Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 62, 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 62…

Welcome to December, comic book friends, a month in which we often let our inner child loose once more. Whether it be from the excitement of Christmas or having fun playing in the snow (only to come back inside where a steaming mug of hot chocolate is waiting), there seems to be something magical about the month. So with this in mind, I once again take us back in time to some of the comic books of my youth…comic books that truly make us feel like kids again.

Cool comics in my collection #369: Dennis the Menace #137, March 1975.

For a period of several years, I would buy the occasional Dennis the Menace comic book. Often they were of the digest variety, but this is one of the regular issues. I can’t really pinpoint just why I enjoyed reading about this unruly kid, but I know I liked reading them. Often I would pick up Christmas themed issues, so when I see anything with Dennis the Menace at this time of year, it brings back warm childhood memories of reading the comics in my bed. Way back when, Dennis was a pretty popular character, having a daily strip, and a nice color Sunday comic that I remember reading every week. There was a cartoon, but that didn’t come until the mid-Eighties, but from 1959 to 1963, Jay North played Dennis in a live-action TV show, and I saw many of the episodes in syndication. But to me, the comic books were always the best. The cover price of Dennis the Menace #137 is 25 cents, while the current value is $9.

Cool comics in my collection #370: Richie Rich Best of the Years #1, October 1977.

I must have wondered what it would be like to have untold sums of money, because I went through a short period of buying some Richie Rich comics. This one came out just before I turned 15, so maybe I was thinking about turning 16 and being able to afford any car on the lot! Or maybe, being near the end of 14, I realized my childhood was slipping away and I wanted to recapture it. Yes, I was still buying superhero comic books at the time, but sometimes I wanted a less complex story to read just before I fell asleep in my bed at night. That’s where I always read these digest sized comic books, propped up by a few pillows, living it up as a rich kid in the pages of this comic book. This particular digest series contained older stories, ranging from 1969 to 1977, but they were all new to me since I hadn’t read Richie Rich in the past. Simpler times, that’s for sure. Man, sometimes I miss those days. The cover price of Richie Rich Best of the Years #1 is 75 cents, while the current value is $14.

Cool comics in my collection #371: Archie Comics Digest #16, February 1976.

As a kid, my comic books tended to be of the superhero variety, but I was also a secret reader of Archie comics. There is something about that gang from Riverdale that has long attracted readers both young and old, and I still have all the Archie comics I purchased back in the Seventies. And with it being December, I made sure to include this digest-sized issue that is chalk full of Christmas cheer. Yes, the Decembers of my youth are full of Archie Christmas comic book memories. It seemed to me that Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose, Ethel—well, all of them—had more fun in December than anyone else I knew. Or at least read about, from a fictional standpoint. The writers did a good job of making these stories so much fun and appealing to a wide audience. Even today when I see this cover it brings back warm memories of holidays long gone by. I hope you have some special comics that give you those same feelings. The cover price of Archie Comics Digest #16 is 60 cents, while the current value is $18.