Uncanny X-Men #221

Marvel - Sept. 1987

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Mister Sinister

Could it be that we've found out who the main villain in the upcoming Wolverine 3 is? Well, if you listened to the commentary on the X-Men: Apocalypse Blu Ray or DVD, you've probably heard from Bryan Singer that it will be Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mister Sinister.

Director James Mangold recently put a little twist to this story when he tweeted out that he has never heard of the "Sinister guy", so will he be featured in the movie, or won't he? Either way, this comic has seen some attention since the release of X-Men: Apocalypse, merely out speculation, because of an appearance of someone that looked like he could been this Sinister character in the end credits scene. So, for Mr. Mangold's sake, I guess I should tell you a little about this Sinister fella, and his first appearance in this issue.

Mister Sinister

When were first introduced to Mister Sinister, we see that he has enlisted the Marauders to carry out one of his missions. This mission is to make Madelyne Pryor disappear. It's not known why he wants her gone, since it's never disclosed in this issue. The Marauders end up kidnapping Pryor from her hospital bed, but soon go face to face with the X-Men.

In a later issues, we learn that Mister Sinister wanted to get rid of Madelyne was because she was starting to get her memories back. You see, Mister Sinister created Madelyne Pryor. She is a clone of Jean Grey. He created the clone because he figured out that if Jean Grey and Scott Summers (Cyclops) were to have a child, that he/she would be one of the most powerful mutants, powerful enough to take down Apocalypse. But since Jean was under the influence of the Phoenix Force and very unstable at the time, he created Madelyne Pryor for the purpose.

The Marauders

Nathaniel Essex was a brilliant biologist in the mid 1800's. He theorized that the combining of genes from certain individuals would result in the mutation of the offspring over time and create superior beings, like Jean Grey and Scott Summers would. Essex was considered on of the greatest scientific minds of his time by some, and dangerous by others. He was eventually given is powers and immortality by the first mutant, Apocalypse, and took up the name Sinister.

Finding print run numbers for comics that came out at this time isn't an easy thing to do. I couldn't find any information while doing my research for this comic, but I'm sure they are not in short supply. Doing a quick search on eBay or other online comic shops turns up many results, a lot of them ungraded.

As for graded copies, there have been 1,405 copies graded by CGC thus far. It's no surprise to me that most of these copies are in very high grade. Of those graded, 1,128 are graded a 9.4 NM or higher. Most of the copies are a very high 9.8 NM/M (595 copies) while three of them are graded at a highest 9.9 Mint.

This comic has seen a lot of action in the market lately, especially on Sept. 12th, when the news about Mister Sinister's appearance in the Wolverine movie hit the web. It looks like everyone started scooping up all of the high grade copies on eBay they could find. There were 21 sales of this comic on that day alone.

Values for Uncanny X-Men #221 on GoCollect

Since there are so many copies of 9.8 NM/M out there, let's take a look and see how they've performed. When we go back to early 2011, this was pretty much considered a bargain bin comic. You could snag an already graded copy for around $40-$50. Values shot up to the mid $100 range a couple years later in 2013 and hovered there for quite a while. Then, in about May of this year, it shot once up again to around $250-$300 range, probably because of speculation that it was Mister Sinister that was in the end scene of X-Men: Apocalypse. Now all of the sales that happened on Sept. 12 range between $175 up to $249.95, and that's where they have been since then.

There have been a few sales of 9.9 Mint copies too. Back in 2009, a copy sold at Heritage Auctions for only $418.25. Fast forward to 2014 and we see a copy dropping for $750 on . Not a bad increase and still somewhat affordable for a comic in that grade. It will be interesting to see what a copy would go for now.

So Much Fun! Inc. variant

We have a "So Much Fun" copy of Uncanny X-Men #221 out there for all of you variant and rare comic hunters out there. These copies are easy to spot from the original cover. If you look, you will see under the title is the word "Classic" and in the UPC box, it reads "Distributed by: So Much Fun! Inc." I've included a picture for reference. I have no idea who So Much Fun! Inc. is. I couldn't find any information at all on them. However, it's estimated that the print run on this variant is about 5,000 copies. There are only 19 of them listed in the CGC census so far. The fine folks over at CGC recognize it as a second print, but they do make note of the So Much Fun variant on their label. Don't expect this comic to be and easy find. As of this writing, I could only locate 4 copies available on eBay, Two graded and two ungraded. If  you're looking to snag one of these hard to find variants, then click here.

I'm not sure if this comic has reached a peak or not yet, or, if it hasn't, how much more potential that it has. I myself am weary about snagging a copy now, but if you feel that it has more room to grow as an investment, then you should go for it. If I were to snag a copy, I'd probably go with one of the variants, if I could get it for a decent price. As always, I leave the decision to you.

Find a copy here
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New Mutants #87

Marvel - March 1990


Key Issue Notes
First full appearance of Cable
First full appearance of Mutant Liberation Front
First full appearance of Stryfe
First full appearance of Wildside
First full appearance of Forearm
First full appearance of Reaper
First full appearance of Thumbelina
First full appearance of Strobe
First full appearance of Tempo
First full appearance of Zero
Skids leaves team
Rusty Collins leaves team

The New Mutants #87 is the second most valuable comic from the volume one series. It's ultimately know for having the first full appearance of Cable, but as you can see from the key issue notes, there's a lot more to it than that.

Let's start out with the most obvious appearance. As a lot of people that watched the Deadpool movie know by now, Cable will be making his big screen debut in the upcoming sequel. When said sequel will be released is still unknown at this time, but with San Diego Comic Con right around the corner, I'm sure we'll be hearing some news about it soon.

Cable is a time traveling mutant that has telepathy and telekinesis powers. His real name is Nathan Summers. He's the son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor. Scott Summers is better known as Cyclops from the X-Men.  At an early age, Nathan was infected with the Techno-Organic Virus, which caused his body to be partially consumed by metal. There was nothing that could be done to save him in the present, so he was sent to the future to be cured. 

Cable

The Mutant Liberation Front is a super mutant group that commits acts of terror in the name of mutant rights. In this issue, the MLF is trying to rescue Skids and Rusty Collins. They were being help captive in a hospital by the government. Skids and Rusty end up leaving the New Mutants and joining the MLF after they are rescued.

This comic also has the first full appearance of Stryfe. He is the leader of the MLF. Stryfe is the clone of Nathan Summers. He was created by Mother Askani in case the Techno-Organic Virus completely comsumed Nathan Summers, and he died. Stryfe was later kidnapped and raised by Apocalypse.

Stryfe

Richard Gill, also know as Wildside, is a particularly crazy kind of villain. He has the power to cause hallucination in others, but prefers to scratch, claw, maim and kill using is long sharp nails and teeth.

Forearm, aka Michael McCain, is the brute of the MLF. He has an extra set of arms (haha... four arms.... get it?) and has super human strength.

Reapers real name is Pantu Hurageb. He is an Mutant Liberation Front member the the power to slow the movements of and paralyze people. Not to be confused with slowing down time.

Thumbelina's powers are pretty obvious. She has the ability to shrink down to small sizes, but as she gets smaller, she gets stronger. Her real name is Kristina Anderson.

Zero

Juliana Worthing is also known as Strobe. Yet another member of the MLF, she has the ability to project blasts of light that can blind and kill her opponents. 

Here's the MLF member that can slow down or speed up time. Her name is Heather Tucker, or the aptly named Tempo.

Zero is an android created my the Askani. He has the ability to open a portal for teleportation. However, he can't teleport to a location that he hasn't visited yet.

Whew, that was quite the list of characters. All of the characters listed, with the exception of Skids and Rusty Collins, make their first full appearance in the pages of this comic. They all make a cameo appearance in The New Mutants #86. On a side note, all of the characters and the Mutant Liberation Front were created by Rob Liefeld and Louise Simonson.

I know what you're going to ask next, are there a lot of graded copies of The New Mutants #87 out there, and the answer is, you betcha,  For some reason the CGC website is down right now, but fortunately there are other place on the WWW that have that information. GoCollect has the CGC census listings on their website. I have no idea how up to date it is, as it says that that part of their site is "currently under construction", so who knows.

Values of New Mutants #87 on GoCollect

So according to GoCollect, CGC has 4,198 total copies of New Mutants #87 listed in their census. More than half of them are graded an very respectable 9.6 NM+ or higher. There are 5 copies graded at an ultra high 9.9 M, with two of those being Signature Series. Very few of them are graded a 7.5 or lower. That only means that there are a lot of high grade copies for you to snag.

There isn't a lot of sales data for 9.9 Mint copy sales, which isn't surprising since there are so few graded, but it looks like a copy sold in 2010 for $2,900. There is a 9.9 Mint Signature series copy at Comic Link right now with an asking price of $15,000, but other than that, I don't know how copies at that grade have sold. However, sales for most other grades have started to see a nice rise in value recently. 9.8 NM/M copies have started creeping toward the $600 mark, and 9.6 NM+ copies have started to go above $250.

The confirmation that Cable will be on the big screen is definitely the culprit behind these increases in value. There should be another boost once an actor selected to play the character. There should also be another boost as filming starts, and another as the movie is about to be released. Now might be a good time to snag this comic if #1) your looking to flip it and make a little money or #2) you're a fan of the character and would like to grab a copy while it's at the prices that they're currently at, before they possibly get any higher. You might want to be on the lookout for the second printing on New Mutants #87, as that's also seen a little bump in value.

I took a chance and bought a copy right when it was confirmed that Cable would be in the Deadpool sequel, and so far, it's paid off for me, but I'm gonna hold on to my copy for just a little bit longer and see what happens.

Get a copy here
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