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> Market Watch: Comics
MARKET WATCH: COMICS
Oct. 30, 2007: Market Watch celebrates Halloween with a look at some of our favorite horror movie comic adaptations

By Kevin Mahadeo and David Paggi

Posted October 30, 2007  10:10 AM

It’s that time again, folks—the time for ghouls and goblins and whatsamawhosits to prowl the streets in search of sweet, sweet sugary sustenance. Before the creature-filled holiday descends tomorrow, we take a look at horror-heavy comics featuring some of the most classic slashers in movie history.

THIS IS HALLOWEEN
 
If the name Michael Myers doesn’t stab its way into your brain, your childhood needed a few more nights huddled underneath a blanket watching scary movies. In 1978 the knife-wielding maniac hacked his way onto the screen in John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance. With a mask modeled after William Shatner and a silent-stalker attitude, Myers quickly claimed a spot in the horror movie killer Hall of Fame, ranking alongside the likes of Leatherface and Freddy (whom we’ll get to later). Unfortunately, the mysterious Michael made fewer comic appearances than his murdering brethren, mostly due to legal discrepancies resulting from Chaos Comics’ bankruptcy. However, since his comics come around less often than the holiday itself, they tend to cut a deep slash into back market prices. The original one-shot comes in four frightful covers. The photo cover, featuring Michael standing near a banister, goes for around $25. The movie poster edition stalks closer to $18. The Glow-in-the-Dark cover limited to 6,666 (get it?) shadows the $22 range, and the really rare chromium cover slowly walks the $38 line. Halloween II: The Blackest Eyes also features four covers. The regular Michael-just-kind-of-standing-there cover goes for $28, while the pumpkin-filled, psychedelic virgin covers hits the $35 area. The red and blue foil variants, both from Dynamic Forces, go for around $35 and $25, respectively. Halloween III: The Devil’s Eyes features two covers: the one with Michael about to stab you in the face goes for $22, while the Previews exclusive knife cover goes for $15. Lastly, two one-shots titled Return to Haddonfield and One Good Scare stab in at $60 and $38.

HE WILL KILL YOU… WITH A CHAINSAW!

Leatherface wears the faces of his victims stitched together in a crude mask, and his psychotically deranged family will kill you and eat you. Did I mention he carries a chainsaw? First appearing in the 1974 film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” the independent film that cost only around $84,000 to make generated a box office gross of about $36 million. Despite the film claiming to be based on actual events, Leatherface and his family are wholly fictitious. However, the character of Leatherface is based on real-life serial killer Ed Gein, who actually wore people’s skin. The film’s success led to a number of comics from a variety of publishers. The majority of them still go for around cover; however, there are a few exceptions. Leatherface, published by Northstar, revolves around the events of the third film, though it features an alternate ending. The four-issue series goes for around $5 each. In 2005, after the success of the 2003 remake of the film, Avatar Press released a three-issue miniseries titled Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind, which features variant foil covers for around $6 and die-cut covers for around $7. The Wildstorm series, which lasted six issues before Wildstorm opted for minis rather than ongoings, pretty much go for cover; but issue #1’s Tim Bradstreet variant cover goes for a little higher at $7. The most noteworthy title is a crossover comic with “Friday the 13th’s” Jason Voorhees (wears a hockey mask, usually carries a machete, but kills with pretty much anything available at the time). The three-issue mini sees Jason befriending Leatherface and family before ensuing problems lead to a battle between the two horror-movie heavyweights. Sets of the three issues go for around $35.

ONE, TWO, FREDDY’S COMING FOR YOU

 
Unlike Jason, Michael and Leatherface, Freddy actually talks and forgoes the whole silent-killer thing. It really gives him a personality. And with his sick, twisted humor, you get killed brutally, but at least you laugh a little before the skin fillets from your body. Seriously though, Freddy Krueger’s face alone gives enough reason to never go to sleep. You do not want that in your dreams. Spawned from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series of films, Freddy became one of the most recognizable figures of horror with his red-and-green striped sweater and brown fedora. Oh yeah, and his razor-sharp, four-clawed glove. By turning your greatest fears against you, Freddy tortures and kills his victims in the most hilariously ironic ways possible, one time even turning a comic enthusiast into an actual comic and then shredding the paper with his glove. Like “Texas Chainsaw,” the Nightmare on Elm Street line features a number of comic book adaptations, the majority of which sell for around cover price. Sets of the eight-issue Wildstorm series sell for $20, and the gold foil cover to Avatar’s Nightmare on Elm Street #1 haunts your dreams at around $7.50. Even Marvel Comics took at stab at the Freddy lore with a two-issue series. Each issues usually goes for about $8.

SHOP TALK
Retailer Buzz and Gossip

SINESTRO HYPE

Blue Beetle #20 got a little boost from “Sinestro Corps War” last week as it tied into the blockbuster DC crossover.

“All of my Green Lantern sub customers have become all-‘Sinestro Corps’ customers, so this goes right into their pull,” says Ralph DiBernardo of Jetpack Comics in Rochester, NH. “Very few people put it back on the shelf, and even more picked it up because of the crossover. This issue sold eight times what I normally sell for Blue Beetle. [But] next-issue sales go right back where they were.”

“It skyrocketed sales, but some fans have been left cold because this issue made NO attempts to be new-reader friendly,” says Geoffrey Patterson of Geoffrey’s Comics in Garden, Calif. “I had to Wiki Blue Beetle to find out what was going on.”

BEST BETS

 
Batman #670 (DC, $2.99): This issue kicks off the return of one of Batman’s most popular baddies, Ra’s al Ghul. You may not be sure how to say his name, but that same name is enough to make this comic a popular choice this week.

Justice Society of America #10 (DC, $2.99): Yes, that is the Kingdom Come Superman on the cover. The highly praised series’ dystopian future of the DCU returns in the pages of JSA, making this issue a sought-after item for Kingdom fandom.

X-Men: Messiah Complex (Marvel, $3.99): The first X-Men crossover event in years finally makes an explosion of an entrance this week. Considering that this event completely alters the course of X-Men future, price alterations will be happening as well.

Special Thanks to the following retailers:

JETPACK COMICS
Ralph DiBernardo
www.jetpackcomics.com

GEOFFREY’S COMICS
Geoffrey Patterson
www.geoffreyscomics.com

 
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