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Okay, finally wrapping up what was going to be a two-part series with part eight, because if it’s one thing your pal Mike knows how to do, it’s run off at the mouth keyboard.
First, let’s go back to the comment that inspired this Final Chapter, from Mike Loughlin:
“…I’m curious if the painted Mark Texiera covers on the first Sabretooth mini drive back issue sales. Ditto the BWS or Sam Kieth Marvel Comics Presents covers.”
Well, well, well, Sabretooth:
…the series I kept buying out of collections until I realized its sales heyday was a couple of decades back and nobody is looking for it anymore, at least in these parts. I mean, they sell occasionally, but my clientele just isn’t Sabretooth-crazy (judging by my sales on the most recent issue).
I will sau, at least the die-cut gimmick on this cover is less obnoxious than the one on Wolverine #50. Using the ol’ “Three Claws” ranking system, as seen in the New York Times and as used by movie reviewers across the nation, I’ll give this Sabretooth mini One Claw…not a big seller, mostly forgotten by God and man.
As for Marvel Comics Presents, the long-running anthology title…well, Sam Kieth covers definitely moved the books during that period when he was a “hot” artist. My particular favorites are the front and back covers for #100 from 1992:
Don’t worry, folks, Wolverine is going to be okay, thanks to his adamantium-laced bones and his mutant healing factor!
Now, I still do get demand for both 1) Marvel Comics Presents issues, and 2) Sam Kieth art, but oddly not specifically Marvel Comics Presents covers by Sam Kieth. Which is a little weird. That said, they do still sell…much more slowly than they used to, and not for much, but folks seem happy when they spot them. One Claw, bordering on Two, for this ranking.
Now as for the Barry Windsor-Smith issues:
…which reveals a heretofore unseen chapter in Wolverine’s history, is always in demand, and I suspect always will be, so long as Wolverine remains a popular character amongst you funnybook fans. Even folks just poking through the back issue bins and come across these covers, knowing nothing of the story within, are compelled to buy these. The cover I posted above is one that’s particularly popular.
They are not as in-demand as they were when we were closer in time to their release, but they remain consistent sellers. I’d give this the coveted Three Claw ranking.
There are a couple other oddball things, like Iron Fist #15 from 1977, cover art by Dave Cockrum:
…featuring Wolverine in Sabretooth’s costume, you’ll notice. This issue (and the issue previous, with Sabretooth’s first appearance) are in huge demand, and probably will continue to be. Three Claws it is!
And here’s this sorta awkward Wolverine cover from Daredevil #196 (1983) by Klaus Janson:
Used to be quite the hot ticket, but, I don’t know, maybe local demand’s been saturated? They don’t sell like they used to. May a Two Claw ranking?
And just because they need to be noted, the very definition of Three Claw rankers in my ridiculous scale that I used in all these posts and will likely never use again…Wolverine’s first full-length appearance in 1974’s Incredible Hulk #181:
…with brief appearances in both #180 and #182. Art on the cover by Wolverine’s creators Herb Trimpe and John Romita Sr., written by the other creator of Wolverine, Len Wein, inside.
Then from 1988, one of the most iconic Wolverine images of all time, from Incredible Hulk #340, art by Todd McFarlane:
I mean, just look at that pic. Clearly McFarlane peaked with this and never did anything else of note.
And, that’s that for Wolverine Back Issue Talk. Look, I know I left out a whole bunch of stuff…there are a couple of prime covers on Uncanny X-Men I probably could have noted, but right now there’s enormous demand for any Uncanny X-Men pre-multiple reboots. Pointing out a Wolverine-centric issue or cover from that series as a “good seller” doesn’t really make any sense when they’re all good sellers right now.
So anyway, philfromgermany, I hope that answers your question.
• • •
Next week, I’m starting in on your 2024 comic industry predictions, and I’ll see how we all did! Plus, get in those p
redictions for 2025…we’re almost halfway through January, what’cha waitin’ for?
Here we are, the next-to-last (honest!) installment of “Which o’them Wolvie back issues are still sought out now, and possibly in the future?” Again, I may not cover every issue of Wolverine that you think may be of note, and if you think of any others, feel free to drop ’em in the comments.
So anyway, let’s start up with Wolverine #145, an extree-sized 25th anniversary issue with a cover by Leinil Yu
and Dexter Vines:
…with foil-enhanced claws on the cover of the “deluxe” edition. The big event in this issue is the restoration of the adamantium stripped out of his skeleton way back in 1993. Wow, you know, I don’t think I ever really thought about the fact that the “bone claw” version of Wolverine lasted six years. Huh.
As such, this is an expanded issue, it’s got a cool gimmick on the cover, it’s a Big Change (or rather, reverting a change0 for the character…all incentives for boosting interest and sales in this issue. I’d say it’s a Three Claw rank, using my nigh-infallible method of ranking these Wolverine comics, with “One Claw” being your typical box filler, and “Three Claws” being books that fly out of the door, now and possibly for the rest of time.
Now, these next two issues are interesting, featuring covers and interior art by Mr. Robert Liefeld, Esq. — issues #154 and #155 from the far-flung future year of 2000:
The initial reason these were in high demand, at least for us, was that Liefeld factor. Doing a couple of X-books in his post-Youngblood phase grabbed the attention of fans, making these comics popular sellers both new off the rack and out of the back issue bins.
Now, as the years have worn on — 25 of those years, in fact — Liefeld’s presence on these comics has become less of a sales motivator vs. the fact that Deadpool is in these stories. But, for whatever reason, sell they do, and at somewhat of a premium to boot. Again, I’m going with the Three Claws ranking for these two, though sales in the future will depend on whether Deadpool retains his allure or folks burn out on him again.
Here’s bit of an oddball one, #160 from 2001, art by J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray:
I mean, I suppose there are J.H. Williams III completists out there, snapping up copies of these. But look, I’ve been selling comic books for a long time, and I know when folks are pickin’ up specific issues because of the ladies on the covers. Nothing wrong with that, not yucking anyone’s yum, it’s perfectly okay to want to see Wolverine fight a couple of attractive hitwomen or whatever. And that is an eyecatching cover.
Those characters’ names, by the way? T & A. …Oh, come on.
Anyhoo, this comic is a pretty consistent seller…not a top tier back issue, nobody’s busting down my doors demanding it, but it’ll sell when it’s spotted. Gonna give this one the rank of Two Claws — you heard it here first.
For the finale of our little Walk Down Wolverine Lane (at least for the Wolverine series itself), here’s #165 (2001), cover art by Sean Chen and Norm Rapmund:
That’s definitely an eye-catcher! I seem to recall at the time there was some…apprehension in regards to the cover and to the violent content of this specific issue. Strangely enough, the event presented on the cover is less explicit inside, happening in shadow:
The mild controversy of course attracted sales, and this was in pretty good demand for some time, but I think that’s all forgotten now. When it sells today, it’s probably more for the “whoa, that cover” feeling. A defnite Two-Claw book.
That’s that…those have been the issues of the original Wolverine ongoing series that attract back issue sales now, and may (or may not) continue to get them in the future. Like I said above, I’m sure this wasn’t everything, and if you think I missed a big one from this run of books, leave it in the comments. Despite all my talk about wrapping this topic up, I can always return to it for some addendums later. I’m not proud.
Tune in Friday for the end of this (current) run of posts, as I look at few Wolverine appearances in other comics and what that did for current/back issue sales!
Okay, I’m really hoping to finish Wolverine Back Issue Talk this week, since next week I’m going to start on covering the 2024 comic industry predictions you made a year ago. Which reminds me, get your predictions in for this year soon, before too much of this year slips by!
So, on to this new batch of Wolvie issues…just click on the “Wolverine” category link to see more, since I’ve been too lazy to create a tag just for these Back Issue Talk posts.
Note: since this is wrapping up this week, I’m skipping a few here and there (like those post-adamantium-removal stories right after #75), most of which are solid sellers, more so than some of the other issues in the run. “Two Claw” rankers, using my system here. If I miss any you think are notable, feel free to say so in the comments!
First up is Wolverine #88 from 1994, cover by Adam Kubert:
Chris V in the comments beat me to it, but yes, I was definitely going to mention this issue in regards to its early Deadpool appearance.
This had a sudden bump in demand, going from “forgotten filler back issue of Wolverine to Hot Commodity in very short order. Yes, I’ve had copies of these relatively recently. And yes, they just fly out the door. I forget now what I had ’em priced at…probably closer to $50 than $100, using Chris V’s price range, but given how fast they sell maybe I should start nudging those numbers slightly upward.
Anyway, using the trademarked/patented/copyright-ened Three Claws system for Wolverine Back Issue Hotness, I’ll give this the mighty Three Claws rank. Always in high demand. always sells. At least as long as Deadpool is a hot character and/or supplies of this issue remain relatively difficult to come by.
Now here’s an interesting one…Wolverine #90 (1995) with a wraparound cover by Adam Kubert and the Hildebrandt Brothers:
This was the last issue of the series prior to it being replaced in the schedule for four months by the Age of Apocalypse alternate-timeline event mini-series Weapon X.
The wraparound cover is obviously a big selling point, as is the Wolverine/Sabretooth battle. Of particular note is the cliffhanger ending, where the story leaves off with Wolverine apparently springing one of his claws through Sabretooth’s head. And, like I said, this story was interrupted for a few months, feeding into fan curiosity and demand, leaving folks wondering just what the repercussions of this battle were going to be.
Now, thirty years later, that several month gap is no longer a factor, as anyone interested can just pick up the following issues out of the bins, no waiting, no fuss, no muss. Regardless, this issue remains in high demand, and likely will for the foreseeable future. Another Three Claw-er, sez me.
The final issue for today is issue #100 from 1996, with art by that Adam Kubert guy again, with inks by John Dell:
Yes, it came in a couple of flavors, with that hologram cover above, and sans hologram below:
It’s one of those extra-sized Big Round Number anniversary comics, always a plus in back issue demand, and the large splashy hologram certainly helps it move. The cover lacking the hologram also sells well, so lacking the cover gimmick doesn’t hurt its potential.
This is a status-quo-changing story, featuring Apocalypse (another popular X-Men villain) mucking about with Wolvie, resulting in him becoming a more savage and bestial creature for the next few issues, so as the beginning of sorts of a new storyline, that probably helped fan interest, too. Nowadays, though, it’s the double-whammy of being issue #100 and sometimes having the hologram that pushes sales. And sell it does…I’m calling this another Three-Claw Classic.
• • •
So, like I said, I do want to wrap this up this week, so next time I might cover a few more issues in the main
Wolverine series proper, then touch on some other Wolverine-adjacent comics that always sell, or used to at any rate. Yes, I’ll probably mention those Hulk issues.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you folks on Wednesday.
First, get your 2025 comic industry predictions in! Come back in January 2026 to see how you did! …Well, I mean, keep reading my site ’til then, of course.
Next, to Mike Loughlin, I can get to those Wolverine-adjacent titles as an addendum to this series. I certainly have something to say about those comics.
And lastly, I’m sure I’ll miss some Wolverine issue or ‘nother in my overview here. You can bring ’em up in the comments, but I may or may not get to them. Nothing personal, but I only intended this to be, like, two installments, and here we are on five! Ah well, What Can You Do™?
So we move on with our discussion of Wolverine that still attract (or had attracted) interest in the back issue market, and their possibility of continuing to do so in the future.
First up is Wolverine #59 (1992), featuring the artwork of Darick Robertson and Joe Rubenstein:
I suspect the reasons for interest in this issue are self-evident, going back to, as Andrew said, reasons solely related to the cover. This Terminator-esque look for our favorite furball is a consistent eyecatcher, but not necessarily one that always results in a sale from the back issue bins. But it does sell, so I’ll give it the middling Two Claws rating…still gets attention and will likely receive attention in the years to come, but not a book that’s an insta-grab for your typical back issue hound.
Next up is Wolverine #67 (1993), art by Mark Texeira:
Texeira had a little run of Wolverine comics around this time, but this is probably the cover of the bunch. Certainly the most (here comes that word again) iconic. Now there was a bit of time some years ago when Texeira art had this measure of, well, “hotness” about it, goading sales along of any comics that featured it. That’s not quite the case now (Mike Loughlin, this probably answers one of your questions), which isn’t a comment on Texeira’s art or anything, which is certainly dynamic and attention-grabbing.
I would also give this issue the Two Claws ranking, as it does sell at a higher frequency than the issues around it, and I think as time wears on, it’ll continue as a consistent, if not high demand, item.
And here we are, the first Wolverine cover with a hologram glued to it…#75 from 1993, with art by Adam Kubert and Mark Farmer:
This is part of a storyline in which Wolverine loses the adamantium bonded to his bones. Specifically, Magneto uses his powers to pull out the adamantium, an event that happens in the previous chapter of this crossover story, the similarly hologrammed X-Men #25.
Of the X-comics that comprised this storyline, dubbed “Fatal Attractions,” it was (and still is) X-Men #25 that commands the most attention. That had been because of the events within, and maybe still because of them, but now mostly sell because of the demand for back issues for this X-Men series. (The Uncanny X-Men issue of this crossover sells at a high rate too, also because of demand for thos back issues.)
Yes yes, but what of Wolverine #75? I’m going to be a tad wishy washy on this, by giving this the most marginal of a Three Claws rating. Yes, it certainly sells, but sometimes…it takes a bit. It’s not an immediate grab ‘n’ slab (ugh, I’m sorry) for most folks diving into the old comics bins, like other Three Claw rankers. It’s definitely not in as much demand as X-Men #25. I don’t get calls from people desperately looking for it or anything. I think orders on this issue were particularly high, and it’s fairly common. But, priced right and put in front of the proper customer, it’ll move. And that hologram will continue to grab eyeballs in the future, making it stand apart from its non-gimmicked brethren.
On a related note, here’s a post I wrote long ago about just how these “Fatal Attractions” comics were shipped to us, and what the printer did to protect those precious hologram.
• • •
That’s probably it for Wolverine talk for this week…unless I’m stuck for a topic on Friday and I dive back in. Thanks for reading, pals, and I hope everyone has a safe New Year celebration!
Well, I said last week I was going to skip the Wolverine talk for a day or two, but just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! I’ll do my best to keep it brief (uh oh, you know what that means) but I wanted to address a couple of things before Christmas hit.
First, there’s a comment or three that have been left on the Wolverine posts that I promise I will get to, once 1) I’m through with the main posts in the series, or 2) when I actually take a brief break from posting about specific Wolverine comics. So if you left a question recently, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you.
Second, I still have a couple of responses due for the most recent Question Time post. Haven’t forgotten those either! I’ll get to them soon.
Okay (phew) how ’bout some Wolverine?
Speaking of comments, Joe Gualtieri gives me a poke with
“No mention of #27? Its Jim Lee cover was used for the box art of the Wolverine NES game and seems to be at least as expensive as the other issues mentioned here.”
Well, Joe, there’s a perfectly good explanation for the omission, and that is…um, I forgot.
Here’s the cover under discussion, straight outta 1990:
That is indeed Mr. Jimothy Lee on art duties for that almost literally striking cover there. And all I can say is that the reason I forgot about this cover is that…I haven’t had one in my evil retailer hands in many a moon. Or if I did it sold so quickly that it left no impression on what’s left of my mind that I even had one around.
As such, I don’t have specific sales data I can give you all for this issue. I can make some assumptions, both from sources like the Hot Comics App and looking at sales on the eBays. It does seem to sell for a little more than your average issue of Wolverine from around this period, excluding the crazy-talk prices for the “professionally-grade” ones slabbed in their little plastic coffins.
So, what to rate this, on my scientifically-rigorous Three Claws Scale of Current and Possible Future Demand, 1 = “might sell under the right circumstances, eh” and 3 = “only hosers wouldn’t buy this” with 2 being somewhere between those two extremes.
And I think I’m going to rate Wolverine #27 at…a provisional Three Claws, until I get more more hands-on data with in-store sales. I mean, it’s a Jim Lee cover, it seems to sell online when priced right (I see a few sales at lower prices versus the higher priced copies that haven’t sold as of yet), and I don’t have any in stock. That seems to point to continual demand. I’ll pay more attention the next I have copies of this around, and maybe provide an update someday.
Next up, 1992’s release of the extra-sized issue #50, complete with the requisite gimmick cover:
The gimmick? See those “slashes” across the cover there? As if someone with a three-clawed hand left ragged cuts across this dossier? Those are actually die-cut gaps into the stiff cardstock cover, leaving three vertically oriented holes through which you can see the images printed on the page beneath.
As it turns out, those die-cuts were kind of a pain in the ass to rack at my previous place of employment, which at the time had wall-mounted wire racks. The comics were backed into the metal slots…not tightly, ideally, but it created kind of a pocket into which comics would slide in and out. Most comic covers were smooth, so that wasn’t a problem. But with literal ragged holes on the cover…pulling things out usually wasn’t a problem, but if someone removed a copy and decided against it, shoving the book back into the slot could mean catching the die-cuts and tearing the cover.
Our solution to this at the time (which we did with other die-cut covers, of which there thankfully weren’t too many) was to put comic bags on all our copies, thus creating that smooth surface necessary to prevent any catching. The other alternative was to have just one display copy out that customers could look at, and have the rest at the counter. Or we could get rid of the wire racks entirely and replace them with something sensible, but we wouldn’t do that for a while yet after this comic came out.
The comic was bit of a hot commodity for a while, and sold out of the back issue bins on a regular basis, mostly due to the gimmick cover and that it was one of the “anniversary” multiples-of-fifty special issues that always attract extra attention. It’s slowed down of late, at least for me, but I’ll give it a Two Claw rating as because it is a special issue, it will always be likely to have some measure of demand, even if it doesn’t fly out the door.
• • •
Andrew
says
“It seems to me that longevity depends on the cover and issue number, and very little on the story content.”
Sure seems that way, in a lot of cases. At first the Byrne issues were sought after because they were, well, Byrne issues. People wanted the content. But as tempus fugit-ed and people forgot about Byrne, all that was left to attract people to those comics were the covers. Also, don’t forget the Sabretooth issues…those continue to be bought because people want to see Wolverine fight that guy.
There were some periods in the history of the Wolverine series where demand was story driven, such as during those brief Peter David and Warren Ellis arcs. But otherwise, yeah, Andrew, in many cases you are correct in your assertion.
That said, I have a couple of examples coming in the Very Near Future of Wolverine seeing demand, if even only for a while, because of what’s between the covers and not on them. We’ll see when we get there!
Thanks for reading, everyone, and I hope everyone enjoys whatever holiday they’re enjoying! I’ll probably have a short message on Christmas (shorter than this post, certainly…remember when I said I’d be brief?) and be back on Friday for more shenanigans. See you then.
So before I jump into part three of our Wolverine discussion, let me remind you that I’m taking your comic industry predictions for 2025 right here! Get ’em in preferably before 2025 really gets goin’, so you slide in the first couple of weeks of January, that’ll probably be fine.
Also, the new Superman trailer is up. And before you say anything, this is a Pro-Krypto Household and I will not accept any complaints about the Super Good Boy.
Okay, now on to “Wolverine: Which Issues Will People Continue Caring About?” already in progress:
In the late 1970s/early 1980s, Wolverine experienced a burst in popularity, largely in part to Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s run on Uncanny X-Men. When Byrne left the book in 1981, there was some measure of anticipation among fans as to when he’d return to the characters. Aside from a brief appearance or two during Byrne’s run in Alpha Flight, he mostly stayed busy with other projects. However, when it was announced that he would be taking over the Wolverine series in 1989, that garnered excitement and gave a boost to sales on a book that, well, wasn’t hurting but could use a new influx of excitement.
His first issue was #17 here, with (and I’ve been using this term a lot in this series of posts, I realize) an iconic cover:
I mean, that’s pretty much the Platonic ideal of a Wolverine picture, along with the cover to Incredible Hulk #340, or Art Adams’ variations on the pose seen here in this Wolverine standee pic I stole from eBay:
…and I’m sure many of you recognize this standee from the cover to the Crazy 8s album “Doggapotamus World,” of course.
Anyhoo, Byrne’s short run on the book was a relatively popular one over all at the time, and lived on in strong back issue sales for a while afterward, eventually the bloom’s off the rose, Byrne’s superstardom fades, and the run became Just More Wolverine back issues.
Except that #17. That cover still sells the book. Whenever I get them in, they sell almost immediately. And people aren’t really buying the other issues Byrne did, which is telling me people are buying this only because it’s a cool cover, not because they’re interested in Byrne’s storytelling. So, using the three-clawed scale of Wolverine’s Continuing Hotness, as established in previous installments of this posting series, I give this issue the rarefied rating of Three Claws. It was in demand demand, in demand now, and will continue to be in demand so long as people love Wolverine and, well, comic fans exist.
One exception to the “only Byrne issue that sells” thing is #21, which, well, just look at it:
Maybe not an “iconic” image, to throw that word around again, but certainly a striking one that grabs the fancy of the occasional back issue bin peruser. Still sells, and may continue to sell, but it’s getting the Two Claws rating simply because it doesn’t move like its lower-numbered partner.
Now let’s jump ahead to the far flung future of 1991, when Wolverine #41 was unleased upon an unsuspecting public:
Now, this book, featuring another clash between Wolverine and Sabretooth, was “hot” for a while, mostly because of a particular revelation within:
Oh no, what? There were rumors and I think even a hint or two in earlier comics that there was a familial relationship between Sabretooth and Wolverine, and this issue seemed to confim it.
At least until the second part of the story came out:
…and a S.H.I.E.L.D. tech tells Wolvie, nah, Sabretooth ain’t your dad:
…though Nick Fury adds “but he totally thought he was your father!” and I haven’t read enough Wolverine comics to tell you whether or not Sabretooth’s misconception was ever addressed again.
Thus, possibility brought up, possibility almost immediately shot down, though with just enough wiggle room to maybe leave some questions…but regardless, this was a Hot Book for a brief time, specifically the first part, because of Sabretooth’s spurious claim. Issue #41 even got a second printing, there was so much demand for it. Used to sell out of the back issue bins right away, along with #42, but it’s slowed down in recent years.
These two books still sell, but mostly because it’s Wolverine Vs. Sabretooth more than because of any semi-controversy stirred up by Sabretooth’s supposed parentage. Once a Three-Claw rater for its immense demand, it’s more a Two Claw rating now. Not a dead book, but not leaping out of back issue bins into people’s hands like it used to either.
• • •
Am I going to continue this series, now that a week has passed? But of course, there are still a few Wolvie books to go, like those with die-cut covers, not to mention holograms, holograms, holograms! It’s not going to be every single day I’m posting — I’ll try to write about something else on Monday, we’ll see — but I’m not done yet! Thanks for reading, pals, and I’ll see you next time.
So in Part One, we started to take up the gauntlet thrown down by philfromgermany as to which Wolverine comics may or may not retain demand as the years carry on.
Now I should say, I’m writing these articles from the perspective of one longtime funnybook retailer — your pal, me — and the local marketplace to which I’ve been selling for the past smidgen-over-three-and-a-half decades. Other retailers’ mileage may vary. But I started working in comics retail about the same time the first ongoing Wolverine series began in 1988, so I got to see the waxing and/or waning of new and secondary market sales of the series, one issue at a time, one month at a time, in real time.
And speaking of which, in 1989 we saw this two part story guest-starring a certain large grey-skinned gentleman of some note:
Without checking actual numbers or bugging my former boss about it, I’m presuming Wolverine was outselling Incredible Hulk at the time. That said, Incredible Hulk was in the midst of Peter David’s tenure as writer on the title, and selling at least reasonably well. Not sure if there was any significant transfer of readership from one title to another, but I know I wasn’t a regular follower of the Wolverine title. I was a fan of the Hulk, so Wolverine did at least get a couple extra sales out of me for the duration of this storyline.
It’s been a long time, so I don’t recall what the impetus was for the plot, but the premise of Wolverine in his “secret” identity as “Patch,” encountering the Hulk, in his grey-hued persona as Las Vegas enforcer “Joe Fixit,” was an amusingly clever one.
Now I haven’t shown you the cover to part two of the story yet, so here it is now:
…and that’s sort of gone down in comics history as one of the classic iconic covers featuring the two characters during this somewhat oddball period in both of their lives. Even the Overstreet Price Guide has it notated as a “classic cover.” And it is a good’un…John Buscema, you’ve done it again!
And of the two, it’s that second issue that commands Big Prices, much more than the first part. Obviously people are just buying this for the cover (and presumably many of these are trading in those Officially Graded sealed plastic slabs, so the cover’s the only bit you could enjoy anyway). Not to say that #7, the first half o the story, doesn’t sell reasonably well, but the prices it can command aren’t anywhere close to those of the second part.
Going back to my nigh-patented Wolverine’s Claws rating sale, one claw being “eh, it’ll occasionally sell out of the box” to the three-clawed “it’ll always be in demand,” I would give issue #8 the coveted Three Claws rating. This comic always has been, and will likely continue to be, desired by collectors. That is a good and, it bears repeating, iconic image.
Issue #7 I’m giving the middling Two Claws rating, which means, well, something. It will sell is the buyer is interested in reading the story, but if buyers are pickin’ and choosin’ and just looking for cool covers, they’re taking #8. The cover to #7 is no slouch, but I can see it being overshadowed and forgotten by collectors.
Also in 1989, we got this issue, #10, featuring Wolverine versus his arch-nemesis Sabretooth:
This is a standalone issue featuring a flashback to a conflict between the two. “Wolverine Versus Sabretooth” was kind of a thing, and this issue, with its striking Bill Sienkiewicz cover, attracted a lot of attention at the time. And it continued to be a persistent back issue seller for years afterwards…until it wasn’t.
Now, again, this may just be a local market thing, but I haven’t seen any demand on this for a very long time. Even as people ask to poke through my Wolverine back issues, that particular number doesn’t move. The price guides and the Hot Comic Apps still have it at a premium, but I just don’t see that being realized here in the real world.
If I had to put the Wolverine Claws rating on this issue, I’m probably going for Two Claws again. It’s a nice vaguely defined value, in this case meaning “once hot, now not, but potentially could be again” if only because it is a classic Wolvie/Sabrie battle. It theoretically could find an audience again.
• • •
What’s coming next time? A couple issues out of a once-high profile creator’s run, and a return visit from one of the above guest-stars? Maybe!
Going back to philfromgermany’s comment, asking “whither the demand for [assorted books]?” And in this post, I’m going to look at Wolverine comics. That is, comics actually titled “Wolverine,” versus Incredible Hulk #180-#182, which I think we all understand that, as those issues comprise the initial appearance of Len Wein, Herb Trimpe and John Romita’s creation, they have no trouble selling in any condition. Boy howdy, how I’ve sold those in any condition.
Now, philfromgermany wondered if any Wolverines after the 1982 mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller would continue having any demand. And I’d say “sure, there are a few.”
Well, let’s look at the Wolverine mini first, since you mentioned it:
Just within the last week, I acquired a couple of copies of this first issue in…less than pristine condition, but it didn’t matter since they both sold immediately anyway.
Here’s a funny thing about trying to buy these from folks who bring them into the shop…a thing that, to be fair, usually applies to almost any comic or collection brought into my shop for sale, but it especially applied to the Wolverine mini. And that thing is the seller’s belief that the comic is worth far more than it actually is.
I mean, yeah, it can be a pricey comic. In nice shape. Which is the trick. The copies i usually see where like the two I had just within the last few days…one of those was in Very Good Minus, the other just a straight-up Fair. These were part of a large bulk sale of items, so there wasn’t any haggling over the prices I offered for those particular ones.
But when those Wolverine mini-series is the only comic a person’s got to sell, they don’t want to hear that they’re in worn condition and won’t go for high prices. Invariably I get the “I’ll hold onto them [‘I’ll sell them on eBay’ implied]” because they think their $8 Wolverine #1 in Fair is actually worth hundreds if not thousands. I offer real money they can have right now, they prefer fantasy money they’ll never see outside of their heads.
Ah well, What Can You Do™ as I say probably too often. Usually I have pretty good luck explaining price versus condition to someone unfamiliar wit the hobby, but that mini-series is like a force field against my cunning retailer powers.
Hoo boy, I can already tell this is going to run long. Is this going to be “Wolverine Back Issue Week” here on Progressively Ruinated Dot Edu? Maybe, but I think we should discuss at least one more Wolverine comic with potential collectible staying power. And that comic is…the very first issue of the original ongoing Wolverine title from 1988:
Well, yeah, sure, just look at that. It’s one of the most iconic covers featuring the ol’ Canucklehead ever produced, in this case by John Buscema and Al Williamson. And you’ll find in my ongoing list of “Wolverines What Still Sell for Money” that in a lot of the cases we’re about to look at, it’s the cover that makes the comic desirable.
It’s also the first issue of the first ongoing Wolverine series, and on-go it did for nearly 200 issues, before the dreaded “Relaunch with a New #1 for That Temporary Boost in Sales” strategy got applied and we got a whole lotta “ongoing” Wolvies over the decade or two that followed. Up until a new #1 just a few months ago, in fact!
But I’ll shout at the clouds about those later. Let’s get back to this #1 from 1988. Iconic cover, first issue of what we all thought at the time would be the one and only continuing title until the end of all things. And as that series plugged along every month, that gave collectors jumping on the Wolverine train a little late inspiration to fill in back numbers, including that elusive first issue, driving up demand and price.
Another point to note is that the cover is colored largely in black, so that imperfections (like chips or color-breaking spine breaks) are easier to both acquire and spot. That gives a little extra boost to the premium for high-grade copies, as presumably they’d be harder to track down.
Demand as such remains high for Wolverine #1 (1988). It’s a perennial mover for me and I have no trouble finding buyers for it, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon. On a scale of 1 to 3 Wolverine Claws, 3 being highest, I’ll give this a 3. I get one in the shop, it’s unlikely to spend the night.
• • •
Okay, that’s Part One of this nonsense…philfromgermany, what have you wrought? Anyway, pop back in next time as I discuss a couple more early issues in this run of
Wolverine, including a two-parter with a big grey guest star, and a once-hot book that guest-stars a long-time adversary!
So there’s been some discourse online about editorial denial about specific events/characterizations both explicit and otherwise heavily implied in recent X-Men comics, specifically regarding Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Cyclops. I haven’t read an X-book in probably a decade-and-a-half, so I can’t speak to specifics, but it’s pretty clear the creative teams had one intention with the characters’ particular romantic triangle, and the highers-up are giving the ol’ “noooope” to the whole deal.
This put me in mind of other editorial decrees that seemed…oiut of place to me. This was a discussion on Bluesky, which started with my post here, and I fully acknowledge the contributions others made there with their replies in informing my blog entry here.
I’m going to address the second example I gave there first, in that it’s stated that the Hulk has never purposefully killed. Okay, I don’t know for sure that this was an editorial demand, but here in Incredible Hulk #110 (November 2007) by Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan and Jeffrey Huet, Hulk’s Really Smart Pal Amadeus Cho explains what’s going on:
He continues:
“How many times have you fought the military? How many tanks and helicopters have you smashed?
“And not a single soldier has died.
“Yesterday you brought down the Sentry’s Eyrie. You smashed the top of the Baxter Building.
“You pulverized all these heroes…
“…And yet you haven’t killed a single soul.”
Hulk brings up some examples where he has killed, but Cho counters these were instances of self-defense against other killers, as opposed to slaughter of innocents during mindless rampages. Basically, so long as the normal Bruce Banner/Hulk dynamic is in place, Banner is somehow running numbers/probabilities in the background, exerting some subtle influence to prevent Hulk from murdering people.
There is the caveat that Cho slips in there about “as long as your brain hasn’t been tampered with,” allowing for an “out” for examples of Hulk killing, like, say, during instances of Banner being entirely subsumed by the Hulk’s personality, or removed entirely.
This is all fine with me, to be honest. It feels counterintuitive, that there were no casualties during one of Hulk’s destructive rampages, but This Is Superhero Comics. This isn’t any worse or stranger than super-battles always demolishing abandoned buildings, for example, or like the Flash clearing the area of civilians before the rest of the Justice League fights the Shaggy Man or whatever. It’s not as much fun if you realize thousands of people got slaughtered because the Avengers didn’t get to the scene on time.
For some reason this puts me in mind of the events from Miracleman #15 (the Eclipse Comics numbering, from 1988) by Alan Moore and John Totleben. This is like the exact opposite of the “thank goodness these buildings are empty!” kind of explanation for why every superhero battle isn’t the equivalent of multiple 9/11s. In this issue, Miracleman has his final(?) battle with former sidekick-turned-evil Kid Miracleman, and it’s just mayhem and slaughter all over the place, and it’s not all done by the bad guy:
It works here in context because the superbeings have been presented as above normal human concerns, uncaring about mortal lives, and that when these “gods” battle it’s humanity that pays the price. It’s a theme of the book.
The theme of the Hulk is “man vs. himself,” Banner having to cope with the monster that lives within in. The additional guilt of “and that monster kills a lot of people” would have made it an entirely different book.
Another thing this all brings to mind is Wolverine, where, as I recall, an edict was put down by then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter that the ol’ Canucklehead has never killed anyone. You know, despite this happening in X-Men #133 (May 1980) by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin:
…which was later retroactively explained that these guys Wolverine was fighting were just “injured” and came back as cyborgs or whatnot. Look, I’m not a big X-Men reader, I don’t know the details, but this clearly is a case of obvious intent being subverted by editorial edict. I mean, I get it, the X-Men are heroes, you don’t want ’em killing folks left and right, but this was clearly to show how dangerous Wolverine could be when not kept in check. It’s characterization, it’s a plot element adding tension to the proceedings. It’s a reminder that he’s not just a tough-talking bloke that hangs out at the X-Mansion, he is literally One Savage Dude.
Anyway, you can get into a whole thing just on X-Men comics alone. Jean Grey had to die because as Dark Phoenix she killed millions of beings, that sort of business. She got better, obviously, and I’m pretty sure they’re less shy about letting Wolvie off baddies now.
Should note that Amadeus Cho, in that Incredible Hulk #110 I excerpted above, goes on to tell Hulk that Captain America probably killed a few Nazis during WWII, because, well, it was WWII. Hate to tell you this Mr. Cho, but Cap did a little more than that:
I mean, holy crap. Though to be fair, maybe Bucky did ’em all in.
More movie comic talk! Here comes JohnJ with
“Plus comic adaptations of movies also bear the occasional mistake by the artist. Kirby putting a helmet on Bowman in ‘2001’ before the explosive bolts scene still rankles me. Not as much because he did it but for the fact that God knows how many people saw the art before publication and nobody caught it? I have to believe Kirby would have appreciated the opportunity to fix that but if nobody told him, how could he?”
Ah, yes, the famous Jack Kirby adaptation of Kubrick’s film:
If you haven’t had a chance to check out this treasury edition, do yourself a favor and track down a copy. It may be the Kirbiest thing that’s ever Kirbied. Giant pages filled with King Jack doing cosmic space stuff as only he could. I had a copy of this myself for many years, though I gave it up to a customer whose need was greater than mine for the book and…yes, I occasionally regret it. But passing along the Kirby love to another person is, I think, a worthy sacrifice.
Plus I’m hoping for a reprint of this comic at some point, even possibly from DC Comics due to various rights shenanigans that I mentioned in this post here. Getting it all on nice paper under a hardcover with a fresh recoloring…ah, that would be nice.
JohnJ brings up the storytelling error in the comic, which, well, What Can You Do™? Bobody’s nerfect, not even the King, but at the very least we can take solace in the fact that it was a brilliantly illustrated error.
The Wikipedia section on this adaptation brings up a few other issues/differences worth noting:
“…differs in the fact that Kirby incorporated additional dialog from two other sources: the Clarke/Kubrick novel and a copy of an earlier draft script of the film that included the more colloquial-sounding version of HAL 9000, as originally voiced by actor Martin Balsam before Douglas Rain took over. In addition, the comic narrative captions describe the characters’ thoughts and feelings, a significantly different approach from that taken by the film.”
First, I wish I had a copy of this comic still, so I could go through and pick out some samples of HAL’s dialogue, because that would probably be amusing. And I’ve said before that the comic’s captions go out of the way to explain to you exactly what’s happening in the story:
It’s the same story, told with almost the exact opposite tone of the film. Which is great, of course. I love the movie, and I loved this adaptation. I can’t imagine anyone else taking on the task of squeezing this movie into a comic book, but that may very well be just because this is the version that’s been with us for decades. Who else at the time could do it justice? Al Williamson? Steranko? Okay, Jim Starlin just came to mind and I would pay real gosh-danged American money to see what he’d do with it.
Or Steve Ditko. A Steve Ditko adaptation of 2001. Just wrap your mind around that, effendi.
• • •
Okay, that went a little longer than planned. So more movie comic discussion soon, but in the meantime, a statement: Len Wein, Herb Trimpe, and John Romita Sr. created Wolverine. An editor trying to horn in as a “co-creator” for some larger paydays for himself is a load of crap. That’s not how it works, Roy.
And that’s this site’s official position on the topic.
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