World's Finest

[Tnerb]

Originally written for PopCultureUncovered with the upcoming Batman Vs. Superman movie to be released. I hope I did it justice.

 

Batman and Superman: Truly the World's Finest.

 

As a Marvel comic book fan it might be difficult for me to say this, but my first introduction to the World's Finest team wasn't the Fantastic Four, Avengers, or the X-Men; it was the super duo of Batman and Superman. Even though I wasn't around for their first comic book meeting, I was introduced to them in 1981. It impacted the way I would look at team-up books over the next few decades.

 

The two Golden Age heroes originally teamed up in print with Superman #76, where they exchanged secret identities (5-52). This was published between the Golden and Silver Age of comics, known as the Atomic Age. If you want their true first meeting, it was actually years before, on March 5th 1945. This took place on the Superman radio show, but that's a whole different story, or is it?

 

My father was only four when the Dynamic Duo and the Man of Steel joined each other on the cover of World's Best Comics #1, something they also did a year earlier in New York World's Fair Comics from 1940, but if you opened the pages, they were never paired together. Over the years National Allied Publications (before they became DC, a name they were called throughout the years, but wasn't officially their company name until 1977) presented the covers with Clark and Bruce's alter egos, but they didn't find themselves working together until 1954 when DC published World's Finest #71 entitled "Batman-Double for Superman".

 

Four decades had passed before a copy of the greatest super hero duo made its way into my hands. The series lasted for 323 issues and ran from 1941 to 1986, but it was issue #271 from September of 1981, 200 issues after they joined forces, that introduced me to the comic book world of Superman and Batman together. At nine years old it was a comic I read over and over. To this day I still have no idea how this comic book came into my possession. For $1 I would have rather purchased a candy bar than an over-priced publication.

 

Issue #271 was a few stories told in one comic book. This is where the radio drama unfolded in beautiful four color form. Batman was missing and it became Superman's job to rescue him, with the help of Robin, the Boy Wonder. One story even had Bruce help Clark when Lois was absolutely, positively sure that Clark Kent and Superman were the same person, not to mention that Bruce discovered that Superboy and Ma and Pa Kent's adopted son were one and the same. And did you know that Robin was the defender of Gotham since Batman was originally dead on Earth 2?

 

In January of '86, DC ended the long running World's Finest with issue #323. The cover was simple as Batman and Superman said goodbye, two words rested on the cover stating "The End". The title of the issue was "Afraid of the Dark". I never purchased it.

 

To this day issue #271 is still the be-all, end-all Superman/Batman story to me, while many favor Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The success in the eighties of DC's square bound limited series starring both of their franchise quarterbacks (as older counterparts) prompted a second series, the Dark Knight Strikes Again, and more recently the Dark Knight III: the Master Race. The first two can be found in trade paperback format for the reader, while the more collectible conscious person might hunt down a reasonably priced graded copy.

 

I recently found among all the new number ones, that my passion in collecting comic books has remained strong for nostalgic reasons. There is something beautiful and poetic about finding a book from my childhood, and also that I would find it today in the same condition it might have been in when it was originally on the shelf thirty years ago.

 

In today's market, at the turn of the millennia, after Superman's death and Batman's broken back, third party grading arrived on the scene. This helped cause speculation, and dealers to clamor for higher prices. And now with a movie that should have been released right around 2007's I am Legend, many key team-up books featuring the two Warner Brother's franchises has led for these issues to be desired again.

 

On eBay, typing in Superman and Batman along with Comic Books will fetch you over 15,000 hits. Some of them tediously priced, most likely caused by the fervor of the upcoming movie. In 1979 Superman was shown to the world making us believe a man could fly. Ten years later we realized that Mr. Mom could be a good Batman. And when it was announced Ben Affleck would portray Batman, fanboys (and girls) frothed at the mouth spewing their feelings about it.

 

As far as comic book collectors (and dealers) were concerned, this caused more and more people to send in books to get graded, speculating that the higher the grade, the better the profit. After all, it worked for New Mutants 98, the first appearance of Deadpool. A perfect Gem Mint 10 copy sold for $15,449, a price normally reserved for books from the sixties, not the nineties.

 

The Dark Knight Returns had several printings. Issue #1 had four different printings graded by CGC. 1,857 of the first printing of the Dark Knight Returns was graded by the premiere grading company while 1,239 of issue two (first printing), 1,327 of issue three (first printing), and 1,407 of issue four.

 

It is rare when a comic book series' subsequent issues climb higher in the number of graded copies. Issue one is normally the highest submitted issue, keys withstanding, then the numbers usually drop, like in this instance, it is unheard of for a third issue and then a fourth issue grade more frequently than the second issue. In fact, I know of no other instances.

 

When it was finally announced that Superman would battle the Caped Crusader the Dark Knight Returns was once again becoming a hot commodity. Issue #1 has climbed in the last few years, almost doubling what it was selling for in 2012. The last recorded sale, as of this writing was $650, slightly less than the $708.90 day average. The 90 day average for the following issues graded a 9.8 by third party grading company CGC are as follows: #2 at $163, #3 at $124, and issue #4 at $270. Imagine originally buying these at cover price.

 

Not to mention the fact that a Gem Mint 10 copy of issue 3 sold for over six times the amount of a 9.8 copy. This sale happened in August 2008 and I could only guess it would sell for six times that in today's market. I don't see the owner parting with this anytime soon (No, it isn't mine.)

 

As for my ultimate Superman/Batman pairing, there is no 90 day average. Only five 9.8 copies of them have been recorded as being sold and one of those copies is recorded twice. The highest it ever sold for was in 2007 for $192, the following year the price dropped to $45, and the last sale was in 2014 for $90. Only 18 have been graded by CGC and a third of those are the coveted 9.8 grails. One day I hope to find a copy that looks like it came fresh off the shelf and send it in for grading myself.

 

The issue itself was dedicated to telling the history of the forming of the two greatest DC characters ever created. In each story, weaved together in a singularity tale so the reader could understand and enjoy. The plot concluded with them becoming friends, so what other possible outcome could there be on the silver screen?

 

And I almost forgot Superman #76, the only 9.4 graded by CGC was sold in 2011 for a minimal $8,365. The highest copy recorded on the CGC census is a 9.6. Two of which exist out of the 197 recorded as being graded. There are no recorded sales by GPA for those.

 

I try not to speculate on what I can buy to sell. In 1986 I purchased what I liked to read. And when DC published this Frank Miller classic I passed on getting this iconic story for other comic books (it was expensive for a young teenager with an allowance), but I will not pass seeing these two characters up on the silver screen as they square off against each other. The only question remains is not if the movie will be great, but will I see it the day it is released.

 

Thanks for Reading

 

 

*all sales figure numbers are from GPA. GPA does not get all sales data from all sources or from private sales.

 

*all quantities of graded comic books are from the census created by CGC. The census is only an approximate count since any books taken out of their protective slabs nulls any certification.

 

*additional information was also attained from an editorial written by the writer of issue #271, Roy Thomas, published in the inside cover of the same issue. An issue I recommend to anyone who likes these two characters together.

 

*Batman being dead on Earth II is not entirely accurate. By the end of World's Finest, when Batman and Superman defeat the villain of the issue, it was revealed that Batman of Earth II was dead, but in our world two years later when Brave and the Bold #197 was released, Catwoman married the Caped Crusader. How that worked in the Copper Age continuity or even today's, is anyone's guess.

 

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[seanfingh]

Superman v. Batman

 

[Tnerb]

That is beautiful

[seanfingh]

 

Thanks!

[Ronnylama]

Go Tnerb.....................keep 'em comin'

[PowderedH2O]

For whatever reason, World's Finest was a book that I could never track down as a kid. So, in 1973 I invested the tidy sum of $2.40 for a one year subscription. Now, I was eight years old, and half my comics were coverless, so I wasn't concerned about the condition. They were freaking comic books. I was so excited to get my comics through the mail, I didn't get a full year. They ended up having the 50 cent issues come in to screw things up. But, I read every issue many times over,

I ended up writing a letter to World's Finest near the end of the run. I got a letter back from the editor (sadly, it is long gone) thanking me for my support for the book, and he told me that it was getting cancelled. He said that the creative teams had always struggled with finding new ways to write stories for the same two characters. I snatched up that last issue in the mid 80's, and now I have about a hundred old issues of the title. I shared that fondness for the book with you, although at a much earlier time.

My kid is selling World's Finest chocolate bars for a dollar now. I guess I can get one of those, but it isn't quite as sweet...