Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 92, where we take a nostalgic look at comic books I currently own, and in some sad cases, ones that I let get away.

For each of the comic books I include in this blog, 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.

Have you considered being a guest host for 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), with a maximum of seven issues. Repeat guest hosts are permitted and encouraged. Send your completed blog to edgosney62@gmail.com.

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 92…

Cool Comics News!

World Domination: A Supervillain Anthology, is live on Amazon! You can purchase it for Kindle (the current launch price is just 99 cents, so grab it before the price goes up) or get a trade paperback. Seriously, this is such a cool collection of stories that you won’t want to miss out on this fantastic display of creativity by some awesome authors! Oh, I have a story in it, too, but I’ll let you readers decide if it’s worthy or not. And after you’ve had enough with the bad guys, you can also pick up It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane!: A Superhero Anthology. These twin anthologies are already proving quite popular and are climbing the charts on Amazon. If you have any questions about them, please feel free to ask!

Cool Comics

Cool comics in my collection #448: Batman & Robin Eternal #19, April 2016.

I’ve finally reached the end of this batch of Walmart $5 DC 3-packs. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep them grouped by package, so none of these three are variant covers. However, the next batch of eight are out, and I will be presenting them every other week by package. This particular comic is a little confusing to a new reader, especially when it’s issue 19 and we’re well beyond the starting point. I looked up some information about the timeline going back and forth from past to present, and that helps a little. For those who love these characters, all I can say is to start from the beginning. For me, there was no choice in the matter since it was part of the 3-pack. Probably not the best marketing ploy by DC. Maybe they had some larger print runs and that’s how they decided what to contribute to each pack. If you know the answer, please enlighten me in the comment section below. The cover price of Batman & Robin Eternal #19 is $2.99, while the current value is $3.

Cool comics in my collection #449: Star Spangled War Stories #3, December 2014.

I really liked this story, even though I have no history with the characters, and it was issue #3. Something about G.I. Zombie struck a chord with me, and I wouldn’t mind exploring him a little further. I guess it goes hand-in-hand with my later in life love of monster comics. When I was a kid in the Seventies, even though I was a fan of the old horror movies…especially Universal and Hammer movies…I wasn’t a buyer of monster comics. I seemed to put my focus mostly on superheroes when it came to comic books. Now that I’m older, I enjoy picking up monster titles from the Sixties and Seventies, and this comic hearkened back to that period. The cover price of Star Spangled War Stories #3 is $2.99, while the current value is $3.

Cool comics in my collection #450: Sinestro: Futures End #1, November 2014.

This is the sixth Futures End comic I’ve found stuffed inside the 16 sets of Walmart DC 3-packs I’ve opened to this point. I’ve never been a fan of Sinestro, but this issue was pretty good. Futures End gave the creators an opportunity to show possible events five years into the future, allowing a lot of leeway. The art is attractive and pulls you in to the flow of events. I certainly didn’t understand everything that was going on since I don’t read new comics regularly, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying this interesting story. Buying these Walmart variant packs reminds me of when I started my second phase of comic collecting in 1982. I’d been out of the hobby for several years, then jumped back in when a college roommate got me interested by showing me some of his awesome collection. It’s not easy to climb onboard and know which direction the train is running, but learning is half the fun. Back then I was willing to try comics and characters I wasn’t familiar with, and these 3-packs put me in that same position. I’m really looking forward to the next set of eight. The cover price of Sinestro: Futures End #1 is $2.99, while the current value is $3.

Recently Read Digital Comics

Unless you’ve been living on Themyscira (or Paradise Island for us more seasoned folks!), then you know the big movie of early June was Wonder Woman. DC published a special Free Comic Book Day Edition, along with a Wonder Woman Day Special Edition. I missed out on both at my local comic book shop, but comiXology offers both as free downloads, and if you missed out on these, I recommend you download them and get reading. If you enjoyed the movie but aren’t really much of a comic book reader, comiXology is a great way to introduce yourself to the world of comics since they have lots of free comics to download. All you need to do is download the app from your app store and you can start reading on your tablet or—if your eyes can handle it—phone. And it’s possible to read on your phone, because comiXology allows you to read one panel at a time. Of course, you can always go to the website on your PC, sign up for a free membership (you can do it with your Amazon account), and read them on your computer. Wonder Woman has been around since 1941, and if you’ve never read any of her comics, why not start with these?