Fantastic Four #45

Marvel - Dec. 1965

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Crystal
First appearance of Karnak
First appearance of Triton
First appearance of Lockjaw
First cameo appearance of Black Bolt


Welcome back to the Inhumans key issues post, and in terms of Inhumans key issues, this one is a biggie. In this issue, we get to meet for the first time, most of the remaining members of the Royal Family that we haven't seen yet. There are a few that don't make their appearance in this issue, but I will get to some of them in the near future.

It's already been confirmed that every character that makes their first appearance in this issue will be featured in the new Inhumans T.V. show that premiers later this year.

Now, there's so much key issue goodness in this issue that I'm not entirely sure where to start. I guess I'll just follow along with the comic and talk about the characters as they appear.

Lockjaw and Crystal

After the long battle with Gorgon and Dragon Man that started in the previous issue, Johnny Storm (Human Torch) decides to go for a walk to "clear the ol' cobwebs". As he walks past an alleyway in a not so good part of town, he sees a beautiful woman that he instantly falls for. She is startled when he tries to talk to her, and immediately there is a huge gust of wind that blows around a lot of garbage and debris. After the wind subsides, the beautiful girl is nowhere to be found. This beauty is the Inhuman known as Crystalia Amaquelin, or Crystal for short. She has the power to manipulate the four elements, earth air wind and fire, but she can also manipulate electricity.

Now, Johnny can't get this beauty out of his head and decides to go back to the part of town where she pulled the ol' slip on him. Eventually, he see her again, and again, she tries to run away from him again, this time setting a pile of wood on fire as a distraction. As Johnny "Flame's On" to absorb the fires energy, Crystal see that he has powers just like she does, and decides to invite him to her "home" to meet her family.

Karnak and Triton

This is when we get to meet Lockjaw. He is an Inhuman that looks almost exactly like a giant, over-sized bulldog, with antenna protruding from his massive doggy forehead. Crystal needs Lockjaw to get her home, because he has the ability to create portals and teleportation. So Lockjaw creates a portal, and Crystal and Johnny walk on through to meet the fam.

Now that we're under the city, and in the home of the Inhumans, we quickly meet most of the remaining members of the Royal Family, except for Black Bolt that is. We're told that he "isn't home right now".

So moving on, we meet Karnak. When we first see him, he is standing in front of a monolith of marble, studying it. With one swift chop, the giant block is obliterated, and turned into a million much smaller pieces of marble. You see, Karnak has the ability to find the weak spot in any object, making it easy for him to destroy it.

We finally meet Black Bolt

Johnny's cover is blown when he runs into Gorgon and Medusa. He has already had run in's with these two and they know that Johnny is not an Inhuman, like they are. This is also the time that we meet Triton, and as his name might suggest, he is an aquatic member of the family. He cannot live out of the water without his special aquatic suit.

Realizing that Johnny Storm isn't who he was pretending to be, the Inhumans try to set a trap for him, but ultimately he escapes and is able to summon the rest to the Fantastic Four. They arrive at the home of the Royal Family to do battle, when, on the very last page, in the very last panel, we finally get to see Black Bolt. But, we'll have to wait until the next issue to find out more about him, and what happens to our heroes.

Variants

UK Pence Edition

This is one of the Silver Age comics that has a UK Pence Edition. Not every comic from this era does, and I'm not sure why. I thought that Marvel would try to get as many foreign readers as possible, and doing that with the occasional issue seems less likely to do that. Oh well, I'm sure they have their reasons. 

Anyway, like I've mentioned in earlier posts, the only real difference between the UK version and the U.S. version, is in the corner box art. There you'll see 10d instead of the 12¢ that we use here in the States. Other than that, I believe the cover is identical. I can't be 100% sure since I haven't seen a copy, but I'm rather positive that the indicia on the first page will reflect the price difference as well.

Census
This comic is not a sleeper of not a well known key issue by any means. Once there was talk of a movie, people started pulling out their copies and sending them in to be graded. So, census numbers for this issue are up there. Not insanely high, but up there. So far, there have been 1,692 copies graded, with most of them being low to mid/high grades between 4.0 VG all the way up to 8.0 VF. There are some graded higher than that, with 5 being graded at the highest 9.8 NM/M

CGC was nice enough to put the UK edition under a separate label and have a separate census for it. So, for the very under printed UK edition, CGC has so far only graded 11 of them so far. 

I have no idea is this is a true indication of the ratio of U.S.to UK editions. It may be, but if a lot of copies are still in the UK, collectors might not want to spend the money to send them over seas to have it graded. I'm sure it costs them quite a lot more to have comics graded that it does for us over here.

Values

Values of Fantastic Four #45
on GoCollect

If you were lucky to have this comic in your collection before any movie or T.V. show hype, then you were able to make a little bit of money on it if you threw it on the market. You probably still could.

Before they hype, this wasn't a comic that was on anyone's radar, and was most likely only being bought by Fantastic Four or Inhumans fans, not the speculators and investors that are buying them up now. I'm going to use a nice, high grade 9.2 NM- copy as an example. All the way back in Nov. 2012, a copy sold for only $670. That's really not to bad for a high grade Silver Age key issue. only about a year later, another CGC Universal went for $865. That's not a bad bump in value, but it's still well under the $1,000 mark. Then the hype hit.

Soon after, this comic hit that $1,000 mark, then the two, then three, and even the $4,000 mark. In fact, the latest sale on eBay for a CGC Universal 9.2 NM- copy of Fantastic Four #45 sold for $5,400. Wowza that a lot of dough. But in all honesty, I can't see this comic sustaining that price as it moves forward. Some of the lower grades have already seen a slight downturn in terms of sales, as you can see by the all of the red on the chart to the left. This is usually the case in today's market. One loses interest in a comic when the next hot comic hits, sending values for this particular comic down.

So, if you like the Inhumans, and want to snag their first appearance in this issue, you may want to hold off for just a little bit longer for the prices to come down a little bit more. Maybe once the T.V. show finally airs. However, I don't think you'll ever be able to get it for the prices that they once were, but I'm sure you'll be able to get it a little cheaper than they are right now. Happy hunting.

Find a copy here:
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Fantastic Four #44

Marvel - Nov. 1965

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Gorgon
Second appearance of Dragon Man


Up next in part 2 of this Inhumans key issue list is Fantastic Four #44, and the first appearance of Gorgon.  Eme Ikwuakor has been cast to play this role in the upcoming Inhumans T.V. show, airing on ABC later this year. It would seem that Marvel plans to play the first two episodes in IMAX theaters on Sept. 1 of this year. I have no idea if the first two episodes are going to be filmed in the 70mm IMAX format, or the regular 35mm format that most movies are filmed in. I'm hoping for the former, but it will most likely be the latter.

Ok, let's talk a little about this key issue. This is an important Inhumans key because it has the first appearance of Gorgon, who just happens to be the cousin of Black Bolt and is also a member of the Royal Family. He was sent by Maximus the Mad to search for Medusa and bring her back to the Inhuman city of Attilan. We don't learn any of this in this issue, only that he is there to bring her back to "where she belongs". If you're wondering who Maximus and Black Bolt are, and where Attilan is at, don't worry, I'll be talking more about them in the next couple of posts, so stay tuned for those.

The picture says it all

Besides having the Inhuman powers of enhanced strength and durability, Gorgon also has the ability create intense shock waves that could level a city, simply by stomping his hooves on the ground. Yes, he has hooves. Did I forget to mention that? I really must say, he is a very interesting looking character, to say the least.

This issue also holds the second appearance of Dragon Man, the android creation of Professor Gregson Gilbert. Dragon Man doesn't do a whole lot in this issue except create havoc and a lot of problems for the Fantastic Four, oh, and fly away with a car that just happens to have Medusa in it, helping her escape being captured by Gorgon. Both Dragon Man and Professor Gilbert make their first appearance in the pages of Fantastic Four #35.

Variants

U.S. (top) and UK (bottom) versions

Where FF #36 didn't have a UK pence copy that I could find, this issue most certainly does. Both of these covers are almost identical, with the only exception being the price on the cover. Where the U.S version has the 12¢ in the upper left hand corner, the UK version has 10d, as you can see in the picture that I've provided. If the picture is too small, simply click the image to enlarge it.

These UK variants had a very small print run when compared to the U.S. copies. Some sources say that they only make up around 5% or less of the total print run. That can make these variants much harder to find, but, usually the UK copies don't demand as high of a price as their U.S. counterparts, even with the lower print run. They have, in recent years, started to see a rise in value as more and more people are starting to gun for lower print run comics, both new and old.

There may be other foreign editions of this comic out there, however, if there are, I couldn't find any information on them.

Census
All together, CGC has 741 copies of FF #44 listed in their census. In this case, two of those 741 copies are UK variants. That leaves 739 for the U.S. edition. That low number can give you a good idea of how rare the UK edition is. Both of the UK edition copies are graded a mid-grade 6.5 F+.

Looking at the 739 copies of the U.S. edition, surprisingly, most of them are a nice high grade between 8.5VF+ (84) all the way up to 9.8 NM/M (10). There are quite a few 9.4 NM (107) copies out there though. However, there are quite a few of them that have a Restored label, 30 in total.

So, the census isn't too bad, not too high and not too low, for this issue, unless we're talking about the UK version, then it's microscopic.

Values

Value of Fantastic Four #44
on GoCollect

For this section, I couldn't find any information on the UK edition to compare sales to the U.S. version. The sites that I use for research may just mix both of these editions together and not differentiate between the two. Or, the sales for the UK edition might be so scarce, that there really isn't any information on them. After all, there are only two of them listed in the CGC census. So, I'm writing this up assuming that all of these copies are the U.S. version.

The first appearance of Gorgon definitely doesn't demand the same amount of coin as the first appearance of Medusa does. In Sept. of 2016, a 9.6 NM+ copy sold on eBay for $686.36. Compare that to a 9.6 NM+ copy of FF #36 that sold in April 2015 for a staggering $7,499. This could have a lot to do with the fact that there are a lot more high grade copies of FF #44 than there are of FF #36. Either way, that a huge price gap.

Anyway, getting back to this issue, high grade 9.0 VF/NM copies are hovering around the $200 range, which is only up about $100 from where it was five years ago. Even 9.4 NM copies are barely braking the $400 mark, and usually selling quite a bit below it. The 9.4 NM copies have remained pretty consistent value wise over the last few years, with the exception of when the movie hype was everywhere. At that time, there was a nice little boost in value, topping out at around the $800 mark, but have obviously come down a lot since then.

Even though this is a more "affordable" book than FF #36, there still may not be a significant increase in value for this comic. Like I said before, there are a lot more high grade copies floating around out there. However, if you're able to find a rare UK copy somewhere, it may be worth picking up, if the price is right of course.

Find a copy here
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Fantastic Four #36

Marvel - March 1965

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of the Frightful Four
First appearance of Medusa


Marvel has announced the cast for their new, ever expanding list of T.V. shows, The Inhumans. The show was originally planned as a movie, but for reasons unknown to me, those plans fell apart. The Inhumans have already been introduced in Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and now they are getting there own 8 episode series.

In these next few posts, I'll be going over the first appearances of the Inhuman Royal Family that has already been cast. They are going to be mostly volume one of Fantastic Four, which, surprisingly, I have yet to even mention. So, without further ado, let's get to it.

Since I'll be going chronologically, the first issue to get mentioned is Fantastic Four #36. It is currently being sought out because of the first appearance of Medusa. She is going to be played by Serinda Swan in the upcoming T.V. series. But that's not all of the key issue goodness that this comic has to offer. It also has the first appearance of The Frightful Four.

With this issue, it'll probably be best if I start at the beginning. When we first open up this comic, we see Reed Richards and Sue Storm being hounded by the paparazzi over their wedding engagement. It isn't until we hit page three that the baddies show up, and that's where the key issue stuff starts to happen.

On an lonely, empty wharf stands Paste Pot Pete, waiting for Sandman and The Wizard to discuss how they would be able to defeat the Fantastic Four. They all decide that it would be best to form a team themselves, an exact "opposite" of the Fantastic Four if you will. There was one thing missing from this new team of super villains, and that is a female member. It's a good thing that the Wizard knows exactly where to find this villainess, whom he claims is more powerful that the Invisible Woman herself.

Madam Medusa

The Wizard had heard rumors of an all powerful woman on a small island in the Mediterranean. This woman turns out to be none other that Madam Medusa. She doesn't have snakes protruding from her head like the mythological version, but she does have control and can manipulate her hair at will, as well as other abilities. Not the coolest of powers, but hey, who am I to say anything. I've never created any superheroes or villains. Anyway, Medusa joins the trio of evil men and the Frightful Four is assembled. Having formed their new team, they go off and try to execute their plan to bring down the FF. She is also the wife of the silent leader of the Inhumans, Black Bolt, but we won't learn about this until a later issue.

Spidey wants some cake too

I should also note that the X-Men and the Avengers make a cameo appearance in this issue. They are all gathered together, at what I can only assume is the Baxter Building, for an engagement party. And if you look closely, there is also a very very brief appearance of Spider-Man's arm. Spidey's gotta crash a party and snag himself some cake.

Variants
This is a fairly new section where I try to look for available variant covers for comics, but unfortunately for this comic, there are none, or at least none that I could find. Some of the Silver Age books that came out around this time have UK pence copies, but not for this issue. There will be some pence copies for a couple of the next issues that I will be talking about though.

Census
To date, there have been 709 copies listed in the CGC census. There's pretty even mix of high grade 9.4 NM copies all the way down to a low grade 3.0 G/VG. There are a few higher graded copies with only one copy topping out at a Universal 9.8 NM/M. I can only assume that a lot of these copies have been submitted over the last couple of years because before there was any hype about a movie or T.V. show, this wasn't a very sought out comic. You'll be able to see what I mean in the Value section coming up next.

Values

Value of Fantastic Four #36
On GoCollect

When you look at the value of this comic over the last few years, you can see that this was once a bargain bin comic. Yes, I am using that term loosely. It wasn't exactly in the dollar bin, but it wasn't even close to demanding the prices that they are today. For this, I'm going to use 7.5 VF- graded copies as an example, only because it has the most sales over the last few years.

During the Inhumans movie rumor mill period back in 2011-2012, 7.5 VF- copies were only selling in the $115-$145 range. Once it was confirmed in 2014 that there was a movie coming out, values very quickly shot up over the $500-$600 almost overnight, with one sale almost reaching the $1,000 mark. Values hovered around the $500 range for quite a few months after the beginning of 2015, that was until it was confirmed that there would not be an Inhumans movie after all. After that, values started to plummet down below the $300 mark. But, with the news that there will be an eight episode T.V. show coming out, prices may be on the rebound. Only time will tell.

Now why do I think that most of the copies in the CGC census were submitted over the last couple of years? Because of that huge boost in value. Once people saw that this comic was now worth something, a lot of people sent in their copies to be graded. That may have also had an effect on the values too. There were more copies in the market. It's all about supply and demand after all.

Now that prices have come down, it may be a good time to snag a copy of FF #36. Whether values will jump back up to where they were in the near future remains to be seen. I definitely have my doubts, but I've been wrong in the past, and I'm sure I will be wrong many more times in the future. Happy hunting my fellow collectors and investors.

Find a copy here
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