World's Finest Comics Michelle Nolan

World's Finest Comics is one of the most challenging titles for collectors of DC Comics, from the standpoints of both cost and scarcity.

Even if you are wealthy, you won't have an easy time completing a set or even a long run of World's Finest, which ran 106 issues through 1959. Many 1950's issues are scarce, especially in high grade. Most of the 1940's issues don't seem scarce but they are pricey.

Since "Nolan's Niche" is dedicated to helping collectors learn how to get the most for their money, we'll continue to follow that theme with World's Finest. You'll need only about a dozen issues for a representative collection.

Unlike DC's "Big Eight" monthly anthology series of the Golden Age, no significant characters appeared only in World's Finest, which was a second or third home for its major cast. It's a wonderful title, loaded with many of DC's best characters. Since the first 70 issues are 15-cent giants, you get a lot more for your money, just as readers did in the Golden Age.

The title began as World's Best Comics #1, an undated 1941 issue. The title switched to World's Finest with #2 (Summer 1941) and was published quarterly through #20 (Winter 1945-46) before becoming bimonthly.

Superman and Batman were the headliners, with separate full-length stories for the first 70 issues. When World's Finest was cut from 68 pages (including covers) to 36 pages with #71 (July-Aug. 1954), it forced a long-running team-up of DC's two biggest guns.

Several other costume heroes were featured in every issue of World's Finest, which ran 100 pages through #9, then 92 pages through #12, 84 pages through #18, 76 pages through #54, and 68 pages through #70. In that sense, World's Finest was a lesson in how comic publishers once handled inflation — by cutting the page count instead of increasing the price.

The original Sandman appeared in #3-5, followed by Sandman and Sandy in #6-7. The Star Spangled Kid and Stripesey ran in #6-18. The Crimson Avenger from Detective Comics appeared in #1-5, followed by a one-shot appearance in #6 by TNT, a minor hero from Star Spangled Comics.

Aquaman appeared in World's Finest #6, to be replaced by Green Arrow and Speedy in #7 (Fall 1942). The Emerald Archer, who also appeared in More Fun Comics and later Adventure Comics, shot through a whopping 134 consecutive issues of World's Finest, last appearing in #140 — a 20-year run! It's hard to conceive of a backup feature in any comic book today running for 20 years, isn't it?

Other mainstays of special interest include Zatara the Magician in #1-51 (except #46) and Boy Commandos in #8-41. Let's just say any issue of World's Finest through #18 would be a gem for any collector. You can't lose with any of these huge square-bound gems, bursting with the energy of several Golden Age heroes. The drawback, of course, is that you're probably going to pay well over $100 even for copies in "good" condition.

The solution? Focus on the later issues! They all contain Superman, Batman and Green Arrow, including many of their scarcest (and generally never reprinted) appearances. Even though 1950-54 issues of World's Finest are scarcer than their 1940's counterparts, they cost only about half as much or less!

I especially like World's Finest #49-58 (1951-53) because they contain the only appearances of Tom Sparks, Boy Inventor. Tom Sparks may have been modeled on the original Tom Swift, who was popular in a series of 40 novels released from 1910-41. Tom Swift rivaled the Hardy Boys (who debuted in 1927) as the most successful juvenile series for boys in the post-Horatio Alger era.

I particularly recommend World's Finest #49 (Dec. 1950-Jan. 1951), with the only cover appearance by Tom Sparks, whose robot is shown playing checkers with Robin as Batman and Superman watch. That cover was typical of World's Finest, which featured either playful or symbolic Superman, Batman and Robin covers all the way through #70. The only exceptions were serious "rescue" covers on #51, 53, 65, 66 and 67.

Those World's Finest covers were wonderful; you really can't go wrong with any of them. Different themes will appeal to different collectors, of course. Along with #49, my favorites are #3 and #15 (baseball), #11 (victory garden), #21 (basketball), #34 (bumper cars), #63 (newspaper headlines) and #68 (our heroes flee from a skunk).

In my opinion, issues of World's Finest become increasingly scarce through #70, the last 15-cent issue. Issues #60-70 seem especially scarce, indicating that sales may have slumped. The saddle-stitched binding began with #49, making those issues especially hard to find in high grade, if only because staples tended to pull away.

The Overstreet Price Guide lists #71 as scarce, which is true if only because so many copies are locked away in so many collections as an iconic issue, with the first Superman-Batman team-up in World's Finest. However, since #71 is a lot more expensive than the surrounding issues, you can generally find one if you have the bucks. Finding a copy of, say, #65 might be a lot tougher.

All the first 20 Superman-Batman team-up issues boast terrific stories, with many among my childhood favorites. Issue #90 (Oct. 1957) features one of the first appearances by Batwoman and is among my favorite Silver Age comics.

World's Finest is among the biggest bargains any collector of 1940's or 1950's comics could want. I heartily recommend this title — in short, get as many as you can afford! It's also a great "low-grade" bargain.

How Would You Like Your Stake? Shawn Caffrey

It started with a conversation about Vincent Price. A while back, I had purchased House on Haunted Hill (the original) on DVD. As an added bonus, the disc came with another Vincent Price classic: The Last Man on Earth. Now, I had no idea what the movie was about, no indication as to the effect it would have on my taste in horror, but after watching The Last Man on Earth, my take on vampires was forever changed.

Of all horror icons, vampires were my least favorite because of constant overexposure in film, television and books. There are only so many Dracula-type movies one can watch before being overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity. But watching this movie, a new light shone down upon me, piquing my interest of vampires once again, and thus leading to my newest find, which will spend its immortal days resting on my bookshelf.

During the end credits of The Last Man on Earth, something caught my eye. “Based on the novel ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matheson” flashed across the screen. “Well,” I thought, “if the movie was that interesting, the book’s got to be even better!” I began my search on eBay and found a few results, one being an adaptation of the 1954 classic by Matheson, put out by IDW Publishing in 2003, in hardcover graphic novel format, with content adapted by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and art by Elman Brown.

The adaptation reads identically to the novel by Matheson, for Steve Niles pulled no stops keeping this tale accurate to the original, and Elman’s illustrations give the novel such a chilling view that no imagination is needed. The story stars Robert Neville, a man alone, in a world where a mysterious “plague” has swept across the world and infected all of its inhabitants. The sickness has mysterious vampire-like effects on all victims, turning what were once normal people into nightwalking bloodsuckers that stalk Robert every night of his lonely and meager existence.

Boarded up in his house, he tries to deal with his loneliness at night by chasing down his sorrows with whiskey and cigarettes, and by day going house to house, trying to rid his town of the vampire epidemic. What started the epidemic of vampirism? Garlic, crucifixes, wooden stakes and sunlight…what do they all have in common? Neville begins his quest to find the answers to his own living horror movie. Is he really the only one left unaffected? Will he spend the rest of his life trying to stay alive or will he end his madness and surrender to the masses?

Edge-of-your-seat suspense and gripping elements of horror make this a graphic novel that anyone will want to “sink their teeth into.”

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