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Misconceptions
Email your comic book misconceptions or corrections to nick@keycollectorcomics.com
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- 1st appearance of Frankenstein in comics, back-up story set in 1930s New York City
- 1st appearance and origin of the Green Lama in a comic book
- *a number of resources mislabel Green Lama's first appearance due to multiple appearances in single-page promotional ads for Double Detective pulp magazine
- 1st appearance of Dr. Frost
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- Incorrectly cited as the first published image of Spawn in an advertisement
- According to spawnworld.com, the same advertisement appeared in multiple comics that went on-sale in April 1992: Evil Ernie #5, Re-Animator #2, Rocket Ranger #3, Rust #1, The Southern Squadron: Freedom of Information #4, Torg #3
- In March 1992, one month prior to Rust #1, Spawn advertisements were printed in two comic books: Robotech II The Sentinels #13 and Torg #2
- Prior to the publication of Robotech II #13 and Torg #2, Spawn appeared in numerous catalogs and fanzines
- *Character Search "Spawn" for more information on early appearances
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- 1st cover and 2nd appearance of the Wasp, Nadia Pym
- ⚠ listings on eBay are describing this issue as Nadia's first appearance but she is in an original story in Free Comic Book Day 2016: Civil War II
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- Squint first uses the alias Malak
- *listings on eBay have labeled this issue as the first appearance of Darth Malak
- According to writer John Jackson Miller (also the owner of comichron.com): Malak does not fall to the Dark Side in my comics series. He first appears under the name Squint in KOTOR #0. He first uses the alias Malak in #31. He takes the name Malak permanently in #42, which also has Revan’s origin story
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- First interior art by Jim Lee at Marvel Comics
- Jim Lee provided an illustration for the 'Eel' character profile
- *Jim Lee's first published artwork for Marvel is widely considered to be Alpha Flight #51 which he fully illustrated but Lee contributed one panel of art for this issue prior to Alpha Flight
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- 1st appearance of Aliens (Xenomorphs) in original stories.
- In July, Marvel announced that they had obtained the licenses to the Aliens and Predator franchises and would be putting out comics featuring the two titans of cinematic screams.
- Long stables of Dark Horse's line of comics, Marvel snatched them up both as part of their Disney overlords plans to synergies all things Fox (which Disney now owns) and as part of a license spree Marvel has been on (picking up Conan and Warhammer as well).
- The response to our Key Issue Alert when Marvel made the surprise announcement was insane. Literally hundreds of copies of Aliens #1 and Predator #1 were scooped up on eBay that day. Not to mention all the crossover books like Aliens vs Batman and Predator vs Magnus.
- That initial frenzy has subsided but a more discerned collector has waded into those waters.
- In August 2020, for the first time in history, a 9.8 broke the $1,000 barrier.
- The next 9.8 popped up and sold in October for $1,425.
- Now, this week, we get back-to-back 9.8 sales on the same day, one for a record $1,675 and the other for another record $1,750.
- Marvel is already playing around with the xenomorphs, including them on variant covers in January going head-to-head with Marvel mainstays. Predator is likely to follow with a themed month of variants.
- Marvel has announced an Aliens Omnibus and Predator Omnibus, collecting a chunk of Dark Horse's publications coming in July 2021, a helluva long time away.
- Expect to see more banner sales from both.
- Note: some older CGC labels report Dark Horse Presents #24 as the first appearance of Aliens in comics but this issue preceded that by 6 months.
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- 1st appearance of Spencer Smythe and the Spider-Slayers
- 1st cameo appearance of Mary Jane Watson, face is obscured by a tree
- *this issue is cited by some sources as the first appearance of Mary Jane but she does not appear in full until The Amazing Spider-Man #42
- [October 2020 - unconfirmed rumor that Smythe and his Spider Slayers will appear in Spider-Man 3]
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- 1st cameo appearance of Sabine Wren, a Mandalorian warrior
- 1st cameo appearance of Ezra Bridger
- 1st cameo appearance of Hera
- 1st appearance of Kanan Jarrus
- *cited as the first appearance of the characters listed but it is, by definition, a cameo appearance
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- 1st cameo appearance of Grail, daughter of Darkseid
- *cited by some sources as the first appearance of Grail but she is obscured by shadows in the final panel
- *the first FULL appearance of Grail happens in Free Comic Book Day 2015: Divergence #1
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- 1st cameo appearance of Damian Wayne (the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul) in shadows
- *this issue is often cited as Damian's first full appearance but aside from a panel showing his eyes, he is fully obscured by shadows
- *it should also be noted that the 1987 graphic novel 'Batman: Son of the Demon' introduced a child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul but the story did not take place in the main DC story universe until Grant Morrison integrated portions of the graphic novel into the origin of Damian
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- 1st cover appearance of the War Machine armor, worn by Tony Stark
- *the War Machine armor seen on the cover of this issue debuts in Iron Man #281 - Stark is the original pilot of the armor and it isn't until Iron Man #284 when James Rhodes suits up yet refers to himself as Iron Man - the War Machine armor is not officially named until West Coast Avengers #94, published nearly a year after this issue
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- 1st cameo appearance of Jason Todd
- 2nd cameo appearance of Killer Croc
- *this issue is cited as the first full appearance of Killer Croc but there is no difference in his depiction as a gangster in a trenchoat and fedora as first seen in Detective Comics #523. In Detective Comics #524, he is revealed to have crocodile features
- *it should also be noted that this version of Jason Todd is not visually accurate to later versions and his origin is retconned in Batman #408
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- Gorr speaks from the shadows, unseen
- *listings on eBay claim that this is the second appearance of Gorr but it is not
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- 2nd appearance of Spider-Man's black costume
- *this issue is often cited as one of multiple first appearances of the black symbiote costume but according to solicitations from 1984, The Amazing Spider-Man #252 went on sale January 31 while Marvel Team-up #141 and The Spectacular Spider-Man #90 both went on sale February 14
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- 1st full appearance of Gambit
- *this issue is often cited as a cameo appearance of Gambit but there are multiple panels of the character including a full page with Gambit speaking to Storm and she addresses him by name
- *although the annual went on-sale first, the story in X-Men #266 was intended to be the first appearance of Gambit if not for the publishing irregularity of comic book annuals
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