Whiz Comics #2

Date: February 1940
Publisher: Fawcett Publications
Cover Price: 10¢
2013 Price Range: $8,000 – $176,000
Stats: 64 color pages plus ads
Writers: Bill Parker and ?
Artists: C.C. Beck and ?
Notable Notes: 1st appearances of Captain Marvel, Ibis the Invincible, Golden Arrow, Spy Smasher, Scoop Smith, Lance O’Casey and Dan Dare!

Is It This Or Is It That?

Captain Marvel, aka Shazam, has a long and complicated history. The complications begin with this issue and the question of “Is it issue #1 or issue #2?” The inside front cover lists this as issue #2 of Whiz Comics, and a little bit of searching reveals that the first issue was actually an ashcan copy created for trademark purposes and it wasn’t even called Whiz Comics! Anyway, this issue (the true #1 but actually marked as #2) is where all the magic happens. Oh yeah, there are other complications too – such as the name “Captain Marvel”, his close resemblance to Superman and his integration into the DC Universe after DC Comics obtained the rights to the character… but we won’t go there right now.

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Atomic Robo #1

Date: October 2007
Publisher: Red 5 Comics
Cover Price: $2.95
Stats: 22 color pages
Writer: Brian Clevinger
Artists: Scott Wegener, Ronda Pattison, Jeff Powell
Notable Notes: 1st appearance of Atomic Robo!

My Comixology First

I’ve been wanting to try out Comixology for a while, so I finally decided to make an account and check out some of their free issues. This one was free and looked really cool so it became my first read on Comixology! I still prefer physical issues of comics, but this wasn’t a bad experience. Here’s what I thought of the comic:

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ElfQuest #7 (Vol. 2)

Date: February 1986
Cover Price: 75¢
Current Price Range: $3.00
Stats: color; 22 pages plus ads and letters column
Publisher: Marvel Comics Group (Epic imprint)
Creators: Wendy and Richard Pini

A Bit of History with this issue:
As a kid I read a lot of comics, but I only knew a few other people who read them. One such person was my good friend Peter, and his favorite series was ElfQuest. He liked it so much that he got me to try a few issues, and I enjoyed them too. I only ended up buying one issue (because I read all of his instead!) which was this one. I thought it was high time to give it a try again – and I’m glad I did!

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