A Batgirl Collection In Process
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When I first started getting back into collecting comic books earlier this year, I wanted to see what was going on with the Batman. Was there anything worth getting that was recent and of value? The big one that popped out immediately was Scott Snyder's #1 of The Batman New 52. Going for roughly 40$ USD on Ebay, I low balled a few auctions, didn't follow through at the last second, and lost. Next time, right? Then this beautiful cover popped up as a possible option I'd also be interested in:
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What was this, I wondered? Batgirl in some very wonderful art, symbolically replicating the great Batman villain Two-Face? And it was going for over $50 USD on Ebay. "What in the world is going on with Batgirl?" I thought; the last thing I remember about Batgirl was that she was paralyzed by the Joker and had become the super intelligent "Big Brother" to the Batman in Oracle. Something must have changed....
I immediately went to research the character and the cover; lo and behold, the artist Joshua Middleton was responsible for the cover above. And his work on the Batgirl run (DC Rebirth) was in much demand. Barbara Gordon was back, better than ever, and there were some fantastic variant covers attached to her Rebirth run. I then thought a few things:
- These covers are amazing
- Barbara Gordon was always a favorite of mine on the old Batman television show
- My one year old daughter has red hair
- Barbara Gordon has red hair...and
- My daughter loves her Batgirl Super Hero book quite a bit
All that said, I then made a goal to get all of the Middleton covers for her. I'd keep them stored for her, sealed and bagged, and she could then have them went she grew older. Maybe it would be worth something in 20 years for her; if anything, however, hopefully she'd have some nostalgic value to it. Time to bust out the secret credit card.
Since my new made goal, here is what I've been able to get thus far for her. All were found at either my LCS, Midtown Comics online, or on Ebay. I am thinking I'll have to use Ebay more often as I get closer to completing the collection.
The plan is to collect Middleton's entire run, and from what I've read online, Artgerm is taking over on Batgirl 31. I'm guessing I'll have to get those too.
Batgirl might not be the most fashionable comic book character today; she is in love with Bruce Wayne's first son Dick Grayson, is the daughter of a police commissioner, is a computer / data genius and gets a lot of flack online because she weighs very little and takes down men x4 times her size. Call me a bit old fashioned, but I don't care. I think she will be a great role model for my daughter as we share the stories of Batgirl as time goes on. With some luck, there will also be a new movie or two out of her by the time my daughter is in middle school
That's it for today; thanks for reading, and more updates will coming on this collection. I plan to have another speculative piece out Tuesday night for the upcoming Wednesday this week.
If Steem goes to the moon, I hope you can snag your daughter a great copy of that Detective #359! The new variants have some amazing art, but I’m much more drawn to the older key back issues and think they’ll gain & retain value more in the long run. The variant market seems so crazy to me that I keep waiting for the bubble to pop, ... but I guess that’s what most people think of crypto too! 🤔
ha I really hope that is possible. Detective would be great for her; even the key Batgirls would be wonderful to track down. My hope is that I can get a little bit of value out of some of the variants for her; if not, I really do love the art currently happening, and maybe she won't hate me later in life and at least hold on to them for nostalgia :)
Oh no, not another bubble...before you know it, I'll probably by Spider Gwen/Ghost #1 at top dollar and see it crash. That would be reminiscent of my damn 21 Litecoin purchase earlier this year. Common sense told me to not do it; but I got swept up in the crypto craze. Ridiculous. So I'm not buying SpiderGhost...holding to cover price as best as possible going forward.