100 Greatest Comic Books

I began reading comic books at my father's grocery store in Wichita, Kansas, when I took home copies of the early Pre-Hero Marvels. I also remember receiving a stack of about 60 late 1950s comics when I was very young and very sick. And I was one of the fortunate few (in the mid-west) who got to raid "Pop's" retail store basement in Concordia, Kansas, back when five cents would buy a comic dating to 1942, but you had to tolerate large brown paper tape attached to the spine! There are other pleasant memories of raiding Al's Old Book store, and the Pied Piper Bookstore in Wichita for back issues, and finding the occasional EC, Timely, or DC Golden Age book. And especially that rare day when Jack Whitesell took me into the back room of his bookstore and said, "Young man you have all summer to pay for these, and it's six for a quarter." What was there? Seven boxes of every single DC and Marvel Silver Age comic in essentially Very Fine Plus to Near Mint. Included in this horde were all the Marvel Pre-Hero Fantasy and DC Science Fiction Fantasy titles from about 1958 with a few early issues of SHOWCASE missing, including, sadly, the No. 4, and FANTASTIC FOUR No. 1, to the end of 1963. I was thirteen years old, and my comic collecting days were about to begin. If I had told my parents that one day a comic book would sell for over $100,000 or that perfect file copies of ECs from the 1950s (just over ten years old then!) would sell for thousands of dollars each, well, it would have been more far fetched than if I had told them that "men will someday land on the moon!"

It's been nearly forty years since that time; I've grown up, and the comics industry and comic collecting have grown up too. What was once an insider's hobby is now a multi-million dollar a year business, with people collecting everything from early Yellow Kid premiums, to near mint condition comic books, to original comic book art, to the hundreds of books published about comic history itself! When I was asked to author this book, my first question was "why hasn't this book been done before?"

Part of the reason may be that so many specific histories on the comics have surfaced during the past twenty years that authors tended to overlook the larger picture. And part of the reason may be simply that no one wanted to take on the arduous task. But having authored two comic art price guides, I figured I had already experienced first hand the questions that would await me! I await these inevitable words: "How could you leave that book out?"

I'm in debt to Jim Steranko and Bruce Hamilton who took special consideration and time in the early stages of this book to advise me on my listing of criteria, and how to organize and execute the voting ballots. Jim also wrote the wonderful introduction to this book, "The Ten Comics That Rocked America." Steranko's special "The Ages of Comics" (which should give us comic veterans all pause, and food for thought) is also published here for the first time. Jim has been an inspiration to work with; he contributed input to my own writing and kept me from going off track on several occasions. Bruce Hamilton also sent me historical perspectives (he wrote the bio on MICKEY MOUSE MAGAZINE), as did John Snyder of Diamond Galleries. My primary editor, Christopher Boyko, is responsible for cleaning up my writing, correcting any historical mistakes I made, and drawing attention to important perspectives for certain comics. Chris also wrote the script for eight books, including THE WATCHMEN and FANTASTIC FOUR No. 48. Roger Hill wrote the original description for MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES No. 1 that appeared in the 1993 Sotheby's Comic Art Catalogue that is adapted here. Jim Steranko wrote the HOT ROD COMICS nn entry, and I had input from Tony Davis for All-Negro COMICS No. 1.

I'm also very much indebted to each and every single voter. This is a small list, but the names that are there represent a major portion of the history of comics fandom, and I'm proud to say that this list is a very balanced group of professionals, fans, and comic book dealers. They each offered me specific information, encouragement, and took the time to seriously consider their choices.

If you've never before collected or read comic books, congratulations for having the curiosity and interest to purchase this volume. But words of warning: comics are habit forming! What begins with a simple desire to read and learn soon turns into a passion to own and discover! Take it from one who knows, and doesn't regret a moment, year, decade, or lifetime of comic book reading and collecting.