventure, this issue fits the bill. We also have fun with Little Dot and wrap things up with Little Lotta. The cover price of Richie Rich #24 is $1.50, while the current value is $3.

Cool Comics Classics

#1230 — Daredevil #225, Marvel, December 1985.

I didn’t start collecting Daredevil until my college years, which just happened to coincide with Frank Miller’s run with Elektra, her death at the hands of Bullseye, and Matt Murdock’s attempts to deal with the pain. But it was a short-lived period of collecting (#181-191), and I didn’t come back to comics until 1993. I got interested in Daredevil again during the Fall From Grace  storyline (#319-325), probably because it was being talked about in magazines and comic shops at the time. But I’ve never been a constant purchaser of Daredevil during my collecting periods, although I’m truly enjoying the current run. Every once in a while, I stumble across Daredevil comics in quarter bins (where this one came from) or purposefully look through back issues for older editions (especially from the Sixties) in less than stellar—but affordable—condition. Because I didn’t collect for long in the Eighties, it’s always fun to find issues from the decade and see what certain characters were up to, and it’s even more interesting when a hero goes up against a villain who is usually seen fighting a different hero, such as the Vulture here facing Daredevil, rather than Spider-Man. This also makes me realize just how many cool stories I missed out on in the Eighties. The cover price of Daredevil #225 is 65¢, while the current value is $4.

Cool Collected Editions with Dr. Omnibus

Snowpiercer Volume 2, The Explorers (Titan Comics)

Dr. Omnibus score: 8.25 out of 10

Continuing with my read through of the Snowpiercer series in preparation for the upcoming show, I am now at volume 2 of 4. I had heard that Volume 1 was the best of them and that the others could be skipped. Well, I’ll be the judge of that.

The Book Itself

This book, for the most part, is just like Volume 1. Not too many bells and whistles, but there was a page or two more of backmatter.

The Words
By Claude-Jacques Legrand 

This story takes place after the events of Volume 1, but (spoilers ahead) takes place on a different train. For the most part it has all the same elements of the first story but seems a bit more personal and gives a more in-depth look at the extreme political themes. It also contains a decent love story. There is a clear main character who is quite interesting and makes some radical changes that are believable, yet shocking. It would have been nice if this transition had been a bit more drawn out. At times there are some not very well explained time jumps, which lead to momentary confusion. This is exaggerated by the lack of breaks in the story, no division of individual issues, or indicators that you are entering a new chapter. Breaks do actually exist, but they are just very subtle and easily missed.

The Pictures
By Jean-Marc Rochette

The art in this volume was markedly better than that in Volume 1, but lacked some of that simple, unique style seen in the first book. Much like in the first volume, I take issue with the lettering in this one, but for an entirely different reason. This time, instead of having word balloons pointing all over the place, the balloons overlapped but didn’t feature closed bubbles, so it looks like one balloon per panel despite the words coming from three different characters.

The Gist

This is a fantastic expansion to the original story. Almost every aspect of it seemed just a hair better and it was a story of its own. Granted, you need to read Volume 1 before reading this, but the ideas were fresh and fun and didn’t feel like the same dang book. I am looking forward to moving forward in this read through, much more so than I was heading into this book.

Damian Starr is a long-time collector of comics who, in recent years, has converted his focus to reading—almost exclusively—trade paperbacks, hardcovers, and Omnibus editions. Additionally, he is a frequent contributor to the MCBCFA Play Network YouTube channel (check out his Dr. Omnibus playlists). To add one more layer to his geekery, he is an amateur comic author and co-founder of Illuminatus Comics.

Cool Comics Reader Reviews!

Would you like to write a review of a comic book or graphic novel for all the Internet to see? Our Cool Comics Reader Reviews section is looking for fans just like you to submit reviews of 500 words or less (introductions about yourself don’t go against the word count), along with a cover image of the comic, to edgosney62@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that we reserve the right to decide what will and won’t go in the blog, so keep the language clean, pick out a comic that won’t cause controversy (we try to have fun here!), and start tapping away on your keyboard!

ComicBooks For Kids!

ComicBooks For Kids! (CB4K) is a charity that Cool Comics In My Collection is honored to be working with. CB4K provides comic books to kids in hospitals and cancer centers all across the United States. You can check their website and see if your local hospital is included and if not, you can work with them to get them included! If you like what you see, please help them out and follow/like their Facebook page. Their link is https://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids/

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