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In American comic books and other stories with a long history, first appearance refers to the first issue to feature a fictional character. These issues are often highly valued by collectors due to their rarity and iconic status.
Collectors value first appearances for their rarity and historical value, while many regular readers are interested in viewing how their favorite characters were originally portrayed. Reprints of first appearances are often published, both as single comic books and in trade paperbacks, usually with other early appearances of the character. Marvel Comics' "Essential" line has become popular by giving readers an affordable glimpse into characters' early history. [1]
Historically, first appearances tell the origin story for the character, although some, such as Batman and Green Goblin, remained dubious figures for several issues. Modern writers prefer to tell a character's origin across an entire story arc or keep a newly introduced character mysterious until a "secret origin" issue. Some fans consider this a gimmick and prefer the older method. [2]
The artistic merit of many first appearances is debatable. The events portrayed in most famous first appearances are continuously retconed, rebooted and/or expanded upon by subsequent writers. Like many golden and silver age comics, first appearances often become dated and do not fit the modern portrayal of the character.
However, some first appearances are considered classics. 1990s-era Spider-Man writer Howard Mackie said that his favorite story featuring the character was his first appearance and origin story in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962), stating that writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko "gave us everything we needed, I wanted or could ask for in the least possible space. Every single person who retells the origin never improves on the original, they simply expand it." [3]
First appearances of popular characters are among the most valuable comic books in existence. Of the "ten most valuable comic books" listed in the spring 2002 issue of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide , seven are first appearances of popular superheroes. [4] Another, Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939), is the first appearance of the Golden Age Human Torch but is more noteworthy as the first comic book published by industry giant Marvel Comics.
It can take many years for a character to attain sufficient popularity after their first appearance to be considered "iconic." By the point a character reaches that level of popularity, it is common for few copies of their first appearance issues to remain. Furthermore, even fewer of those remaining copies will be in the pristine condition prized by collectors. What few remain can be worth thousands of dollars to interested collectors. For example, in 2004, a copy of Flash Comics #1 (January 1940), the first appearance of The Flash, was auctioned for $42,000 [5] and a copy of Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), the first appearance of Captain America sold for $64,400. [6] In 2010, another copy of Flash Comics #1 sold privately for $450,000. [7]
The first appearance of Superman, Action Comics #1 (June 1938), has been regarded as "holy grail" of comic books, due to its cultural significance and rarity (fewer than one hundred copies are thought to exist). [8] Superman is widely considered to have solidified, if not created, the superhero archetype; therefore, his first appearance is not only important to fans of the character but to fans of superheroes and comic books as a whole. [9] Well-preserved copies of ActionComics #1 have been sold at auction for record-breaking prices. A copy graded at 8.0 ("very fine") on the 10-point scale typically used by collectors was sold at auction for $1,000,000 in 2010. [10] Even a copy graded at a much lower 5.5 ("fine minus") sold for $956,000 in 2016. [8]
Shortly after the record-breaking million-dollar sale of Action Comics #1 in 2010, a copy of Detective Comics #27 featuring the first appearance of Batman was sold for $1,075,000 in a Heritage auction. [11]
Several factors determine the value of a first appearance. Note: All values are according to ComicsPriceGuide.com and are for editions certified by the Certified Collectibles Group (see below):
While seemingly a simple concept, determining the first appearance may be complex. The following are instances in which a character's first appearance may be difficult to determine:
Note: All values are according to Comics Price Guide. Prices given are for the best available editions. Thus prices of Golden Age comics are for editions in "fine" condition because editions in better condition for such old comics are either extremely rare or have never been confirmed to exist. Prices for Silver Age and subsequent comics are for "very fine" editions. Priced are also for editions graded by the Certified Collectibles Group. Data is correct as of January 25,2006 [update] .
A comic book or comicbook, also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, usually, dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the US in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics. The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.
DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies. The majority of its publications take place within the fictional DC Universe and feature numerous culturally iconic heroic characters, such as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The universe also features well-known supervillains who oppose the superheroes such as Lex Luthor and the Joker. The company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Fables and many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo.
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known characters were introduced, including Superman, Batman, Captain Marvel, Captain America, and Wonder Woman.
Amazing Adult Fantasy, retitled Amazing Fantasy in its final issue, is an American comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000s. The final 1960s issue, Amazing Fantasy #15, introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man. Amazing Adult Fantasy premiered with issue #7, taking over the numbering from Amazing Adventures.
Dan Jurgens is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for his work on the DC comic book storyline "The Death of Superman" and for creating characters such as Doomsday, Hank Henshaw and Booster Gold. Jurgens had a lengthy run on the Superman comic books including The Adventures of Superman, Superman vol. 2 and Action Comics. At Marvel, Jurgens worked on series such as Captain America, The Sensational Spider-Man and was the writer on Thor for six years.
Nelson Alexander Ross is an American comic book writer/artist known primarily for his painted interiors, covers, and design work. He first became known with the 1994 miniseries Marvels, on which he collaborated with writer Kurt Busiek for Marvel Comics. He has since done a variety of projects for both Marvel and DC Comics, such as the 1996 miniseries Kingdom Come, which Ross co-wrote. Since then he has done covers and character designs for Busiek's series Astro City, and various projects for Dynamite Entertainment. His feature film work includes concept and narrative art for Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, and DVD packaging art for the M. Night Shyamalan film Unbreakable. He has done covers for TV Guide, promotional artwork for the Academy Awards, posters and packaging design for video games, and his renditions of superheroes have been merchandised as action figures.
Dennis Joseph O'Neil was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.
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John Salvatore Romita, professionally known as John Romita Jr., is an American comics artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of award-winning artist John Romita Sr.
See also: 1964 in comics, 1966 in comics, 1960s in comics and the list of years in comics
Comic book collecting is a hobby that treats comic books and related items as collectibles or artwork to be sought after and preserved. Though considerably more recent than the collecting of postage stamps (philately) or books (bibliophilia), it has a major following around the world today and is partially responsible for the increased interest in comics after the temporary slump experienced during the 1980s.
The Modern Age of Comic Books is a period in the history of American superhero comic books which is generally considered to have begun in the mid-1980s and continues through the present day. During approximately the first 15 years of this period, many comic book characters were redesigned, creators gained prominence in the industry, independent comics flourished, and larger publishing houses became more commercialized.
Carmine Michael Infantino was an American comics artist and editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are the Silver Age version of DC super-speedster the Flash with writer Robert Kanigher, the stretching Elongated Man with John Broome, Deadman with writer Arnold Drake, and Christopher Chance, the second iteration of the Human Target with Len Wein.
The Bronze Age of Comic Books is an informal name for a period in the history of American superhero comic books usually said to run from 1970 to 1984. It follows the Silver Age of Comic Books and is followed by the Modern Age of Comic Books.
Rick Leonardi is an American comics artist who has worked on various series for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including Cloak and Dagger, The Uncanny X-Men, The New Mutants, Spider-Man 2099, Nightwing, Batgirl, Green Lantern Versus Aliens and Superman. He has worked on feature film tie-in comics such as Star Wars: General Grievous and Superman Returns Prequel #3.
In comic books, an intercompany crossover is a comic or series of comics where characters that at the time of publication are the property of one company meet those owned by another company. These usually occur in "one-shot" issues or miniseries.
Superhero fiction is a genre of speculative fiction examining the adventures, personalities and ethics of costumed crime fighters known as superheroes, who often possess superhuman powers and battle similarly powered criminals known as supervillains. The genre primarily falls between hard fantasy and soft science fiction spectrum of scientific realism. It is most commonly associated with American comic books, though it has expanded into other media through adaptations and original works.
Superhero comics are one of the most common genres of American comic books. The genre rose to prominence in the 1930s and became extremely popular in the 1940s and has remained the dominant form of comic book in North America since the 1960s. Superhero comics feature stories about superheroes and the universes these characters inhabit.
Cary Burkett is an American radio broadcaster and former comic book writer best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Nemesis with artist Dan Spiegle.
The Amazing Spider-Man#129, with its subtitle being "The Punisher Strikes Twice!" is a 19-page-long single issue of the American comic book The Amazing Spider-Man, published by Marvel Comics in 1974. The issue is well known for being the first appearance of the character called the Punisher, who at that point in time was portrayed as an antagonist of Spider-Man but would later become one of Marvel's most popular and successful characters. The issue is also the first appearance of the Jackal, a supervillain who would go on to become one of Spider-Man's main adversaries and an integral part of the infamous mid-90s Spider-Man storyline the Clone Saga.
