Collecting this character poses a problem that few guides address: no series has never carried his name. All his appearances are nestled in the titles of other heroes, without any index correctly listing them. The difficulty is therefore not financial — the file remains affordable — but documentary. Here's how to do it.
Most collection guides assume a department: a series with its name, numbering to complete, identifiable gaps. Nothing like that here.
Which makes the exercise interesting, and transposable to dozens of other secondary characters whose traces are scattered.
The real obstacle is not the price
Let us state the difficulty clearly, because it determines the entire method.
When a character has titles to their name, collecting is like completing a list. We know what exists, we know what is missing, and the only obstacle is financial.
On a supporting character, nothing like that. His appearances are spread across dozens of titles, over several decades, without any source reliably listing them. You don't know the size of what you're looking for.
We must add a difficulty specific to this figure: its narrative function is to orient. She often intervenes briefly, in a scene, to tell someone what they need to know — and then disappears. These passages are not mentioned anywhere.
The practical consequence is clear:completeness is out of reach, and it is better to accept it straight away than to exhaust oneself pursuing it. The whole method consists of defining what you are looking for before starting.
Three ways to delimit the subject
Since we cannot bring everything together, we must choose a criterion. Three defend themselves, and they produce very different collections.
The collection of steps. You only remember the booklets where something changes for the character: his first appearance, the moments where his role evolves, those where another figure takes over his identity. Around ten numbers in total, all identifiable, all affordable except the first. This is the most readable approach and the one I recommend to anyone starting out.
The cover collection. You only retain the issues where the character appears on the cover. The criterion is objective, verifiable at a glance, and it produces a visually coherent whole that presents itself well. On the other hand, it is arbitrary on a narrative level: certain covers announce the appearance of a single panel.
The thematic collection. You expand to characters who share its function — figures of foreknowledge, of warning, of prophecy in the same universe. This is the richest path intellectually, and the least contested: no one else collects according to this criterion, so no one raises prices.
Whatever you choose, write it down. An unformulated criterion dissolves in a few months, and you find yourself buying everything in sight.
Where to look, concretely
Here is the most useful passage in this guide: this is where most of the research time is wasted.
Forget searching by character name. Marketplace engines index ad titles, and sellers almost never mention a supporting character. You will only see a tiny fraction of the offer - essentially the booklets that someone has already identified, therefore already valued.
Search by series and number range. Once you know which titles and time period the character appears in, you can monitor these series directly. Batches covering a numbering range then become your best source.
Take advantage of mismatched lots. These are the sets sold by weight or volume, without detailed inventory, that sellers sell to get rid of a fund. This is where the unlisted apparitions sleep, and no one looks for them.
Build your own index. Each time you find an appearance, write it down: series, number, date, nature of the intervention. After a year, you'll have a list that no one else has — and that's precisely what makes a collection like this valuable.
What this file actually costs
Let's talk about budget, because the distribution is very unbalanced and it's better to know that.
A single fascicle concentrates most of the expenditure: that of 1980 which contains the beginnings of the character. It has experienced a speculative cycle in recent years, and its price, although corrected, remains out of proportion with the rest.
Everything else is collected for almost nothing. Later appearances, including those where the character plays a significant role, are from high-circulation series and carry no premium.
Concretely, this means that you can constitute the entire collection except one piece for a modest sum. It's a comfortable situation: you move quickly, you learn the file, and you save the heavy purchase for the moment when you are sure of your interest.
I also recommend this order. Many collectors start with the expensive piece, then discover that the character interests them less than they thought, and end up with an expensive, isolated item.
A collection that documents itself
One aspect of this exercise deserves to be highlighted, because it changes the nature of the pleasure we take in it.
On a series to be completed, the collector executes a program defined by someone else. He knows what he's looking for, he ticks.
On a scattered character, the work is different: you establish the list as you complete it. Each discovery adds a line that no one had written before you.
This dimension has a concrete practical value. A personal index, kept seriously for a few years, becomes a document that the sellers themselves do not have. It allows you to spot an appearance in a mismatched lot that everyone ignores, and buy at the lot price rather than the coin price.
This is, in my opinion, the main argument in favor of this type of collection. The required budget is modest; the advantage acquired is real and cannot be bought.
A clarification on the tempo: this type of collection advances in fits and starts. You can go months without finding anything, then get your hands on three spawns in one bundle. This irregularity confuses collectors accustomed to progressing issue by issue, but it is inherent to the exercise.
The pitfalls of supporting characters
Four shortcomings specifically lie in wait for this type of collection.
Confusing presence and importance. A one-panel appearance and a climactic scene often cost the same, since neither is listed. Your own judgment replaces the market here — it's a freedom, and a responsibility.
Pay a premium for a cover mention. Regarding the secondary characters, the cover often lies: it announces a participation which is reduced to a few boxes. Check before paying extra.
Let yourself be guided by the announcements. A seller who mentions the name of a secondary character has done so because he thinks he will get a better price for it. The ads that mention it are therefore, by construction, the most expensive on the market.
Seek a coherence that does not exist. Successive authors have used this figure in contradictory ways, without coordinating. A collection of this type documents uses, not a trajectory.
Store and document
On a collection split between numerous titles, storage poses a question that collections by series do not pose.
Two logics clash. THE arrangement by series respects the natural order of the issues and facilitates resale, but it disperses your subject to the four corners of the library. THE thematic storage brings together everything about the character, but it isolates numbers from their context.
My recommendation: arrange by series, and keep your index finger separate. The inventory makes the connection, and you will not have to undo your classification the day you sell a lot.
On the contents of this index, note at least: the exact title of the series, the number, the year, the edition when several exist, the condition, the price paid, and above all a line about what the character does in this booklet. This last column is what distinguishes an inventory from a simple list, and it is the only information that no catalog will give you.
A word on conservation: the fascicles concerned date mainly from the 1980s and following, a period when the paper holds up correctly. A neutral pouch and cardboard are sufficient, without any special precautions.
When to stop
A question rarely asked in guides, and yet decisive for this type of collection.
A series to be completed ends by itself: the last number obtained closes the case. A scattered character offers no such signal. There will always be an additional apparition to find somewhere.
Two markers allow you to set an end. The first is the criterion you wrote at the start: when all the fascicles which answer it are gathered, you are finished, whatever remains elsewhere. The second is the diminishing returns: from a certain point, each new discovery brings less than the time it cost.
Recognizing this moment is not a failure. A defined and completed collection is better, in my eyes, than an indefinite accumulation that no one — including you — will be able to describe in ten years.
Where to actually start
First three steps, in that order.
Choose your criterion among the three presented above, and write it down. Five minutes that will save you years of scattered purchases.
Buy the cheap spawns first, those of the decades following the beginnings. They will teach you the character, the titles to watch out for, and the vocabulary of the announcements.
Save the 1980 booklet for last, when you know if this file really matters to you. It will always be available: there is nothing rare about it.
For details of this booklet, consult ourarticle about his beginnings; for price questions, ourrating analysis.
The questions we are asked
No, and it's better to accept it right away. His interventions are spread across dozens of titles over several decades, often in one scene, and no source reliably lists them. Completeness is out of reach: the whole method consists of defining a criterion before starting.
Three defend themselves. The stages — around ten booklets where something changes for the character, the most readable approach. Covers — objective and visually coherent criterion, but narratively arbitrary. Or the thematic track, expanding to figures of prescience from the same universe: the richest, and the least disputed since no one else collects like this.
Not by searching by character name: sellers almost never mention a secondary figure, and you'll only see a fraction of the deal — the most expensive. Search by series and number range, and exploit mismatched lots sold without detailed inventory. This is where the apparitions sleep that no one has identified.
The distribution is very unbalanced: a single issue, that of 1980, concentrates most of the expenditure. Everything else is picked up for almost nothing, including appearances where the character plays an important role. You can therefore build the entire set except one part for a modest sum.
The cheap appearances first, the 1980 issue last. Many start with the expensive piece, then discover that the character interests them less than they thought, and end up with an expensive and isolated object. The 1980 issue is not rare: it will always be available.
Two benchmarks, since no last issue will close the case. The criterion written at the start: when all the fascicles which meet it are gathered, it is finished, whatever remains elsewhere. And diminishing returns: after a certain point, each discovery brings less than the time it costs. A defined and completed collection is better than an indefinite accumulation.
By series, keeping a separate index. Thematic storage brings everything together but isolates the numbers from their context and complicates resale. In your index, note series, number, year, edition, condition, price paid — and a line about what the character does in this issue. This last column is the only one that no catalog will provide you with.
Build your Madame Web index and track your entire collection with My Comics Collection.
Discover the application