🗝 The Top 100 Comic Books From The Copper Age 💎 Thank you for utilizing the eBay links when making ANY purchase and contributing to the continued develpoment of Key Collector Comics

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Key Facts

1st full appearance of Mr. Sinister

[July 2022 - Javier Bardem rumored to be cast as Mr. Sinister in an unknown MCU project]

Dark Horse ⋅ 1987

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1st appearance of The Mask, as Masque

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1st appearance and origin of Barbara Minerva as the third Cheetah

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Kraven's Last Hunt story arc part 5

Death of Kraven the Hunter, by self-inflicted gunshot wound

Marvel ⋅ 1988

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1st cover and second appearance of Angel as the Horseman, Death

In X-Factor #38, Beast gives Warren Worthington III the new codename Archangel

Worthington appears in full as the Horseman, Death in X-Factor #23 and in multiple cameos leading up to the issue

DC Vertigo ⋅ 1988

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Premiere issue of John Constantine's first ongoing titled series

1st appearance of Papa Midnite

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Iconic cover art by Todd McFarlane

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The Joker shoots and paralyzes Barbara Gordon, she later becomes Oracle

First printing: neon green text and $3.50 cover price

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1st cameo appearance of Venom, creeping over Eddie Brock's hands

First cover art by Todd McFarlane on the Amazing Spider-Man title

1st team appearance of the Life Foundation led by Carlton Drake

1st appearance of Carlton Drake who discovered there were five symbiote seeds that could be extracted from the Venom symbiote

New England Comics Press ⋅ 1988

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Key Facts

Special edition, limited to 5,000 numbered copies

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2nd cameo appearance of Venom

A copy of Amazing Spider-Man #299 is seen in the movie Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) being read by Jeff Conaway

⚠️ Debatable Firsts: Todd McFarlane explains in an interview that he considers The Amazing Spider-Man #299 the first full appearance of Venom but various comic book resources changed it to The Amazing Spider-Man #300

View additional images by tapping the cover image and swiping left

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1st team appearance of Excalibur: Captain Britain, Meggan, Rachel Summers as Phoenix, Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, Nightcrawler

Back cover appearance of Widget who is later introduced in Excalibur #1 Note: there are two first print versions: the version pictured here is more scarce and doesn't display a price on the cover. The other shows a price of $3.25

Everything $3.50 and above are later printings

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Key Facts

1st full appearance of Venom

Warren ⋅ 1988

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Harris begins publishing Vampirella magazine

DC Vertigo ⋅ 1988

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10-issue series about a bleak future where a mysterious anarchist known as V, opposes the British government wearing a Guy Fawkes mask

Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated on November 5th in remembrance of the night in the year 1605 when he and his co-conspirators attempted to jumpstart a political/religious revolution by blowing up the Houses of Parliament

Marvel ⋅ 1988

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Premiere issue of Wolverine's first ongoing solo series

Debut of black Wolverine costume

Eclipse ⋅ 1988

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Key Facts

Death of Kid Miracleman

Caliber ⋅ 1989

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1st appearance of the Crow

[April 2022 - Bill Skarsgard will play Eric Draven in the Crow reboot]

DC Vertigo ⋅ 1989

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1st appearance of Dream aka Morpheus

1st appearance of Unity Kincaid

1st appearance of Roderick Burgess

1st appearance of Ethel Cripps

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"A Death in the Family" part 3

Death of Robin, Jason Todd, killed by the Joker

Batman #427 ended on a cliffhanger that placed Jason Todd in the blast zone of an exploding warehouse

DC set up a poll for readers to cast their vote of whether Jason Todd should survive the blast by calling one phone number, or die by calling another

View more (2)

10,614 phone calls were made with Todd's death having been decided by only 72 votes more than the opposite outcome where he would've survived

DC had prepared both scenarios to go to print (tap cover and swipe to view unpublished pages)

Caliber ⋅ 1989

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Key Facts

2nd appearance of the Crow

First solo series featuring the Crow

First, second and third printings are identical to one another but can be differentiated by the date printed on the inside front cover (First printing - February 1989)

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1st appearance of Jubilee, a Chinese-American teenager with the ability to emit fireworks from her fingers

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3rd appearance of Venom

1st full cover appearance of Venom - head appears in and inset of issue #315

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1st full appearance and cover of John Walker as U.S. Agent, appeared briefly in West Coast Avengers #44

[September 2022 - confirmed for the Thunderbolts movie]

DC Vertigo ⋅ 1989

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1st appearance of Death, Dream’s sister

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1st appearance of Tim Drake, later becomes Robin

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First published artwork on the X-Men title by Jim Lee

Marvel ⋅ 1989

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1st full team appearance of the New Warriors: Firestar, Kid Nova, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Night Thrasher and Speedball

1st full appearance of Night Thrasher

Marvel ⋅ 1990

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1st full appearance of Cable

1st full team appearance of the Mutant Liberation Front: Stryfe, Wildside, Reaper, Fourarm, Thumbelina, Strobe, Tempo, Zero

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First cover art by Alex Ross

Marvel ⋅ 1990

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1st appearance of Daniel Ketch as the second Marvel Ghost Rider, possessed by Noble Kale

1st appearance of Deathwatch, a demonic entity

Marvel ⋅ 1990

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1st appearance of Gambit

⚠️ Debatable Firsts: this issue is often cited as a cameo of Gambit which would imply that the appearance is brief although he appears in 15 panels throughout the book with at least 10 instances of dialogue

This includes a full page-and-a-half interaction with Storm where she addresses him by name and refers to him as a thief (see images by tapping cover and swiping left)

Later Gambit appears in his classic suit and then again in an X-Men uniform

View more (3)

This issue went on sale June 19th whereas X-Men #266 went on sale July 10th

Uncanny X-Men #266 was written as if it were to be published prior to the annual

CGC recognizes this issue as a cameo appearance of Gambit and Uncanny X-Men #266 as his first full appearance

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Key Facts

2nd appearance and first cover of Gambit

1st chronological appearance of Gambit in-story / in-continuity

X-Men Annual #14 went on sale three weeks before this issue and is often considered the first cameo appearance of Gambit

This would imply that his appearance is brief though he appears in 15 panels throughout X-Men Annual #14 with at least 10 instances of dialogue

View more (3)

Tap cover and swipe left to view images where Gambit is the main or partial focus of the sequence in X-Men Annual #14

Uncanny X-Men #266 was written as if it were to be published prior to the annual, therefore #266 would be the first chronological appearance of Gambit in-story (or in-continuity)

CGC, the grading certification company for comic books, recognizes Uncanny X-Men #266 as the first full appearance of Gambit

Marvel ⋅ 1990

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Polybagged with a silver cover

Todd McFarlane begins including images of Felix the Cat in the interior art of many issues after meeting someone suffering from post-traumatic stress who carried around a Felix the Cat doll

The man told McFarlane that he was not a fan of superhero books, therefore he didn't purchase Spider-Man comics, McFarlane asked if he would start reading them if Felix the Cat was drawn into them and the man said, "yes"

Marvel ⋅ 1990

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Thanos gathers the Infinity Gems from the Elders of the Universe

Gem 1: Soul Gem taken from The In-Betweener

Gem 2: Power Gem taken from The Champion of the Universe

Gem 3: Time Gem taken from The Gardener

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Iconic cover art by Jim Lee

Revealed that Wolverine, Black Widow and Captain America knew one another in World War II

Origin of the first meeting between Captain America and Wolverine

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1st appearance of Madman, Frank Einstein

Even before Faust and Grendel we heard from an industry insider that Madman had been optioned. Hopefully this is still the case and an announcement is coming soon

Caliber ⋅ 1990

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First Madman in full color

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Debut of the Infinity Gauntlet

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1st appearance of the Professor Hulk personality (grey/green composite)

1st appearance of Guilt Hulk, a manifestation of Banner's guilt

Marvel ⋅ 1991

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1st appearance of Deadpool, a subject of the Weapon X program

1st appearance of Copycat, impersonating Domino

1st appearance of Gideon, a member of The Externals

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1st appearance of Cletus Kasady, later becomes Carnage

1st full appearance of Cardiac, a doctor who vowed to find a cure for the ailment that caused the death of his brother

Marvel ⋅ 1991

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1st appearance and origin of Darkhawk

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"Infinity Gauntlet" Part 1

A popular six-issue limited series that effects the entire Marvel Universe

Thanos eliminates half of the world's population using the Infinity Gauntlet to impress the cosmic entity, Death

Cartoon Books ⋅ 1991

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1st appearance of Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, Smiley Bone, Thorn and The Rat Creatures in a standard comic book

Bone previously appeared in the comic strips of the Ohio State University newspaper, The Lantern which were collected in a TPB called 'Thorn: Tales from The Lantern’ and had a print run of 1,000 copies

[October 2019 - Netflix has secured the rights to Jeff Smith's Bone but development has been discontinued as of April 2022]

Marvel ⋅ 1991

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1st team appearance of the X-Men Gold (team): Storm, Archangel, Colossus, Iceman and Jean Grey

1st team appearance of the X-Men Blue (team): Cyclops, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Psylocke and Beast

1st team appearance of The Acolytes: Fabian Cortez, Annie-Marie Cortez, Chrome, Nance Winters, Delgado

Best-selling comic of all-time with sales of 8.1 million copies

View more (1)

Interior pin-up by Jim Lee, 'A Villains Gallery'

Eternity ⋅ 1991

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1st appearance of Lady Death

1st appearance of Evil Ernie

First published work in the comic book industry by Brian Pulido

Marvel ⋅ 1991

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Cover art deemed inappropriate referencing an allusion to sexual misconduct

Malibu ⋅ 1991

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Preview of Evil Ernie #1

1st cover appearance of Evil Ernie

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1st full appearance of Bishop, a time-traveling mutant who can absorb and redistribute energy

1st appearance of the Gamemaster, a powerful mutant telepath

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