A Note of Thanks To The Artists at the Hartford ComicCon

I have always found it remarkable how people don’t understand how truly talented they are.  Everyone reading this has a talent which is admired by someone.  The problem is we are never told how much we are admired and when we are we tend to shrug it off.

Why is it that we would love to be complimented then when we are we say, “Oh, it’s really nothing.” or “Anybody can do what I do”.  It’s an odd trait that we all have.  That trait was never more obvious than at the Hartford ComicCon this past weekend.

It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I have my own group of favorite artists, writers, etc.  We all do.  But it’s rare to find many of them in one spot on one day and you can meet them all.  This is what happened to me.

With the risk of leaving anyone out my personal favorites are:

Paul Ryan:  Iron Man, Squadron Supreme, Thor and the Thing to name a few
Mark McKenna:  Listed on more than 500 comics and inking over 8,000 pages
Mark Texeira:  Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider, the original Guardians of the Galaxy to name a few
Steve Orlando: Midnighter and Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory to name a few
Kurt Busiek:  Astro City, AutumnLand, Trinity and Avengers to name a few
Chad Hardin:  Harley Quinn, Traveler, The Warlord to name a few
Ray Fawkes:  Batman Eternal, Constantine, Gotham by Midnight to name a few

They are all incredibly talented and I got to meet all of them except Kurt Busiek and Steve Orlando.

The thing that I noticed about all of them, though, was their incredible modesty.  The art that they have created is amazing and all of them were almost surprised at how much of a fan I was.  None of them asked me to pay for the autograph, although two did ask for a small donation to a special cause they were supporting which I gladly donated to.  On top of that several of them did something special for me as a fan.

Mark McKenna was extremely kind and more than willing to sit and talk.  Although he was drawing a custom picture for someone he told me how he much preferred speaking to the fans over drawing custom pics.  Since I did want a custom pic he offered to draw something special and personal if he could draw it at home and I pay a nominal fee (which is well worth it).

Paul Ryan took the time to talk about the cause to which he was taking donations.  He spoke with my son and I like he knew us forever and gladly signed autographs.  Not once did he ever make us feel rushed or that we were just another fan.

Mark Texeira was someone who enjoyed his work and it showed.  He was even surprised at how much we loved his work.  The thing about Mark was that he gave more than you asked for.  He not only signed my comic but he also drew a picture on the comic.  He didn’t stop there, though, he asked for the plastic that we kept our comics in and drew a picture on them!  I now need a plastic sleeve for my plastic sleeves.  He also asked for a modest donation to a cause and I gave him more than he asked for.

Chad Hardin was the first person I got to interact with and he was also incredibly friendly.  Although I did have a Harley Quinn comic for him to sign he was also selling a special Harley Quinn comic of which there were only 1,000 made.  For a nominal fee I bought the comic and he drew a picture of a zombie Joker on the front cover.  For those of you who follow me you know that I asked Neal Adams, at a previous ComicCon, to draw me the world’s only zombie Joker.  It was nothing short of awesome.  But Chad Hardin’s zombie Joker easily matched it.  The Joker he drew looks like it is actually part of the cover.

Ray Fawkes had a funny reaction to us coming to his table.  I was looking all over for him and simply could not find him.  It turns out I must have walked by him and his table 10 times and not seen him.  The reason?  Ray had no backdrop of his work, no fancy signs introducing him like the others had and was very modest.  When I told him we were looking all over for him he said, “For me?” as if he has never done anything worth talking about.  Ray was kind enough to take a picture with me and talk a little about his work.  He told me he was working on a really cool project that was being launched soon but said he couldn’t give any details.  Ray took my award for best dressed artist.

The bottom line is this;  ComicCons all over the world bring together some of the top comic artists together under one roof.  One would think that there would be a lot of big egos all fighting for the right to be the best, but there was no sign of that.  What I found instead were a group of absolute professionals, with a modesty like I’ve never seen.  All acted humble when I complimented them, most were surprised that I like them and their work (who doesn’t?), and all of them went the extra mile to make me feel like I was the only fan they had.  It could not have been a better day.

A note to Steve Orlando and Kurt Busiek, I hope to meet you face to face soon.

Follow The Comic Whisperer on Social Media:

Facebook:  The Comic Whisperer

Twitter:  @comic_whisperer

Instagram:  The Comic Whisperer

Website:  www.comicwhisperer.com

Top 10 Most Collected Marvel Comics Series and Specific Issues to Collect!

As an appraiser I am often asked what the most collected comics are and what issues to watch for.  I can tell you that such a list has several restrictions:

     -This list is as of today.  Tomorrow some of these could change.  It’s not likely, but they could.
     -The value of a comic is strictly what a buyer will pay, these issues are based on market value.
     -I have restricted this list solely to Marvel comics, DC and others are for another day.
     -If a comic doesn’t make this list it doesn’t mean it’s not collectable, it’s just not on the list.
     -These issues are only as valuable as their condition.  This is based on NM condition.

10.)  Nick Fury:  Starting as a soldier Nick is first seen in Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandos. In Strange Tales #135 Nick joins S.H.I.E.L.D.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Sgt. Fury and the Howling Commandoes    #1 - 20 and the #1 Annual.  Special focus on #1, 2 and 13.
Strange Tales                                                #135
Tales of Suspense                                         #78
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.                #1 - 7 and #15

9.)  Daredevil:  Easily one of the most valuable comics in the early runs, this comic is known for holding it’s value.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Daredevil                                                    #1 - 20, 27, 38, 43, 131, 158, 168, 169, 181
Amazing Spider-Man                                  #16
The Avengers                                              #60
The Defenders                                            #24 and 25
Fantastic Four                                           #39 and 40
Journey into Mystery                                 #116

8.)  Silver Surfer:  Listed by some as one of the most powerful characters in all of comics, the Silver Surfer first made his appearance in Fantastic Four and is famous for being a Herald of Galactus.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Fantastic Four                                           #48, 49, 50, 55 - 60, 72
Silver Surfer                                               #1 - 10 and 14
Tales to Astonish                                        #92 and 93

7.)  Fantastic Four:  The First Family of comics is always a collectible in the earlier comics.  Their popularity decreased as the issue numbers grew higher.  The terrible movies did not help their popularity any and also the lack of crossovers with the characters.  The first issues, however?  Collect ‘em, bag ‘em and board ‘em.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Fantastic Four                                             #1 - 30, 48 - 50, 55 - 60, 72, 100, 112

Amazing Spider-Man                                   #1, 5 and 8

The Avengers                                               #1

6.)  The Mighty Thor/Journey into Mystery:  Thor’s first appearance was in Journey into Mystery and only later did he get his own title in The Mighty Thor.  Early Journey into Mystery are hard to get in great condition but scoop them up if you find them.  They are garnering high prices right now.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Journey into Mystery                                   #83 - 100, 109, 112

Thor                                                             #126

The Avengers (12c)                                      #1 - 20, 57

5.)  The Incredible Hulk:  The early issues of the Hulk are extremely hard to find in good shape.  They were prone to what was called “chipping” which Marvel was famous for in the early issues.  In #1 you will see the Hulk with grey skin, but #2 showed him with green skin.  This had to do with printing issues.  The color grey, however, was intentional by Stan Lee as he wanted a color that would not show race bias.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

The Incredible Hulk                                         #1 - 6, 102, 180 - 182

The Avengers (12c)                                          #1 - 3, 5

Fantastic Four                                                #12, 25, 26, 112

Amazing Spider-Man                                      #14, 119, 120

Tales to Astonish                                             #59 - 101

4.)  Captain America:  It’s hard to picture a time where Captain America wasn’t a regular in comic books of all titles.  You name it and Cap has probably made an appearance in it.  Captain America can be traced all the way back to Golden Age comic books.  Look for a price of 10c and you have yourself a Golden Age Cap.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Captain America (10c)                                      Any numbers

All-Select Comics (10c)                                     #1 - 10

All Winner Comics (10c)                                   #1 - 21

Captain America (12c)                                      #1 - 10, 55

The Avengers (12c)                                            #4

Marvel Mystery Comics (10c)                           #80 - 92

Sgt Fury and the Howling Commandos            #13

3.)  Iron Man:  Perhaps no character goes through more visual changes than Iron Man.  He is even known, while fighting the Transformers, to wear “Anti-Transformer” armor.  Tony Stark knows how to build them and how to make them functional.  What he doesn’t know how to do is make one armor for all occasions, they are more specialized.  If you do have the occasion, however, to get lower numbered editions Iron Man is quite valuable.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Tales of Suspense                                                    #39 - 41, 48

Iron Man and Sub-Mariner                                    #1

Iron Man                                                                 #1 - 10, 55

The Avengers                                                          #1 - 20, 57, and 100

2.)  X-Men:  Forgive this if it’s politically incorrect, but the X-Men put mutants on the map.  They are also the team which may be the most ingrained in the modern comic lovers market.  This is due in large part to all of their different spin-offs and the popularity of their movies.  Needless to say, if you have any of the early editions of this comic in good shape you have a rare find.  Further, Days of Future Past is also one that is valuable along with having a great movie adaptation.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

The X-Men                                                              #1 - 20, 35, 94, 100, 141

The Uncanny X-Men                                              #142, 143, and 266

Giant Size X-Men                                                   #1 and 2

Incredible Hulk                                                      #180 - #182 (first appearances of Wolverine)

1.)  Amazing Spider-Man:  Is this really a surprise to anyone?  Spider-Man is Marvel’s answer to Superman and Batman, and a good one at that.  Spider-Man stayed remarkably consistent for many years and then, in the past 2 or 3 years, started going through some remarkable changes.  No matter what has happened to the web slinger his comics have remained valuable.  The number of spin-off series are rivaled only by those of the X-Men.

Titles to look for and Issue numbers:

Amazing Fantasy                                                     #15

Amazing Spider-Man                                               #1 - 129, 238, 282 - 328

Spectacular Spider-Man (magazine)                       #1 and 2 (published in 1968 only)

Spectacular Spider-Man (comic)                             #1, 2, 27, and 28

Remember, even though comics are one of the collectibles that are hot on the market right now they won’t be forever.  These comics will only be valuable as long as buyers are willing to pay the asking price.  I will reassure you, however, that if you get any of the editions listed and it is in good shape  you bag it, board it, and keep it in a moderate-temperature moisture-controlled space.  This will insure that they will always be the most valued in their respective collections...regardless of their value in the marketplace.

Follow The Comic Whisperer on

FB at The Comic Whisperer

Twitter at @comic_whisperer

Instagram at The Comic Whisperer

Our Charity at http://www.gofundme.com/comicshelpkidsread

           

Comics Marvel Would LOVE To Forget (And If You Would Forget Them Too)

It has to be hard to pitch a comic idea.  You really put your neck on the line.  If it works out great you are the hero (pardon the wordplay) if it doesn’t work out your career may be on the line.  It’s a calculated risk, one which the following creators should not have taken.

Here is The Comic Whisperer’s list of comics that Marvel Would LOVE To Forget and, frankly, Would Love If You Would Forget Them Too.

These are in on particular order:

1.)  U.S. #1  I’m not embarrassed to say that I have this one and have read it.  It truly does deserve to be on this list.  I remember it vividly, this came out around the time of the smash hit movie Smokey and the Bandit.  If you haven’t seen it, rent it.  It’s funny, has car chases, car wrecks, cursing, women, the whole nine yards (my apologies to my female readers, to be fair it also has the very handsome Burt Reynolds in it).  The idea for the comic, however, was nothing like Smokey and the Bandit.  It involved a “super-powered” truck driver with a metal head who could pick up C.B. Radio waves (C.B. stands for Citizens Band for those who weren’t born then).  His brother was MUCH more realistic (insert dripping sarcasm here) as he was evil, called Highwayman, was given powers by aliens and crashed his truck into the moon.  All of these ideas should have spelled disaster, but no one hearing the pitch must have known how to spell.  I’ve looked at character bio pages that Marvel puts out and Highwayman doesn’t even rate a bio page.

2.)  Superpro Special Edition  Again, I admit, I have this one.  I did not, however, read it.  Even I couldn’t bring myself to do that.  Let’s just take one fact and I am sure it will convince you that this series was heading for disaster.  The writer, who for their sake I will not reveal, admitted that they only pushed the series to get free football tickets.  ‘Nuff Said?  Not quite.  Let’s look at the demographic for this comic...football fans.  Sure, scoring a partnership with the NFL looks good on paper, but football fans aren’t typically your comic book fans (myself excluded).  This one was a disaster before it even got out of the planning stages.  Now, ’Nuff Said.

3.)  Ultimate Adventures  I also have this one (do you see a recurring theme here?)  This is a clear cut case of overdoing a good thing.  It’s no secret that the “Ultimate” series did very well.  Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Evil, etc, etc.  But, this fiasco, was taking it too far.  This comic was slated to be a combination of an even more brooding, psychotic Batman and a Robin (it was a parody) who you wanted nothing more than to have his mouth duct taped.  His dialogue was unbearable.  It took a year to release these six issues of misery.  In that year you would think that they would cook up some great comedy, but you would be wrong.  There were many reasons this failed other than the main idea behind it.  Those reasons are no more worth reading than the series itself.

4.)  Billy Ray Cyrus  With no apologies to the country music fans, Billy Ray Cyrus is known for two things; Achey Breaky Heart (or however you spell it) and Miley Cyrus.  Both turned out to be big hits and both turned out to be forgettable.  Anyway, this was part of Marvel’s big idea to put out a series of comics revolving around musicians.  The problem was it wasn’t about the musicians themselves.  It was about them in irrelevant adventures.  If you read this comic you see Billy Ray fighting dragons, ghosts and other evildoers while traveling through time.  48 pages of sheer trash.  The upside?  Mullet fans will be happy with the illustrations.

5.)  Marvel Swimsuit Issues  Oh, yes, you read it correctly.  I would have loved to been in on the pitch when this one was brought up.  “Yes, sir, the idea is to put all of the characters in swimsuits.  Yes, sir, the men and the women.  Yes, sir, even the non-human ones.  No, sir, it won’t be tastefully done.”  Interestingly enough, some of these are worth decent money if they are in good shape and, yes, I have a couple of these as well.  I imagine the thought behind this was a singular one, put all of the sexy characters in impossibly small swimsuits and watch the dough roll in.  It didn’t quite work that way.  This one picture may be a clue as to why.

6.)  Marville Originville  One would think with the hilarious play on words in the title that this would be an immediate success (insert your own sarcastic tones here).  Not knowing how to describe this comic I am going to quote io9.com’s description "it starred Kal-AOL Turner, son of media mogul Ted, Rush Limbaugh, some odd thoughts on religion, Greg Horn's preposterously terrible cheesecake covers...and, most inexplicably, the submissions guide to Marvel's former creator-owned label, Epic. It is also about 500% less interesting than I'm making it sound.  They said it far better than I could.  And, no, I don’t have this one, nor will I.

7.)  Daydreamers  First off the title markets this comic to the demographic that can’t afford comics, nor can they read them, and that is 3 - 4 year old girls.  No boy would be caught dead with this title.  This comic was a team-up of Franklin Richards, Howard the Duck, Artie the mutant, and Man-Thing.  Huh?  What drug trip made someone think of this team?  The time frame is sometime after Onslaught killed most of marvel’s heroes.  Franklin went to Xavier’s school for gifted children, met with this bunch of misfits, created his own universe with his mind, and brought everyone there.  Psychologists will tell you that this was Franklin’s way of dealing with the death of his parents.  I will tell you it was a way for Marvel to insert a crappy project in the middle of all of its successes to show the company is still human.  This title didn’t make it past #3.

8.)  Trouble  Coincidentally, the title of this comic is also what it wound up causing Marvel...Trouble.  This comic had two purposes; bring back Marvel’s romantic comics and to, for whatever reason, try to re-re-re-re-re-address Spiderman’s origins.  How many ways can you spin “bitten by a radioactive spider”?   Well, the way they did it was to dedicate this comic to the romance between Uncle Ben and Aunt May.  We have been speaking of demographics all throughout the reviews and one can only guess the demographic being addressed in this one.  My guess is the “people who like to watch two old bags having sex as teenagers” market.  I hear it’s pretty big.  That being said, they didn’t pick up on this comic and it was cancelled promptly.

9.)  Avataars:  Covenant of the Shield  First, this title is way too long.  Second, misspelling “Avatars” doesn’t make it look cool it makes it look misspelled.  Consider this the alternate universe that no one wanted to see.  It takes place on “Eurth” (something my spellcheck wouldn’t even allow me to type without considerable retypes) where Captain Avalon (a.k.a Captain America) and the Champions of the Realm (a.k.a. The Avengers) took on all of the Black Knights of the realm.  To tell you how popular it was, this was a 12 issue series but it was cancelled at 3.  The creators should get a good hearty slap in the mouth for this idea.  To top it all off, this was done in 2000 when Marvel didn’t have two nickels to rub together (now, though, they do have two nickels to rub together) and this didn’t put any more nickels in the bank.

10.)  Onyx: Fight  The first question you should be asking yourself is “who?”  Onyx of course!  You would know them as an extremely popular band in the 90’s who toured the planet to many sold out crowds.  If, of course, they were extremely popular and toured to sold out crowds.  I lived vicariously through the 90’s and couldn’t tell you a single song of theirs nor would I have even recognized the group name had you said it to me.  Yet, Marvel, in it’s infinite wisdom, chose to base a comic on them fighting the good fight.  To add salt to the wound let’s discuss the band member’s names; Sticky Fingaz, Fredro Star and Sonsee.  You might even be further drawn by the “Gurlz” they hang out with in New York City.  It’s all very exciting for the “I like people with nonsensical names that misspell everything in an attempt to sound cool” demographic.  My advice?  Don’t waste your time looking for the single issue that was put out.

Please understand, I am not criticizing Marvel for their mistakes.  I also made a mistake initially when I marketed myself as “Thu Komik Whizzpurrer” hoping to catch the “very quick cat” market.

As a collector, file these comics under Mistakes That Had Extremely Limited Distribution along with the DC Comics of the same genre.  I will be addressing those in another blog.

These get The Comic Whisperer’s rating of a “Slap in the Mouth” for the creative teams.

Remember to follow us on:

FB:  The Comic Whisperer

Instagram:   The Comic Whisperer

Twitter:  @comic_whisperer

Charity:  gofundme.com/comicshelpkids read

The Most Expensive Superhero Movies Made To Date

In a recent blog I shared that I am on the clueless side when it comes to budgets for movies I see.  So, in the interest of readers of The Comic Whisperer’s Blog I looked up the most expensive superhero movies ever made.  Without a large preamble, let’s get to it:

17.)  Thor:  The Dark World (2013):  I am not a huge fan of the Thor movies but I will admit that the comic books have never disappointed.   This movie had an estimated budget of $170 million and wound up bringing in a smidgen over $206 million.  Yikes!  They just made their money back with a little profit for snacks at the cast party.

16.)  Captain America:  The Winter Soldier:  One of my personal favorites, this movie also had a budget of around $170 million but did much better in gross revenue at $259 million.  Their cast party had a petting zoo no doubt with this kind of profit.

15.)  Guardians of the Galaxy:  This one surprised me as it also had a budget around $170 million.  I would have guessed much higher.  The resulting gross sales did NOT disappoint coming in at a staggering $330 million.  When you can almost double your investment you’ve got to be happy.  I’ll bet they had Captain America AND Iron Man make guest appearances at their cast party.

14.)  The Dark Knight:  There is some controversy here about how much this movie made, but I’m going to stick with what I found on a reliable website.  The estimated budget for the film was $185 million with gross sales coming in at $530 million.  Wow!  That’s almost a 300% return on their money.  Now that’s good investing!

13/12.)  Iron Man 2 and 3:  The special effects in these movies were incredible.  It’s getting harder and harder to believe your eyes when you watch todays special effects.  It all looks amazingly real.  To make these movies look real took some big bucks.  Iron Man 2 had an estimated budget of $200 million and has gross receipts of  $310+ million.  Iron Man 3 had a similar budget of $200 million with gross sales of $408 million.  Although Robert Downey Jr. has said he is tired of playing Iron Man and is ready to call it quits, don’t think that the Iron Man cash machine is going to slow down.  Hopefully they won’t cast Ryan Reynolds as him as well as the other characters he’s mangled.

11.)  Spider-Man 2:  Sam Ramie’s combination of Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst didn’t disappoint in this movie that had a budget of $200 million.  Box office tickets sales loved them as they brought in an amazing $373 million.

10.)  The Amazing Spider-Man 2:  Marc Webb’s rendition didn’t fare too well.  What with a budget of $200 million no one was happy with receipts of $202 million.  No webbing can cover up that wound.

9.)  Green Lantern:  It’s no secret that I am not a fan of Ryan Reynolds the actor.  I’m sure as a person he’s an extremely nice guy.  It’s nothing personal.  This movie’s return on investment should be taken personally, though.   With an investment of around $200 million this bomb of a movie generated approximately $116 million.  In all fairness it wasn’t Ryan Reynolds who killed this movie.  Poor writing, lack of a real plot, no character development AND Ryan Reynolds were to blame for this box office disaster.

8.)  Superman Returns:  Despite being a HUGE Superman fan I did not see this movie.  Apparently I had good reason.  This film had a budget of $209 million and barely hit $200 million in total sales.  Maybe Superman should have stayed where he was and chosen not to return.

7.)  X-Men: Days of Future Past:  Enough cannot be said about the comic books surrounding Days of Future Past.  As an appraiser I can also tell you that these comics have increased in value.  The movie, however, was not so fortunate.  Having a budget of $200 million this comic book success turned box office meltdown struggled to hit $234 million.  A $34 million dollar return sounds great to me but, alas, in Hollywood they don’t see it the same way.

6.)  X-Men:  The Last Stand:   The X-Men hit the list again with X-Men:  The Last Stand.  I personally liked both this film and Days of Future Past but it appears that I was one of the few.    The initial investment here was around the $210 million mark and returned a measly $234 million.  It may have very well been one of their last stands.

5.)  The Avengers:  Loved this movie!!!  Again, I wasn’t the only one.  The Avengers had a budget of $220 million which seems low based on all of the special effects they had.  The return, however, was incredible, coming in at an earth conquering $623 million!  It’s no wonder why they are working around the clock to continue the development of these films.

4.)  Man of Steel:  Another Superman movie I haven’t seen, this film had a budget of $225 million with returns of $291 million.  Not a bad haul, but a disappointment for those who are comparing the Marvel and DC box office receipts.

3.)  The Amazing Spider-Man:  Is it me or are the Spider-Man movies getting harder to keep track of?  Different people playing Spider-Man, Spider-Man and Amazing Spider-Man movies, different Mary Jane’s, what’s a comic book fan to do?  It harkens me back to the football games my dad used to take me to.  Program vendors were yelling, “Get your program here!  You can’t follow the players unless you have a program!”.  I think I need a program.    This film had a budget of $230 million and had box office returns of $262+ million.  Not good, but not bad.  This franchise will continue to grow.

2.)  The Dark Knight Rises:  Yet another part of the Batman franchise makes it’s way onto this list.  With a budget of $250 million this outstanding film brought in $448 million.  If the Batman vs. Superman movie factored in box office take, it appears that Batman would be the clear winner!

1.)  Spider-Man 3:  The most expensive superhero movie ever made had a budget of $258 million and returned a smidgen over $335 million.  It is becoming abundantly clear that the amount of money you spend is not always translated into total revenue earned.  It’s a shame, really.  In Hollywood, it appears, that you don’t always get what you paid for.

All this being said we are still waiting on total receipts for Avengers:  Age of Ultron.  The budget for that film was an estimated $250 million.  Let’s see if that works out well in box office returns.

I think it’s safe to say that with the release schedule of Marvel and DC, among others, we will continue to see increases in budgets as production companies try to trump one another with rising returns.  As fans we can only benefit from this competition, so I plan to enjoy it.  Just remember to stay until the credits are over and the lights come up in the theaters or else you might miss the important stuff!!