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Star Wars movies and comic sizes
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Started by valiantman,

15 posts in this topic

valiantman

valiantman

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Marvel Super Special #16 (magazine-sized) was released in Spring 1980, which makes it earlier than the Star Wars #39 through Star Wars #44 individual comics.  The comic industry has had love for Star Wars #42 for its "first Boba Fett", but that's not first Boba Fett.  The magazine-sized Marvel Super Special #16 was earlier than Star Wars #42... by about six months.  Also included in Marvel Super Special #16 are the "first Yoda" and "first Lando Calrissian" in comics, combined with "first Boba Fett" makes it a ridiculously overlooked comic... but magazine-sized.  There is just something about magazine-sized comics being larger than standard comics that seems to knock them down in the eyes of many collectors.  They're still CGC slabbed, but they're bigger... and bigger slabs aren't always better.  

Or are they?

Before the love for the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, it would have been "automatic" to assume that Incredible Hulk #271 (regular comic-sized) was preferred to Marvel Preview #7 (magazine-sized).  There are even sales of Marvel Preview #7 at CGC 9.2 and above for $25, prior to any announcement of the Guardians movie.  After the movie, multiply those CGC Marvel Previews #7 prices by 100.  Hulk #271 isn't the preferred Rocket in the market anymore.  Star Lord's first appearance in a "regular comic-sized" book doesn't come close to his magazine-sized earlier appearances.

Rocket Raccoon is a "big star" but he's no Boba Fett.  Peter Quill is no Yoda.  Neither one of them is even Lando Calrissian in terms of pop culture recognition, for that matter.  It's not like they're from different eras, either. All of these characters are now 35+ years old. 

These three Star Wars characters first appear in comic form in the magazine-sized Marvel Super Special #16... which isn't standard comic-sized. It's magazine-sized.  Shouldn't "Spring 1980" (Marvel Super Special #16) beat "December 1980" (Star Wars #42) for Boba Fett first appearance?

The Marvel Comics Illustrated Empire Strikes Back graphic novel was slightly earlier, since it includes an earlier design for Yoda, dated May 1980,... but unless I'm mistaken, CGC doesn't grade 221 page 4"x7" paperbacks.  Our specific market for CGC-graded comic books doesn't have paperback slabs. Our market doesn't have the giant 10"x14" treasury-sized Marvel Special Edition #2, also Spring 1980.  CGC doesn't grade those either.


0228830018_300.jpg

We've got a CGC slabbed regular comic-sized books from Fall/Winter 1980 with "first appearances" of Boba Fett, Yoda, and Lando Calrissian, 1,388 copies on the CGC census, most recent sale CGC 9.6 Star Wars #42 for $190.

0252883005_300.jpg

We've got a CGC slabbed magazine-sized Marvel Super Special #16 from Spring 1980 with first appearances of Boba Fett, Yoda, and Lando Calrissian, 138 copies on the CGC census, most recent sale CGC 9.6 for $110.

Six months earlier, 10 times fewer copies on the CGC census, three major character first appearances? I get that the magazine-size might have been a "problem" in the past, but Guardians changed all that... so what's the story today? (shrug)

Edited by valiantman
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rjrjr

rjrjr

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As you mentioned, the Marvel Comics Illustrated Empire Strikes Back paperback is the first appearance of Boba Fett in comics.  Why go for the 2nd or 3rd printing (depending on if the magazine or Treasury was published first) of the Boba Fett artwork when the paperback is the first printing?  Does it matter if CGC slabs paperbacks or not?  If CGC started slabbing paperbacks, everyone would just qualify Star Wars #42 as the first pamphlet format appearance of Boba Fett, the paperback as the 1st appearance of Boba Fett, and Marvel Super Special as the 1st magazine appearance of Boba Fett and I'd bet the comic format would still be the higher priced format.

Momentum is on the side of Star Wars #42.  In the end, it doesn't matter what makes sense, just what collectors are willing to spend their money on.

Edited by rjrjr
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valiantman

valiantman

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14 hours ago, jcjames said:
14 hours ago, rjrjr said:

 

Momentum is on the side of Star Wars #42.  In the end, it doesn't matter what makes sense, just what collectors are willing to spend their money on.

/answer.

I'll just jot down a quick note in my Comic Hobby journal here... "Never let facts get in the way of tradition and profit."

Got it.  (thumbsu

(That sounds like it belongs in my Politics and Religion journal, too.)  hm

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valiantman

valiantman

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14 hours ago, Chip Cataldo said:

Plus, the cover. Just like Wolverine. 

Interesting point.  Hulk #180 has exactly one page of Wolverine, the last page.  Hulk #181 has Wolverine on the cover and throughout the story.

Marvel Super Special #16 has all of the pages of the Boba Fett story, but doesn't have him on the cover.  Is Hulk #181 really just about the cover, or does the fact that it has all the story pages also important?

In other words, if Hulk #180 had all of the Wolverine story pages from #181, but the same Hulk #180 cover... would it still be valued so much less than Hulk #181?

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jcjames

jcjames

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53 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Interesting point.  Hulk #180 has exactly one page of Wolverine, the last page.  Hulk #181 has Wolverine on the cover and throughout the story.

Marvel Super Special #16 has all of the pages of the Boba Fett story, but doesn't have him on the cover.  Is Hulk #181 really just about the cover, or does the fact that it has all the story pages also important?

In other words, if Hulk #180 had all of the Wolverine story pages from #181, but the same Hulk #180 cover... would it still be valued so much less than Hulk #181?

See also JO134... It's not logical, but apparently the market decides somehow. 

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valiantman

valiantman

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1 minute ago, jcjames said:

See also JO134... It's not logical, but apparently the market decides somehow. 

True - but I'm a big fan of getting all the information out there, even if it's decades late... and seeing if an informed market can change its mind.  You know, like Enron before and after the facts. :wink:

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jcjames

jcjames

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21 minutes ago, valiantman said:

True - but I'm a big fan of getting all the information out there, even if it's decades late... and seeing if an informed market can change its mind.  You know, like Enron before and after the facts. :wink:

 

Well CGC hasn't identified either as being Boba Fett's first appearance (or even 1st cover) YET, so maybe there's still time (even though Voldemort has declared his 1st app to be SW42).

 

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rjrjr

rjrjr

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15 hours ago, jcjames said:

 

Well CGC hasn't identified either as being Boba Fett's first appearance (or even 1st cover) YET, so maybe there's still time (even though Voldemort has declared his 1st app to be SW42).

 

Star Wars Weekly #129 has the 1st Boba Fett cover.

Edited by rjrjr
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