Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 69, 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 69…

Cool comics in my collection #387: The Flash #1 (Walmart Variant), August 2016.

This past weekend I was doing some shopping with the wife, and she was looking for some particular sale items at Walmart. She’d found what she was looking for at the local Walmart, so we decided to see if they had more at a couple of their other stores that weren’t too far away. At the third one, I found this! I’d read some comments about these Walmart Exclusives in a comic book forum, but I’d never seen them at our local store. Now I retired from buying new comics back in 2003, but at the opportunity to pick up some of these Rebirth comics, I made an exception. And it’s not like I’m buying them monthly. This issue came out in the summer. I’ll periodically cover more of those Walmart exclusives here in Cool Comics, but decided to start with The Flash since I am a fan of the TV show and have always enjoyed speedsters (wishful thinking, I guess). I enjoyed reading this issue and am definitely interested in reading more. I did see that you can buy the first six issues of most of these Rebirth series comics in digital format from Amazon and comiXology. Just $9.99, from what I saw. But it was fun holding this new iteration of Barry Allen in my hands. The cover price of Flash #1 is $2.99, while the current value of this variant is $5.

Cool comics in my collection #388: Batman: Rebirth #1 (Walmart Variant), September 2016.

This issue is another Walmart Variant I picked up via the shopping scenario above. When I was a child, Batman was THE man. He was my hero big time. Or at least the Adam West version from the campy TV show. I think most people my age who watched it absolutely loved this version of Batman. As far as the comics were concerned, the only few I bought during my childhood in the Seventies were the 100 pagers. I liked Batman okay, but preferred to shell out my money to Spider-Man, Captain America, and several other Marvel characters. DC wasn’t my cup of tea, you could say. Now I was a fan of Super Friends and the live action Shazam!, but when it came to comics, I didn’t buy any DC regularly until a short stint in the Eighties when I was in college. When 1993 rolled around and Superman “died” in his battle with Doomsday, I gained interest in DC heroes again, and really started reading and learning more about this rich tapestry of tight wearing superheroes. If you have any interest in Batman, then you’ll probably want this Batman: Rebirth comic, and any ongoing series featuring Bruce Wayne. I enjoyed it, and just may end up reading more (via digital comics, more than likely) in the near future. The cover price of Batman: Rebirth #1 is $2.99, while the current value of this variant is $5.

Recently Read

The flexibility and ease of digital comics has given me lots of reading options, not to mention great sale prices. Whether you make your purchase at comiXology or Amazon, you can read the with the comiXology app and read each panel individually, which reduces eye strain. Several times a week I’ll take a look to see what’s on sale, and when collections hit the $2.99 mark, it’s really hard to resist. In December, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vol. 1: The Coulson Protocols, was offered via Amazon for just $2.99. You read that right. I bought the first six issues of this series for just $2.99. Consider that the current Amazon price is $10.99, and that through comiXology it’s $17.99. Maybe you don’t give a hoot about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (if you watch the TV show, you may have an interest in reading this, but there are differences), but the point is that awesome collections are being offered on sale every week, and sooner or later they’ll have something you want to read. As you know, my heart resides in the Seventies, and earlier this week I bought Marvel Masterworks Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 of the Black Panther for just $4.99 each (a total of 673 pages!). I know it’s great to hold comics in your hands, and I know it’s cool to have comics that are valuable, but digital editions give us a chance to read issues we might never be able to purchase in hardcopy.