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.

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Superman #75

D.C. Comics - Jan. 1993

Key Issue Notes
"Death" of Superman
"Death" of Doomsday

By now, most of us have seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Whether you liked it or hated it, we do see the apparent death of Superman at the hands of Doomsday at the end of the film, and this is the comic that sees the untimely end of Superman.

But, as with most comic book characters, he doesn't stay dead for long. He would make is way back into comics a mere five months later in Adventures of Superman #500.

When you read this comic, don't expect to find a story that has some deep meaning that is going to change your life. It's a straight up slug fest from beginning to end, and that's when we see both Supes and Doomsday lying in the rubble that used to be Metropolis.

The creative team, that includes editor Mike Carlin and writers Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway, came up with the storyline after Carlin wondered what the world would be like without Superman. I personally think they did it as a gimick and to sell a s#!t load of comics. Well it worked, they sold a ton of 'em. So many that this comic went all the way up to a fourth printing.

Let's talk about the differnt covers that this comic has. As I already mentioned, there were four total printings. So, that's four covers, plus the newsstand edition, and the two polybag editions. So that's seven total, not counting all of the various autographed copies, which I'm not going to get into.

There are minimal, but very obvious differences between all of the direct and newsstand editions of this comic, mostly in the title.

• The first print has a yellow and blue title
• The second print has a white and purple title
• The third print has a blue and purple title

and lastly,

• The fourth print has a green title.

I've included the picture to the right for reference.

Newsstand Edition (Top)
Direct Edition (Bottom)

There is also a first print newsstand edition of this comic. It's easily spotted by the UPC code in the lower right corner of the cover. These comics are a lot more rare than their direct market counterparts. It's estimated that only 10% - 15% of all comics printed around this time were the newsstand copies. So, if there were a million copies of this comic printed, then there are only 10,000 to 15,000 newsstand editions out there, which is significantly lower. These newsstand editions are starting to get noticed in the market, so if you're able to find a copy, there may have a chance of it gaining value better that the direct edition would.

Also be on the lookout for the more popular polybagged editions. The first is the more abundant black polybagged edition. This is the bag that has the red Superman symbol that looks like is dripping blood. There were a lot of extra goodies packed into the bag with the comic in this one. They called it the Superman Memorial Set. This set consisted of a memorial poster, a black armband, an obituary from the Daily Planet, a trading card and commemorative stamps.

The next is the Platinum Edition. There were only 10,000 copies of the Platinum Edition produced. This comic didn't come with all of the extras that were in the black bag, but it is the most valuable of all the variants.

Just to let you know, if you have one of these polybagged editions and you want to have them graded, CGC and CBCS will remove the comics from the bag to grade them. There will be no graded copies that are still in the bag. So, if you had an artist or writer sign one of the bagged copies, that signature will most likely end up in the trash when you send it in for grading. Just a little knowledge for those that might not know how CGC / CBCS deal with bagged comics.

Values for Superman #75 Direct Edition
on GoCollect

I usually only talk about one cover when it comes to the CGC census, but today I'm going to go over two of them. The first is the first print direct edition. So far, there are 1,595 copies listed on the census. That may seem like a lot, but if you consider how many millions of copies that might be out there, that number isn't that high at all. Of course, with this comic being a 90's comic, there are a lot of high grades available. Of the 1,595 copies, 897 are a 9.8 NM/M. If you're looking to snag a copy, I would suggest not going below that grade.

Recent sales for 9.8 NM/M copies of this issue haven't been spectacular, only selling in the $50 - $70 range. There was a boost in value shortly after BvS was released, with sales reaching over the $100 mark, but now that hype has faded, values are back down to where they were.

Platinum Edition

The next cover is the Platinum Edition. Of the 10,000 produced, only 369 have been graded by CGC. Most of these are also high grade, with 101 copies graded at 9.8 NM/M and 103 graded at 9.6 NM+.

This variant is by far the most collectible and most valuable. CGC 9.8 NM/M copies can easily go for over $300, and maybe even $400. Even 9.6 NM+ copies will probably still run you over $100.

This here is a very affordable key issue comic. If you're a fan of Superman, this is probably a comic you should have in your collection. You won't have any problems finding a copy. You may even be able to find a raw copy in a bargain bin somewhere, but the grade might not be up to par for collectibility though. Either way, good luck on your hunt.

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Amazing Spider-Man #1 - CBCS 4.0

Marvel - March 1963

Key Issue Notes
Second appearance of Spider-Man
First appearance of J. Jonah Jameson
First appearance of Chameleon

I recently decided to change the way I collect comics. Instead of trying to get the next hot comic before everyone went bonkers over it, and try to flip it for a profit, I decided to start filling some holes in my collection with comics that I actually wanted instead. I plan on holding onto these comics for the long haul.

I finally did it. I'd been waiting a long time to pull the trigger on this one, but I finally got a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1. The hardest part about this buy was convincing myself to spend that kind of money on a comic book. I've bought comics that were near $1000 before, and it was a little rough shelling out that kinda dough, but spending 5x that was a lot harder. Many times I went to right click on Buy it Now, but it was like there was an invisible force preventing my index finger from doing it. I just couldn't press the damn mouse button.

Chameleon

Then, right before I left to work one day, I was staring at the copy that I eventually ended up buying (pictured above) on eBay. It was either buy it right then, or keep talking myself out of it, so I said to myself "F#@! it", closed my eyes, and pressed Buy it Now. I quickly paid for it, ran out the door, and went to work.

I thought that I would have some buyers remorse after I finally hit the Pay Now button, but I was far more excited to own a piece of comic book history and felt no remorse at all. It seemed like it took forever to arrive, even though it only took a few days.

I ended up buying it from the My Comic Shop eBay Store. It was a little cheaper on their website than it was on eBay, but I opted to buy it from eBay for a couple of reasons. First, I couldn't pay for the comic at MyComicShop.com, because the sale price was too high and I couldn't pay for it with Paypal. The second reason, I received $100 in eBay Bucks for my purchase to put towards my next comic investment.

It should be obvious as to way I snagged this comic. It is considered a grail comic after all. But if you're wondering, the reasons that I bought it are:

• 1) It's a very early appearance of my favorite comic book character. It's Spideys second appearance.
• 2) I couldn't afford the first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15, unless I bought a beat up, dirt copy that I didn't want.
• 3) It has great long term investment potential. If you look at the value history of this comic, it doesn't go down, it always goes up.
• 4) And finally, I just wanted it really, really bad. I figured I had the money for it, so why put it off any longer.

Early Spider-Man comics are never a bad investment. I have a few single digit ASM comics, that I will share with you in the future, but I'm now trying to fill in my #1-#20 collection. I've got a few of the more important keys already, but trying to fill the gaps is going to take me a little more time, and a lot more money.

Find a copy here
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Marvel Feature #1

Marvel - Dec. 1971

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of The Defenders
"Death" of Yandroth

Netflix has finally started to film their long awaited series The Defenders. The series will feature their already established characters of Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and the soon to be introduced Iron Fist.

Let me start off by saying that none of the characters in the show, are the original members of the team that appear in the comics. However, all of the characters that will be appearing in the show were considered a Defender at one time or another, with the exception of Jessica Jones.

So, if none of those characters were the original members, then who were? Well, the answer, is right on the cover of this issue. The trio of superheroes is Doctor Strange, Namor, and the Incredible Hulk.

Dr. Stephen Strange sits in front of a warm fire at his home, when he hears a voice calling his name. He leaves his physical body and searches for the mystery caller.

Yandroth

His search leads him to a hospital, where he recognizes the evil scientist Yandroth, lying in a bed, dying. Before he dies, he tells Doctor Strange about the Omegatron, which is a machine that he built that will destroy the Earth upon his death, a death that he had planned. Strange does what he can to save Yandroth, but fails and the evil scientist dies. Now with little time left, he tries to find help to save the world.

The first character he recruits is the Price of Atlantis, Namor. Strange comes across Namor, and tells him of Yandroth's evil plan, and the prince quickly agrees to help. 

Knowing that the two of them isn't enough, he seeks out one more superhero to help. The Hulk just happens to be close by and Strange pretty much tricks the Jade Giant into helping.

The Defenders

In a nutshell, that's how the team comes together. I hate giving away too much of these stories, especially if people want to read it, so I'll end it right there. I will tell you that The Defenders do find the Omegatron and save the the day, in true superhero fashion. I'm just not going to tell you how they do it. Also, the Hulk leaves the team at the end of the issue, just like he did when he was with the Avengers.

This is a well known key issue, and in no way under the radar. There are a lot of already graded copies out there. According to the CGC census, there have been 938 copies graded by them. Most of the copies are high grade between 8.0 VF and 9.4 NM. There are some 9.6 NM+ (46) and 9.8 NM/M (11) copies out there too. Since there isn't a census on the CBCS website yet, there's no way of telling how many copies there are out there by them, but there are a handful floating around out there.

Values for Marvel Feature #1
on GoCollect

Values for this comic are up there now, ever since the hype from the upcoming Netflix show, but it's not like it was a bargain bin comic before that. Back in 2012, a CGC 9.8 NM/M copy sold at Heritage Auctions for $1,314.50, and in the same year, the Twin Cities Pedigree 9.8 NM/M copy ended up selling for $1,912. Fast forward to right now, pending sales at Comic Link for the same grade jump up to over the $8,000 mark. There has been a similar trend with 9.4 NM copies. Back in 2012, you could snag a copy for a little over $300. Now you'll be paying over twice that much. A copy sold for $664.44 in March of this year, and the last sale blew up to $925 in July. To say that this is a hot comic would be an understatement.

Since this is a hype comic at the moment, I'll expect values to continue to jump up for the time being. I'm pretty sure that once the next hot comic movie news hits, you'll see prices come down a little. How low it goes is beyond me. I guess it will depend if the show is any good or not.

Find a copy here
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Machine Man #19

Marvel - Feb. 1981

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Jack O' Lantern
Last issue to series

Happy Halloween everyone. I decided to leave the horror comics behind for this last post of the month and move back over to a superhero title.

I was mulling over what to write about for this last post of October, and as I was riding around my neighborhood, I noticed all of those carved pumpkins lining the steps and walkways of many of the houses. That got me to thinking of reading Spider-Man comics when I was a kid and seeing the character Jack O' Lantern. I thought that was a good enough character to write about, and still keeping wiht the Halloween theme for the month.

To me, Jack O' Lantern is more of a Spidey villain than he is anyone else's in the Marvel Universe, but he makes his first appearance in this comic, doing battle with Aaron Stack, otherwise known as X-51 and Machine Man.

There have been a few people to take up the name of Jack O' Lantern, but I'm only going to talk about the original in this post. I'll probably get to the others at some point, but I have no idea when that might be, but for now, on with the show.

Before he became Jack O' Lantern, he was CIA agent Jason Macendale. His superiors found his tactics to be too brutal, and he was let go from the agency. He eventually became a freelance mercenary and became the villain that appears in this issue.

Jack O' Lantern

When we meet Jack O' Lantern, he is with this gang of thugs making plans to hijack and take over a prototype, state of the art security compound. His idea is to sell the plans to the highest bidder. However, Machine Man just happens to be there and ends up saving the day, but not without consequences. His co-workers learn that the man they knew as Aaron Stack is really a crime fighting robot. Stack leaves his job, and basically walks the Earth like David Carridine in Kung Fu.

Jason Macendale would eventually become Hobgoblin and is responisible for the death of Ned Leeds. He is the man that hires the Foreigner to track down and kill Leeds. So, even though Jack O' Lantern isn't an very popular villain, the man that originally took up the mantle plays a pretty big role in the life of Spider-Man and the people around him.

This issue would also mark the end of Vol. 1 Machine Man series. What the actual reason is, I'm not sure, but I can only assume that it was from poor sales. He would get another series of his own only a few years later in 1984.

If that wasn't enough for you, it's also got a great Frank Miller cover and Steve Ditko art all throughout the interior. That's two legendary comic artists for the price of one.

Since Jack O' Lantern isn't a very popular character, CGC census numbers are quite low. But don't get the idea that this is a rare book. I'm sure there are a ton of copies stuffed into long boxes all over the country. This is definitely not a hard comic to find. You can find a multitude of raw copies almost anywhere you look on the internet.

Values of Machine Man #19 on GoCollect

Since I brought up the CGC census, let's look and see what's on there. To date, there have only been 89 copies graded. Like I already said, don't let that fool you. The CGC census can create a false scarcity for key issue comics that aren't on everyone's radar. That only means that no one is sending in there copies to be graded. Anyway, a lot of the copies that have been graded are nice high grade copies. There are 57 copies graded between 9.4 NM and 9.8 NM/M. So, if you're looking for an already graded copy, there are a few out there to choose from. You may even find a CBCS or PGX copy too.

If you do decide to go already graded, don't expect to break the bank either. The latest eBay sale for a 9.8 NM/M dropped for only $134.48. The listings that I saw were grossly overpriced if you compare it to these sold listings. There are a couple of auctions at that grade on eBay right now that have Buy it Now options for well over that last sale.

If you've got a good grading eye, you may want to take a chance on one of the many raw copies that are out there, or you can wait till you find one that is in your price range. Either way, this is a very affordable key issue you can add to your collection.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone.

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Nailbiter #1

Image Comics - May 2014

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Eliot Carroll
First appearance of Nicholas Finch
First appearance of Sharon Crane
First appearance of Edward Charles Warren (Nailbiter)
First appearance of Norman Woods (Book Burner)
First appearance of Raleigh Woods
First appearance of Officer Link
First appearance of Alice
First appearance of Hank
First appearance of Robby

I thought I'd talk about a newer and more obscure key issue comic this time. Since Image Comics seems to have moved out of the superhero genre and moved to more supernatural and horror stories, I thought it would fit nicely into the October horror theme.

Welcome to the town of Buckaroo Oregon, the birthplace of the serial killer. Sixteen of the worlds most notorious serial killers have, at one time, called Buckaroo home. What is it about this town that created all of these madmen? Well, that's pretty much what this series is about. Lets' see who some of these killers are.

The most recent and most notorious of these serial killers is Edward Charles Warren. As a child, he had the nervous habit of chewing his fingernails. As he got older, and the monster grew inside of him, he would seek out men and women that had the same nervous habit that he did. He was given the nickname "Nailbiter", because he would chew the fingers of his victims down to the bone before he killed them.

Edward "Nailbiter" Warren

Even though everyone knew that he was a killer and committed all of these crimes, a jury somehow found him not guilty of them and he was acquitted. He was free to leave and ended up moving back to Buckaroo, where he still lives today.

The next serial killer mentioned in this comic is Norman Woods, also known as The Book Burner. When Norman was a kid, he was picked on because he couldn't read or write. One day, he decided that in order to take revenge on people that could read and write, he would burn down libraries, with those people still inside them. He was presumed to be dead and buried in the Serial Killers Graveyard, but when his body is exhumed in issue four, they find his grave is empty.

The Book Burner

Norman had himself a grandson by the name of Raleigh Woods. He wasn't a serial killer, but more of an entrepreneur. He decided to make money on the notoriety of the town and opened up "The Murder Store". In it, he sold nick knacks and replica masks that the serial killers wore. The store is eventually burned to the ground in another issue.

Now let's move on the to first appearances of some public servants in this issue. Let's start with Eliot Carroll. He is an FBI agent that becomes obsessed with learning the secret of why there are so many serial killers coming from the same small town. He goes to Buckaroo to investigate, but winds up going missing.

Just before Carroll goes missing, he calls his friend Nicholas Finch, tells him that he learned the secret he was looking for, and asks him to meet him in Buckaroo. When Finch arrives, Carroll has already gone missing. Finch is an Army interrogator, that is on suspension and awaiting trial for losing his temper, and accidentally killing a man in the interrogation room, when he receives the call from his friend.

Eliot Carroll and Nicholas Finch

When Finch arrives in town, he runs into Sharon Crane, who is the sheriff of Buckaroo. She was working with Carroll, and when he doesn't show up for their weekly meeting, she knows somethings wrong. She is the one that informs Finch that he has gone missing. Now, both Finch and Crane are on the hunt to find their missing associate.

The last of the service workers is Officer Link. He only has a brief appearance in this issue. He is asked by the sheriff to take Hank and Robby down to the station to cool off after a confrontation with Alice and Nicholas Finch. Eventually, in a later issue, he takes over as sheriff of Buckaroo after Crane is relieved of her duty.

Sheriff Sharon Crane

Wait, hold on a sec. Who the hell are Hank and Robby? Well, they are, in their own mind, the hot shots of Buckaroo. In actuality, they are the bullies of the town. They are hired by a mysterious figure to destroy evidence that Carroll had collected in his investigation. They don't last that long, and are eventually killed in a later issue.

And lastly, we have Alice. She is a high school rebel that is on the opposite side of Hank and Robby's unwanted advances. The two boys approach her outside of the Murder Store, where Finch is getting a little lesson on the town by Raleigh Woods. The commotion is heard by Finch, and he comes outside to assist the teenager. Finch, having a bit of a temper, socks Hank in the face. That's when Sheriff Crane shows up and has Officer Link escort the the two bullies to the station.

Phew, that was a lot of characters. Since this series is still relatively new, and I've only read 12 of the issues that are out, I'm not sure where the characters fit into the larger scheme of things yet. But anyway, enough about them, let talk numbers now. 

Charlie Adlard and Wes Craig variants

This comic has a fairly low print run, especially for a 1st issue. According to ComiChron.com, there were only 22,746 copies printed. Now, I don't know if that includes the variant covers or not, and like most new comics, there are a lot of variants for this book.
If that number does include the variants, then copies for the first print would be much lower than that number.

A couple of the variant covers include the Charlie Adlard cover that was printed exclusively for Infinity and Beyond Comics, and the Wes Craig cover printed for Beach Ball Comics and Laughing Ogre Comics. There is also a second print floating around out there. I couldn't find anything on how many of these copies were produced, but there have only been 22 graded by CGC thus far.

In total, not including the second printing, there are 447 copies listed in the CGC census. That includes the original cover and five variant covers. Of those 447, 314 are the first print, and as you can guess, almost all of them are graded 9.8 NM/M. There is at least one 9.9 Mint copy that was graded by CBCS out there too. I'm sure that the census numbers aren't higher is because that most people don't think that this comic is worth being sent in to be graded and it has everything to do with the current value of the comic.

Values for Nailbiter #1 on GoCollect

So if you were to make any profit at all by getting this comic graded, you would have to hope that it came back, from whichever grading company you used, a perfect 10 Gem Mint. That sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. Let's say you sent in a copy and it comes back at 9.9 Mint. The last copy, and maybe only copy in existence at that grade, only sold for $47.44 on eBay in Feb. 2015. That is almost the same price that 9.8 NM/M copies are currently selling for. The last three copies that sold were all sold between the $41 to $46.50 range. If you figure that grading costs plus shipping costs would run you around the $35 - $40 range, that doesn't leave much room for profit if you're only going to sell it for $45. So, I'm sure that people are either selling them raw, or holding on to them if this comic series ever gets made into a TV show, and maybe this comic will get a boost in demand.

Find a copy here
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Creepy #1

Warren Publishing - Jan. 1964

Key Issue Notes
First appearance of Uncle Creepy

Ok, I'm kind of cheating a little bit here because this isn't exactly a comic book, it's actually a magazine, but Warren Publishing kind of cheated a little bit too to work their way around the Comics Code Authority. Let me explain how, but first a little history.

In 1954, Dr. Fredric Wertham published a little something called "The Seduction of the Innocent". Maybe you've heard of it? In SOTI, as it's become known, he claimed that horror and crime comics were the direct cause of juvenile delinquency. The Senate used Wertham's words, and the Comics Code Authority was created. The Comics Code's job was to edit and remove content from comics that they deemed inappropriate, and that meant horror comics were no longer published since they were by far the most inappropriate of all.

So, about a decade after the Code was established, Warren Publishing decided they wanted to bring back the very popular horror genre of the 50's, but they couldn't publish them in comic book format, so they published them as a magazine. They could get away with it because the Code only related to comics, not to magazines.

Uncle Creepy

So, now that you know why this is a magazine and not a comic, let's talk a little bit about it's key issue-ness. First and foremost, it's the first issue to the series. That one's a given. The second is that it holds the first appearance of Uncle Creepy.

Uncle Creepy is the host and storyteller of the series. He is what the Crypt Keeper is to Tales from the Crypt or the Vault Keeper was to the Vault of Horror. He introduces all but one of the six stories that are in this magazine with a bit of wit and humor.

It would seem that the powers that be were able to get some of the top artists and writers, like Jack Davis, Joe Orlando and many more,  that made the EC Comics so popular. It seems to me like Warren Publishing was trying to pick up right where EC left off.

Many of the stories in this issue of Creepy have to do with the old horror stories of vampires and werewolves. There is a voodoo story and also a story that features the now extremely popular zombies that are out for revenge. This story reminded me a little of the movie Creepshow.

If you like horror comics and are able to find a copy, It might be worth a read. It didn't find it a captivating as some of the 50's horror titles, but it's not bad. The black and white format kind of took something away from it for me. Don't get me wrong, I still loved the artwork, but having it in color is just my personal preference.

I have no idea what kind of print run Creepy #1 had. If you look at the CGC census, you might think it's low. There are only 267 copies listed there so far. But with a quick search online, there are still a lot of raw copies floating around, so just how low the print run isn't really easy for me to figure out.

Values for Creepy #1 on GoCollect

I'm surprised at how many super high grade copies are out there for this book. Most of the copies listed on CGC's census are between the 8.0 VF to 9.2 NM- range. There is one 9.8 NM/M copy and three 9.6 NM+ copies listed. I wonder if it's harder to keep magazines in as good of condition as it is comics. Or did people not as careful with the magazines as they were with comics.

Values for this book haven't really changed that much over the last few years. A 9.4 NM copy sold at Heritage for $418.25 back in 2012, and the latest sale for the same grade on eBay dropped for only $415. There was a copy that almost reached the $600 mark via auction on eBay in early 2014, but obviously that value didn't hold up. If you're looking for a nice high grade copy, don't expect to pay more than $400-$420. However, if you're looking for a copy and are on a budget, you should be able to snag a nice 8.0 VF or 8.5 VF+ for less than $100, you may want to check out raw copies too. Most of those I found available are well under the $100 range, but buyer beware.

Now, there's no hype about a Creepy movie being made or Uncle Creepy appearing in his own show and I don't expect there ever will be, so don't expect this comic to blast through the roof value wise anytime soon. But, if you're a fan of horror comics, you may just want to pick up a copy. I may just take my own advice on this one.

Find a copy here
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Tales from the Crypt #33 - CBCS 5.5

E.C  Comics - Dec. 1952 / Jan. 1953

Key Issue Notes
Origin of the Crypt Keeper

I'm a big time horror movie fan. Not so much of the movies that are coming out now, but more of the slasher horror movies of the 80's. Besides being traumatized by the original Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a little kid, there are two main reasons that I love horror. One is seeing Evil Dead 2 for the first time, and the second is the HBO show Tales from the Crypt that was based off the comics of the same name. But anyway, I keep repeating myself here. I'm sure by know you probably all know that I like these kinds of movies and T.V. shows, so I'll move on.

Ok, since I've already talked about the first appearance of the Crypt Keeper, I decided it would be the perfect time for me to dig into my box of goodies and share one of my comics with you, and it's also keeping with my October horror theme as well.

This is my copy of Tales from the Crypt #33, and this comic holds the origin of the Crypt Keeper. See, everyone gets an origin story, even creepy undead storytellers that live in dark, eerie basements.

I'm not going to go into the specifics of this comic, or talk about the origin of this character, but rather tell you the story of how and why I decided to buy it instead. As I stated in the beginning, I liked the HBO show, and when I learned of this comic and it's key issue goodness, I immediately started hunting for a copy.

Now, copies of this comic don't come up too often. They are more plentiful than the first appearance of good ol CK, but not by much. Usually the copies that I found were either too expensive, or in dirt condition that I didn't want it. It had to be a decent looking copy that wasn't way overpriced.

So, as I was cruising through eBay one day, I found a raw copy that I thought looked pretty nice from the pictures that were available. I don't exactly remember what the seller was asking for it. I want to say it was $250, but that could be wrong. I did my normal research, i.e. checking the price guide and GoCollect, and decided that $175 was the highest I was willing to go and made an offer. Buying raw copies online is always a gamble and I didn't want to overpay if the grade was lower than I thought I might have been. So, with no counteroffers from the seller, I ended up snagging this comic for $175. I felt like I got a pretty good deal, and I'm assuming the seller got what he wanted from the sale, so all parties left happy.

Baby Crypt Keeper

Now, CBCS had recently opened their doors for business, and I'd already sent in my sample book to try them out. You can read about that comic here. So, I sent this in with my next batch of books to be graded. I try to send in more than one book for grading because it helps to save money on shipping charges. It does take a while for me to get enough books to send in, so I usually only have one or two shipments for grading each year. It took a while, like it usually does with grading companies, but I finally got it back.

Overall, I'm happy with the 5.5 F- that this book got, and it was a little higher of a grade than I was expecting it to be, but only by a half grade or so. I think I made a good investment decision by buying this book at the price I did. There is no sales information that I could find for this grade, but recently a 5.0 VF/F copy sold on eBay for $370.

Since I like these old horror comics, especially the old EC Comics, this is one of those books that's a part of history and I'm very proud to own a copy. Needless to say, this will be staying in my collection for quite a while.

Find a copy here
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