Avengers West Coast 94 isn’t 1st Rhodes as War Machine

Comics Marvel Comics
#1

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So AWC #94 came out in May 1993 and the market currently believes that this is the 1st appearance of Jim Rhodes as War Machine. However, if you look at X-Force #21, which came out in April 1993, You see War Machine in all his glory. Hell, the the cover even says “War Machines”.

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He does have a cameo in X-Force 20 and while the last one says “next issue Iron Man Vs X-Force”, it hat clearly is NOT Iron Man. Marvel wiki also notes that War Machine and not Iron Man fought X-Force.

So … is this really the 1st Jim Rhodes as War Machine? Did the market get it wrong?

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#2

The Cgc label credits X-Force #21 as a War Machine Appearance. And you are correct on the release dates. AWC is May 1993 X-Force 21 is April 1993

#3

West Coast Avengers 94 is clearly his 1st appearance as War Machine.

I did extensive research and discovered…I currently have a 9.8 candidate at CGC… :grin:

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#4

Logic rarely works in this hobby.

Where are you X-Men 266?

#5

I don’t doubt you did your research, but what was the conclusion about x-force 21 and the earlier release date as part of that research?

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#6

Yup, a lot of “pump” on which one people have to offload…

1st, second, 3rd, full, cameo… a first is always a first but the market decides the winner according to value. So you are likely not wrong, but will the market swing to favor West Coast Avengers #94 as the winner in value? Value doesn’t dictate actual first appearance in a comic. I know most of you know this but I really can’t say this enough for the newcomers to the hobby who might read these things and interpret value as being the decider to first appearance, which they are not.

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#7

I’m curious if the market is even aware of this issue as being a potential “1st/cameo/whatever”. While AWC wasn’t a super popular title that book did clearly focus on War Machine while X-Force was just an X-Men off brand title that wasn’t meant to showcase new avengers.

Just interesting that I haven’t seen anyone raise this point. Kinda like people thinking Cap 354 is the 1st US Agent while ignoring AWC 43(?) which has US Agent on the last page and I believe came out same month or 1 month earlier.

#8

This is why the market works in mysterious ways. People list and sell, will use terms like “first full” when a first full can be a second or even a 3rd appearance of the character, with the previous too being brief or smaller. But it doesn’t remove the fact that an “appearance” is just that, an appearance. So no matter how small, if the character showed up or we knew about them, that’s an appearance in my book and should be marked as such.

#9

Oh…this one is simple…

Uncanny X-Men #266 definitely is Gambit’s 1st app. I have 9.2 and 9.8, only a 9.0 of X-Men Annual #14

:wink:

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#10

What’s interesting he appears in #20 but isn’t named, yet in the first page of #21 they know his name.

#11

anyone see kc what kc is now calling 1st groot

#12

I don’t have a copy of West Coast Avengers 94 or X-force 21 so neither is the first appearance imo.

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#13

I see what you did there… :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
#14

Is there a way to verify which book actually hit the shelves first? The dates in the insignia don’t always correlate to actual release dates.

#15

Not sure to be honest. I always look for the release dates on Mycomicshop. Perhaps looking at Comichron

#16

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1 Like