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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Invincible Iron Man #7

Marvel - March 2016

Key Issue Notes
First cameo appearance of Riri Williams
First appearance of Tomoe

It seems that every superhero nowadays, like Thor and Spider-Man, is getting a female counterpart, and Iron Man is no exception. I'm assuming that the reason for this is to expand the readership and get more girls intrested in comics by giving them characters that they can relate to. 

Whatever the reason,this comic holds the first appearance of Riri Williams, a 15 year old genius  M.I.T. student, that created her own Iron Man armor from parts she scavenged and stole around campus.

I labeled this the first cameo appearance of Riri simply because that's how CGC/CBCS recognize it. I'm not sure what the requirements are of a cameo appearance are compared to a brief appearance is, but Ms. Williams does show up in two panels at the end of the comic.

Tomoe and James Rhodes

Invincible Iron Man #7 also has the first appearance of Tomoe, who also goes by the alias of Techno Golem. She is an Inhuman, that has the ability to control technology with only her thoughts. She gained her abilities from the Terrigen Mists that activated her latent Inhuman genes.

It's also noted on Marvel Wiki that Mary Jane Watson joins Stark Industries. When I read through this issue, I never saw where MJ actually agreed to become a member of the team. By the end of the comic, she was still debating on whether she was going to join, so I didn't mention it in the key issue notes.

Tony Stark sends his good pal James Rhodes (War Machine) to Japan to look into a security breach, while Stark stays behind to offer Mary Jane Watson a job

Riri Williams

While Tony is doing his best to convince MJ, War Machine runs into a mysterious woman who is inexplicably able to remove his armor from him. This mysterious woman winds up being Tomoe. She ties up Rhodes and uses him a bait to lure Stark to her. This is a three part story that concludes in issue #10, so this is left as a cliffhanger.

As I mentioned, the last page of this issue introduces us to Riri Williams. In the last panel, we see her constructing her own armor in her dorm room.

This wasn't a overly mass produced comic, but it still won't he hard to find a copy. There were and estimated 51,748 copies produced. Now, I have no idea if that includes the variant covers at all. If it doesn't, then the actual number of copies could be much higher.

Printings 1-3

However, to my knowledge, there is only one variant cover to this issue. Welcome to the modern age of collecting where every comic has a variant. I'm not a huge fan of variants, but there are a lot of people out there that are. Ok, let's stay focused here. The one variant is the "Women of Power" cover. I'm not sure what the print run of this copy is.

There were also a total of three printings. They are easily recognizable by the color of the title and the print number is clearly listed under the issue number.

Since this is a fairly new comic, the CGC census isn't very high. This could be because people are holding onto their copies to see where the value of this book is going, or they are already at the grading company, sitting on the shelf, waiting for there turn in the grading room. I'm thinking it's probably the latter.

So far, there have only been 143 copies of the first print graded by CGC. As you can probably guess, most of them are graded a 9.8 NM/M. 105 of them to be exact. This happens a lot with new comics. A lot people go to their local comic shop, snag a few copies of the latest issue and immediately send them in to be graded. These are the people that are in it purely for the money, not for the enjoyment of reading comics.

Values for Invincible Iron Man #7 on GoCollect

As far as sales go, I'm only going to talk about 9.8 NM/M copies. If you're looking to invest in a copy, I wouldn't get anything lower than that. Auctions on eBay are a little scattered for this comic. The latest sale only went for $79.99 via auction. The sale before that dropped for $129.95 via Buy it Now. That's seems to be how things are shaping up over there right now. In fact, the hammer dropped at under $100 for all of the auctions so far, and all of the Buy it Now sales have gone for well over $100, some even closing in on the $200 mark. If it were me, I'd probably wait for an auction to pop up and try and snag a copy on the cheap.

So, if you're looking for a copy, don't look for anything under a 9.8 NM/M. If you can find a copy higher than 9.8, I say go for it, but only if the price is right. This could be the next NYX #3 type comic, but it might not be either, you never can tell. If it does end up being that, you might be kicking yourself in the ass for not snagging this up while it's still affordable.

Find a copy here
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New Mutants #98

Marvel - Feb. 1991

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Deadpool
First appearance of Copycat
First appearance of Gideon


I thought I'd get out of the Golden and Silver Age and head into the comic boom of the late Copper Age for a second. In the comic boom of the 90's, comics were way over printed. New Mutants #98 is one of those books. Despite being a comic with tons of copies available, it is still quite valuable. It contains a few first appearances, but none are more important than Deadpool. 

Deadpool was created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. Liefeld created the look of the Merc with a Mouth while Nicieza is responsible for the wit and humor which is what has made him a hugely popular character. Nicieza got his inspiration for the character from two other big name heroes from the Marvel Universe, Spider-Man and Wolverine. Realizing that he is a character in a comic book, Deadpool often breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader. 

Deadpool's real name is Wade Wilson. Learning that he had cancer and was going to die, he joined the Weapon X program to try and save his life. This is the same program that Wolverine was a part of. In the program, he was given a mutant healing factor, similar to that of Wolverine. The process saved him from the cancer, but the process left him scarred and disfigured, and a little mentally unstable.

Copycat has the ability to mimic anyone that she comes in contact with including the powers of other super heroes. The appearance of Copycat in New Mutants #98 is a little tricky. We don't see her as Copycat in the comic, but as Domino. So, it's weird that it's considered the first appearance of Copycat and not Domino. We see the physical appearance of Domino as she is seen in her actual first appearance in X-Force #11 and don't see Copycat as herself until X-Force #19. Either way, this is considered by the industry as the first appearance of Copycat.

Gideon is the baddie in this one. In the beginning, he sailed the ocean blue with Christopher Columbus in 1492, but died on the journey and was buried. But, he was later resurrected. Over the next few hundred years he built the Ophrah Corporation and became massively wealthy. He used his wealth to try and take over the world, just like all the bad guys try and do. His powers are similar that of Rogue's where he can absorb the powers of other mutants. He doesn't have to come into contact with them like Rogue does though. He simply has to be in a close vicinity to them.

Values of New Mutants #98
on GoCollect

Since this comic was printed during the comic boom of the 90's, there is no short supply of them. Looking at the CGC census, there are nearly 10,000 copies graded and most of them are 9.4 or above. Of the 9,970 copies, there is only one copy CGC graded a perfect 10. This one perfect copy sold for an astonishing $15,449 in 2013 at ComicLink. There was a sale for a 9.9 in 2015 that sold for $7,600 on eBay, and there is currently a sale pending on ComicLink for $9,201 at the same 9.9 grade. There are only 11 graded 9.9 on the CGC census, with one of those being a Signature Series. There are no shortage of high grade 9.4 - 9.8 copies available on the market either, but it's going to cost you between $300 to $800 for them, however, we may see prices start to drop a little since the movie hype is starting to die down a little. But then again, maybe we won't. There are also a bunch of copies graded by PGX and CBCS, but I don't have any numbers as to how many. A quick search on eBay might give you an idea though.

I don't think that this comic is going to be the next Hulk #181 or even an Amazing Spider-Man #129 because there are just way too many high grade copies out there. I'm not saying that these two books are rare, but they don't have nearly as many high grade copies out there as New Mutants #98. Unless you're looking at a rare, ultra high grade 9.9 or 10. Those grades will probably be your best bet for an investment copy of this comic.

Find a copy here
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Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 - CGC 9.6

Marvel - Dec 1984

Key Issue Notes
Origin of Spider-Man Black Symbiote Suit

I'm a big time Spider-Man fan and was especially drawn to his black costume. The black costume is one of the biggest reasons I started collecting comics in the first place. It wasn't Peter Parker wearing the suit at that time, but Venom when I first saw a version of it. Originally I was confused about this comic. I thought it had the first appearance of Spidey's black suit. It wasn't until later on I learned that the first appearance was in Amazing Spider-Man #252, but that's a story for a different post. Regardless, I think that every fan of Spider-Man and of his black suit should have this comic in their collection.

As I got older, and had more funds, I sought this book out. It was time to add it to my collection. I ended up finding a nice raw copy on eBay for only $15. It had been sitting in one of my short boxes for a few years until my friend and fellow comic aficionado told me about comic book grading, specifically CGC. CBCS didn't exist at this point. Needless to say, I sent this sucker in. CGC had a booth set up at the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose. I filled out the form and handed my comic over to them along with my hard earned money. It was a long wait, about 3 months, but I finally got it back and as you can see from the picture above, it came back at a 9.6. Yes, I was very happy. Not bad for a gamble on eBay. Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #8 was the first graded book in my collection and my first time dealing with CGC or any other grading company.

I'll get more into the key issue status and origin of the black suit a little later in the Graded Keys section. This post is just a brief story on how and why this particular comic made it's way into my collection. Stay tuned for more Tales from the Vault.

Updated 1/03/2018

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Amazing Spider-Man #129

Marvel - Feb. 1974

Key Issue Notes
1st appearance of the Punisher
1st appearance of the Jackal


I just started watching season 2 of Daredevil on Netflix and I must say I'm really liking it so far. As most of us know, season 2 introduces us to Frank Castle, also known as The Punisher, and Amazing Spider-Man #129 has his 1st appearance.

Amazing Spider-Man #129 also has the first appearance of Miles Warren as The Jackal. The Jackal isn't a hugely popular villian in the Marvel Universe, but he does play an important role in the Spider Clone saga, but that is another story that I'll get to at another time. Just in case you were wondering, the first appearance of Miles Warren is in Amazing Spider-Man #31. 

The Punisher starts out as an antagonist for everyone's favorite web slinger. He's hired by The Jackal to get Spider-Man out of the picture, but eventually, The Punisher realizes that Spidey isn't the bad guy that The Jackal made him out to be.

There's no shortage of graded copies of ASM #129 out there. There are a staggering 6956 copies graded by CGC so far. I'm sure there are even more with CBCS and PGX copies out there. Unfortunately there isn't any census data from those two companies. Hopefully they will have a census soon. There are 91 copies graded at 9.8 NM/M by CGC. Wow!! Of those 91 copies, 4 are Signature Series and 1 is a Restored copy. You should have no problems finding a nice high grade copy to add to your collection but don't expect it to be cheap.

Values for Amazing
Spider-Man #129
on GoCollect

Even with a large number of graded copies out there, Amazing Spider-Man #129 is a very sought out comic and has been for a long time. The Punisher is definitely a lot of peoples favorite anti-hero. If you're looking to get a nice high grade copy you should expect to shell out some bucks for it as CGC 8.5 VF+ copies are starting to sell around the $900-$1000 range and CGC 9.4 NM copies are going for well over $2000 now. It's not a rare or hard to find comic but as you can see from the chart on the right,  demand for this book is high and all grades are in the green and way above the average sales. You may want to do what I did and take a chance on a raw copy. That could save you a little bit of money, but you never know if you're buying a comic that is complete or if it's been restored. I'll leave that decision up to you.

Find a copy here
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