tomo

Let's wrap up this week by looking at a few other highlights of the DCCP run. DC Comics Presents #1 from August 1978. If I were to rank my all time favorite Superman artists, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez would absolutely be in the top three, and I got the chance to meet him last year at the Motor City Comic Con. My wife is a photographer (that's her alien pic that is my avatar) and she usually does a festival in East Lansing that same weekend. Last year, however they were a week apart so she actually had the chance to be a vendor at the con! During some down time, I was able to go and chat with him for a few and thank him for his work, and I got this autographed comic to add to my personal collection! DC Comics Presents #2 (Whitman Variant) from October 1978. This is part 2 of the Superman/Flash race and one of the nicer Whitman variants that I have in my collection. DC Comics Presents #8 from April 1979. Hands down, my favorite cover from this title. What I would do to get the original art for this one... Earlier in the week, we looked at DCCP #26 which featured story and art by Jim Starlin. He would actually keep drawing the book for a few more issues, helping to introduce (along with Len Wein) another classic cosmic villain, Mongul! DC Comics Presents #27 from November 1980. For the next five years or so, he would be a semi-recurring villain for this title. Here he is again, looking decidedly happier in DC Comics Presents #28 from December 1980. This issue is also the first appearance of the Warworld. DC Comics Presents #29 from January 1981 has my favorite cover from the Jim Starlin run on this title. That's some classic Starlin...and that purple...love it! Starlin would have one more crack at this title before heading back to Marvel to do a small graphic novel about the death of someone or other. DC Comics Presents #36 from August 1981. Once again, it's cosmic and Mongul is in the mix. After a few more appearances in this title, Mongul would remain little seen until he got pulled into the whole Reign of the Supermen storyline after the death of Superman. From there, he was pretty firmly ensconced as a major Superman and Green Lantern villain.

This next book I just don't get. I mean, I guess I understand it, I just don't get it. DC Comics Presents #47 from July 1982, featuring the first comic book appearance of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! I understand how this being the first comic book appearance could be a big thing, I just don't get it. It's not like the toy line had a successful or fondly remembered comic book run like G.I. Joe or Transformers did. As a kid growing up in the 1970's, this toy line was before my time. Although, now that I think about it, this book was from 1982 which puts me at 12 years old. Why do I remember this being much later than that? Hold on a sec while I do some quick googling... So the toy line started in 1982, with the show following a year later in 1983. So this issue is pretty early in the He-Man lore. According to the editorial in the letters page, this issue also features the appearance of some characters who have not been publicly released toys yet. I guess I can kind of see it now, especially since this issue predates the television show. You learn something new every day. I also managed to find another copy of this issue in the $2 bins from a vendor at last year's Motor City Comic-Con, so this is a good flying under the radar pick of a book to find out in the wild for a quick flip. I just checked the sold eBay listings, and I thought the Overstreet prices were crazy! With VG copies fetching upwards of $30-50 raw, I just might have to put up my under copy.

Continuing our look at the DCCP title, without a doubt DC Comics Presents #26 is the big dog of this run, featuring the first appearance of The Teen Titans. As it turns out, I don't think I've ever read it. Call me a blasphemer, but I don't think I've read any of the Wolfman/Perez run. It's not that I have anything against it, as I'm a big fan of George Perez in general (by way of The Avengers). It's one of those runs that will one day fall into my lap, or not. It's just that up until this point, it still hasn't. In the meantime, give me five minutes, as I'm going to read this...live! Things I learned... Who knew Beast Boy Changeling was a playa! Is this the first use of the Changeling name? I'm a fan of Beast Boy from the Doom Patrol books and don't recall him using that moniker there, or did this change happen in the interim between series? Cyborg is kind of a jerk This was definitely written in 1980, as the references to Jimmy Carter and The Empire Strikes Back reveal. I needed more than five minutes, as this is written in a classic Bronze/Copper style. Definitely not decompressed. Perez is a beast of an artist. Granted, I already knew this, but it bears repeating again. Most important, I also never realized that this was an original story and had always assumed that it was just a preview of story and art from the first issue, pre-printed here. I guess that makes more sense now why this issue is so sought after for Teen Titans fans. And for first appearance fans in general, as this issue also covers Cyborg, Starfire, and Raven. It's kind of a shame actually, as this preview robs that classic George Perez cover for issue #1 from being associated with the first appearances of some iconic characters. I guess iconic is a relative term, but I have a ten year old son, which means that I have probably seen every episode of Teen Titans Go! a dozen times each. I couldn't help myself when reading the book from mimicking the voices from the show, lol. It's the one "kids" show that I enjoy watching, as the writing is whip-smart and genuinely funny. I do find it strange that my son knows who Raven, Starfire and Beast Boy are, and that knowledge didn't stem from me! I'm sure there are a legion of ten year old's out there just like him. If that isn't iconic, I don't what is! Earlier in the year, I was trying to explain to my son that when I was in school the entire school had to share one computer. The computer had its own room, and if you were well-behaved you could sign up for free time on the computer to play Oregon Trail. I don't think I've ever seen someone so confused as I tried to explain to him how "fun" playing Oregon Trail was. Anyways, two weeks later he comes running into my office to let me know that Teen Titans Go! was doing a whole episode satirizing the Oregon Trail! It's such a good episode, and did a much better job of explaining it than I did. "You have died of dysentery" has been a favorite call back line for us ever since! Anyways, back to Superman...this issue's main story is plotted and drawn by Jim Starlin, but it's not really good Starlin. Best to move on, before something drastic happens...

What the heck...I'll give it a shot this year! Count me in.

Yeah, I definitely got lucky with this one. Otherwise, I usually try to at least buy a nice presenting low-to-mid grade copy to keep in the collection while waiting for the right one to pop up. That way, even if it doesn't, you still have the one when prices skyrocket. And if you do find the perfect copy, sell of the under copy an put those funds back towards the next one. That's what I ended up doing on a bunch of my Superman keys. It feels a lot better knowing that I have the first Bizarro, Zod, Parasite, Mxyztplk, Brainiac, Supergirl, etc. knocked out. Now, I can take my time trying to find the "perfect" copy. "Will I ever get the perfect copy?" is the $10,000 question as seeing as we are in a "keys above all others" collecting mindset, the prices for the better grades just seems to keep going up and up.

Yesterday, I had mentioned that when I bought my almost complete run of DC Comics Presents from eBay, there was one issue missing that the seller had kept. So what was the missing issue? The obvious answer is #26 with the first appearance of the New Teen Titans. Well, you'd be wrong. Then, you might guess issue #47 with the first comic book appearance of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Well, you'd be wrong again. I'll give you a hint. I bought this collection in 2006, when Infinite Crisis was huge...and who was the big bad in that book? None other than Superboy-Prime! Suddenly, his first appearance in DC Comics Presents #87 from November 1985 went from quarter bin fodder to a $20-30 wall book. So yeah, I ended up getting my first New Teen Titans and first He-Man for a buck a book! In the long-run, it was a bad spec bet for the original seller to keep the #87, but let the #26 and #47 go. Oh well, his loss was my gain. Besides, I had already pulled my copy of #87 out of the aforementioned quarter bins. It would have been nice to get a cleaner copy at the time, but I had patience. I finally did pick up a nice copy of #87 a few years later at the Motor City Comic-Con that I had to pay $5 for, which seemed like a fair price. That's a great cover by Eduardo Barreto. It's too bad he never was much more than a cover artist for the Superman books, as I definitely could have done with some more Eduardo Barreto interior pencils too. But as great as that cover is, it doesn't beat the original by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye from Superboy #47, all the way back from March of 1956! Damn, I love that cover! Special thanks to @skypinkblu for this issue, as I picked it up from her epic Superboy sales thread from earlier in the year. So many good books were available! I'm sure we'll see another one or two over the course of this journal, so stay tuned!

Back in the day, from 2009-2011, I used to have a blog called The Random Longbox. The idea, was that I would let a random number generator pick a book at random from my collection that I would then have to read and review. I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed the pure randomness of pulling a book out of the longboxes and reading with no prior context other than my (faulty at best) memory. The old link is long dead at www.randomlongbox.com, but the the original blogspot link is still up and active if anyone is curious to take a look. www.randomlonbox.blogspot.com Seeing as how my buying has been in a bit of lull lately, let's dust off the old randomizer and pull a book out to see if that spurs any conversation for this week. And the random book is... DC Comics Presents #54 from February 1983. This was still two years before I started reading comic books full time, so I had to buy all of my issues after the fact. This title is probably the first Superman title that I finished a run on when I decided to start refocusing my collection towards Superman. I had about a dozen or so issues before I saw a listing on eBay for a complete run (minus one issue) for a hundred bucks. At the time, I was cherry picking random back-issues from my LCS for $0.50 a book, but here was a chance to get nice copies all at once for about a buck a piece. I jumped on it, and that is where this issue came from. The books were in great shape, ranging from a 8.5 on up in condition. There's nothing really special about this issue, as Superman and Green Arrow team up to battle a rogue industrialist harvesting a new type of "Z" energy. Unfortunately, the creation of the Z energy emits a smog that covers the country from coast to coast. Before everything is said and done, Superman has to take down a smog monster composed of "one part smog and five parts Z energy," while Green Arrow rounds up the industrialist's goons. Pretty typical done in one for a DC book from this time period. Story by Paul Kupperberg with art by Don Newton and Dan Adkins. I do quite like the cover though. And that's a great Commissioner Gordon mustache on Green Arrow! Green Arrow also had an earlier appearance in the title in issue #20, again battling a rogue industrialist of sorts, this time in the oil business. Nothing like typecasting old Ollie, eh? Be careful Green Arrow, if the boiling hot geyser doesn't kill you, the fall certainly will. Black Canary appeared in issue #54 as well, and she also had an earlier solo appearance in issue #30, facing off against the dream villainy of Doctor Destiny! I just reread the first year of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman last month, and it had completely slipped my mind that Doctor Destiny was a part of the first story arc! It was good to see him here, after just recently encountering a decidedly more Vertigo take on him over there. Man, that diner issue was brutal.

To wrap things up for the week, let's take a look at a few curious items I found at the estate sale. First up are these set of 6 Collector's Series Value Packs. I have never seen these before in my time, and I'm still not 100% sure where they came from. I think these are the mini-comics that came with a cassette tape? Maybe? The second book in each two-pack is either an Untold Legend of the Batman issue, or an Archie book. Very curious. I would imagine that these were repackaged and sold to a discounter, but have no other clues to investigate further. I also found this collection of re-packaged books too, complete with poster and trading cards. It doesn't get much more 90's than that. Well, I suppose pogs do, but the less said about those the better. So anyways, that's the story of my greatest find out in the wild. It's definitely scores like this that keep you going. Good hunting, my friends! Just save some of those Superman books you find out there for me!

Now it's time for my favorite part of the haul from my epic estate sale find. As I had mentioned earlier, when I was in the basement level rummaging around I had managed to snag a longbox to start storing all of my finds in. I was working my way up the stairs to the third level, it was tricky to say the least as the stairs were very narrow, and a nice gentlemen noticed me struggling and backed up so I could keep going. I thanked him, and as he noticed what I was carrying said, "I don't think anyone's really noticed it yet, but there are a bunch of comics in a plastic bin mixed in with all of the camera stuff over there." After another round of thank you's, I made my way over to the aforementioned blue bin and found these... A complete run of Adventure Comics #381-424 featuring Supergirl's first solo title run! They were all in order, so as I started to thumb through them all realizing that they were all there, I could barely contain my excitement! There are no real key issues here other than 381, and maybe 397, but this isn't a cheap run to put together by any stretch. All of these are mid to high-grade, and for the most part well presenting. This was right at the tail end of my search through the building after a solid two hours, so to find this box untouched at this point was quite a stroke of luck. Here's a few close-ups of some of the individual issues. This run also has some killer covers, especially later on in the run. Not all of 'em feature an unconscious Supergirl...I promise! And for the cherry on top? The box also had the complete run of the Black Orchid issues and the Spectre issues too! That's epic-ness defined right there!

It's now on my eBay watch list. Those things aren't cheap.

Day three, in the retelling of my estate sale find recap continues! The next book is a hard to find non-key, and was on my radar for some time before I found these. Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #106 from November 1970. With it's cringe-worthy (if not well-intentioned) look at race relations at the tail end of the civil rights movement amid the rise of the black power movement, this one has been sought after for the historical oddity that it is for a while now. Snuggled right in the middle of the usual melodrama of Lois pining for Superman in the previous and following issues, this one must have seemed like quite a head scratcher at the time. And that title..."I Am Curious (Black)!" That's poetry right there! That black cover doesn't help things any, with trying to find a nice high-grade copy. For now, I'm content with my mid-grade and two low-grade copies. Again, not a bad find for a buck fifty!

I love that Superman and Lois statue! I don't see a base, is it hung or mounted?

Yesterday I went through the narrative for my greatest estate sale find. So for the rest of this week we're going to take a look at what else I was able to find, in addition to the Famous 1st Editions that I've already I shown off. After a little more digging I managed to find another sought after treasury sized book, since these were not with the majority of the others. These three books were tucked away in a box with some newspapers, underneath a nearby table. Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man from 1976. Two low grade copies, and a nice looking mid-grade. Not bad for a buck fifty. I ended up selling off my copper and modern Spider-Man collection about two years ago, so this remains the sole Spider-Man book in my collection.

That House of Secrets #95 is some freaky stuff! What a fun collection to try to work on.

I did eventually find a Supes vs. Ali, but that's a story for another day...

This made my day, thanks! Damn, I miss watching this show every night at 11pm on WTVS Detroit Public TV.

So I stopped being lazy and googled it, and it looks like a conscious effort on ebay's end to not be able to automatically exclude certain sellers from your searches en masse. I did go to a couple of my saved searches and edited them to include the aforementioned exclusion instructions, and it looks like it saves it in the search now. Two down, 30 some other saved searches to go...

Yeah, I saw that one. I guess I was looking for a global setting that would block the seller automatically without having to check it each time I do a search.

So I know there has to be a way to do this, I just haven't stumbled across it yet. I have several saved searches on eBay, and recently someone at Mile High Comics has been working overtime by listing a slew of overpriced Superman silver age books. Is there a way to exclude a certain seller from showing up in your searches? I'd hate to actually miss a book I would be interested in, after having to scroll through multiple issues of fair and good condition books at near mint prices. At least they put their watermark at the bottom of the image so you know better than to even click on the listing to investigate further.

Time for a war story from the trenches! Over the years, I've had some mild successes with estate sales. My best find up to this point was a complete run of 7.0 to 8.0 copies of Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths for a buck a book. A nice enough score to keep you out there looking for opportunities, that's for sure. During my routine check of local listings, I came across an announcement for a camera/comic book store that was going out of business in Milford, Michigan. That's about 30 minutes from my house, so definitely worth a gander. The preview pictures showed a three story storefront loaded with piles and stacks of "stuff" all over the place. One table had a collection of about 30-40 Famous First Editions spread out, as well as what looked liked the corner of the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali book! Another table had some Lois Lane's on it, so at this point I was all in! My wife is a photographer, so she was happy to tag along on this one. Along with my son and mother-in-law (who was staying with us for the weekend), we made the trek out there early in the crisp November morning. I was number 37 when we arrived, so I thought for sure all the good stuff would be gone by the time I was allowed in. To my surprise, they let the first 40 in at once! We headed down to the basement, since the pics I saw had a "basement" feel to it. Right away I spy some books and begin looking. Nothing good. All common, mid-grade copper stuff. I move on and find the table with the Lois Lane's. While flipping through those, I hear my Mother-In-Law yell out from across the basement "Hey Tom, are these the first editions you were looking for?" Instantly, there are now a couple of other collectors converging on the table off in the corner. By the time I get there, I see the Muhammad Ali book getting tucked away in someone else's stash. So close... I did, however, manage to get quite a few of the Famous First Edition's to fill out my collection. Famous 1st Edition #C-26 from 1974 and #C-61 from 1979. Not high grade, but nice looking mid-grade copies. I also managed to pick up all of these as well... An almost complete run of Famous 1st Editions. I think the only one I'm missing is #F-7, which reprints All-Star Comics #3. It's a shame, as after the Superman ones, that's probably the one I want the most. Oh well...keep hunting... So how much did I pay for these gems? By the time I had rummaged through all three floors, I was carrying a long box full of books around with me. I was unsure what the pricing strategy was going to be, so I figured it was best to snag everything that I thought I may want, and then whittle it down when I figured out how much they were going to charge me. I think the guy at the checkout was already warn down at this point (and the sale had only been open for a couple of hours, lol). He took one look at my longbox (and the other items that the wife found in her quest) and said "How does $100 sound?" I don't think I've ever produced a $100 bill faster than that. After I split the cost with the wife, and averaged it out, it came to about fifty cents a book! Quite the bargain indeed. I later ended up selling a few of the early Punisher mags and Batman 80-Pagers from this haul on eBay that didn't quite fit my collecting focus, and ended up more than recouping my investment! So what else did I get for fifty cents a book? Stay tuned for the rest of this week and we'll go through it.

Good points. I had completely forgotten about the Martian Manhunter connection via the Supergirl tv show. I'm a strange duck in that I love me some Superman comic books, but I can never seem to stick with the extended media presence in TV and the movies.

Interesting observation about Martian Manhunter. I'm not sure I see the connection, other than each being the last survivor of their respective home planets, but my only result experience with the Martian Manhunter is via the JLA. I'll have to keep my eye out in the future.

Man oh man, I played the heck out of that card when that set came out. Thanks for the memory trigger!

For my money, Mister Miracle was the most successful of the Fourth World titles in both idea and execution. The deceptively simple concept, coupled with Kirby's out there early 70's imagination, led to some great stories. It took me a while to find a nice copy of Mister Miracle #1 from April 1971. I finally picked up this nice looking mid grade copy from a fellow boardie for a nice price. Look at that cover! How could you not want to pick that up! Well, if that one didn't entice you, than surely this one did? Mister Miracle #6 from February 1972. Hands down, my favorite Kirby cover ever. Beautifully homaged by Jackson Guice for Action Comics #708 from March 1995. One last favorite cover of mine is Mister Miracle #13 from April 1973. I love the twist on the old "damsel in distress tied to the rail road tracks" trope. And that Kirby train...classic! This run also features the 1st appearance of Big Barda in Mister Miracle #4 from October 1971. Will Barda and Scott ever make it into the DCEU films? Call me sentimental, but I could definitely see a high action, super-hero romance film being successful. Have we had one of those yet? Deadpool, maybe? Time will tell, but with the Fourth World coming big time with the Justice League movie, we can only hope...