Dave's Fanboy Sermon

If only comic shop owners had a dollar for every time a conversation like the one above took place then they would be able to buy their own copy of Superman #1. Or at least all the Valiant Comics in the world. As a matter of policy, I cannot give anyone a quote of how much a comic is worth on the phone. I have learned from experience that it leads to far too much confusion and misscommunication. It is not the fault of the customer. They have most always been told by a friend that all old comics are worth a fortune. All you have to do is watch the Home Shopping Network for an afternoon to hear the words "Investment", "Mint Condition" and "Premier" used in the same sentence.

Once upon a time, the number on the cover of a comic book indicated which issue it was. Nothing more, nothing less. If it was the first issue, it had a little number one on it. If it was the fourteenth issue, it had a fourteen on it. In fact, publishers even avoided putting that number one on an issue if there was someway to get around it. There were problems with getting mailing permits for publications with no track record. Readers were less interested in an unproven book. But a book that had been going for awhile... that one must be good. Then, somewhere along the line we started paying attention to how early in the series a book was. American loves to be first. American collectors love to have the first of something. The first baseball card of a particular player, the rookie card. The first printing of a popular novel. The first appearance of a comic book character.

The problems began when outside media began to notice comic collectors. They would take their camera to the comic book conventions and pick out the strangest person they could find to interview. Inevitably, they would lead their local news program with something like this:

Zap! Pow! Whammo!
Those old Funny Books could make you a millionaire! We all read them and then threw them away like the trash they are, but some crazy people are actually paying big bucks for old comic books. Mint Condition Premier issues are selling to collectors who then store them in their parents basements. So next time you're cleaning out that garage, don't throw these things away. Sell them and make your fortune. After all, if you've got that Superman Number One... you've just hit the lottery!

Sadly, comic fans were so happy to be on TV that they forgot to be insulted. Then that Number One on the cover took on a mystical significance. Kind of like being at Woodstock, somehow most everyone at least had the first Superman before mom threw it away. It wasn't long before the comic publishers realized that people might buy a book just because it was the first issue. Soon, there was Lots of first issues. By the 80's that "first issue" had become so important that publishers looked for any reason at all to begin renumbering a series. If it took a three month break, it came back as "Number One First Issue! Because You demanded it! Eventurally, Number One wasn't good enough. So we got issue Zeros! I'm sure that the next step will be fractions and decimal points. We can get issue 1.3 and 1.4 and when that isn't enough we can take the decimal point out further to 1.366! Seem silly? You bet it does. So why do people constantly come into my store and look for all the number ones they can find?

We are now to the point that at Marvel, Only the X-Books have an issue number above 100. Every possible reason they could find to Reboot, remodulate or Refribulate a series resulted in a new Number One Issue. All of this makes it kind of hard to celebrate an aniversary with a double sized issue, so Marvel has taken care of that problem ingeniously. Two numbers! That's right. Two different issue numbers on the cover of the comic. So we get a bonus sized, special issue for Iron Man #50 (new numbering) and a five months later we get another special, bonus sized issue for number 400 (old numbering). Are you feeling celebratory? I know I am! Of course, this won't even be the 400th consecutive issue of Iron Man, because he ran for 60 issues in Tales Of Suspense and one issue of Iron Man/Submariner before beginning his own title with issue number one. So how many Iron Man #1's are there? Let's see, there's the first appearance in Tales Of Suspense #39, Iron Man/Submariner #1 followed by Iron Man #1 in 1968, the "Heroes Reborn" Iron Man #1 which ran for 13 issues before being replaced by Iron Man #1 in 1998 which is still running today. And then there are at least four mini-series and a couple more "one shots" and this isn't even counting annuals. So there is at least nine or ten Iron Man number one issues. It's a good thing he's not a popular character. You don't even want to begin counting all the Spider-Man #1's!

So here we are in the 21st century. Comics have been with us for more than half a century. Recognition of comics as a truly American art form, one of only two that America can claim over the last century, is slow in coming. But, hey! Who needs recognition? Just curl up with a stack of good funny books and enjoy. Just don't forget to double bag those suckers when you're through! They could be worth a fortune, you know.