Queen of the Damned #12 (1993 – Innovation) Unpublished

Innovation was a publisher founded in 1988 with a focus on licensed properties, and I always thought they had excellent adaptations and new stories on the books, movies and TV shows they licensed. They became the 4th largest fourth publisher in the US before closing in the partial collapse of the direct market comics industry in 1994.

After a successful adaption of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Lestat” (12 issues from 1989-1991), Innovation moved on to an adaptation of the other 2 books in Anne Rice’s original Vampire trilogy with “Interview With the Vampire” (12 issues from Aug 1991-Jan 1994) and “Queen of Damned” (only 11 of the 12 issues were published from Oct 1991 – Dec 1993).

Queen of the Damned is the series that ended up unfinished with the final 12th issue never being published due to Innovation’s closure.

Recently, the art to the entire unpublished issue #12 showed up for auction on MyComicShop.com.

I bid on the auction, but tapped out at $2000 and someone else won the art, but I grabbed screenshots of the issue to share here.

The auction included publisher proofs of the front and back cover (shown above), but more significantly it included the complete original art for the issue including the front and back covers, pin-up (typically published on the inside back cover), and all 32 story pages (shown below). Additionally, the indicia, and a paste-up of the back cover with a photocopy of the art and stat of the credits lined up.

The story pages and cover have transparent overlay sheets affixed to them where the title logo and word balloons are affixed which, unlike many painted original art pages, makes this issue readable for the first time. Many pages are signed by by Brazilian artist Octavio (OJ) Cariello.

Front cover and interior pages measure 12 3/4″ x 17 1/2″, back cover art measures 13″ x 15 3/4″, proofs measure 8 1/2″ x 11″, back cover paste-up measures 11″ x 17″.

And now: Queen of the Damned #12 (click image to view a larger version) –

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Kids do goofy stuff to their comics

As a 12-year old in 1974 I had the brilliant idea that if I 3-hole punched a bunch of my Spider-Man comics I could put them in a 3-ring binder and it would be easy to read as a longer continuous story.

Yes! My home brewed invention of the Trade Paperback collection!

If you look at the logo Spider-Man just below the price box, or Grizzly’s head in the page-spanning spread, you can see one of the punched holes.

I also cut the Marvel Value Stamp out of several of these issues, if anyone was curious about what that looked like, I’ve included a picture.

Several years later (thankfully before they got too expensive) I rebought new copies of the hole punched issues in my collection. Many years after that (early 2000s) I found the hole punched #137 thru 160 in a box in my garage and sent them off to be bound into a custom hardcover, which I subsequently brought to conventions and got autographed by the main writers of this range of issues, Gerry Conway and Len Wein.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool collection artifact to share from the days when collected editions didn’t exist and reading the comics was more important than preserving them in 9.8 slabs.

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Key Comic

All three of the comic pictured above have been identified as “minor key” comics. To me, two are real minor keys and the other is what I call a “faux key”.

MINOR KEYS:

Amazing Spider-Man #7 (1963) has the 2nd appearance of The Vulture. Definitely a significant character who has spawned a number of new versions over the years.

Ultimate Comics All New Spider-Man #2 (2011) has the 1st appearance of Miles Morales’ best bud Ganke. 10+ years later Ganke is still around, fans still like him, he made it into the latest Spiderverse movie, and was the template for the Ned Leeds character in thd MCU. Perhaps not fully on par with the Vulture, but this issue sells for $40+ and collectors are still showing interest in it.

THEN WE HAVE:

Tony Stark Iron Man #1 (2018) was identified as a “key” when it came out by “hot comics” speculators and websites because it was the 1st appearance of the talking cat Dr. Shapiro, working for Stark Unlimited.

NEW CHARACTER! GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT!

5 years later… do many people remember this character? I saw copies of this issue in a $1 bin a couple of weeks ago. I looked on eBay just now, it can be bought for $3. Maybe the character will be in a popular Marvel comic series or movie and take off. If that happens, make it a key then. My point here is there is zero justification for it to be a key now. It has neither fan interest nor enhanced collectible $ value.

WHAT SHOULD KEYS BE? (the Bob version)

Beware of “keys” and collect them for the right reasons. A lot of keys are defined based on speculation that they will MAYBE be desirable/collectible down the road.

A lot are touted by people in the business of selling current comics or running sites propped up by collectors giving them views to learn about what is hot and and pumping up “perceived value” of these books.

A lot of these go up in value right after release, people spend money on them, and also throw money at CGC to have them slabbed.

2 to 5 years later many “faux keys” show up in $1 bins because it turns out collectors really didn’t give a darn about whatever was supposed to be significant about the issue.

On keys… if you buy something you like to read/collect and don’t pay crazy increased prices you’ll never lose. Some will go up and stay up in tge long term. Far more will go up short term then drop like a rock.

Some sites defines a key as something with a fun fact attached to it that people might be interested in. Others imply or state an increased value component to a key, and this is the definition many new collectors latch onto. But the book that came out last week or last month that various websites and video collecting personalities are calling a key really isn’t. There’s NOT a guarantee that there is any kind of long-term increased value attached to it, or long-term significance of the event in the book either. It’s all speculation.

To me, nothing should be called a “key” until AT LEAST 5 years after it came out. Once a book has stood the test of time and we see collectors still have an elevated interest in it over other books, then we can make an argument that it’s a “true key” as opposed to a “faux key”.

I hate to see new people to collecting being duped into spending loads of $$$ on “hot” books, 90%+ of which won’t retain value in the long term. Then on top of that they throw $$$ at CGC to get a 9.8 and if they don’t get it… crack the slab, pay for pressing, throw more $$$ at CGC for another shot at a 9.8.

Just an observation from someone who has been collecting for 50+ years and doesn’t like to see people new to the hobby get led down a path wearing rose colored glasses and have them burn out on the hobby in a few years if they find they were misled by people profiting off selling them last months speculation keys at greatly increased prices.

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Completing a Run: Fantastic Four!

Fantastic Four #4 (1962) – 1st Silver Age appearance of the Sub-Mariner.

I now have every issue of FF!

Yes, it’s slabbed… and buying an expensive book over the internet is my primary “that’s what CGC is useful for” case. I know no pages are missing and there’s no unrevealed restoration.

I can’t read this particular copy, but I have numerous reprints so I have read the story. Having an original is something only a collector can really appreciate.

Also, this is a definite “buy the book, not the grade on the slab”. I looked at a of LOT of different slabbed copies. I bought this as a result of the “CGC Grading gone wrong” blog I did on Jan 5th! I was looking at a mis-graded 5.0 and found this 3.5 that looked better to me at less than half the price!
https://comicspectrumblog.wordpress.com/2024/01/05/an-example-of-cgc-grading-gone-wrong/

The main defect that seems to have knocked this down is a coupon for the Famous Artists Schools on the back cover that had been filled out… but the info from Chris Mangan makes it kind of charming IMO. At least Chris didn’t cut the coupon out!

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

Ultimate Spider-Man (2024) #1

The new Ultimate Spider-Man was REALLY good. Nothing whatsoever like the original Ultimate SM run. (Or the Ultimate Spider-Man reboot with Miles)

It doesn’t even try to be. Hickman goes in a completely different direction and is a solid “What If?” type storyline. Very heavy on story this issue with no face-punching superhero action, so that will put off some fans who want that… I’m sure he’ll get around to action in an issue or two.

I hope it’s a limited series/story with an ending, I’d like Hickman to tell the story and have it end with his exit instead of it taking a nose dive after some other writer gets assigned to follow him.

WARNING: This has become a “hot” comic selling for $20 up on eBay. While it’s a great comic, I don’t think it is going to retain a ridiculously elevated value in the long term. It is not an “investment” in my opinion, based on history. If you just want to flip it, go ahead….. I would wait for the inevitable 2nd print and reserve a copy at your LCS at cover price to read… Don’t pay a bunch of money for it expecting it to go up and stay at a high price. This is a book that in 5 to 10 years will settle around $10 or so. 

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

Middle Class Fantasies

Middle Class Fantasies was a pretty decent underground comic from 1973 by Jerry Lane that he published as part of his Masters thesis at Cal State Fresno.

Lots of pop culture references, including the Marx Brothers, Cool Hand Luke, and (the standout for me) a story where they bring George Reeves back in an android body that really can leap tall buildings in a single bound! Nice job replacing the S on his chest with a G.

Lane put out a 2nd issue in 1976.

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

Mickey Mouse paintings by Floyd Gottfredson

I recently got an auction catalog from 1993 that showed 24 Mickey Mouse paintings by Floyd Gottfredson which had been commissioned by a collector named Malcolm Willits.

Lots of extra background on Gottfredson (interviews, analysis) and a great quote about collecting:

“If you look at your collection as an investment, it would be better if you purchased stocks and bonds.”

“I didn’t even think about the future value of my collection. I liked it for what it was.”

….even though what he collected ended up being worth a LOT, that wasn’t the driving force behind his collecting.

This pretty much sums up my relationship with my own collection…

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

An example of CGC Grading gone wrong….

I’ve been looking for a copy of FF#4 to complete my run.

One I WILL NOT be buying is shown above (seen on eBay).

For the people who believe in the quality of CGC grading, I must again politely disagree. I know grading is subjective, but I would NEVER give something a 5.0 with a “Paper lift” (CGC’s name for this defect) like can be seen on the Human Torch’s arm. The Official CGC Guide to Grading Comics (page 191) says that a paper lift can be present in a book grading in the range 4.0 to 9.4…. This is kind of ridiculous to me. One of the main reasons I find the CGC guide to grading to be useless is the absurd range they assign to many defects. This “paper lift” can be in 4.0 to 9.4? What a crazy wide range…. and no pictorial references to what would be a 4.0 version of the defect vs. what’s an allowable 9.4 version of the defect.

The Overstreet Guide to Grading Comics calls this a “Color Scrape” and I’m not seeing an example of this in a book over 3.5, but I could MAYBE see this book getting a 4.0, but not a 5.0, especially considering the shape of the spine.

Personally I’d be on the fence between a 3.5 and a 4.0 on this book.

The thing is that CGC has had insanely effective marketing and have pretty much brainwashed a subset of collectors into slavishly tossing piles of money at them for grading them on the grounds of “preserving comics” and validating the grade of the comic.

CGC slabs are undeniably quality protection, but not the ONLY way to protect a comic. If you just want to preserve a comic, mylar + a fullback board is effective. That golden age comics surface every year that get slabbed at very high grades proves that these comics have been preserved quite nicely for 60+ years without being in a slab.

CGC grading is just as likely to be off as the grading by anyone and they hide the specifics behind their grading so there is less cause to call them on their mistakes. When I asked CGC president & primary grader Matt Nelson a specific grading question at a panel he was holding on grading at SDCC a few years back, he wouldn’t answer because the specifics behind grading was CGC’s “Secret Sauce”…. there should not be secret sauce to their grading….

This CGC 3.5 has a crisper spine and overall better eye appeal than the 5.0…. I’d rather have this one, and at less than half the price! A great example of “buy the book, not the grade printed on the slab”.

I know, I know…. people are human, nobody’s perfect, etc. This is what I say all the time when people put CGC grading on a pedestal as though it’s some kind of definitive judgement on the quality of a comic. In lower grades like this there’s a WIDE range of interpretation of defects… PLUS, as a ComicSpectrum follower pointed out on Facebook: for books that are worth a lot of money, part of the fee is a percentage of the book’s worth. Since they’re the ones grading the book, that’s a conflict of interest. Could that, either consciously or subconsciously, incentivize a grader to call the book above a 5.0? The CGC fee was higher for FF #4 at 5.0 than it would have been had it been graded a 4.0.

I’m not accusing CGC of any crime here…just a mistake… BUT, the main point here is they are FAR from perfect, there is ample evidence of that, so let’s stop treating them as if they are.

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

World of Fantasy #3 (1956)

Sometimes I buy completely random comics just because I have never seen or heard of them before…

This anthology Atlas mystery/suspense title fit the bill: Kind of a cool cover. Decent shape (about VG). Reasonable price (~$30… seemed not bad, maybe a good deal, maybe I overpaid).

Very short, mostly 4 pages, “twist ending” stories typical of the genre/era. Decent art and a few of the stories were quite clever.

This gets a thumbs up.

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics

Sally Forth (1977 – Wallace Wood)

Created for a military male readership, Wood’s sexy action-adventure character, who is often seen nude, began as a recruit in a commando outfit. She first appeared in June 1968, in Military News , a 16-page tabloid. Sally returned July 26, 1971, in Overseas Weekly, a tabloid targeted at U.S. military men serving outside North America. With Wood getting an assist from Larry Hama, Sally Forth continued in Overseas Weekly until April 22, 1974.

Wood collected the strip in a series of four oversize magazines (larger than regular comic magazine, but slightly smaller than treasury editions) in 1977. 

Images of these 4 volumes are above, I recently bought all 4 issues and the art is outstanding.

http://comicspectrum.com/By Fans who Love Comics For Fans who Love Comics