Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134

DC Comics - Dec. 1970

Key Issue Notes
First cameo appearance of Darkseid

In the early 70's Jack Kirby became disgruntled with Marvel and moved over to DC Comics. It was here that Kirby began establishing what would be known Kirby's Fourth World beginning with Jimmy Olsen #133. His creation of Darkseid would be the main villain of this Fourth World concept.

Originally slated to debut in the Showcase title, Kirby objected to this and Showcase ended up being cancelled anyway. Kirby's Fourth World stories ended up being run in the titles Forever People, New Gods and Mister Miracle.

When it comes to 1st cameo appearances in the back issues market, they often do not do better than a 1st full appearance in general.

If you take a look at Incredible Hulk #181 compared to Incredible Hulk #180, Wolverine's 1st full appearance is a lot more sought out and valuable for sure.

It is a fact that Hulk #180 was discovered to have a last panel cameo of Wolverine not that long ago and Hulk #181 was always thought of as Wolvie's 1st appearance. This is somewhat the same for the 1st appearance of Darkseid in Jimmy Olsen #134, and because of all these new labels of 1st brief and 1st full to cover up past appearance mistakes, Darkseid was ultimately found to have a fuller appearance in Forever People #1 later.

If it was widely thought that Forever People #1 was the first appearance in the past and suddenly Jimmy Olsen #134 was found to have a panel of Darkseid in it later on, I wonder if this comic would be the lesser valued one today in some alternate universe. That's just thinking a bit of nonsense though. The fact is that Forever People #1 was recognized later.

Despite showing this would be popular DC villain on a monitor and only in one panel, Jimmy Olsen #134 is still more valuable than Darkseid's first full appearance in Forever People #1. The highest graded copies of this key issue are still 9.8s. There's only a total of 6 copies so far, and they're all Universals. 

Furthermore, there are only 18 9.6 CGC copies in the CGC Census currently as well as an over-all total of only 680 so far in the census. That's a pretty low census so far for a 1970 Bronze Age comic that's definitely been on the radar for a lot of comic fans in the back issues market, especially since speculation has it that Darkseid will be a big bad in the newly connected DC Cinematic Universe.

Values of Superman's Pal
Jimmy Olsen #134 on GoCollect

The last recorded sale I could find for this comic at CGC 9.8 was a copy that sold on eBay for $6,750 back in April of 2015! Not surprising since only 6 copies of this key are at 9.8, and I don't think too many copies actually hit the market that often. A year before that in 2014, a CGC 9.8 sold at ComicLink for $3,107 and was considered a record breaker. Looks like the new record is the one sold on eBay in 2015, but as one of the best comics to invest in still from the Bronze Age, this key still has potential for growth.

Speaking of hitting the market, CGC 9.6s don't make it to the market a lot either. A CGC 9.6 NM+ of this comic sold in 2014 for $1,553.50 at Heritage Auctions. There could be room for growth concerning 9.6s as well. Still a hot comic investment in the secondary market currently. High key graded copies of this issue are not plentiful and may prove to be a great comic to invest in for 2016.


Find a copy here
eBay - ComicLink - MyComicShop - ComicConnect