Collector Keys Corner — Collectible Comics To Look Out For This Week
by Brendan M. Allen
Welcome back to Collector Keys Corner! There are basically two kinds of people buying comics. Those who read them, and those who collect them. There is quite a bit of overlap between the two groups, but comics consumers generally lean hard one way or the other. This column is aimed at the collectors, highlighting this week’s comics keys. As always, let me say that these are my opinions, for entertainment purposes only. Collectibles is a speculative market, and I can’t afford getting sued or whatever.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
The crossover sensation is back for a third epic adventure! With Rita and Krang defeated, the bad guys aren’t cutting the Rangers and Turtles no slack! Lord Zedd and Shredder have a new plan to take down the radical teen heroes and if they don’t act carefully, they may just succeed.
The amazing new series from veteran Mighty Morphin Power Rangers writer Ryan Parrott and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Nation artist Vincenzo Federici kicks off with a moment you have to see to believe!
That 90s stuff is red hot at the moment. This issue begins the third TMNT/MMPR crossover. Ryan Parrott has written all three. Vincenzo Federici will be pulling lines, following in the footsteps of Simone Di Meo and Dan Mora on the first two series. 90s licenses, solid creative team, loads of awesome covers. (Don’t worry. We’ll get into those in a moment.)
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1
Cover J 1:50 Declan Shalvey Virgin Variant
We’ve touched on incentive covers briefly, but let’s do a deeper dive. With a 1:50 incentive, your local comics shop has to order fifty open order covers to earn the privilege of ordering one incentive cover. The ratio makes incentive covers rarer, so if you are lucky enough to find one at your LCS, expect to pay 2x-3x the cover price.
This cover is choice. The Shalvey cover is also available as an open order (Cover N), but this virgin variant is unique in that, without the title and trade dressing, it can be viewed right side up or upside down and be equally striking. All that open space is also ideal for autos should you choose to get this one graded.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1
Cover K 1:100 James Stokoe Foil Virgin Variant
The last cover was a 1:50. This is 1:100. Retailers need to order 100 open order covers to get a single copy. Rarer, harder to find, and LOOK AT THAT COVER. Stokoe’s artwork is instantly recognizable. This is not the rarest incentive on this title, but it’s one of the sexiest. It’s another virgin, and again, without the title and trade dressing, there’s a clean field for autos.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1
Cover L 1:200 Paulina Ganucheau Virgin Variant
And now we have a 1:200. This is a clean cover that leans into the Brady Bunch title card. Again, for autos and grading, there’s a blank spot in the center, but there’s also a lot of space around the figures in their individual boxes that could fit some Sharpie scribbles.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III #1
Cover M 1:300 Mateus Santolouco Virgin Variant
That leads us into the most leveraged incentive cover for this title. This one requires a whopping THREE HUNDRED open order covers from your retailer. I have no notes. This cover is nearly perfect. Good luck finding it, but if you do, I’d snap it up.
The Ultimates #15
The monk, the dragon and the fist: Shang-Chi! The Ultimates return to the site of their untimely deaths at the hands of the hulk and encounter a young boy who has been starting his own insurgency!
This issue features the introduction of Shang-Chi in the Ultimate Universe. First appearances and all that.
Not a huge fan of the A cover. I’ve mentioned before that the sidehead trade dressing they’ve been using on The Ultimates lines is distracting and covers a good quarter of the cover art. I really, really don’t like it, but it’s what’s between the covers that makes this one a collectible candidate.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1
The team behind the critically acclaimed Ice Cream Man comic comes to DC to apply its singular storytelling style to none other than the Man of Steel! Four new Kryptonites have been discovered in deep space, and Superman needs to know just what, exactly, they do to him — lest the colorful rocks of his home planet fall into evil hands! With Batman at Superman’s side, this DC Black Label Superman event explores the consequences of each never- before-seen variety of Kryptonite — all in the formal and boundary-pushing fashion that W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, and Chris O’Halloran are celebrated for!
The creative team of Image Comics’ Ice Cream Man takes on the Man of Tomorrow. Not exactly a new character introduction, but four new colors of Kryptonite being added to Superman mythos is pretty interesting.
Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #1
Cover E 1:25 Alex Eckman-Lawn Variant
Nothing wrong with the A cover, but this 1:25 incentive is money. New Kryptonite mythos, new series, dope-ass Doctor Who-giving incentive cover… I’m here for it.
Space Ghost #1
A brand new year of adventures begins here!
The Guardian of the Spaceways returns for more evil-thwarting action in an all-new series – kicking off with the first appearance of a classic Space Ghost villain!
As Space Ghost and Blip fight to defuse a hostage situation on an amusement park planet that’s been hijacked by the villainous Toymaker, Jan and Jace are confronted by a mysterious figure from their past – a meeting that will shake the Ghost Planet’s team to the core!
Again with the 90s stuff. David Pepose and Jonathan Lau killed it with the first “season” of Space Ghost. They’re back at it. Renumbering the series with each season gives new first print number ones. That could work either way for collectibility, but that is a sharp main cover, so I’d give this one better than average odds.
