Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 27, where we take a nostalgic look at six comic books I currently own, and one that I let get away.

For each of the comic books below, I list the current secondary market value. This is according to the listings at the website www.comicbookrealm.com. They list out the near mint prices, which are on the comic book grading scale of 9.4. If you go to the website to look up any in your collection, you can click on the price and see the value at different grades. Not all of my comics are 9.4. Some are probably better, and some are worse. But to simplify it, that’s the grading price I use here. And remember, a comic book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Guest blogger : Guest blogger Kevin G. Summers did a fantastic job last week ! And maybe it encouraged you to decide to write about your cool comics. You can do a theme or just pick any of your comics for inclusion (this blog is for all ages, so please keep that in mind), as long as there are seven comics in your episode (you can still own all seven, or do it like me and include one you no longer own). If the idea interests you and you have questions about it, please email me at edgosney62@gmail.com.

And now the moment you’ve been waiting for: the winners of the audiobook of The Paladin by Kevin G. Summers are Justin and Ray! Since you both left comments in last week’s episode, Kevin wanted each of you to get the prize. You should have already received an email from me with everything you need to collect your audiobook. Also, the best way to thank Kevin for this is by leaving him a review (it can be just a short comment) on Amazon after you’ve listened to the audiobook.

If you have any questions or comments, please scroll to the bottom of the page to where it says, “Leave a reply.” I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I do writing about them. And now, Episode 27…

Cool comics in my collection #176: The Amazing Spider-Man #118, March 1973.

“THE SMASHER STRIKES! THE DISRUPTOR DESTROYS! ALL THIS AND A SHOCK ENDING, TOO!” I love the older covers with these exciting, sensationalistic words. You read them and can’t help but buy the comic. This is the last issue of The Amazing Spider-Man I can list here that I bought from The Paradox Bookstore in Wheeling, West Virginia. When I was a kid, my mother would let me go in to this used bookstore and pick out some comics for just a dime each. I bought some great stuff there, including eight issues of The Amazing Spider-Man. If only I could go back in time and snag a few more! This issue harkens back to the old days of Spider-Man before Gwen Stacy dies, and of course she is in this issue, along with Harry Osborn, Robbie Robertson, Mary Jane, and your favorite editor-in-chief and publisher, J. Jonah Jameson. The bad guys for this issue are Disruptor and the Smasher. By the time I bought this, I was already purchasing newer issues of The Amazing Spider-Man at Slicks (a little newsstand/party/and candy store) in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The weird thing is that for a few months, I wasn’t consistent in what I bought, and I missed issue 129, which was the debut of the Punisher, a key issue. The cover price of The Amazing Spider-Man #118 is 20 cents, while the current value is $100.

Cool comics in my collection #177: Thor #202, August 1972.

“EGO-PRIME VS. THE EARTH!” Back in the seventies, I sort of liked Thor, and bought a few issues of Marvel Spectacular, not realizing at the time that they were reprints (Marvel really threw me for a loop with Marvel Tales…how could Gwen Stacy be dead in one comic and alive in another?). When I hit phase three of comic collecting in the nineties, Thor became a monthly staple, and I wanted some back issues, so I went to Titan Comics in Atlanta, Georgia, and went through their back issue boxes, and snagged this one for $1. I’ve always like mythology, and didn’t know much about Norse mythology, so it was fun collecting these older Thor comics. This issue features Ego-Prime, Balder, Fandral, Sif, Volstagg, Heimdall, Hogan, Odin, and more. If you like Thor, you can find back issues at decent prices if you search around. The cover price of Thor #202 is 20 cents, while the current value is $30.

Cool comics in my collection #178: Captain Marvel #5, September 1968.

“THE MARK OF THE METAZOID!” I wasn’t quite six years old when this issue came out, and at the time, about the only thing I knew about superheroes was from watching the campy Batman show with Adam West. I don’t even recall if I knew that comic books existed at that time, but if I had, the cover of this issue probably would have been too scary for me at the time. I never bought any Captain Marvel issues during its run from 1968 to 1979, but I do recall seeing them on the shelves and racks with other comics. During my first collector phase from about 1973 until 1978, I really didn’t know anything about the character. When I hit phase three of comic buying, reading, and collecting (1993 to 2003), that’s when I found out more about Captain Marvel and decided that I wanted to get as many of his original run issues as I could lay my hands on. My local shop, Kenmore Komics in Akron, Ohio, has a lot of great back issues, and that’s where I bought this one. When I read an issue with Mar-Vell still in his green and white uniform, I feel like I have my hands on a piece of ancient history. It’s a trip back in time when I read the comics of my youth. The cover price of Captain Marvel #5 is 12 cents, while the current value is $100.

Cool comics in my collection #179: Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #2, April 1978.

“DANGER DOUBLED IS DEATH!” is the title inside this issue that sports a cover with the Man of Steel refusing to help our hero. What? Superman is going to just stand by and do nothing when Firestorm is facing the menace of Multiplex? By the time 1978 rolled around, I was too cool for comics. I remember seeing Firestorm on Super Friends when I was flipping through channels, but I no longer watched superhero cartoons, either. It wasn’t until the second half of my freshman year at Ohio State, in 1982, that I really became aware of Firestorm. His second series had just come out, and I thought he looked pretty cool, so I picked it up and bought it monthly for close to a year. Then I quite buying comics once again. A little more than ten years later, when I discovered the joys of comic books once more, I sought out back issues of Firestorm, and discovered his short-lived original series and bought them as soon as I could find them at several different comic shops in Atlanta, Georgia. I still have many Firestorm comics left to read, and once I get started on them, I’m sure it will be a blast, perhaps feeling like I’m back in 1982 all over again. The cover price of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man #2 is 35 cents, while the current value is $8.

Cool comics in my collection #180: Marvel Premiere #61, August 1981.

“PRESENTING A TRULY BIZARRE SCIENCE-FICTION BLOCKBUSTER—PLANET STORY!” This issue of Marvel Premiere, which is the last in the series, features Star-Lord. You know, Star-Lord? The hero from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy? If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about. But don’t be looking for Groot, Rocket Racoon, Gamora, and Drax in this comic book, as this takes place prior to the current iteration of Guardians. And this Peter Quill is quite different from the big-screen version. But if you’re a fan, you probably want to get your hands on this one to add to your collection. I admit that I didn’t know anything about Star-Lord prior to the movie, but I did have this comic and a couple others that featured him, though I hadn’t read them yet. I bought them in back issue boxes years ago, when I found them at really good prices and thought they looked interesting. I believe I bought this one in Akron, Ohio, at Kenmore Komics. I probably got it for about 50 cents. I really love these anthology style series that Marvel put out for a while, and I’m really glad I picked this one up. The cover price of Marvel Premiere #61 is 50 cents, while the current value is $16.

Cool comics in my collection #181: Strange Adventures #188, May 1966.

“DON’T BRING THAT MONSTER TO LIFE!” This issue has three different “Strange” adventure stories for those brave enough to turn the pages! I bought this comic and several other issues of the title one day when my mother let me go to the Paradox Bookstore in Wheeling, West Virginia. It is a small used bookstore that used to carry some back issues of comic books, selling for just a dime each. In the early seventies, I’d go in and buy a dollar’s worth of treasures, and on one particular trip, instead of buying the usual superhero comics I collected, I instead walked out with six issues of Strange Adventures. This was a time in my life when I’d started staying up late on the weekends and watching Chiller Theater with host Bill Cardille (aka Chilly Billy), out of Pittsburgh. Monster movies became an exciting new adventure in my young life, and while I didn’t buy any monthly monster comics (much to my chagrin), I did buy some older ones like Strange Adventures. Of course when you read these as an adult, they really are pretty tame, but when you’re a ten-year-old kid, the stories can give you nightmares. And you definitely want to sleep with a light on! The cover price of Strange Adventures #188 is 12 cents, while the current value is $45.

Cool comics in my collection #182 (One That Got Away): Devil Dinosaur #1, April 1978.

“IN AN AGE WHEN GIANTS WALKED THE WORLD—HE WAS THE MIGHTIEST OF ALL!” Poor Devil Dinosaur lasted just 9 issues before becoming extinct (I couldn’t resist!). I didn’t buy this comic when it first came out, but instead years later out of a quarter back issue box, sometime in the mid-to-late nineties. When I bought it, I really knew nothing about it. And no wonder, since it wasn’t around long. But looking at the back issue prices, there are definitely collectors who want to get their hands on this terrifying T. rex and his sidekick, Moon Boy. And most unfortunately, this comic didn’t make the cut when I had to cull my collection, which had grown way too large. I think it sold for all of a quarter at my garage sale (which is what I bought it for, so at least I broke even). But now that I’m all about collecting comics from my past (especially the seventies), I do have regrets about having parted with this one. It hurts. It stings. And I never even read the issue. Last week I turned in a short story manuscript to an anthology that is going to feature dinosaurs, and while I don’t know if I’ll make the cut, it made me reflect back on this particular comic book. Goodbye, Devil Dinosaur, I hardly knew ye. The cover price of Devil Dinosaur #1 is 35 cents, while the current value is $30.

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