The Detective Comics Thread 5 5

[RockMyAmadeus]

6 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

It looks like Joker, but without the chalk white skin and green hair.

...or red lips, or purple suit, or....

I get it...I understand the argument why it is contextually the Joker...but without that splash in Batman #1, no one would ever claim that #40 is the 1st Joker cover. And that's a shame. There should be an unambiguous 1st cover for the greatest villain in comics history.

 

[Larryw7]

I think what happened is that the second Joker story.was planned for Detective 40, and when DC decided to do a Batman quarterly, they used existing inventory for Batman 1, including the Hugo Strange story originally meant for Tec 38. They still used the "Joker" cover, but completely recolored his whole look because he didn't appear in the book. But that first Clayface story is awesome anyway.

P.S. I like the Tec 62 cover much more than the overrated Joker gun cover.

[lou_fine]

9 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

P.S. I like the Tec 62 cover much more than the overrated Joker gun cover.

I much prefer the Detective 71 cover with the large Joker image over either the 'Tec 62 ballon cover or the 'Tec 69 gun cover.  

Then again, I also would much rather go for the Batman 11 cover over all 3 of these other Detective covers.    

[CW]

On 2/19/2020 at 5:53 PM, FFB said:

Getting things back on track a bit here.  

Welcome back man!!!! A true OG of the boards returns!

[Primetime]

6 hours ago, CW said:

Welcome back man!!!! A true OG of the boards returns!

CW postings becoming more frequent 

[William-James88]

Here's one from my personal collection, Detective Comics 109, with a proper Joker cover

 

 

[Daveb25]

My most recent pickup. 

[William-James88]

Here is another Detective from my collection.

Serious question, would you guys call this a Joker cover?

 

 

[Larryw7]

I would. 

[Marty Mann]

[Daveb25]

My rogues gallery grows 

[Bat-Hound]

On 1/30/2020 at 8:16 AM, Bat-Hound said:

Nice! Exactly what the marked needed for this book. The piece missing top right corner and staple wear has some concerns though? I know each book is different but my prediction is less than 20k. 

Looks like I was wrong!! This Tec #69 has a listed sold price of $28,800. Not bad at all and is more or less holding consistent valuations. 

[Dark Knight]

Agreed on Tec #69 did very well! I also think the AS #3 CGC 3.5 at $20k too! Unsure about the Suspense #3 CGC 5.0 copy if it did well or not.  I don't follow that book closely.

[Primetime]

3 hours ago, Dark Knight said:

Agreed on Tec #69 did very well! I also think the AS #3 CGC 3.5 at $20k too! Unsure about the Suspense #3 CGC 5.0 copy if it did well or not.  I don't follow that book closely.

the Suspense 3 did not do well considering the last 1.0 sold for $21k.

[batman_fan]

22 hours ago, Dark Knight said:

Agreed on Tec #69 did very well! I also think the AS #3 CGC 3.5 at $20k too! Unsure about the Suspense #3 CGC 5.0 copy if it did well or not.  I don't follow that book closely.

I had the same opinion on the Detective 69, really strong price in my opinion.  Same for the All Star 3 but it had decent eye appeal.  I remember several years back when that book got zero love.

[Pantodude]

On 2/21/2020 at 7:10 PM, lou_fine said:

Since Joker is apparently so big with his Oscar nominated movie and all that, has anybody here noticed any movement in terms of 'Tec 40 since that book has now finally been designated as the first Joker cover after some controversy about it in the past?    

Browsing this thread and noticed that no one had responded to your inquiry.  Book has been way up since 2014, and particularly since your inquiry.  On 8/26/20 (the year after the movie), a 5.0 OW = $12,300 on ComicConnect (last reported sale was $2925 (!) in 2014), to be dwarfed on 9/24/21 by the 5.0 OW/W for $20K also on ComicConnect (non-auction listing).  And then we have the 6.0 OW/W that sold on 6/17/22 on Heritage for $31,200.  So I think the answer is "yes," as each one of these were record highs (by a lot).  

Edited June 29, 2022 by Pantodude

[telerites]

On 2/24/2020 at 1:16 AM, Daveb25 said:

My most recent pickup. 

Next time, post something worthwhile to look at 

That is great.  Congrats.

[Professor K]

On 2/23/2020 at 5:07 AM, Larryw7 said:

I think what happened is that the second Joker story.was planned for Detective 40, and when DC decided to do a Batman quarterly, they used existing inventory for Batman 1, including the Hugo Strange story originally meant for Tec 38. They still used the "Joker" cover, but completely recolored his whole look because he didn't appear in the book. But that first Clayface story is awesome anyway.

P.S. I like the Tec 62 cover much more than the overrated Joker gun cover.

Yes! Me too. In fact I have one coming tomorrow or the next day. Good possibility on what you said may have happened. Kind of stinks that on the '1st" Joker cover he looks so poor. Then again we don't need a "1st" with everything. Tec 62, Bat 11, and Tec 69 are the true early Joker covers. Tec 71 and 76 are pretty darn nice as well but I think by then he was getting a little soft.

[D84]

Since I haven't posted in this thread in a while.

[Pantodude]

I also saw in this thread a back-and-forth regarding Joker's 1st cover.  Although it was resolved by reference to Overstreet, etc., making "clear" Tec40 is the 1st Joker cover, we can have fun proving it to ourselves by using the covers and panels in the books (Bat1, Tec40) themselves. 

It seems one should place oneself at the time Bat 1 and Tec 40 were issued.  If you do that, it seems clear that -- regardless of the story contained within Tec40 -- it was the Joker, and could only be interpretted as the Joker, on the cover when Tec 40 came out, especially considering how the Joker had looked up until THAT point (pre-Tec62, Bat11, Tec69,etc). 

The evidence is in Bat 1 itself.  Here is the key scene from Bat1:

 

After readers digested the above key scene, they were treated to THIS preview of Tec40 on the last page of Bat1 itself:

 

Having seen that ad, readers (based solely on that ad) would surely have construed Tec40's cover to depict the Joker.  Here's Tec40's cover:

 

This suggests that DC intended this figure to depict the Joker (as opposed to Clayface, who made his 1st appearance in Tec40).  In any event, readers would inevitably have construed that figure as the Joker at that time, and DC would certainly have anticipated that.  The arguments focusing on how the Joker looked in later issues (like Tec62, Bat11, Tec69, when he was more colorful) is really irrelevant. 

Some might then ask, well how did the Tec40 cover's Joker compare to Bat1's Joker?  The Tec40 cover's Joker actually looks very much like the Joker as drawn in Bat1 panels, when the Joker was still less colorfully drawn.   Look at Bat1 page 7 front:

 

And Bat1 page 7 rear:

 

You can see Tec40 cover's Joker had the same hat, coat, and vest, and even the same ribbon-like tie, but sans the gloves, as in Bat1.  Even had a similar pale face, although in Bat1 it was whiter.  Joker's turned face in the key scene on the roof in Bat1 has no makeup!  Just like in Tec40's cover, where the Joker also has his face turned while on the roof.   

I was intrigued and just wanted to find some harder evidence on this issue, rather than relying on Overstreet or a consensus. 

So unless one read Bat1, followed by Tec40, in early 1940, BEFORE having ever seen an image of the later incarnations of the Joker, one could easily misjudge Tec40's cover in light of how his appearance changed after Bat1/Tec40.   But Tec40 is the "true" 1st cover appearance of the Joker, and we shouldn't need Overstreet's confirmation to appreciate that.   [btw, the images are not mine except for Tec40]

Edited June 30, 2022 by Pantodude