Geoff Issue 3

While I was in the dollar bins of a local shop not too long ago I came across a book I was only vaguely aware of. The title was Infinity Inc. a DC book published for about two years in the mid 80s. The only reason I noticed this book was the cover. It didn’t look like a typical style of that era. It was also unmistakable who had drawn the cape. I never really knew Todd McFarlane had done any D.C. covers that early. Remember, 30 some years ago knowing who did what before they were famous wasn’t available on the device in my pocket or even at home for that matter!

The book was in really good shape and with that last name jumping off the page it immediately went to my stack. Later that evening I got a chance to look it up. There was no key on it, and that’s fine. It wasn’t McFarlane’s first Work. It wasn’t a first appearance. Not a crossover with a more well known hero. But then I read it and as it stated on the cover it actually did contain the origin stories of two of the Infinity Inc. characters. Now I know I said I didn’t recognize this title. Never even heard of the Jade or Obsidian characters, but does that diminish the fact that this was an origin story? Their origin story? It made me wonder why this book was overlooked as a key. Is it just because it isn’t popular or well-known?

Some categories of keys are based on popularity. An iconic cover has everything to do with the hero and the pose they are in. Being “iconic” is a subjective evaluation, and is decided by popular consensus. Generally people value that particular cover image more than the average cover. Contrastingly, an origin is a non-subjective key category. You either are telling the story of the hero(es) discovering or gaining their powers or you are not.

Bottoms line of this is; that book will likely never be valuable for its origin story. It might gain and lose value based on the 2 pages drawn by a young Todd McFarlane, but that is fair. What’s not fair is that Keys and Minor Keys are not applied equally. They start from a premise of value and popular consensus rather than a premise of fact.

Keep something in mind the next time you are rummaging through the dollar bin. What really is key, objectively and thoroughly a truly great moment in life, is to suddenly find yourself holding an otherwise overlooked book with a cover drawn by a comic book legend.