Amazing Spider-Man #361

Marvel - April 1992

Key Issue Notes
First full appearance of Carnage

The other day, I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed and came across an article that stated the AMC show "Better Call Saul" tweeted out a not too subtle hint that actor Michael Mando will be playing Carnage in Spider-Man: Homecoming. I personally don't think that is going to happen. I have a feeling that we might see Cletus Kasady in the movie, and set up the character for a future Spider-Man film.


Regardless of whether Carnage will be in the new movie, I figured we'd knock this key issue out anyway.

Psychopath and serial killer, Cletus Kasady was a prison cellmate of Eddie Brock's. As most of the people reading this know, Eddie Brock was the second host of the alien symbiote, after Peter Parker, that would become  the super villain Venom.

The alien symbiote finds Eddie in prison, and bonds with him, once again becoming Venom. In his escape, a part of the alien symbiote is left behind and eventually bonds itself with Kasady, thus creating the Spawn of Venom, known to all as Carnage.

So, as I've stated in the key issue notes, this is the first full appearance of Carnage. In the previous issue, Amazing Spider-Man #360, Carnage makes himself known to the world in a one page cameo, but I'll get to that issue at a later date.

There is a second printing of this issue out there. It is easily distinguishable from the first printing from its silver background. I've included a picture of it for reference. It's said that the second print had a much lower print run and is far more rare that the first print. I don't have any numbers for either printing, so it's just a matter of taking others word for it. However, there are currently only 231 copies of the second printing listed on the CGC census.

Like a lot of comics printed in the early 90's, there are a lot of copies of this comic on the market, and you'll have no problem finding one. As we look at the census information for the first printing, there are 5,032 copies listed. If you count in CBCS and PGX graded copies, I'm sure the number is much much higher. Anyway, most of the copies taht are on the CGC census are in a very nice high grade. Two thirds of the comics are between 9.6 NM+ and 9.9 M. 

Click to enlarge

So, with so many copies out there, what has that done for sales? Most grades have seen a small rise in value over the last year or so. 9.8 NM/M copies are nearing the $300 mark over the last couple of weeks, while 9.6 NM+ copies have started to consistently drop for over the $100 mark. There are a couple of weird sales for 9.8's that went for $1,000 each. I guess there's some "double cover" issues that made their way into stores. Those two sales are skewing the averages for 9.8's on GoCollect, but it seems like it didn't skew it too much.

Values for Amazing Spider-Man #361
on GoCollect

Lower grades have seen a little rise or stayed fairly even. They could be good investments, but for the most investment potential, the higher grades are the way to go, especially since prices for these comics aren't through the roof. I'm not sure if they ever really will be with the potential amount of copies that are out there, but I've seen stranger things happen.

This isn't the first time there were rumors circulating that Carnage would make an appearance on the big screen. Before the fiasco that was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made its way to theaters, Sony Pictures announced that they had a Venom / Carnage movie in the works. That announcement gave this comic a nice little boost in demand and value. I have a feeling that as this rumor spreads, and more people find out about it, we could see another one of those jumps in demand.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect

Brave and the Bold #25

DC Comics - Aug./Sept. 1959

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Suicide Squad
First appearance of Dr. Hugh Evans
First appearance of Jess Bright
First appearance of Karin Grace
First appearance of Rick Flag Jr.

Before there was a Justice League, DC introduced us to a little group of heroes known as Task Force X, who's also known as The Suicide Squad. The team that appears in this issue isn't the same as the one that is going to appear in the new Suicide Squad movie that's only a couple months away from being released.

Created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, the original Suicide Squad consisted of four team members, none of which had any super powers at all, but were put into extraordinary circumstances. The team members included Rick Flag Jr., Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans and Jess Bright.

Rick Flag Jr

The leader of this little group of heroes is Rick Flag Jr. His parents were Rick Flag Sr., obviously, and Sharon Race. They were tragically killed when he was young and was he then raised by a friend of his fathers, Jeb Stuart. After a stint in the military, he was asked by Stuart to become a member of Task Force X.

While Flag was training to be an astronaut, he met space medicine expert Karin Grace. She and Rick Flag bonded over their tragic pasts and eventually fell in love . Rick used his influence with Jeb Stuart to get her on the team.

Karin Grace

Jess Bright and Dr. Hugh Evans are both physicists, and close friends. They were the only two surviving members of their science team after a nuclear bomb test went horribly wrong. They then dedicated their lives to helping others, in honor of those that died.

Right now, there aren't a lot of copies registered in the CGC census. There are only 125 registered. Surprisingly, only 4 of those are Restored copies. Even though there aren't too many already graded copies, it's not too hard to find one on the online market. However, find a high grade copy is a little different. According to the census, there are only two copies graded at 9.2 NM-. That is the highest grade for this issue to date. 

As I stated at the beginning, this isn't the same team that we'll be seeing on the big screen, but that hasn't stopped it from becoming a hot book after the movie was announced. Because there are so few high grade copies out there, find sales data for them is kinda hard to do. The only sales data I could find is from GoCollect, and they only have data for low to mid grade copies.

Values for Brave and the Bold #25 on GoCollect

The best example I can find to show you how much this comic increased in value after the movie was announced is for a 5.0 VG/F copy. The latest sale for a Brave and the Bold #25 dropped for $1,200 on April 25 of this year. When we go all the way back to Oct. 15, 2012, a 5.0 VG/F copy sold for a measly $100. Talk about a jump in value. The reason for this huge jump is easy, no one cared about the Suicide Squad before the movie announcement.

If you were lucky enough to snag one before all the hype, then I congratulate you. If you're looking to snag a copy for yourself, you might want to wait until the hype dies down a little before you do, prices are sure to drop a little.

Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect