Date: July 2012 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $2.99 2013 Price Range: $3.00 – $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads and “The Dark” column Writer: China Miéville Artists: Mateus Santolouco, Tanya & Richard Horie, Steve Wands, Brian Bolland Notable Notes: Strange phone booth creates even stranger super-heroes!
I have been a big fan of China Miéville for several years. After reading the bizarre Perdido Street Station I was totally hooked on his writing style. Embassytown , a wonderfully good alien story, only sealed the deal for me. Anyway, when I discovered that he was writing this comic series I knew I had to give it a go! The series has been getting good reviews and hasn’t been canceled yet so I figured it was time to give it a try. It is hard to judge a series or writer by one issue, but after reading this one I am impressed by Miéville’s quirky and dark humor!
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Date: October 1975 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 25¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $22.00 Stats: 18 color pages plus ads and “The Time Capsule” column Written & Drawn by: Jack Kirby Other Artists: D. Bruce Berry Notable Notes: Tiger War!
My older sister picked this comic book up for me about 10 years ago when she purchased a suitcase full of comics at a Las Vegas yard sale. I always thought it looked kind of dumb, and I never really wanted to read it until lately. Having this blog has made me want to experience a wide variety of comic books, so I figured it was time to give this one a try. Plus it was drawn by Jack Kirby – how could I pass that up?
Date: 1986 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads Writer & Penciller: John Byrne Other Artists: Dick Giordano, Tom Zuiko, John Costanza Notable Notes: The start of the bad blood between Superman and Lex Luthor!
I wonder how many enemies in this world actually started off on relatively good terms with each other? It seems like a common thread that people who get along reasonably well can end up hating each other with a burning passion when they perceive that the other one has intentionally hurt them. The world of comics and super-heroes is no different it seems, and in this issue we learn how Superman’s biggest enemy came to dislike him so much.
Date: 1986 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads Writer & Penciller: John Byrne Other Artists: Dick Giordano, Tom Zuiko, John Costanza Notable Notes: 1st appearance of Magpie the jewel thief!
I would love to read the actual comic book where Superman and Batman meet up and work together for the first time. I did a little bit of web searching and it seems like that might have been in issue #7 of All Star Comics back in 1941. I just hope that they took on a better criminal than they did in this issue!
Date: 1986 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus “Meanwhile…” letters column Writer & Penciller: John Byrne Other Artists: Dick Giordano, Tom Zuiko, John Costanza Notable Notes: Introducing… Lois Lane!
I’m not sure how many other times the early Superman stories have been retold in comic form, probably a lot, but I sure enjoyed reading them in this series. Since I’m way too young to have been around during the Golden and Silver Age of comics, my main reference for Superman’s origins came from the 1978 movie, so it was very fun to read about all those “big” moments in a comic book – and one that didn’t cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to boot!
Date: 1986 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 75¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 32 color pages plus “Meanwhile…” and “Superman: A Personal View” columns Writer & Penciller: John Byrne Other Artists: Dick Giordano, Tom Ziuko, John Costanza Notable Notes: Superman’s origin re-told
About a decade ago a friend and I were discussing the Superman cartoons of the day, and he mentioned how he didn’t like the current version of Superman – you know, the one who wasn’t invincible and who had to work for his victories. I liked it and thought it made for more interesting stories, but neither of us were aware of this ground-breaking series from the mid 1980s. It wasn’t long after that conversation that I purchased this series and learned for myself why Superman had weaknesses. If you’ve ever wondered the same thing then read on my friends!
Date: 1988 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $3.50 2012 Price Range: $2 – $20 Stats: 48 color pages (but listed as 52 pages) Writer: Alan Moore Artists: Brian Bolland, John Higgins, Richard Starkings Notable Notes: The issue where Joker cripples Barbara Gordon.
Have you ever wondered why Barbara Gordon / Oracle is in a wheel chair? (Or at least “was”, until the New 52 re-launch) Here is the infamous story from the late 1980s in which we find the disturbing answer to that question.
Date: January 1976 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 25¢ 2012 Price Range: $38 – $3 Stats: 18 color pages plus ads and “Swamp Things” letters page. Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Nestor Redondo Notable Notes: Swamp Thing battles its doppelganger!
Ok, I’ll be honest: when I bought this issue I thought I was getting the one that was Alan Moore’s first issue… but I was sadly mistaken. Alan Moore’s first Swamp Thing script was in Saga of the Swamp Thing #20, not this one, which is just plain old Swamp Thing #20. Sheesh! Such a rookie mistake – I am totally embarrassed! Oh well, I bought and read this one so let’s see how it stacks up shall we?
Date: March 2002 Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: 10¢ (duh!) Current NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 color pages, plus ads Writer: Greg Rucka Artists: Rick Burchett, Klaus Janson, Willie Schubert, Lee Loughridge Notable Notes: Intro to the “ Bruce Wayne: Murderer” cross-over event.
I have a collection of about 1,000 comics or so, and not one of them is a 10 cent issue… well, except for this one. Too bad I don’t own one of the Batman comics that originally sold for 10 cents back in the day! Oh well, I can dream right? And maybe that is something I need to put on my comic bucket list!
