The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke. Source.

Kraven by Mike Mignola. Source.

Powers by Michael Avon Oeming. Source.

Secret Avengers cover by Art Adams. Source.

Rawhide Kid splash by Jack Kirby. Source.

Fantastic Fanzine cover by Jim Steranko. Source.

Nick Fury by Dave Johnson. Source.

Moon Knight by Michael Avon Oeming. Source.

Power Girl by Bruce Timm. Source.

Dial H For Hero cover by Brian Bolland. Source.

Batman by Paul Pope. Forgotten source.

Comic Culture is produced by Anthony Falcone and is engineered by Andrew Roebuck.

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Calvin and Hobbes 1989-90 Calendar Cover by Bill Watterson. Source.

Absolute Dark Knight cover by Frank Miller. Source.

Marvel characters by Kris Anka. Source.

Lois Lane 29 Recreaton by Kerry Callen. Source.

Captain America 101 original cover by Jack Kirby (Red Skull made less scary for print). Source.

Hellboy by Phil Noto. Source.

Spirit Letter by Will Eisner. Source.

Japanese Superman by Cliff Chiang. Source.

Daredevil and Batman by Alex Maleev. Source.

Cadet delta 3 versions by Travis Charest. Source.

God and science back cover by Jaime Hernandez. Source.

Black Kiss Promo Poster by Howard Chaykin. Source.

Conan Variant Cover by John Paul Leon. Source.

Attuma by Mike Mignola. Source.

First Light by Steve Rude. Source.

Kyle Baker, of course, sums it up very succinctly.

Impel released Marvel trading cards starting in 1990.  I picked up a comic collection that had several Marvel collectors cards included.  I have some cards from 1990 and 1992, but almost the complete run from 1991.

I preferred the card design, layout and artwork from the 1991 series.

This week for Pick 5, here are my favourite cards from the 1991 Impel Marvel Card series.

#5 Daredevil vs Bullseye

This one is from the Arch-Enemies subset.  Some others in this set included Thor vs Loki and Daredevil vs Punisher.  I like the artwork on this card.  Especially the effect of the pipe coming out of the card.

#4 Tombstone

Tombstone was a popular villain in the early 90′s.  He was featured in many Spider-Man comics during that period.  Tombstone is under-rated and should’ve been used more over the last 20 years.

#3 Captain America

As you know from reading my columns, Captain America is one of my favourite Super Heroes right now.  This card shows Cap saving a little girl from a hail of gun-fire.  I really like the artwork on this card.

#2 Night Thrasher

Night Thrasher was another popular hero from the 90′s.  I always thought Night Thrasher had a cool costume.  It wasn’t too flashy, but he was heavily armoured.  I have a comic from the 90′s where Night Thrasher, Moon Knight, Punisher and Spider-Man team up to take down a terrorist organization.

#1 Human Torch

Human Torch’s card is my favourite from the Marvel series in 1991.  The card features a good full body drawing of Johnny Storm.  Johnny’s red colour, against a gray background, with the blue and yellow border make a cool contrast of colours.

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Lots of Super Heroes have weapons.  It is the tool of the trade.  Many of these weapons are specific to an individual hero.  The weapons are iconic themselves.  If you mention web shooters, batarangs, Mjolnir, adamantium claws, kinetic energy charged playing cards, golden lasso, power ring, trident, billy club or shield, the hero who weilds these items instantly come to mind.

On a previous 52Q, the question was asked, what is the best weapon in comics?  At that time I answered Wolverine’s claws.  I still think that Wolverine’s claws are the best weapons in comics.  But my question today is which weapon would I take into a fight.  And it wouldn’t be Wolverine’s claws.  Why you ask?  Well that answer is simple, you gotta put the claws inside your body.  I’m not willing to go that far.

We all know the procedure Logan had to endure to have adamantium bonded to his skeleton.  I know right now I couldn’t endure that kind of pain (and I have a high tolerance for pain).  Just the thought of having molten adamantium (depending on the origin story) injected into my bones, with little tiny drill bits, just doesn’t sit well with me.  Sure I love the idea of being able to pop claws, but there is no way I would endure the procedure to have claws.  So claws are officially off the list.

After thinking about all the weapons that are currently available to super heroes, I have decided the weapon I would choose to take into a fight is… (dramatic pause for effect)… CAPTAIN AMERICA’S SHIELD.

Captain America’s shield is a mixture of Vibranium and steel (in some continuities Adamantium is also added).  It’s current discus shape was introduced in Captain America Comics in 1941.  In some continuities it was presented to Captain America by Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The shield was created by Dr. Myron MacLain, who fell asleep during the creation process and was unable to recreate the production of the original shield.

Captain America’s shield is virtually indestructible, although it has been destroyed several times.  Each time it has been destroyed, it has been repaired, usually through cosmic/magical ways.

Captain America’s shield is a defensive and offensive weapon.  That is one of the reasons I would choose it as a weapon.  I like the idea that I could use it primarily as a defensive weapon.  If I was in a fight, I could protect myself.  But don’t get me wrong.  The way Cap weilds the shield it is a formidable offensive weapon.

Cap’s shield, when thrown, is able to bounce of multiple objects, hit multiple targets and return back to Cap’s waiting hands.  I think it is impossible to understand the physics behind it (it may not be real…) but it is one of the coolest parts about the actions scenes in a Captain America book.  If I was in a fight, I would be throwing that shield all the time.  Bouncing off walls, taking out Aim troopers or Hydra agents.  Man that would be cool.

Another reason I would use Captain America’s shield is it is a target.  I read this in a comic once.  Cap’s shield is this large target and the enemy can’t help but focus on it.  Whether they are shooting at it, punching at it, or doing whatever towards it, the enemy aim at the shield rather than the person holding it.  That is a huge benefit.  You can hide behind the shield.  The enemy focuses on it.  You will be safer just having the shield with you.

While I was at my Halloween party on the weekend, that point was proven.  I had four people try to punch the shield (all in good fun).  If I didn’t have the shield I would’ve been left alone… but my costume just wouldn’t look the same.

Captain America’s shield is also a symbol, and a patriotic one.  I am a very patriotic Canadian.  I love Canada.  But Captain America’s shield is a beautiful piece of work.  It looks amazing.  I would be proud to carry that shield if I was going into a fight.  Symbols are just as important in fight, as actual fighting skill (why do you think Batman dresses the way he does?).

I guess the weapon a hero uses tells a lot about that person.  If you carry a bunch of knives, you know the confrontation is going to end up quite messy.  If your hero carries a gun, the final resolution to the conflict is going to be lethal.  If your hero carries wrist gauntlets that shoot out a web fluid, it’s non-lethal, just sticky.  Their weapon also determines how they fight.  Looking at my choice of weapon, defence is my first battle tactic.

How about you, what comic book weapon would you take into a fight?  And if you pick the Infinity Gauntlet, you need to remember even Thanos was defeated while he had the Infinity Gauntlet, so you need to choose wisely.

The ComicLink Focused Auction ended last week. I cannot remember a more Marvel heavy auction! Of the top 33 comics only 1 DC cracked the Marvel dominance. DC’s Green Lantern #76 graded a CGC 9.6 sold for $5,400 and that was good enough for 10^th spot. Top spot in this auction belonged to a tight CGC 8.5 copy of Journey into Mystery #83, it got $26,750. Of the top 50 comics 46 were Marvel and 4 were DC.

As always there were some interesting results, let’s have a look.

Spider-Man #25, Marvel Comics, (August/1992) Graded by CGC at 9.8 with White pages sold for $6 on ComicLink on September 22^nd.  Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $4.00.

Holy crap only $6, what a colossal wait of time that was!! For everyone involved!! The good news it is sold for more than the Overstreet Price Guide’s 9.2 value.

This sale is made even worse if by some coincidence it was a resell of the 9.8 that got $15 back in May of this year. Guy thought he got a steal at $15 because the slabbing fee alone….  Advantage I’m not sure.

Avengers #4, Marvel Comics (March/1964) Graded by CGC at 9.2 with Off White pages sold for $6,101.00 on ComicLink on September 20^th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $5,200.00.

Now this was in interesting finish. I checked the GP Analysis figures for CGC 9.2 copies of this book and 2 copies sold this year for $7,877 and $8,500. Seems like the buyer got a steal! Seems like this books ship has sailed! Not so fast there pilgrim.

This comic is in the old CGC label and the text below the NM- 9.2 reads “Slight pre-Marvel Chipping”. Now who the hell wants that written on their label? I really can’t see the chipping on the scan but I know I would not ant the book if the grade was 9.2 but the comments were “Slight pre-Marvel Chipping” If the buyer sends this down for a new holder do they keep the old comments on the label?

I can’t see the chipping and if the comment can be dropped with a new holder then definitely Advantage Buyer.

Captain Marvel #34, Marvel Comics (September/1974) Graded by CGC at 9.0 with White pages sold on ComicLink for $26 on September 20^th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.0 is $27.00.

I featured this book Undervalued Spotlight #80 and I still believe it’s undervalued. OK I know this was only a CGC 9.0 but there simply has not been a higher grade come up on auction for the last few months (I’ve been saving and watching for it).

I just hope this was not the only book this bidder won. Those shipping costs would turn even this sweet pick up into a money losing venture.

A great buy to tide one over until a CGC 9.6 comes along. Advantage Buyer.

Bunny #8, Harvey Pub., (April/1969) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with White pages sold for $43.00 on ComicLink on September 20^th. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $65.00.

If I don’t feature a non Marvel comic I think I’ll go mental!

This is the comic I wish I’d bid on. These beautiful 68 page giants from Harvey are great comics and great collectibles. Harvey is a very collected publisher and while Casper, Richie Rich and Wendy steal the limelight I’ve found Harvey collectors to be very loyal to the publisher and most try to collect all Harvey comics.

A CGC 9.6 White pages for two thirds the guide value of the 9.2 grade is a steal. Advantage Buyer.

Fantastic Four #112, Marvel Comics, (July/1971) Graded by CGC at 9.6 with White pages sold for $1,511.00 on ComicLink on September 21^st. Overstreet price guide value for this comic at 9.2 is $325.00.

I’m always amazed at what nice copies of this book sell for.

This was an interesting auction to watch since there has not been a tracked sale of an FF #112 in CGC 9.6 since March of 2009 and that copy fetched $3000. I guess we could call this result a disappointment. I’m not sure how many new 9.6 copies have entered the CGC census since the last sale but I will assume it is a lot proportionally (there are 15 CGC 9.6 copies on the census as of this post).

I’m still not convinced that this book should be fetching these prices. Advantage Seller.

Another solid Comiclink auction under the belt. Lets all hope for some quality non Marvel copies to start making their presence felt in their next auction!

Invoking raising the flag on Iwo Jima is a masterful visual interpretation of what Captain America symbolizes.  Nice.

Glad to hear it.

How was mine?

Oh you know, My FF workshop was the buzz of the internet for a weekend, Brian Azzarello, Jill Thompson and Matt Fraction tried to convince me to get engaged during a panel and Hayden Panettiere is really, really short.

Here’s a breakdown of my weekend including the full story that I promised earlier on my infamous Team Spirit The FF workshop.

Thursday

The crowd at the FF Workshop

I get to the building and try to help out. My main contact with Hobbystar, Kevin Boyd, looks wrecked already but is in good spirits. Word starts filtering in Ethan Van Sciver is not coming. Due to a misspelling of one letter of his name (and his ticket being paid for by a third party), Ethan was given the full security mistreatment by United Airlines. By the time he got done, there was no flight to be had.

I make my way up to Team Spirit: The FF workshop. The workshop was designed as a way for those interested in the collaboration process and wanting to get into comics, how collaborations work. The Toronto Cartoonist Workshop let me have the honor of moderating it. And I mean that. I got to do a panel with Jonathan Hickman, Steve Epting and Marko Djurdjevic. All are guys I respect, Epting especially is one of my current favorite artists.

There are a ton of versions floating around the net about what happened next with artist Marko Djurdjevic. I can tell you only a few of them are sort of right. I posted a very brief version a few days ago but here’s my full account.

Here’s what happened.

I entered the room, Marko was the first artist there. We spoke briefly (I asked him how to pronounce his name as I had been given 4 versions by different people). Steve Epting arrived. Hickman is nowhere to be seen; I later learn his flight was late.

I start the panel and we go through a few questions for both men and to be completely honest, I’m unsure how we got to the subject of Marko’s contract ending but it came up; I think just before Hickman got there.

Marko gave his opinion on why he left the Marvel gig, JMS (the infamous toilet paper comment did occur) and redesigns.

At no time was the panel hijacked.

The panel was about collaboration and Hickman hadn’t arrived yet. Marko started explaining his views, I let him go. I felt it was very fair to show the good side and the bad side of collaborating and Marko’s views were every bit as valid as mine, Hickman or Epting’s. In fact Hickman discussed with Marko openly about what could have been done differently.

If Marko had been so rude and uncaring towards the other panelists or myself, why would Hickman or Epting bother to ask him questions? I also think that the description of “tense” that’s being thrown around is also a little misleading. MTV, CBR and Bleeding Cool might all want to check back the audio versions of the workshop because you will probably hear me laugh numerous times.

Despite the fact I write for this site, I would have happily given my side of the story (which was offered to Bleeding Cool).

Friday

Friday was fairly uneventful.  I met up with Shelly Smarz to go over questions for our panel called The Four Colour Marriage. Basically there happened to be a number of married couples who work in comics at the convention and the panel was to talk about what it was like when you and your spouse work in the same industry and sometimes on the same projects.

It was a fairly standard panel, maybe even a little on the dry side due to the subject manner.

Until the panelists got bored. It started with Brian Azzarello.

“What’s hard about that…UnMarried Guy”

Matt Fraction quickly perked up too “yeah, I have a question for Mister I’m Afraid of Commitment down there”.

And then the dog pile was on.

I made the mistake of telling them I was saving up for a ring, Jill Thompson suggested I go to artists alley and buy one. Kelly Sue DeConnick suggested the panel should plan my wedding, Jill Thompson agreed and then suggested we call my girlfriend on my cell. Azzarello sat there watching with a slight smile on his face as if to say “that’s what you get for not getting into 100 Bullets sooner”.

Despite the fact the entire panel was made up of industry vets that I respect…. I deflected them on to Shelly and her impending marriage the first chance I got.

I should note that all the participants were cool to deal with, especially Jill Thompson and Brian Azzarello. Jill did have a few really good ideas for proposals that I may use. It should also be noted that despite the fact I weigh about two of Brian and have a couple of inches of height and reach on him, I never ever want to be in a fight with him.

I then headed over to Women in Comics sketch off which honestly was one of the best sketch offs I’ve ever been to. If you ever see Katie Cook at a convention panel STAY FOR IT! She has the best idea for a Batman one shot ever.

That night I headed out for a non-official convention outing called The Questys. It’s kind of like the Razzies for comics.  Beyond the awards there was stand up performances by Andrew Iviemy and Gavin Stephens as well as musical performances from Nerds With Guitars and Kirby Krackle (whose new album I’ll review next week). Great performances by all and the money from the door went to a good cause.

Kyle from Kirby Krackle with Nerds with Guitars

Saturday

Not much to report actually as it was my day off.  I wandered the floor, had a few people ask me about the FF panel, that was about it. I was amazed at that even though the con was still super busy, I still didn’t want to punch anyone in the face.

While walking around with Ed Campbell, we noticed that the horror section had shrank significantly this year.  I discovered my good friends at Anchor Bay have gained the rights to Battle Royale! Sweet!

Sunday

Final day of the con and I run into Kevin Boyd who somehow looks better at the end then he did at the beginning. I ran into the guys from Geek Hard and Andrew and I were both comparing the “who hurt more, who was more tired” notes. Yet Kevin, who I know for a fact was running around more than I was, looked like he could go another two days. I believe this is what he sleeps in:

Depiction of Kevin Boyd's rejuvenation chamber. Not Pictured, Kevin Boyd

Later in the afternoon I got to host a round-table on Captain America featuring Jason Aaron, Steve Epting, Steve McNiven and Bob McLeod. It was a fun little panel just meant for talking about Cap (although Jason Aaron did let slip he is writing the regular universe Cap in something in the near future) as opposed to scoops.

More than anything else that I took away from the panel was how the two Steve’s expressed their admiration for the work of McLeod (especially his work with Mike Zeck) and after the panel made sure to go over and let him know that they were fans.

Speaking of which, both Steves were pretty awesome. Steve Epting had to put up with me twice and was nothing but cordial both occasions.

And that was the end of the weekend. Just a few leftover notes.

Retailers, US cover is no longer a deal at cons. I regularly get US cover, you want my business, you’ll have to do better than that.

The biggest surprise of the weekend would have to be the brief appearance of director Guilermo del Toro on Sunday.  Apparently the appearance was kept a secret as convention organizers weren’t positive he would show up. But show up he did and signed for an hour. Apparently he will be in Toronto for the next year working on Pacific Rim. Mr. del Toro, I know of a great podcast that would love to have you on.

To Hobbystar/Fan Expo: I actually have nothing bad to say this year. As readers well know, I’m not one to mince words but honestly not a single complaint that I can attribute to you and as you may know I’ve had some harsh words for you in the past.  In fact my only real complaint about the con at all is that the fanboy stench on Saturday was pretty bad but I can’t blame you for that. Hell, you allowed the Axe people in there handing out samples of body wash so in essence, you did try and combat it.

That being said, I do have a few guest requests for next year: Matt Wagner, Kevin Eastman, P. Craig Russell and Walt Simonson are a good start.

As for best costume, there were a few but in the end this guy won me over.

OH......

YEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!