Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
The National Post has an excerpt from Margaret Atwood’s In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination. It’s a great piece on comic strips, imagination and where that takes us. Perhaps if Atwood had kept up the drawing Seth and…
Brave and the Bold #79, DC Comics, August/September 1968 Neal Adams knew something was wrong with Batman even during the absolute height of the character’s popularity. In a panel at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con (with excerpts reprinted in…
I don’t know if you’ve seen this elsewhere yet, but this article really struck a chord with me. Reuters had a story about Herbert Chavez, a Filipino designer who is a huge Superman fan. He’s had body modifying surgery to…
Our shop sells a good amount of vintage comics. Sales seem to be concentrated at the comic conventions but the odd sale here and the odd sale there at the shop do add up to a respectable figure by the…
Apparently there was not a single dictionary at the Marvel office in 1975. That is the only reason I can think of for suggesting that circus spelled sideways is death. Also, is that guy throwing live bats as if they…
Has anybody noticed that in the middle of the unstoppable juggernaut of publicity that is the new DC#1s or the ubiquitous Fear Itself tie-in fest, there is a really good little Spider-Man story going on? Spider-Island is being done exactly…
I just received an email from ComicLink highlighting their inclusion of a CGC 9.9 copy of Iron Man #1 for their November auction. Wow, now that is an impressive book. I jumped on their site to read up on the…
Alpha Flight #106, Marvel Comics, March 1992. The history of comic books could easily serve as a rich resource for any anthropologist. Studying comic book history can shed light on the behavior, the social and cultural development of humans in…
ComicLink September 2011 Focused Auction The ComicLink Focused Auction ended last week. I cannot remember a more Marvel heavy auction! Of the top 33 comics only 1 DC cracked the Marvel dominance. DC’s Green Lantern #76 graded a CGC 9.6…
Lone Wolf and Cub is a wonderful manga series that has come to North America twice: prestige format comics from First Publishing in the 1980s and in twenty eight 4.25×6.5″ softcover volumes from Dark Horse. For anyone who hasn’t sampled…
Batman #139, DC Comics, April 1961 I’ve honestly had this book on my “future undervalued’ file for at least 6 months and have just never pulled the trigger and posted it. In light of the new Batgirl #1 comic released…
It’s been busy in the shop today, really busy. I have never seen so many people buy “one of each”. There were 13 new DC #1s today (the 1st wave of this month’s 52 new titles basically re-launching the whole…
This is actually one of my favourite covers, but it doesn’t really make sense. Normally when people talk about cancelling Christmas it is because the have no money, or some disaster has befallen them around December, or they are using…
Police Comics #1, Quality Comics, August 1941 This is a great Golden Age key that just does not get the respect it deserves. Thanks to DC’s acquisition of many of the Quality characters back in 1956 most of the characters…
Now I have no idea what it says in the CGC grading manual so this will be my opinion only, totally based on me having absolutely no facts! All I will go on is the many discrepancies in grade I’ve…
The most long-awaited battle? Not true then. Not true now.
My Love #14, Marvel Comics, November 1971 This is a bit of a deviation from my standard Undervalued Spotlight format. I’m featuring Marvel’s entire November 1971 line up using the worthy My Love #14 as the ambassador book. I’ve chosen…
Blue Beetle #1, Charlton Comics, June 1967 Steve Ditko is one of the true giants of comic books. Ditko’s two major contributions, co-created with Stan Lee, were Dr. Strange and the Amazing Spiderman. In subsequent interviews Ditko has downplayed Lee’s…
Avengers #110, Marvel Comics, April 1973 For Marvel Comics the X-Men were THE comic story of the second half of the 1970s. The new team that launched in X-Men #94 (8/75) slowly but surely began taking over the comic book…
It was October 1978 that Empire, the first graphic novel, appeared on bookstore shelves. That’s the same month Eisner’s A Contract With God made its début, and Empire is one illustrated story while Eisner’s work is a collection of short…