welcome to this week’s edition of blogger Dome! Here, bloggers will argue different topics involving the comic book market and industry. This will be a combination of the big Bang theory meets the WWE. bloggers going at each other to amuse and educate our readers. and we want to hear what YOU have to say about it. Our topic today is two classic mini-series. Joseph will be representing team Wolverine: Mini-Series, while Norman will be representing team Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
Now Entering the GoCollect Dome… Joseph and Norman!!!!!!!
JOSEPH: Today, I am facing a great opponent in Norman.
Norman studies numbers and other variables that numerous writers miss. let Norman come at me with his numbers. I will give him a tutorial on how to find relevant data. After that, I will then stab him consistently with precision, using other elements to show to him that Wolverine: Mini-Series is much more essential to investors and collectors than Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.
I am a DC Comics fan and even I should admit Wolverine: Mini-Series is the better choice of the two. In the Justice league film when Barry Allen asked what Bruce Wayne’s superpower was, he simply replied “I’m rich.” That is the character you are basing your whole argument around? Norman you are facing me now talking about Wolverine. I want to let you know Norman, “…I’m the best there is at what I do. but what I do best isn’t very nice.” Norman, be prepared to lose this battle.
NORMAN: When this book came out, I was still in my senior year in high school.
At the time, computers, ATMs, Blockbuster Video, and home video games felt like the information age had begun… There were even radio stations with “Modern Rock” in their titles, which seems quaint now, looking back. Additionally, comic books were still pretty easy affairs. The stories were being written as they had been for decades; a protagonist, an antagonist, and reluctant bystanders.
Then came the Dark Knight Returns saga. It literally rewrote the guidelines for Batman and showed us what everyone wanted to see back in the day. we all loved anti-heroes. That is why Wolverine and Punisher were so popular in the Bronze Age.
Several years after the BA, the comic book scene had not changed. That is, until Frank Miller did the script, pencils, and inks for Batman: Dark Knight Returns #1 in December of 1985. The end result was a masterpiece of the comic form and a seachange for DC Comics and comic books everywhere.
How does this Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 compare to earlier keys at the end of the Bronze Age? Let’s compare and contrast to Wolverine #1. This was Wolverine’s first stand-alone comic book title. funny thing, Frank Miller did the art in both! What are the differences in trend returns, CGC Census, and pricing for these two anti-heroes? Finally, which stands the test of time and is still considered a game-changing classic and a must-own collectible?
Round #1…. first Blood
Joseph: I am prepared for Norman.
He is the master of the numbers. He will manipulate the numbers to support any argument he wants to make. I will not stoop that low in this fight. I want the readers to look whatsoever THE NUMBERS. If you are new to GoCollect you can hit the DIG deeper button to evaluate the numbers. I do not want to manipulate the numbers, so I have taken off all the restrictions. I set the maximum number of sales to be analyzed to 10,000 and the date to go all the way back to 1/1/2001, the farthest I can go back.
Those two moves will let me evaluate EVERY sale in the database rather than cherry-picking the data I want and excluding the data I do not want.
Here is a side by side comparison of trends of the two first issues:
Wolverine #1
+261.5
Grade
9.8
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1+217.9%
+201.7%
9.6
+98.7%
+228%
9.4
+75.3
I will not pummel Norman anymore with these numbers because they are so bad for him. You can only compare sales from grades 9.8 to 7.0 because Wolverine #1 was the only one of the two that had books graded above 9.8 and below 7.0 that had much more than one sale that GoCollect could use to formulate the data. The only grade of Wolverine #1 that had trended below 100% was the 7.0 grade, which had a small trend value of 50.5%. EVERY grade below 9.2 for Batman: DKR had trend data below that mark with a -23.1% trend for that grade. Those ought to be numbers that frighten you.
But wait, there’s more!
Next, I want to dig into the hot comics this month. If you use the GoCollect data and review the Bronze Age Comics you will get a much more recent picture of how the market sees these books. The numbers next to the title are where that issue placed on GoCollect’s hot Bronze Age comics list on may 5, 2021.
Wolverine #1 (#4) Wolverine #2 (#94) Wolverine #3 (#95) Wolverine #4 (#132)
The whole series inullnull
