THE DAKOIT SPECULATOR PICK: LONGSHOT (LIMITED SERIES) #1 !!!

From our friend Dakoit over at http://comicbookspeculation.blogspot.com/. Make sure to check out his blog for more back issue spec.
With recent discussions on message boards of the white-hot desirability of new Amazing Spider-Man variants by J.Scott Campbell and Image variants (Bunker, Zero) by relative newcomer Fransciso Francavilla, I just had to do a post discussing another artist who is a great personal favorite of mine, and who I feel has also seen re-emergence of late whilst flying under the proverbial radar. Recently providing gorgeous variants of his own, including high profile titles such as Fantastic Four, Guardians of The Galaxy, Dejah Toris and too many others to list, it is surprising that Mr. Art Adams has not come up in the same conversations as among the hottest cover artists today. Although Mr.Adams has been drawing comics for almost 30 years, his pages and covers never looked better. Each visually stunning and contemporary, the line-work intricately executed and more sharper than ever before. Mr. Adams really does seem to get better with age.
As a surprise to some, Art had his ‘first shot’ in the big leagues (pun yes) with a little underrated comic called Longshot #1. And as we’ll also see, there is even more to this comic than just ‘Art’ (ya, another one). This is indeed a comic with a huge bang for the buck.
Longshot #1 of 6 (Marvel)
Released: September 1985
Current Ebay Price Range: $2.00 NM raw – $39.99 BIN (CGC slabbed grade 9.2)
Bought For: $0.25 VF+ (February 2014)
Longshot #1 introduced us to the titular four-fingered hero created by Art Adams and Anne Nocenti. His concept was pretty unique at the time, as Anne Nocenti describes him from metaphysical view:
“I never read comics, so the idea of a hero to me was different. I couldn’t think of it in terms of a ‘super hero’ hero. I thought of it more as a conceptual hero. Not having a comic book background, I tend to come up with the metaphysics before I come up with the characters. I knew that I wanted to deal with the metaphysics of luck. It was a concept that interested me…what luck is, what probability is, how you could shift probabilities towards yourself. What are the repercussions of that? So, I did a character centered around that idea.” (wikipedia)
Longshot’s story begins with him suffering from amnesia, having no knowledge any identity. The quest for his identity unfolds and it is revealed that he is a probability-altering artifical humanoid who had escaped a reality based gladiator-style entertainment show held on a dimension called ‘Mojoverse’. At its head, a tyrannical network leader called Mojo. Longshot was created by Arize, who gave him free-will and conscience, hoping one day the gladiator would rise up to the network oppressors who had enslaved him and other performers.
Longshot finds a way to escape to Earth, as Mojo dispatches his lieutenant, a six-armed sword welding assassin, Spiral. Spiral created by Nocenti and Adams inspired by the form of hindu goddess deity, with power mystical qualities of a sorceress. She follows Longshot to Earth to become a longtime adversary of he and the X-men. It is later revealed, that Spiral’s hatred for Longshot was driven by her desire for revenge due to her being taken prisoner and driven insane/physically modified by Mojo and his chief scientist Arize.
After the miniseries ended, Mojo joined the Uncanny X-men (Uncanny X-men Annual #10) and remained part of the X-verse, most notably the long running X-Factor (vol.2), joining in issue #35 until its cancellation in 2013.
Spiral became hugely prolific in her own right. She single-handedly defeated the X-men in her first two encounters and also depowered and imprisoned both the Avengers and West Coast Avengers using her sorcery. Spiral’s power is considered so immense as revealed in New Avengers #53, to be one of several magic-users with the potential to be the next Sorcerer Supreme after Doctor Strange by the Eye of Agamotto. (wikipedia)
Longshot and Spiral are not secondary characters in the Marvel Universe. They have been used in high profile books and contine to be hot characters. Longshot recently recieved heavy facetime in the very recent 2013 mini-series ‘Longshot Saves The Marvel Universe’ and Spiral continues to be the most diffident powerful being in the Marvel Universe. Currently she serves as part of an awesome covert assassin team in hot selling X-Force.
So how does Longshot #1 hold up in the CGC census?
CGC (March 2014) : Total graded- 86, Total: 9.4 or higher (NM+)- 76
Overall print run (September 1985): 300,000 (courtesy Terry Hoknes)
Note:conservative estimate dervived from similar title sales
So why should you get Longshot #1 (of 6)?
1. First major comic work my Art Adams
2. 1st appearance Longshot (hero)
3. 1st appearance Spiral (villain)
4. Dirt cheap right now in NM raw
Note: The series also sees 1st appearance of Mojo (Longshot #4 of 6 )
In closing,
With the Guardians of The Galaxy movie coming soon, wouldn’t it be awesome to see longshot in a gladiator type setting in some future sequel? I personally would like to see the rocker mullet, pouches and all (Art Adams’ Longshot was responsible for inspiring pouch outfits of future Image artists—fun fact!).
What about Spiral? I would definitely drool over seeing a fight scene with her six arms independently hacking away at hundreds of robots or goons. She would fit like a glove within the casted team of Psylocke, Cable, Archangel and Deadpool. Not knowing how powerful she is would be an awesome back story as she could be linked to Dr. Strange (and his potential movies) as well. One could only hope…
Longshot #1 is a quite a book indeed. While it sees first appearances of two long-standing popular marvel characters, it also introduces us to Art Adams’ first professional work. Although it has shown huge print numbers, this comic still has potential. It may not be a hundred dollar book anytime soon, but surely has a chance to grow. It also has low CGC representation compared to its print numbers, which may potentially make this book soon desirable slabbed in high grade.
Lastly, with upcoming X-Force film inevitable, and the Marvel cosmic cinematic universe planned to extend into a ‘Star Wars-like’ scope, why not pick this book up? I’ve been finding this book in bargain bins everywhere. Pick this up cheap and hold.
Until next time…keep hunting my pannapictagraphists!