Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 90, 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 90…

Cool Comics News!

When I started collecting comics for the third time, in the early Nineties, Wizard Magazine and a few others were easily accessible for those who wanted more than just comics. While they are long gone, I just discovered the magazine Hogan’s Alley, which had its debut in 1994. Though it started off as a quarterly, it now comes out annually, and I found issue No. 21 at my local Barnes and Noble this week. This isn’t a typical comic book magazine, as it also covers comic strips and a mishmash of other items, all having to do with cartoon arts. If you like the art form and the history behind it, then Hogan’s Alley is worth the $6.95 cover price. You get over 140 pages (newsprint style rather than slick, which is just fine for an older fan like me), so you’ll be able to enjoy it for a while. I haven’t gotten very far into it yet, but I can tell this will be something I pick up every year.

Cool Comics

Cool comics in my collection #442: Harley Quinn #1, April 2017.

I’ve always been a fan who likes heroes. When Spider-Man fights the Green Goblin, I want the good guy in the insect costume to win. When John Wayne goes after bad men, you know he’ll get justice. But as the years pass (too swiftly!), I’m starting to enjoy a “good” bad guy every now and then (I guess that’s why I wanted to be in the Supervillain anthology, World Domination, which comes out June 26 via Amazon). I wasn’t sure what I’d think of the Suicide Squad movie, but I liked it, and Harley Quinn turned out to be one of my favorites. There’s just something deliciously entertaining about a funny supervillain (If you’ve read my novel Prometheus Stumbles, then you’re familiar with the crazy antics of Fred Wichman…a character I grew to love so much that I’ve been writing stories about Fred when he was younger), and I’m glad that DC packed another Walmart 3-pack with this Variant Harley Quinn Rebirth issue. At this point, I’m looking forward to reading more Harley Quinn Rebirth issues. I just need to remember that she’s on the wrong side of the law! The cover price of Harley Quinn #1 is $2.99, while the current value of this variant is $5.

Cool comics in my collection #443: Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Two #11, Early November 2014.

A couple weeks back (Cool Comics Episode 88), my digital reads were Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One, Volumes 1 and 2. Yes, I’m really looking forward to reading more in that series, and I got a sneak peek in one of my Walmart 3-packs at this later issue from Year Two. Unfortunately, this skipped over 10 issues, so I really didn’t know what was going on. But it did whet my appetite for a complete read of Year Two. It’s going to be a while before I get to it, but read it I will, because this series is quite the ride! On the cover, you can see two Green Lanterns facing off, Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan, a couple guys you won’t find anytime soon sharing a nice cup of coffee to start the day. The best thing I can say is that I probably won’t remember any of this by the time I get to Season Two. The cover price of Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year Two #11 is $2.99, while the current value is $3.

Cool comics in my collection #444: Convergence #3, June 2015.

I’ve read lots of Convergence comics recently (see my digital section below), and I’m not quite sure what to think of it. The problem is, this particular issue starts in the middle (yes, it’s issue #3, and was stuffed inside a Walmart 3-pack…so that’s part of the answer of why I’m not sure what to think of it). It has characters that are familiar, yet different, because they are our heroes from various versions of planets in the multiverse, which obviously, in the world of comic books, changes everything! Hence, Convergence #3 focuses on beings I don’t really care about. Why should I feel sympathy for a Batman I’ve never met before? Yes. You see what I mean. Anyway, I’ll probably never read another Convergence story, unless there are more inside Walmart 3-packs. The cover price of Convergence #3 is $3.99, while the current value is $4.

Recently Read Digital Comics

This Convergence storyline was easier by far to understand than Cool Comic #444 above, yet there are still gaps that need to be filled in to truly grasp this multi-part story. Alas, I’ll probably never read it all. Which is just fine, because there are only tens of thousands of other comics to choose from. But if you’re a big DC fan, you probably don’t want to miss out. This collection, called Convergence: Flashpoint: Book One, consists of the following comics: CONVERGENCE: SUPERMAN #1-2, CONVERGENCE: THE QUESTION #1-2, CONVERGENCE: BATGIRL #1-2, CONVERGENCE: NIGHTWING/ORACLE #1-2 and CONVERGENCE: JUSTICE LEAGUE #1-2. As I say in this section quite often, I got it nice and cheap, especially considering the number of issues it contains. I’ll admit I’d probably enjoy this series more if I’d read it from the beginning, but when you read digital comics haphazardly as I’ve been doing, there’s a price to pay, and I’m okay with it.