For years, publishers have reprinted popular comics, but for this topic, it has gone farther to reproducing miniature comics. Below are some very interesting miniature comics reprints from DC Comics and Marvel. The comic world is a huge money-making business and presents a great opportunity to maximize your financial earning potential. One staple in the comic industry for publishers is to make reprints of popular current and past issues. One common practice is to reprint a very popular premiere issue of a series. This practice has been done for as long as comics have been in printing, though, it has become much more common during the Modern Age of comics. Collectors and investors realize reprints and later prints of an issue can provide possible long-term financial gains.  For this blog, I wanted to discuss interesting reprint practices by publishers.

Batman #171

Batman #171 is a very important issue in the Batman mythos. The issue contains the first silver-age appearance of the Riddler, Edward Nygma. Nygma is a classic Batman villain and has appeared in numerous comics, movies, and animated television shows since his debut. Please note, the first overall appearance of the Riddler was in Detective Comics #140, during the Golden Age of comics. This issue is not mentioned, since the cost of the issue is very expensive and tough to obtain. Batman #171 marks the first appearance of this character since 1948.

The character itself is very popular as DC Comics decided to reprint Batman #171 into a miniature comic in 2005. The miniature comic reprint came with a DC Direct 1st Appearances Series 3 Riddler action figure. The figure measured 2.75 inches x 4 inches. The comic itself is not expensive, but a very niche item to have for Batman collectors. The cover of the comic itself is exactly the same as the one published in 1965, with the difference being the size of the book.

Amazing Spider-Man #300

Venom's popularity in the last handful of years has skyrocketed. The rise in popularity is due to the massive exposure the character has seen since its debut in 1988. Venom has appeared in numerous comic titles, which include his self-own series, and a recurring character in the animated shows. Recently, the huge success of the live-action movie in 2018 has catapulted the value of this character to great heights. The first appearance of Venom occurred in the Amazing Spider-Man #300. The value of this book is getting very hard to obtain, especially in high grades.

Interestingly enough, Venom's first appearance actually got reprinted as a miniature version. The issue got published in 2006 as part of a Walmart promotion. It was part of an exclusive Wal-Mart mini-comic packaged with Spider-Man 2 Origins of a Hero DVD. The comic has 24 pages with no ads and the size of the book is 4.75 X 7". The release date of the special variant comic was probably used to promote the upcoming live-action Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man 3 in 2007. This film would introduce Venom as a villain in the original trilogy with Tobey McGuire as Spider-Man.

The official name of this issue per GoCollect is called Amazing Spider-Man #300 (Mini Spider-Man II Wal-Mart Movie Edition) and it has a good value for a variant. The current Fair Market Value (FMV) of a 9.8 graded copay is $260. Alternatively, this comic variant could gain in value if the original issue #300 reaches prices that will be hard to obtain. It is an issue to consider grabbing if you feel the value of Venom will explode in the next couple of years.

It might be your last chance to get some of these awesome GoCollect swag items! Don't miss out!