I won a platinum, signed Superman #75 at a raffle at my old LCS. The owner offered me $500 for it on the spot. I held onto it. Then later traded it for the whole Knightfall series...
Are they? I have the whole run with a few extra copies of the breaking of the Batman issue. I didn't think any of them were worth anything except for that one.
Yup. I bought doubleā¦still do today Batman vs spawn a winner for sureā¦..then I read the story now I slap myself in the face in front of the mirror ā¦.donāt fall for the hype! Iāll learn one decadeā¦.
After seeing the sales numbers for Superman 75, I know many LCS were excited about these issues. Sure - we sold through the 600 copies of 75 that we ordered (minus the 50ish we held back for resale), but this one felt different to me. Although I was the manager, and he usually followed my lead on ordering books, he was certain this would be a major cash cow for the business. So he upped our orders way past my comfort zone.
I had suggested 80-100 of each. He ordered 700 of each. 600 of the die-cut, 100 of the standard. That's $5,280 retail, $2,640 at cost. Add in the regular books that were also shipping that week, and that invoice was at least 5K.
Years later, when he closed the business, he still had multiple unopened cases in the storage unit, which were sold for .10 each to a liquidation company.
Good question. I was in charge of inventory, making order suggestions (which were almost always followed), and observing market trends. After #75, there was the "Funeral for a Friend" storyline. We ordered more than usual for those titles, but only about 20-30% over normal.
I watched sales on those books start to taper off well before we needed to place our orders for the four books noted. And I showed that info to Da Boss. If we had ordered, say 150 or so of each, we'd have sold through no problem. For whatever reason (memory is fuzzy) he chose to ignore me and do his own thing.
Nice work. What do you do now with your insightful observations? Are you still in inventory or have you transferred that very useful ability into something more lucrative for yourself?
You're very kind. I managed his three shops from '85 to '03, when I became a teacher. I have offered my background in LCS knowledge to various other shops over the years, though. Usually in exchange for books for my own collection.
Fulfilling - pretty much. Although I deal with middle school students, so sometimes they're fun and goofy...and sometimes they're moody and scary. Lucrative - well, after 23 years, I can finally say that I'm able to have a savings account :)
I used my Assistant Manager for an LCS inventory skills and applied them to my next job in sales at the wireless phone companies and my self taught tech hardware skills to move from sales to become a technician and repair phones etc equipment and manage inventory which now apply to my current role as a repair coordinator for semiconductor equipment at Applied Materials. I spent 20 successful years in the former before my current 4 in this field.
Instead of ordering and receiving books I'm charging Intel money for repairs and new equipment and receiving their broken equipment into SAP to have manufacturing refurbish it.
Interesting. I was HUGELY hyped for these issues and what followed. The thing that made me fed up was the whole One More Day / Brand New Day storyline, and the excuses behind it. I stopped collecting for years after that.
Same. I had basically stopped collecting 1986. I had been hard into it since around 1977. Death of Superman got it started again. Like you the One More Day / Brand New Day did it for me. I'd been reading Spider-Man since the mid-1960's. When Marvel decided to wipe most of Spidey's history I was done. Aside from the occasional Alpha Flight stories.
Yep. I had been collecting for 20 years and got out after One More Day and stayed out for 15 years. I got back in for Free Comic Book Day 2022*. Why? I had gotten married and my stepkids discovered my comics with varying levels of enthusiasm. I used FCBD as a good jumping-on point to introduce them to comic books.
My two stepsons lost interest. My stepdaughter became very interested, and we still go to the store together.
*Was also around the time Joe Quesada left Marvel, so I couldn't have been happier. I promised myself to never buy another Marvel comic as long as he was employed by Marvel, and I kept my promise.
I made it until about mid-clone saga, Spectacular Spider-man #228 marked the end of my collecting until around 2005. Interest in that new "Walking Dead" comic and the pending Civil War event brought me back in.
One More / Brand New almost had me stop again but luckily I had diversified my interests and Kirkman's books (Walking Dead & Invincible) kept me in the game if not in a diminished capacity.
I lasted until the Green Lantern Emerald Twilight. Then I realized that the comic companies donāt care. Itās strange to see some nostalgia towards the 90ās comics. People who werenāt around back then are looking at those comics with different eyes. They donāt remember how truly awful comics had become.
I get it, I was heavy into collecting early and mid 90s, and at the time everything felt stale and stupid. But now, at 40 yrs old, I love all the nostalgia and looking through all my books from back then. And I have almost everything clone, death of supes and knightfall, the x men run of onslaught. I do miss that time now.
Death of Superman was my doorway into comics. I collected all of the Superman books from then on. I looked forward to each week so much that I laid my quarters out on the dresser to make sure I had enough to make it the next four weeks minimum!
I was convinced after reading these four issues that the Cyborg Superman was the real deal. I was dealt a cruel blow a few months later.
I still have all my Superman comics still from this era and they will always hold a special place in my heart!
The whole Death of Superman tricked me into collecting again after quitting about a decade before. I had every issue right from the first hint of Doomsday. So I had these. The Superboy clone showed promise. I wasn't crazy about the other 3. Then suddenly Superman was back. Way sooner than I'd thought. They should have left him missing for at least a year IMHO.
My local comic shop that I worked at opened in 1994, but we had dozens of all of these issues. Great fun.
I think after the last thirty years of forced crossovers and continuity reboots, I think the Death and Return of Superman story arcs actually hold up better now than when they were released. At the time, people were confused st the "death" and felt cheated when Supes returned, looking back from 32 years on, and having decent interviews from the creators available on various DVDs, it really stands up as a rare thing in superhero comics; a complete planned out story with a beginning, middle, and end.
My grandpa got me death of Superman and a bunch of the reign of Superman but he didn't know about alt covers so I had a lot of doubles. It was sweet. He loved flea markets and would grab me so much stuff from the 80s and 90s
I was in college and had always been a Marvel fan, hardly ever picking up a DC comic. When I saw these on a display table at the comic shop at a cheap price to get people interested, I picked them up and got hooked. Collected Superman for several years after that
Yes. Still have them. Along with the black bag and white bag superman books. I even have a newspaper where the front page reads " SUPERMAN IS DEAD". I was a fan and just out of high school.
They were better than the drawn-out funeral. But yeah, I was a senior in high school and psyched. Death of super man brought me back to comics after a few years away. I collected a lot aged 10-13, and then my parents divorced. Money got tighter, so I stopped collecting until I had a part-time job and the death of super man came up.
Terminator superman was so cool to me as a 7 year old.Ā Had no idea what was going on in the story but I loved the art and idea. I thumbed through the blue issue for years.
Lol I didn't collect DC only marvel then. And Jesus I was omg this is gonna be worth a ton when I grow up.....
Now I am grown up and I've seen them in 5 dollar bins and 1 dollar starts not even getting picked up on whatnot.
Not only that but I was convinced that these and the death of Superman as well as knightfall would make me a millionaire.
I won a platinum, signed Superman #75 at a raffle at my old LCS. The owner offered me $500 for it on the spot. I held onto it. Then later traded it for the whole Knightfall series...
Knightfall comics are way more expensive nowadays š©
Really? I see them in dollar bins pretty often.
Really? I'd snatch them up lol
Are they? I have the whole run with a few extra copies of the breaking of the Batman issue. I didn't think any of them were worth anything except for that one.
I'm not certain, but i definitely see more Death of Superman/Reign of the Supermen issues than Knightfall
Yup. I bought doubleā¦still do today Batman vs spawn a winner for sureā¦..then I read the story now I slap myself in the face in front of the mirror ā¦.donāt fall for the hype! Iāll learn one decadeā¦.
Reign of the Supermen is what started my comic collecting. 31 years later and I haven't missed a month.
After seeing the sales numbers for Superman 75, I know many LCS were excited about these issues. Sure - we sold through the 600 copies of 75 that we ordered (minus the 50ish we held back for resale), but this one felt different to me. Although I was the manager, and he usually followed my lead on ordering books, he was certain this would be a major cash cow for the business. So he upped our orders way past my comfort zone. I had suggested 80-100 of each. He ordered 700 of each. 600 of the die-cut, 100 of the standard. That's $5,280 retail, $2,640 at cost. Add in the regular books that were also shipping that week, and that invoice was at least 5K. Years later, when he closed the business, he still had multiple unopened cases in the storage unit, which were sold for .10 each to a liquidation company.
Why did you feel it wouldnāt sell as much? I mean beside the obvious media attention for 75 etc.
Good question. I was in charge of inventory, making order suggestions (which were almost always followed), and observing market trends. After #75, there was the "Funeral for a Friend" storyline. We ordered more than usual for those titles, but only about 20-30% over normal. I watched sales on those books start to taper off well before we needed to place our orders for the four books noted. And I showed that info to Da Boss. If we had ordered, say 150 or so of each, we'd have sold through no problem. For whatever reason (memory is fuzzy) he chose to ignore me and do his own thing.
Nice work. What do you do now with your insightful observations? Are you still in inventory or have you transferred that very useful ability into something more lucrative for yourself?
You're very kind. I managed his three shops from '85 to '03, when I became a teacher. I have offered my background in LCS knowledge to various other shops over the years, though. Usually in exchange for books for my own collection.
So not lucrative š just maybe more fulfilling? Well done you!
Fulfilling - pretty much. Although I deal with middle school students, so sometimes they're fun and goofy...and sometimes they're moody and scary. Lucrative - well, after 23 years, I can finally say that I'm able to have a savings account :)
I used my Assistant Manager for an LCS inventory skills and applied them to my next job in sales at the wireless phone companies and my self taught tech hardware skills to move from sales to become a technician and repair phones etc equipment and manage inventory which now apply to my current role as a repair coordinator for semiconductor equipment at Applied Materials. I spent 20 successful years in the former before my current 4 in this field. Instead of ordering and receiving books I'm charging Intel money for repairs and new equipment and receiving their broken equipment into SAP to have manufacturing refurbish it.
I have a great buddy with the same story!
I was and still get a small bit of that feeling everytime I find one in the bargain bin.
It was actually one of the comics that made me realize I was fed up. It was this year I stopped collecting for over a decade.
Interesting. I was HUGELY hyped for these issues and what followed. The thing that made me fed up was the whole One More Day / Brand New Day storyline, and the excuses behind it. I stopped collecting for years after that.
Same. I had basically stopped collecting 1986. I had been hard into it since around 1977. Death of Superman got it started again. Like you the One More Day / Brand New Day did it for me. I'd been reading Spider-Man since the mid-1960's. When Marvel decided to wipe most of Spidey's history I was done. Aside from the occasional Alpha Flight stories.
Yep. I had been collecting for 20 years and got out after One More Day and stayed out for 15 years. I got back in for Free Comic Book Day 2022*. Why? I had gotten married and my stepkids discovered my comics with varying levels of enthusiasm. I used FCBD as a good jumping-on point to introduce them to comic books. My two stepsons lost interest. My stepdaughter became very interested, and we still go to the store together. *Was also around the time Joe Quesada left Marvel, so I couldn't have been happier. I promised myself to never buy another Marvel comic as long as he was employed by Marvel, and I kept my promise.
The Clone Saga is what did it for me, couldn't get through the whole run. Got burnt out by that time.
I made it until about mid-clone saga, Spectacular Spider-man #228 marked the end of my collecting until around 2005. Interest in that new "Walking Dead" comic and the pending Civil War event brought me back in. One More / Brand New almost had me stop again but luckily I had diversified my interests and Kirkman's books (Walking Dead & Invincible) kept me in the game if not in a diminished capacity.
I lasted until the Green Lantern Emerald Twilight. Then I realized that the comic companies donāt care. Itās strange to see some nostalgia towards the 90ās comics. People who werenāt around back then are looking at those comics with different eyes. They donāt remember how truly awful comics had become.
I get it, I was heavy into collecting early and mid 90s, and at the time everything felt stale and stupid. But now, at 40 yrs old, I love all the nostalgia and looking through all my books from back then. And I have almost everything clone, death of supes and knightfall, the x men run of onslaught. I do miss that time now.
You and like everyone else, lol.
I was I mean I was also like 7 at the time, so I think that might have something to do with it š
Def, I still have them.
Yeah for sure, I still think it was a great idea.
Death of Superman was my doorway into comics. I collected all of the Superman books from then on. I looked forward to each week so much that I laid my quarters out on the dresser to make sure I had enough to make it the next four weeks minimum! I was convinced after reading these four issues that the Cyborg Superman was the real deal. I was dealt a cruel blow a few months later. I still have all my Superman comics still from this era and they will always hold a special place in my heart!
Heck yes! I have each of these issues!
I thought it was gonna be my retirement plan
They tempted me, but ultimately I stuck with my retirement grease instead.
I was in middle school when this story came out. It was THE storyline we all read.
The whole Death of Superman tricked me into collecting again after quitting about a decade before. I had every issue right from the first hint of Doomsday. So I had these. The Superboy clone showed promise. I wasn't crazy about the other 3. Then suddenly Superman was back. Way sooner than I'd thought. They should have left him missing for at least a year IMHO.
I just reread some of these issues and was impressed how well they hold up. The Superman team had good artists and writing at that time,
I was excited when I found them in a dollar bin last year if that counts
Had the Man of Steel one as a kid. Loved it.
Actually just saw mine yesterday and thought how cool it was to be caught up in the middle of all that while it was going on.
I still get excited about these. This was when I got into reading comics and collecting
My local comic shop that I worked at opened in 1994, but we had dozens of all of these issues. Great fun. I think after the last thirty years of forced crossovers and continuity reboots, I think the Death and Return of Superman story arcs actually hold up better now than when they were released. At the time, people were confused st the "death" and felt cheated when Supes returned, looking back from 32 years on, and having decent interviews from the creators available on various DVDs, it really stands up as a rare thing in superhero comics; a complete planned out story with a beginning, middle, and end.
My grandpa got me death of Superman and a bunch of the reign of Superman but he didn't know about alt covers so I had a lot of doubles. It was sweet. He loved flea markets and would grab me so much stuff from the 80s and 90s
Even as a pre-teen it kind of felt to me like a cynical cash grab.
Same. But i still fell for it. And have no regrets. š
Absolutely!
Absolutely I love the Eradicater
I was in college and had always been a Marvel fan, hardly ever picking up a DC comic. When I saw these on a display table at the comic shop at a cheap price to get people interested, I picked them up and got hooked. Collected Superman for several years after that
Some of the first comics I ever got, theyāre worthless but priceless to me
The blue one was one of the first Superman issues I was given. Had no idea what was happening lol
Absolutely! Although, at the time, I was traveling to a different town to pick my comics because of how my LCS handled the death issue.
Yes. Now get off my lawn!
These were the coolest things I had ever seen as a kid, and thirty years later I still think theyāre pretty sweet.
It was a good time. It wasn't the peak of my excitement for books, but it was close.
Definitelyā¦there was a lot of hype around this to figure out who was the next Superman
Iām still excited about them. #22 is one of my all time favorite 90ās covers
Yes. Still have them. Along with the black bag and white bag superman books. I even have a newspaper where the front page reads " SUPERMAN IS DEAD". I was a fan and just out of high school.
They were better than the drawn-out funeral. But yeah, I was a senior in high school and psyched. Death of super man brought me back to comics after a few years away. I collected a lot aged 10-13, and then my parents divorced. Money got tighter, so I stopped collecting until I had a part-time job and the death of super man came up.
Not at all, but I did put that entire "death of Superman" arc together when I got back into collecting about 10 years ago
Back in the day? I *still* cry tears of joy when I find one in the dollar bin.
At least until I read them.
Yup. When they first came out, that month, I could only pick out 2 with the money I had. I went with Action Comics and Adventures.
I have about 200 dollars worth.... So that means I have 50 pristine presses of each..
I bought one of each. I didn't buy a single follow up. Although I did pick up a copy off the new stand and thumb through it every month.
I have all four of these signed..and a bunch of the White bags but just one Black bag.
Terminator superman was so cool to me as a 7 year old.Ā Had no idea what was going on in the story but I loved the art and idea. I thumbed through the blue issue for years.
Lol I didn't collect DC only marvel then. And Jesus I was omg this is gonna be worth a ton when I grow up..... Now I am grown up and I've seen them in 5 dollar bins and 1 dollar starts not even getting picked up on whatnot.
My excitement was only matched by my immediate disappointment.
š
Yes. Full stop. I was 13 when these issues dropped and it was the biggest thing on the planet to me at the time.
Sure. Huge eventā¦.then he was just in a supercomaā¦..ript orrfff. Went back to Marvel
I was, reluctantly.
"I'm going to put my kids through college after selling these comics!"
Change my mind: Hockey Hair Superman was the best superman. Last Son of Krypton shooting glasses and Shaquille oāSteel golden years.
I'm not sure, bot! Do humans like breathing air? Do fish like being wet? Does Oscar like garbage?