Image Comics is sending double the copies of Ghost Machine #1 to retailers for free. A near-perfect copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 has sold for over a million dollars. A lost 1967 comic by Gerry Anderson has resurfaced, and it’s weird. All on Comic Book Club News for January 15, 2024.
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Episode Transcript:
Ghost Machine #1 gets overshipped.
Amazing Spider-Man #1 sells for over a million.
Lost Gerry Anderson comic gets found.
This is Comic Book Club News for January 15, 2024.
Image Comics Doubling Ghost Machine #1 Orders For Free:
Image Comics is pulling out all the stops to make the new Ghost Machine #1 a huge success. And per a recent press release, Ghost Machine and Image have announced they’re sending a 100% overship on the order to retailers, for free.
What does that mean in layman’s terms? If a comic book shop ordered 10 copies of Ghost Machine #1, which kicks off a new shared comic book universe from some superstar creators, they’ll now receive 20 copies. Which sounds nice, until you realize thanks to the realities of comic book math, it potentially allows Image and Ghost Machine to tout that the first issue quote unquote sold twice as many copies as it actually did. And to further clarify, that doesn’t mean those copies won’t actually sell in stores, and it’s good news for any stores that sell more than their ordered copies. But still. Tricky!
Said the creators of Ghost Machine via the release: “The excitement and eager anticipation for GHOST MACHINE #1 has been overwhelming and this is owed in no small part to the retailers who have helped make our first book a success. So as a thank you to the retailers, and to ensure that they all have plenty of copies to fulfill the demand, we are overshipping 100% of orders for free.”
The new comic will kick off four shared universes from creators like Jason Fabok, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch, Geoff Johns, Francis Manapul, Brad Meltzer, Ivan Reis, and Peter J. Tomasi, to name a few. These preview stories will launch into a series of new comics through the co-op that will debut throughout the rest of this year. Will the rest of these books double it and give it to the next person? Stay tuned.
Amazing Spider-Man #1 Sells For Over A Million At Auction:
A near-pristine copy of Amazing Spider-Man #1 has sold at auction for over a million dollars, a record for a 9.8-graded comic book. More specifically, it sold for $1,380,000.
The copy, as reported by Bleeding Cool, comes from Curator Pedigree, a collection assembled by a former museum worker, marks the first time a 9.8 graded comic book has hit auction — though there are two known copies of ASM #1 at this level in collections.
Other books not put up for auction from Curator Pedigree include a 9.4 Avengers #1, a 9.8 X-Men #1, and a 9.9 Tales of Suspense #47.
While Amazing Fantasy #15 was the first appearance of Spider-Man, Amazing Spider-Man #1 from 1963 kicked off the long-running series. Amazing Spider-Man #42 comes out this Wednesday from Marvel Comics, which, if I didn’t know better, would indicate they released a new issue every year and a half or so. But it doesn’t mean that comic book numbering is just dumb.
Lost Gerry Anderson Comic Resurfaces:
Gerry Anderson is probably best known as the producer of Thunderbirds, and other “supermarionation” TV shows. However, one of his properties has been lost to time. Until now.
As highlighted by CNN, Candy is a comic book created by Anderson in 1967 about a family consisting of a boy, a girl, and two parents who are pandas. Perhaps even more bizarrely, all of the panels were photographs of semi-realistic, life-size mannequins who sometimes interacted with real people.
The goal, according to CNN, was to publish the comic and eventually turn it into a TV show. However, the concept was surreal even for Anderson, and was ultimately scrapped — and mostly lost to history. However, a new, currently sold-out book titled Candy, Andy & the Bearandas features hi-res photos from the comic, as well as some commentary by the photographers involved.
And since this is an audio podcast, I’ll just say they’re pretty weird and disturbing. Hopefully that paints a visual picture for you.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And good news: for a limited time only, you can listen to this podcast twice, absolutely free.
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