KryptoColumn: Collecting Kal-El

I read at Comics Worth Reading that folks hitting Free Comic Book Day should avoid the Overstreet Guide to Collecting that was offered as a freebie from Gemstone comics. The Overstreet Guide is a handy book that gives the value of practically every American comic, depending upon condition, so they've a little incentive to pitch collecting as a hobby.

From one perspective, I can understand why Carlson and Co. would say "pass". This thing isn't really much of a comic, and more of of a bit of propaganda for the Overstreet Guide. And certainly there's a lot of folks who turn their nose up at "collecting" in and of itself as part of the comics-reading hobby. But having picked it up for the Kirby-Fourth World tribute cover, I can say that I wish someone had put that thing in my hands when I was 13. I've been at least crating comics since I was 14.

Then, the other day Daily DCU ran a post on "How to Start Reading Comics", which gave out some good advice as well, even if your mileage is going to vary wildly when you reach "Step 3: Trust Your Comic Shop Staff" (I trust my LCS's staff, this in spite of Brandon's bouts of melancholy and manic and unsupportable predictions about the skyrocketing value of holo-foil covers).

I confess, I was 30 before I got the best advice I'd ever get about collecting comics, which appears both in the post and in the FCBD give-away. I think its safe to say that I simply wasn't that interested in collecting back issues until sometime around 2003 during our Arizona sojourn when my shop started getting in a halfway decent back issue selection. Around 2005, my shop had been sold to a new guy, and the owner was telling me how he was helping his son make purchasing decisions about comics by getting him to focus on one character. In this kid's case, he'd picked Wolverine.

I guess, inherently, I knew that a focused collection was better, but the conversation definitely informed my thinking. Build a "collection" in the true sense, not just in the "I have a pile of comics" sense.

These days, I'm actually budgeting for back issues, etc... and realized I'm becoming one of those weird old guys who has no idea what's going on in a lot of current comics, but gets very excited when he finds certain key back issues. That doesn't mean I'm not picking up new stuff, but I find that idea of a quality collection appealing.

I, of course, am collecting a lot of Superman-related back issues.

That's a complicated thing, because a quality collection for a series like "Superman" started around 1940, and hits issue #700 this summer. So, yeah, there are key issues, and its unlikely you'll ever be able to get a complete run. I was going mostly for wacky covers (of which there are many), and key issues.


Issue #400 of Action. Using my criteria, we call this a "Two-Fer".

Want to make a friend of The Signal Watch staff? Back issues and gift certificates.

For my birthday, Jamie bought me a comic I'd always wanted, but could never locate:


IMHO? Advantage: Nigh-Invulnerability and Heat Vision

I guess I talked a bit too much about the fact that Austin Books had gotten it in, and I'd made moves to get it myself, but you can't argue with results.

With gift certificates I received, I also picked up a copy of the most vintage comic now in my collection, Superman #41.


Yes, that's Superman stumped for what to draw on the cover of his own comic. Did that just blow your mind?

It's an odd thing. I sealed up the comic, fairly certain my fingers will never touch it again (at least intentionally) in my lifetime, and knowing that were anything to ever happen to me, I'd very much want for the comic to find a good home. Its one of a handful of comics I own that I know I'm likely renting time on, and that I sincerely hope will find their way into some other OCD-victim's collection for safe-keeping as a cultural artifact one day.

You have to bear in mind, also, that Superman has been a terrifically successful franchise since 1938. Realizing Action Comics was a success, the first thing National Periodical Publications did was to launch a companion title in Superman. Since then, there have been dozens of mini-series, affiliated series, etc... So when you start trolling the back issue bins, you have to consider Adventure Comics, Superboy, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Supergirl, Superman Family, and many, many more... So there's a lot to even look at.

I tend to really like the "WTF? Covers", which is mostly SOP when it comes to Jimmy Olsen comics, and, honestly, that was a selling point for a lot of Superman titles when Mort Weisinger was editing the Superman books. But some Superman covers pass right past "WTF?" and head into the sublime.


I don't have this issue, but I'll be looking for it. The cover has all the hallmarks of a truly great cover. Krypto is thinking aloud on the cover, red kryptonite is the catalyst for the story, there's an implied value judgment about a protagonist who has been one-upped (double points that it's Krypto who has to put up with a possible jilting. This isn't the only time the topic comes up on a Superman-related cover for poor Krypto), and... the conflict is that Krypto finds himself to be a handsome collie? My hat is off. We need a Superman cover drinking game.

I do actually read these comics, by the way. It's a wild ride through the culture of the day in which the comic was released, and as you enter into Bronze Age comics, largely through comic-geek colored glasses. I think its hard to say that the comics are kids material as much as they're very PG-ish in a way that entertainment has kind of forgotten how to do, so the reads, while usually very light, aren't quite as simple as you might assume.

The ads, by the way, also believe the comics are read by all ages. Along with the ads for kid-related items, here are ads for high school correspondence courses, wedding rings, all kinds of stuff.

I'm also picking up issues of comics featuring "Enemy Ace" here and there. Its a much easier goal to imagine an Enemy Ace complete collection in my lifetime than that of a complete Superman collection.

Anyhoo...

No worries for those of you here for other comic news and info. The purchase of new Superman comics goes on unabated (as well as Flash, GL, Wonder Woman and Batman). We'll get to some of that in future KryptoColumns, and depending on how badly you people clamor for it, we'll maybe take a photo-safari of my own Fortress of Solitude.