The Comic Book Thread

When the death of Superman issue came out, a friend of mine who I don't believe read a book in his life, bought a few copies in the black plastic bag believing one day this comic book would be worth a fortune, last I saw of him he was still living in his mother's garage.

manny wrote:

When the death of Superman issue came out, a friend of mine who I don't believe read a book in his life, bought a few copies in the black plastic bag believing one day this comic book would be worth a fortune, last I saw of him he was still living in his mother's garage.

Yea, that's the kind of stuff that killed the comic book market in the late 80s/early 90s. People figured out, "Hey, old comic books are worth money! Maybe the new ones will be someday too!" and started stockpiling them. What they didn't realize is the reason that old comics are worth more is because there aren't a lot of copies of certain issues around, therefore they are RARE (i.e. Action Comics #1, I believe there are less than 50 copies of it known to exist), and rarity is what drives up the value. Something like the Death of Superman, yea, it'll be worth a couple of bucks because of the novelty value, but there are so many of them out there that it'll never be a big-money collectible.

During the 80s you had a lot of people who went to their local comic shop, bought up multiple copies of whatever new first issues were on the rack ("Wow! Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters #1? This'll be HUGE someday!"), then took them home, wrapped them in Mylar bags, and just sat on them. Ten years later, all of those people tried to unload their "collections" at once and totally flooded the market with common crap. Unfortunately I held onto my collection a few years too long so that when I tried to sell my collection around 94-95, the bottom had totally fallen out of the comic book biz. I was not a high roller so I didn't have a lot of pricey stuff in my collection, but still, if I'd gotten out four or five years earlier I probably would've been able to unload my stuff faster and gotten more $ for them. Oh well, live and learn.

I think the 'Death of Superman' 4 issue collection was the last comic book I ever purchased. I had already moved on from my comic book phase and wasn't buying any anymore, but I figured I'd get this one for old times sake. Got it packed away in a closet upstairs for my son someday.

SpectreFate wrote:

Quote :

and wrapped the black armband around the sleeve of my leather jacket.

The comic book geek equivalent of burning your bra.

It totally complemented the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle badge on my shoulder and the Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior insignia pin on my lapel. I may have been a geek but damn, I could accessorize like nobody's business.

I have a few friends who were some of those comic book "speculators" in the '80s and '90s who have long-boxes full of issue #1s of certain titles. Thats usually about 300 copies per box bagged and boarded. One guy keeps all of his in a temperature controlled storage rental place.

Svengo wrote:

I have a few friends who were some of those comic book "speculators" in the '80s and '90s who have long-boxes full of issue #1s of certain titles. Thats usually about 300 copies per box bagged and boarded. One guy keeps all of his in a temperature controlled storage rental place.

Which is all well and good, as long as they're #1's of stuff that's worth a sh*t, and not endless first issues of things like "Radioactive Wrestling Rodents," "Cyborg Hamsters," etc.

That black and white self publishing boomlet in the mid 80s (following the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) killed a LOT of collectors.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Which is well and good, but are they #1's of anything worth a sh*t, or are they endless first issues of things like "Radioactive Wrestling Rodents," "Cyborg Hamsters," etc.?

That black and white self publishing boomlet in the mid 80s (following the success of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) killed a LOT of collectors.

Some of what I've seen of their stuff is probably worth a bit but much of it consists of a bunch of that small run self-published stuff that I don't think will ever be worth much.

The guy who has his stuff in the temperature controlled rental place may have some really good stuff as one of the guys has seen some of it once but never since then because he's pretty secretive about it. We don't hang out with the guy that much because he's pretty anti-social.
If he were in a room full of a hundred anti-social uber-geeks we guess he would be the most anti-social uber-geeky of them all. I don't say this derisively as I consider myself kinda nerdy but there are some people who just might become the next Unabomber one day.
But at least you could say you knew him back when.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Svengo wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I have a total comic geek question...

If Magneto can manipulate all metal, why didn't he just rip the metal skeleton and claws out of Wolverine and kill him? Healing powers or not, I'd think that ripping out the metal that was bonded to his body would have some sort of devestating effect.

They kinda hinted at this in the movies and maybe this was a plot-line in the comics, but I haven't read them in years. Anyone know why this gaping flaw was never addressed?

I believe that just that very thing happened in X-Men(2nd series) #25. I think Magneto ripped the metal off of his bones and then Wolverine was saved somehow and was without the metal for quite a while. He got it back again later, (don't remember exactly how) , in one of those typical comic book ways.

That sounds about right. A totally obvious question that comics anwers in a vauge sorta cop-out answer. "If it's something we can't explain, the answer is 'magic'."

Same goes for Collosus. If he turns into an all metal creature, you'd think Magento could just squish him up into a paper-weight, but I'm sure the comic writers have some sort of vauge reasoninng why that doesn't happen.

Thanks for that. I have to go re-arrange the pens in my pocket-protector now.

Yep, that is exactly what happened.


Arttie

Bumpity bump...

This Saturday is "Free Comic Book Day" for anyone who's interested... many comic book stores across the U.S. are having special events and giveaways, so if you live near a comic book store, drop by and get some free junk!

http://www.freecomicbookday.com

Fat Freddy wrote:

Bumpity bump...

This Saturday is "Free Comic Book Day" for anyone who's interested... many comic book stores across the U.S. are having special events and giveaways, so if you live near a comic book store, drop by and get some free junk!

http://www.freecomicbookday.com

Plus if you live in a fair sized metropolitan area there'll probably be some comic writers/artists at some of those shops to hang out, talk, and sign some stuff.

Hugh "Wolverine" Jackman pimping for Free Comic Book Day, followed by the trailer for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine"

Just read a story in today's paper that Archie is about to release a new comic in which America's favorite red-headed teen FINALLY decides which of his two girlfriends (Betty or Veronica) he wants to be with... and he will be proposing to Veronica.

I completely forgot actually, but I bought the whole run of PUPPET MASTER comics when full moon first ran them in the early 90's. Pretty adult oriented like the movies, but they were some cool stuff.

DeathCult wrote:

I completely forgot actually, but I bought the whole run of PUPPET MASTER comics when full moon first ran them in the early 90's. Pretty adult oriented like the movies, but they were some cool stuff.

I had some of those issues too. I forget which publisher did'em but they did comics based on some other Full Moon movies like "Demonic Toys," too. I think they included some trading cards with each issue.

Fat Freddy wrote:

and he will be proposing to Veronica.

Geez Freddy!! How about a "spoiler alert" here!!!! Maybe some of us wanted to be SURPRISED!!

Fat Freddy wrote:

DeathCult wrote:

I completely forgot actually, but I bought the whole run of PUPPET MASTER comics when full moon first ran them in the early 90's. Pretty adult oriented like the movies, but they were some cool stuff.

I had some of those issues too. I forget which publisher did'em but they did comics based on some other Full Moon movies like "Demonic Toys," too. I think they included some trading cards with each issue.

I think Dark Horse did them or something. Id have to take them out and look at em. I remember the Demonic Toys ones as well. They did have trading cards that were either character profiles or still shots from the movies, pretty cool items for 3 bucks

They actually had a feature for Puppet Master vs. The Demonic Toys back when those were still running monthly and were supposed to turn it into the 4th PM movie. I dont know what happened but they didnt make the movie until 06 I think, and the comic version was much better.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

and he will be proposing to Veronica.

Geez Freddy!! How about a "spoiler alert" here!!!! Maybe some of us wanted to be SURPRISED!!

Well, hey, I didn't say whether or not she says "yes!"

Sorry MG... but apparently the cat's outta the bag already, the book is already in comic stores.

Personally, I'm surprised he didn't pick Betty. Veronica's always been such a beeyatch.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts/2009/08/19/2009-08-19_sorry_betty_archie_proposes_to_veronica.html

Anyone else remember/own the 4 or 5 part Megadeth comics that were released aroud the time of Youthanasia? I don't recall who published them, but they were pretty cool if memory serves. I think each comic illustrated a Megadeth song. The one that stands out in my memory is the creation of Vic Rattlehead. I'll have to look through my long boxes and pull them out for another viewing.

EDIT:
A little investigating finds that the 4 issue run of The Cryptic Writings Of Megadeth were put out by Chaos Comics, released in 1997 in time with the release of the Cryptic Writings album. Each issue featured 3 stories, each illustrating a different Megadeth song.

http://www.kazrog.com/archives/megadeth/releases/chaoscomics/issue1/

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Anyone else remember/own the 4 or 5 part Megadeth comics that were released aroud the time of Youthanasia? I don't recall who published them, but they were pretty cool if memory serves. I think each comic illustrated a Megadeth song. The one that stands out in my memory is the creation of Vic Rattlehead. I'll have to look through my long boxes and pull them out for another viewing.

I remember getting some kind of promotional trading card advertising those comics in an issue of "Wizard" magazine (anyone remember that mag?) but I don't think I ever bought any of the issues. That was around the time that I was getting out of the comic book game.

Fat Freddy wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Anyone else remember/own the 4 or 5 part Megadeth comics that were released aroud the time of Youthanasia? I don't recall who published them, but they were pretty cool if memory serves. I think each comic illustrated a Megadeth song. The one that stands out in my memory is the creation of Vic Rattlehead. I'll have to look through my long boxes and pull them out for another viewing.

I remember getting some kind of promotional trading card advertising those comics in an issue of "Wizard" magazine (anyone remember that mag?) but I don't think I ever bought any of the issues. That was around the time that I was getting out of the comic book game.

I have (or had) a few of those cards too. My comic book collecting days were far behind me as well by that point, but I made an effort to get those Megadeth books 'cause I'm such a fan-boy. There was a series of Alice Cooper books that I have too that came out around the time of The Last Temptation album but I don't remember if I got the whole run or just the first couple.

Yeah, I have a few issues of those Megadeth comics somewhere, they were pretty cool, but I dont remember what the hell any of the stories were about, I pretty much just bought them because it was Megadeth.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

There was a series of Alice Cooper books that I have too that came out around the time of The Last Temptation album but I don't remember if I got the whole run or just the first couple.

I didn't have the "Last Temptation" books but I did have this Alice comic in my old collection. I believe it coincided with his "From The Inside" album which was what, '79 or '80? (I'm not a Coop geek so I'm not 100 percent sure). I believe it was written by Steve Gerber of Howard the Duck fame.

Fat Freddy wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

There was a series of Alice Cooper books that I have too that came out around the time of The Last Temptation album but I don't remember if I got the whole run or just the first couple.

I didn't have the "Last Temptation" books but I did have this Alice comic in my old collection. I believe it coincided with his "From The Inside" album which was what, '79 or '80? (I'm not a Coop geek so I'm not 100 percent sure). I believe it was written by Steve Gerber of Howard the Duck fame.

78 the album was. Good comic book too.

Also, for anyone else who may have bought it, there was a pretty righteous comic book in the Samhain boxset as well.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I have that framed in my house.

SpectreFate wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I have that framed in my house.

For real? That's cool. Haha. I found my copy in a "quarter box" at a comic convention sometime in the 80s. It was pretty raggedy but I just had to have it.