No Love For G.I. Joe 1st Appearances

Get a group of comic book fans around 25-35 (an age group that unfortunately properly represents the majority of the fan base) how they got into the medium, and with little doubt G.I. Joe would be well represented on the survey. What has always interested me, however, is what seems to be a lack of interest in first appearances in the series. Sure, like most comics from Marvel and DC of this era there are a tons of copies floating around, especially when considering the earlier half of the run which would contain most first appearances, but even from an enthusiast (and not investment) perspective, 1st appearances never struck me as mattering as much to the community.

A couple of possible thoughts come into play. It could be that very few characters stand out who don’t first appear in the 1st issue (which is one of the handful of issues that has a premium on the price, and 1 of perhaps 2 that has a premium based on content and not scarcity). That’s a little hard to buy for me as characters that have strong fan support – Firefly, Zartan, Flint, Destro, Gung-Ho, Road Block, Shipwreck tons more – don’t appear in that issue. Taking nothing away from the original JOE team, the first issue does very little in accounting for that 84-87 era that really was the height of the popularity of the line–excluding obvious notable excepts, many of them would play minor roles outside of the first done issues, and even in the cartoons it wasn’t long before we’d see more Shipwreck, Spirit, V2 Snake Eyes (obviously he was an original, but that change came pretty quick didn’t it?), Flint, Lady Jaye, Alpine, Bazooka, Recondo, than otherwise. We also tend to see notations of rather minor first appearances in other titles. Hey, I like Cloak and Dagger as much as the next guy, but are they really bigger or more well known then Roadblock? Tomax and Xamot? Major Blood? Sure it might be a coin toss, but how all you have to do is take one look at older guides and see the truly obscure character first appearances cited, and it makes you wonder. Take a look a even the DC war titles (which I love), where first appearances of Enemy Ace, Haunted Tank, Ice Cream Soldier, and Unknown Soldier are regularly noted. None of which have the market penetration of even a lame like Serpentor.

Of course, there is G.I. Joe#21; the first appearance of Storm Shadow, but even this issue is known more as “the silent issue”–a status that gives the issue notoriety. This issue has settled down since the rarity of it has been largely disproven even in high grade (check for yourself, the CGC census was updated yesterday), but it still does retain a noticeable premium that probably won’t be lost by any large amount (in regards to raw copies). I think that at non-peak values, it probably correctly priced. This may show my age, but Storm Shadow is an iconic ’80s fictional character, and the issue itself is simply bad ass (though, comic prices rarely have anything to do with story quality). Even with the above census info, it can be pain in the ass to go fishing on ebay for a copy that presents real well with that dark cover. Structural grade is one thing, but eye appeal is another. With all due respect to TMNT#1, it’s probably the definitive comic of my childhood.

There is also the explanation somewhat related to one that I myself gave to a recent question concerning Conan and the value of the first (Marvel) issue. First, Conan is a pretty popular (and actually a pretty good read) and has the benefit of some immense artistic talent in the form of Barry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema (props to Alcala as well!), and they aren’t exactly giving away the first issue in high grade. That said, one would think there would even more interest if you were oddly not aware that most Conan collectors don’t stress the comic book as significant. Conan collectors are about the ’30s Weird Tales, many of which have sweet Margaret Brundage covers. The first appearance of Conan was in the December 1932 isue, and this copy is for sale now at Comiclink:

In some ways I think G.I. Joe’s overwhelming popularity via several outlets, and around the same time, has hurt collectability. Where Conan is easy, G.I. Joe had 3 extremely popular fronts at relatively the same time. Throw in the pre-A Real American Hero line dolls and where do you go? The toys, even when still factory packaged, are still rather (relatively) inexpensive. Nobody who has the roll of a high-end collector in any other hobbywould find G.I. Joe to be cost prohibitive. Certainly, like in any other hobby there is small cabal of ultra collectors who have some real premium items – art and prototypes – but if they hit ebay (or the open market in general) the max price it would hit would not be spectacular (we recently saw some pretty prime He-Man art go for a pittance, and BINS for Transformers art that don’t move are semi-regular). The ceiling just isn’t as high as some want it to be, and unfortunately that fact probably stops us from not seeing pieces that could cause excitement in the hobby (like when an Action#1 hits the comic market).

Then you have animation cells. The market for modern cells in general has completely fallen off the map. This means its a great time to buy, but also means nobody is selling prime pieces in because of the very climate. There are some cells (of more modern generations) on ebay right now, but are at prices that wouldn’t get attention even if they were cut in half.

This may come off as bitchiness, but it really is the opposite. Something about having a completely available and (relatively) cheap hobby is something I really appreciate, especially when witnessing high end comic books and original art reach prices that make you consider investment with a hobby you came into with just ‘fun’ on your mind. A damn New Mutants#98 sold for over $10,000 a month or so ago. There are literally hundreds of people on this planet right now that have multiple copies of that issue that are indistinguishable from that 10k copy. For 10k (or close to it), there is essentially nothing that you can’t have in the Joe market.

I could probably get 25 U.S.S. Flaggs or Terrordomes for that amount. Who’s more Vogue Immunity?

Related posts:

1. The Toughest G.I. Joe Comic?
2. First Lady of Comics’ First Cover
3. Strange Tale – Disappearance of Brother Voodoo