I was seeing parents having their kids select one comic book shopping at a comic book store. This made me think back to using my allowance as a kid to buy a stack of comic books! A large selection of comics makes for good readers. I think comic stores besides having Free Comic Book Day, should be giving out comics that were not selling or give one out for each comic purchased. A comic book readership expands with young and new readers. I also was thinking about cover prices of comic books looking at my collection. I found a good range was through Jack Kirby. So here’s an overview of some cover prices with info by Comichron in the article, “Median Comic Book Cover Prices by Year.” Let’s start with Fantastic Four #81 (December 1968).
It has a cover price of 12¢ which lasted from 1962-1968, six years, according to Comichron. This comic was in the Silver Age that ran from 1956 to 1970. The FF comic book entitled, “Enter - - The Exquisite Elemental!” was scripted by Stan Lee with art by Jack Kirby and inks by Joe Sinnott. Sue Richards was on maternity leave in Fantastic Four Annual #6 (1968) so the FF needed one new member. Crystal was introduced with the Inhumans in Fantastic Four #45 (1965). She was in the short lived Inhumans (2017) television series played by Isabelle Cornish. The first appearence of the team was in Fantastic Four #1 (1961). The comic book is a stunning 20 page epic full of splash pages and Kirby action as we have Crystal proving her worth to be part of the FF facing the threat of the Wizard! This was part of the Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1 #1-104 - The Silver Age (2003), Fantastic Four Masterworks Vol. 8 (2012), and Esstential Fantastic Four, Vol. 4 (2006).
The 15¢ cover price is represented by New Gods #1 (March 1971). This price is noted by Comichron as running from 1969 to 1971. A period of three years. The Silver Age went to 1970, so this would be the beginning of the Bronze Age. The issue has the title “Orion Fights for Earth!” with art and story by Jack Kirby and inks by Vince Colletta. The New Gods is currently being developed by Ava DuVernay as a film with a script by Tom King who worked on the Mister Miracle (2017) comic book series. Just in case you didn’t know, Jack Kirby on his own, was an incredibly creative writer and artist. This is a Jack Kirby epic, bringing Orion, adopted son of Highfather of New Genesis, but also a son of Darkseid! He invades Apokolips and frees captives from Earth! It was reprinted in New Gods #1 (1984) which was printed on baxter paper and Millennium Edition New Gods #1 (2000). The collections include New Gods by Jack Kirby (2018), and Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus Vol.1 (2011). I highly recommend fans to collect the issue in whatever form you can afford.
The Bronze Age is known for the years 1970 to 1985. It was also when comic book stores started opening. Before, it was spin racks at liquor stores for me. Captain America #200 (August 1976) had a cover price of 25¢ which Comichron notes lasted from 1974 to 1976. Two years with a ten cent increase in price! It features story and art by Jack Kirby with inks by Frank Giacoia. Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in Captain America Comics #1 (1941) published by Timely Comics. Captain America of course appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe played by Chris Evans. The 200th issue also celebrates America’s bicenntennial in Kirby fashion! Cap teams up with Falcon to take on the Elite and stop their Madbomb! It has been collected in Captain America by Jack Kirby Omnibus, Vol. 1 (2011), Marvel Masterworks: Captain America Vol. 10 (2018), and the Marvel Treasury Special: Captain America’s Bicentennial Battles (1976).
Another Bronze Age era comic book is What If #11 (October 1978) with a price of 60¢. This price lasted from 1982 to 1984. Another two year period with 35 cents price increase.
The comic book’s title was “What If the Fantastic Four Were the Original Marvel Bullpen?”, by Jack Kirby and featured several talented inkers; Mike Royer and Bill Wray. What If…? is an animated series planned to stream on Disney+. This is a great tribute to the Marvel bullpen including Stan Lee as Mister Fantastic, Sol Brodsky, Marvel’s production manager as Human Torch, Jack Kirby as the Thing, and Flo Steinberg, secretary for Marvel, as Invisible Girl. A mysterious box arrives at the office and bathes them with cosmic rays! This Fantastic Four has to uncover the mystery and end up confronting Sub-Mariner! It was collected in What If? Classic, Vol. 2 (2005), and What If? Classic: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2019).
The Modern Age, also called the Steel Age, runs from 1986 to the present time. This would be an incredible long period of time, 34 years!, since the other ages lasted around 14 to 15 years. This hasn’t been updated. I think an Iron Age would be 1986 to 2001. We have another price increase, this time by 40 cents, with a $1.00 cover price! This was for Silver Star #1 (February 1983) published by Pacific Comics. They were a publisher working with the direct market, but the company folded in 1984. The comic issue had the title, “Silver Star: Homo-Geneticus” by Jack Kirby as writer and artist with Mike Royer as inker. It was based on an unproduced screenplay and has yet to be in development as a film. In the fields of Vietnam during the war, soldier Morgan Miller’s power activates, and he tosses a tank! He is given a silver suit to help stabilize his powers and we find out that he is Homo Geneticus, experimented by his father along with others to survive a nuclear war. You can see shades of other superheroes in Silver Star’s origin. These are the comics to 1983 and a $1.00 cover price. What did comics cost when you started reading or collecting?
#ComicBookCoverPrices, #JackKirby, #SilverAge, #FantasticFour, #NewGods, #BronzeAge, #CaptainAmerica, #WhatIf, #SteelAge, #SilverStar
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