Date: June 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page. Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Balder is summoned by Odin!
I love wolves, and always have. In this issue we get to see a very cool messenger for Odin: Geri the wolf – which delivers a personal invitation to Balder. How cool would that be? Having a wolf summon you to an audience with the king – very awesome indeed!
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Date: November 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Postbox: The Pit!” letters page and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Larry Hama Artists: Mike Vosburg, Jon D’Agostino, Joe Rosen, G. Roussos Notable Notes: Cobra fugitives get lots of help!
I commute to work on a bus nearly every day. It is nice because I can read, or surf the internet or just take a nap. But sometimes, in the back of my mind, there is a little bit of worry that something crazy is going to happen. You know, something like the driver getting us in a big crash, or even worse – the bus gets hi-jacked like in the movie “Speed”! This issue has a scene where a bus gets taken over by one of the Cobras, and as you can see from the cover it makes the ladies cry – now how sad is that! Plus, now I’m going to have nightmares about my own bus getting attacked by some crazy para-military group – sheesh!
Date: May 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads and “Letters Without Fear” Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna Notable Notes: Someone is methodically targeting Daredevil!
I don’t hate hospitals, but I don’t particularly like being in them either. There is always that “hospital” smell, and lots of action and noises going on. It’s a hard place to relax. But if you don’t like them either, you’ll be glad to know that Matt Murdock especially hates them! Yep, can you imagine having to spend time in a hospital with super-sensitive senses? Yeah, it would probably be quite uncomfortable!
Date: April 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna Notable Notes: Matt and Foggy spend a night on the town – DD style!
When I was younger (um, yeah, younger…) I used to dream about what it would be like to spend time with a super hero. Wouldn’t it be cool to swing along with Spidey, watch Captain America whirl his shield or tag along with Thor as he put the hurt on the villains of the world? Well, in this issue we get a small glimpse of what that would be like as Daredevil takes along a very important passenger. And how cool it is!
Date: August 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $1.00 – $10.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page Writer: Tom DeFalco Artists: Ron Frenz, Josef Rubinstein, Joe Rosen and Glynis Wein Notable Notes: Spidey battles the Black Fox, the Red Ghost and 3 super apes!
I find our primate cousins – gorillas, orangutans, monkeys – to be just fascinating! I love watching documentaries, like Nature on PBS, that follow these amazing, beautiful animals and reveal their world to us. Silver back gorillas are especially cool, and a little bit frightening too. I can’t imagine what it would be like to come across one of these beasts in the wild! In this issue we get to see a criminal who has to do his work with 3 of these apes watching his every move – and ready to make him pay the price should he mess up! Ulp!
Date: October 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Postbox: The Pit!” letters page and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Larry Hama Artists: Mike Vosburg, Jon D’Agostino, Joe Rosen, Andy Yanchus Notable Notes: 1st appearances of Cover Girl and Trip-Wire!
I loved the 3 3/4 inch G.I. Joe figures when they first came out in the early 1980s – and I collected many of the first ones, along with some of their awesome vehicles. Because I had those toys, this issue was more fun for me. I got to see The Wolverine missile launcher, the motorcycle with machine gun side-car and the jeep with the gun on top! Loads of fun, and it helped me to re-live a bit of my childhood. That’s a sign of a good comic book… isn’t it?
Date: November 1998 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.99 2013 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus “American Graffiti” letters page, Bullpen Bulletins, fold-out gate cover and ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Chris Sotomayor and Todd Klein Notable Notes: Cap goes from cuckoo to berserk!
Why is it that when good guys go bad they go really, really bad? There is no such thing as a good super hero who just mellows out and becomes bland and boring. No, they go full bore bad! That is definitely the case in this issue as our red, white and blue hero goes over to the dark side in a big way! Come back Captain America, come back!
Date: May 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 24 color pages plus ads and Bullpen Bulletins Story & Art: Walter Simonson Other Artists: John Workman, Jr., Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Thor rallies an old timer to help him fight a dragon!
In the last few issues, Odin has disguised himself as a wandering traveler and visited some people who were left none-the-wiser. I couldn’t help but think how much he looked and acted like Gandalf in those scenes! I wonder how much one mythology was mixed with another there? Oh well, it was still fun, even if the scenes did feel a little bit out of place.
Date: March 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $2.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus lots of house ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna, Paolo Rivera Notable Notes: Daredevil and Spider-Ock battle Stilt-man!
Ah Stilt-man, what a bizarre enemy for Daredevil to have! I mean, a man who has telescoping legs – really? Anyway, as I was reading this issue I realized that I have the actual issue in which Mr. Long-legs makes his first appearance! Maybe I’ll have to dig out my copy of Daredevil #8 and give it a read now that this crazy villain has made somewhat of a modern come-back!
Date: February 2013 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads and “Letters Without Fear” column Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Chris Samnee, Javier Rodriguez, Joe Caramagna, Paolo Rivera Notable Notes: Daredevil solves the mystery of Coyote, The Spot and Foggy’s client all at once!
I mostly quit buying new comics about a year ago. Not that I don’t like them, or think they’re bad – I just wasn’t willing to shell out so much money gambling on whether the issues would be good or not. The big exception, of course, is my favorite hero: Daredevil. Although I don’t have a pull-list at the local shop anymore, I still order the latest DD comics online every few months so that I can keep up with this awesome series. This most recent batch cost me a few extra dollars because issues #21 and #22 were more expensive and harder to find. Oh well, it was worth it and that is the price of being a collector right?
Date: July 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $1.00 – $10.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Spider’s Web” letters page Writer: Tom DeFalco Artists: Rick Leonardi, Josef Rubinstein, Joe Rosen and Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Hobgoblin’s Battle Wagon is retrieved… then stolen!
Yep, just like the Alanis Morissette song, some pretty ironic things happen in this issue of our favorite web-crawler! To begin with Hobgoblin’s vehicle is stolen right after the authorities retrieve it. Also, Peter is trying to be the bigger person and apologize to his aunt, who is acting like him! Sheesh – will the craziness never end!
Date: October 1998 Publisher: Marvel Comics Cover Price: $1.99 2013 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus “American Graffiti” letters page, Bullpen Bulletins, fold-out gate cover and ads Writer: Mark Waid Artists: Andy Kubert, Jesse Delperdang, Chris Sotomayor and Todd Klein Notable Notes: Cap goes cuckoo!
Do you ever feel like giving in to the demons in your head? I know I sure do! Somehow, reading this issue, I found it a little bit comforting to know that even heroes like Captain America sometimes struggle with their inner battles. I guess we all have those feelings from time to time, but what really sets the heroes apart is how they handle those thoughts. Here is a great issue that exposes some of the struggles Cap has.
Date: February 1966 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 12¢ 2013 Price Range: $11 – $210 Stats: 20 color pages plus ads, Marvel Bullpen Bulletins and “Let’s Level With Daredevil” letters page Writer: Stan Lee Artists: Jack Kirby, John Romita, Sam Rosen Notable Notes: In which we find out out Ka-Zar’s origin!
I bought this issue years ago purely for the cover. (Well, that and I am a big Daredevil fan too!) I remember as a little kid growing up during the Bronze Age seeing this iconic image of Daredevil on posters as well as in books and reprints. I loved it then and I love it now! I would say that along with Thor #337 the cover of Daredevil #13 is one of the greatest covers in comic book history! I just wish I could say the same for the story inside.
Date: April 1984 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 21 color pages plus ads, Bullpen Bulletins and “The Hammer Strikes” letters page Story & Pencils: Walter Simonson Other Artists: Terry Austin, John Workman, Jr., Christie Scheele Notable Notes: Thor goes to Antarctica.
I am a big fan of science programs on TV, especially the ones on PBS – like Nature and Nova. Every time they show scientists and animals in Antarctica I always think it would be fun to go there… but only for a little while. Seeing the penguins and the harsh environment, or studying sea ice would be totally interesting! Anyway, here is an issue where Thor goes to that very continent – but it’s not for scientific research!
Date: September 1983 Publisher: Marvel Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2013 Price Range: $2.00 – $18.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads, “Postbox: The Pit!” letters page and Bullpen Bulletins Writer: Larry Hama Artists: Mike Vosburg, Jon D’Agostino, Rick Parker, Andy Yanchus and Denny O’Neil Notable Notes: 1st appearance of Major Bludd!
I remember growing up during the 1980s and all the stereotypes surrounding Central and South America: full of drug lords, guerrilla warriors and corrupt leaders. There seemed to be a bunch of movies, books and comics that played off those stereotypes too – some to great acclaim. Here is an issue that, regardless of the stereotypes, is still a great read!
