Batman #181

DC Comics - June 1966

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Poison Ivy
First appearance of Dragonfly
First appearance of Silken Spider
First appearance of Tiger Moth


By now, most people have heard of the Batman related show Gotham that airs on Fox. Even though they don't follow the comics, other than the character names, I still kind of like it. I've seen worse shows.

For the first two seasons, the character of Poison Ivy was played by a young, 14 year old actress by the name of Clare Foley. Unfortunately for her, the higher ups for the show decided that they needed an older, more mature actress to play the part and recast the role. The actress chosen to fill in the role is Maggie Geha, who is twice the age as Foley. I can assume that they need an older actress to play the role of the sexy character that they wouldn't be able to do with an actress that was only 14.

There are some big differences in the shows version of the character as compared to the comics, one being Poison Ivy's real name. On Gotham, her name is Ivy Pepper and in the comics her name, depending on which comic you're reading, is either Dr Lillian Rose (Pre-Crisis) or Pamela Isley (Post-Crisis). Enough about the damn T.V. show, let's get more into the character as she pertains to the comics.

Bruce Wayne and Poison Ivy

In this issue, back when Bruce Wayne was only a millionaire, he and Dick Grayson are at a museum that is, for some strange reason, honoring the three most wanted female criminals in the world. While Bruce and Dick are distracted by how beautiful the ladies of crime are, Poison Ivy storms her way in to crash the party. She says that her crimes were so perfect, nobody has ever heard of her before now, and she deserves to be the #1 female criminal in the world, and she is out to prove it.

I'm going to leave the summary of this issue there. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone if they plan on reading it, and, truth be told, it's not really that interesting of a story. You can tell that this comic was written in a different era. If this story were to be published today, you'd probably have feminist groups coming at you from every direction. If you do wind up reading it, you'll see what I mean.

Poison Ivy is the result of some dangerous experimental tests that she ended up being a guinea pig for. She is immune to all types of poisons and bacteria as a result. She can also emit a pheromone that can seduce men to do her bidding.

Silken Spider, Tiger Moth and Dragonfly

The last three characters on the list are the public enemies #1 -#3 that I mentioned a little earlier. They aren't important or popular characters in the DC Universe. In fact there are only a few known appearances in comics for them.

The only real information on them is the order that they appear on the most wanted list. Number one on the list is Dragonfly, followed by Silken Spider at #2, and Tiger Moth is obviously #3. There really isn't any more information than that on these characters since they were so seldom used. There's no backstory for them nor do they have a real name, just  their aliases. They didn't make another appearance in comics until The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul story line in late 2007 and early 2008.

This comic is well known and in no way a sleeper of undervalued. Poison Ivy has been a popular character for a long time. There are not a lot of copies that have already been graded. So far there are only 719 listed on the CGC census. There isn't any one grade that has significantly more copies than another, but there are two copies graded at 9.8 NM/M, the highest for this book. One of the standouts that caught my eye though, there are 25 copies graded at a lowest of the low .5 Poor, and one of them is a Restored copy. I don't think I'll be snagging one of those any time soon. Given that Poison Ivy is such a popular female character and this is a pretty big key issue, I'm surprised to see how many raw copies there still are in the market. I thought for sure that more of them would have been slabbed by now.

Values of Batman #181 on GoCollect

Key issue comics like these usually have a good track record when it comes to sales. There is always a nice steady incline on the sales chart. Yeah, there might be a spike here and there or someone gets a great deal once in a while, but mostly it's just smooth and steady. In this market, things might be moving little faster that normal though. Looking at some sales for mid grade 7.0 F/VF copies, there has been that steady rise. In the last five years, values have gone from around the $350 mark, and gotten up to $625. There was a copy that sold for $700 back in Dec. of last year, but other than that, it's been pretty steady. Sales for most other grades have seen that same increase over time. As you can see, Some of the lower grades have seen a decline, but higher grades are looking good.

I expect this comic to continue to do what is has been doing, even with the character change on Gotham. I don't think there will be a huge boost in demand because of it. There could be a quick boost in value if it ends up being that Poison Ivy appears in the all girl Harley Quinn spin-off movie that I've heard rumors about, but that's a long way off. However, in the comic investing game, there's no such thing as getting in too early.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Batman Family #6

DC Comics - July / Aug 1976

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of The Jokers Daughter

Just who is The Joker's Daughter? Well, contrary to the characters name and appearance, she is not the daughter of the Clown Prince of Crime. She is, in fact, the daughter of another popular Batman villain, and when you hear her real name, you'll probably guess which villain that is.

But before we get to that, lets talk a little about her first appearance in the pages of this giant sized, 52 page comic. In the very appropriately named story "The Joker's Daughter", Dick Grayson and his girlfriend Lori Elton are at a gathering where a manuscript has gone missing. The Joker's Daughter bursts in, and everyone assumes that she is the one behind it's disappearance. Dick quickly makes up an excuse and leaves the gathering, only to reappear seconds later as Robin. The Boy Wonder tries to capture The Joker's Daughter, but since he's Robin, he fails and let's her escape.

The next day, an article in the newspaper claims that The Joker's Daughter wants to return the manuscript, but only to Robin. I don't understand why they had this meeting, but an inevitable fight breaks out between the two. Using some crazy Joker like gadgets and gizmos, The Clown Princess of Crime is able to escape again. At the end of the story, we learn that she never stole the manuscript and that it never existed in the first place.

Like a lot of character in the DC Universe, her background varies in Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis. I'll only be talking a little bit about the  the Pre-Crisis version of the character for now. 

The Joker's Daughter's real name is... drum roll please...Duela Dent. This should be a huge clue as to who's daughter she really is. She has claimed to be the daughter of many iconic villains such as Scarecrow, Riddler and Penguin, but she is actually the daughter of non other than Harvey Dent, ole Two Face himself.

Now's the time when we look at some CGC census numbers. As of this writing, there are only 97 copies listed. Those are only CGC numbers. I've seen auctions for CBCS and PGX graded copies as well, so there are more than 97 total graded copies out there. I do expect those numbers to change fairly quickly as more and more people start digging through their long boxes and send their copies in. Of course, a lot of these copies that are listed are high grade copies, the highest being 9.6 NM+ with 21 copies. There are also a hand full of 9.8 NM/M copies too, nine to be exact. None are graded higher than that so far.

Values for Batman Family #6 on GoCollect

The biggest reason I decided to write about this is because of the large increases in value over the last couple of years. Some grades have seen a significant boost, like 9.2 NM- have vaulted up over 116%. Even 9.8 NM/M copies have gone up over 80%. The latest sale for a copy at that grade on eBay was $482 way back in July of last year. That sale was actually down from the previous sale, which was for $700 a month before in June. There were only two sales for 9.2 NM-, but the values jumped from $90 for a CBCS graded copy, all the way up to $195 a year later for a CGC copy.

The Joker's Daughter has become a more popular character lately due to her reemergence in the New 52 comics. And, with an all female Harley Quinn movie in the works, we might be able to see her hit the big screen in the future. If you want to take a gamble and speculate on this one, it could pay off for you in the not too distant future. 

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect