The Cyclops crossovers: participant, issue or cause?

This file illustrates a rule that this corpus had not yet had the opportunity to pose so clearly:the value of an appearance is inversely proportional to its frequency.

A character present everywhere is not remarkable anywhere.

Participant, issue, or cause?

Before examining the events, we must make the distinction which allows us to sort — because without it, the list would be endless.

In a crossover, a character can occupy three positions.

Participant: he is present, he acts, but the event would take place without him. This is its position in the vast majority of cases.

Stake: the event concerns him, what he holds or what he risks.

Cause: the event exists because it did something.

Only the last two permanently attach a character to a crossover. Over sixty years of continuous presence, Cyclops has only held third position once.

Inferno (1988-1989)

The event that deals with the aftermath of what was done to him at the start of the decade.

There it is stake rather than participating: what is at stake concerns him directly, and the story asks him to account for previous decisions.

Extended crossover. Central numbers are searched; the tie-ins of neighboring series remain at the price of all comers while containing a real part of the story.

Messiah Complex (2007)

The event where he assumes command in degraded conditions, and where his choices involve the entire franchise.

Intermediate position: he is not the cause of the crisis, but he is the one who decides the response — and this response determines the editorial direction of the following years.

Recent and abundant period, with the usual precautions on alternative covers.

The 2012 sequence

The only event of his career of which he is the cause.

What he does triggers the story, determines its outcome, and permanently changes his place in the franchise. This is the exception that confirms all of the above.

This corpus signals the corresponding market anomaly: this event is also the one where the character displeased his audience the most. His numbers therefore remained accessible even though they constitute, objectively, the most important in his file.

To aim for in collection: the main series of the event, and the collective title numbers which immediately surround it. Recent, widely used, inexpensive.

The others: why they don't count

The character has appeared in almost every major event in his franchise since the 1980s. None is a key to his case.

The reason is mechanical, and it is worth stating: when a character is present in two hundred event numbers, none of these two hundred numbers can be distinguished. The rarity of an appearance makes its value; ubiquity cancels it out.

It's a disadvantage structural, and it does not correct itself. A character installed at the center of a franchise for sixty years will never have appearance keys, because his appearances are not events.

What this means for the collection

A practical consequence which reverses the usual approach.

On most files, we look for the numbers where the character appears. Here it goes nowhere: it appears everywhere.

The useful question is different: in which numbers he decides? The answer lies in around ten references over sixty years, and this is exactly the list that needs to be put together.

This approach has an appreciable secondary advantage: it makes the file affordable. The numbers where he decides almost all belong to recent and abundant periods.

Collection strategy

Prioritize the 2012 sequence. This is the only event he caused, and it has remained accessible for the wrong reasons.

Add Inferno tie-ins rather than the central numbers, if budget matters.

Don't try to cover crossovers where it appears. It would be an endless and uninteresting project: his presence there is not an event.

As always, condition and gradation determine value; relying on real recent sales is strongly recommended.

Find the complete selection in ourkey numbersand ourcollection guide.