Accidentally posted this one yesterday, at first. Here it is again:

3. Batman #9 (DC/National 1940)



A common thing I've said about a lot of comics on my list this year was that, at the time, I couldn't believe I could finally see the issue in person, let alone own it. While I love thinking back to a time when Giant Size X-Men #1, Magnus Robot Fighter #1, or Showcase #22 gave me that rush of heady incredulousness, the feeling has since passed. You grow accustomed to the book. You still adore it, but you accept that it's yours.

Batman #9 has never gotten to that point for me. Every time I even think about this book, I still can't accept the fact that it's mine, even though it's been mine for nearly ten years now. It's really the only book I own which matters to me neither for the stories within, for a historical first appearance or other big moment, nor for the memory attached to it. It's simply Batman #9. I still can't deal with that. It's one of the greatest Batman covers ever made, and it's my second oldest comic book, but most of all, it's frickin' Batman #9.

I clearly remember my naivete back then, having recently signed up for Mile High Comics (how little I knew then!)' mailing list and seeing there was a 40% discount on all back issues. WOW! Again, how little I knew back then, but I was also ignorant enough at the time to believe that it was worth searching extensively through the entire database of rare comics I could only dream of owning, just to see if some amazing issue was there, and if it really was selling for 40% off.

Somehow, someway, for perhaps the first and last time in history, there was actually a good deal to be found on Chuck's website.

Batman #9, rated in 3.0 condition, selling for $750, which, with the 40% discount, knocked it down to only $300. Now, though I'd grown accustomed to saving up for shows and spending large amounts of cash on key books there by this point, I certainly didn't regularly spend large sums of money on impulsive last minute purchases, but screw it all. I charged the $300 to my credit card, told my wife after, and promised to ebay a bunch of stuff to make up for it (which I did).

I still don't understand HOW I got that deal. The book was worth at least $600 then and sells for $800-$1,200 in that condition today.

It's also worth noting that my buddy Doug (the one I mentioned earlier on this list) and I both plateaued in our collecting around this point. He obtained an Amazing Fantasy #15 and just couldn't find another book to be excited about after that. Nothing was ever going to top that acquisition. I got Batman #9. Oh, I eventually tracked down a #8 and #10 to go with it for almost as little money, but it just wasn't the same. Batman #9 was my watershed. I pretty much stopped chasing pricey key issues after that point; there was no more thrill to be found after that greatest of victories. I'm a regular run filler today and, with a few small exceptions (Last Spring, I got an Avengers #8 -- 1st Kang), that's all I really need. Batman #9 will always be my high point.

According to your rules, yes you do...

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Tabloid
(All-New Collectors' Edition #C-55)
March 1978
“The Millennium Massacre”

Paul Levitz
Mike Grell
Vince Colletta

I’ll be the first to admit that there is nothing great here. Then why so high on my list? Only a year or so into comics, good was good enough. Particular when you come across something that represents everything that’s good about comics. Entertaining story. Quality artwork. Love of character history. It read like a love letter to Legion fans. But I read it as a love letter to comic fans. Even the side bits in the back, recapping the origins of the individual Legionaries and explaining their 30th Century equipment and technology, did not feel like filler. Just the opposite, it felt festive. It was a celebration.

The Phantom #74 (Charlton Jan. '77)




I don't remember seeing very many Charlton books on spinners over the years.  Given their notoriously spotty distribution, that's probably not surprising.  I do know where I bought this book.  It was at a Circle-K that was about a mile or so from my Grandparents house.  Probably a little less if you cut across the apple orchard, which I usually did.  I suspect it was the cover that got me to buy the book, notwithstanding the fact that the holster is wrong.  

This book was a Don Newton tour-de-force.  He did everything from the cover to the back.  Okay...he probably didn't color it.  But writing, art and lettering.  And that was it.  Don Newton was my favorite artist from then on.  And he was the first artist that I followed.  

#3: X-Factor #1



Wow, this is actually the first Marvel book on my list. 

X-Men fans are generally a divided group of fans. You have those who believe that the book died when Byrne and Claremont split. Others feel that Morrison was the pinnacle of the franchise's brilliance. There are even those who view the only real "X-Men" as the original Lee/Kirby X-Men. Personally, I find myself in a rather small camp: the late 80's Outback X-Men era. Most fans generally loathe this era and view it as the point when Claremont had jumped the shark, but it holds a special charm for me. This was the "darkening" of the X-Men done right. They were broken and scattered, yet never lost their sense of family and hope for the future.

The original X-Factor series was so enjoyable for me because it saw the O5 X-Men back together as a full team for the first time in a long time. It was like watching the band getting back together and all these old friends reunite after so long. Bob Layton, who kicked off the series, is often under appreciated in my opinion. In this first issue, he nails the banter between the characters and really portrays Cyclops as deeply complex character. Louise Simonson would soon take the series in her own direction, but the foundation Layton set in this issue helped created one of my all time favorite X-Men series, cementing this period is my favorite X-era. 

Some clues may be found in this thread:


classiccomics.boards.net/thread/498/ccf-guide-earth?page=3


That said, I agree Cei-U! has violated his own rules and should be banned from further participation.

#3. 2000AD 61





One of the types of story 2000AD did so well was the Future Sport. Here it is in the form of Inferno drawn beautifully by Massimo Belardinelli, the story is a sequel to the earlier Harlems Heroes which at times was by Dave Gibbons.

As I have mentioned elsewhere I had been a fan since the first issue, but it wasnt until here, with the first chapter of Judge Dredd's Cursed Earth saga that I believe 2000AD came of age. Slowly over the next few years we got bigger, better, incredibler stories by a rogues gallery of the best Britain would ever have.

Cursed Earth cemented Brian Bolland as one of the most creative talents, and certainly one THE best cover artists on either side of the Atlantic, and within a few years the likes of Alan Moore and Alan Davis were establishing the starts of very successful careers.
The list of talent drawn from this title is too vast for me to even attempt to do justice to, but I believe this was the turning point for the title, from here the sky was the limit, and they reached...