Your favorite acquisitions?

[shaxper]

Any collector of back issues inevitably has that moment where they obtain a comic that feels so much larger than life that light seems to pour down from the heavens upon it. So what have been your great acquisitions that have caused your heart to flutter and your skin to sweat? What acquisitions do you remember the most clearly and fondly? I'm not asking for your best deals, but rather the purchases that meant the most, no matter what you paid.

My top three would be

1. Magnus Robot Fighter #1 (Gold Key)
Two years ago, I was still a small time collector in that I spent most of my time in bargain bins and rarely spent more than $4 on a single back issue. Yet, one day, my local comic shop had Magnus Robot Fighter #1 there. I'd loved Magnus since the Valiant years, and had since read reprints of the original Silver Age stories and had become a big fan. More than that, I truly felt (and feel) that Magnus was an immortal comic book icon that would, inevitably, be coming back again. I'd never seen a Gold Key #1 before and, amazingly enough, the shop owner only wanted $45 for it. That was a lot of money for me back then, but I smacked it down, bought the comic, took it home, and read the sucker, savoring the feel of every brilliant page. The very idea that I was holding the first appearance of such a comic book legend was mind-boggling to me. I recall that experience fondly and suspect it led to my becoming a more serious collector.

2. Giant Size X-Men #1
Back in the early 1990s, I cared about two things: X-Men and Valiant comic books. The rest of the world seemed to agree, as those were the hot back issues to own at the time. I'd spent all my birthday and holiday money acquiring key Valiant issues and was quite proud of my collection. But, one day, I went to a friend's house after school and saw that he owned Giant Size X-Men #1. This was the holy grail of comic books to me back then. I'd never even seen a copy in person before. Just being in the room with it caused me to shudder. Somehow (and I still ask myself how this happened), my friend and I agreed to a trade. I gave him a bunch of my hottest Valiant back issues and he gave me Giant Size X-Men #1. I was so afraid of ruining it that I immediately put it away when I got home and never looked at it again. Years later, when I started going through my comic book collection again, I was dumbfounded to discover the issue. I'd completely forgotten I owned it (and, all this time, had been wondering where my Valiant issues had gone!). It was like acquiring the comic for the second time. I just couldn't believe it was in my hands. I'm still a classic X-Men fan to this day, and still have a hard time believing I own such an important issue. So many of the things I love most about comics began in that issue.

3. Batman #9

I was randomly surfing the lonestar comics web site one day last year when I happened to find Batman #9 available for $320. Though I'd never spent more than $100 on a single comic book in my life, I couldn't believe how inexpensive the issue was. It seemed that any Batman issue that old was (and would always be) out of my reach, but I had that kind of money in my bank account. I could actually enter my credit card and become the owner of Batman #9. The idea completely blew my mind. It still does. Granted, Batman #9 isn't a particularly interesting issue in and of itself, but it does have one of the most famous Batman covers of all time and, more importantly, it's so close to the first issue. Batman was less than two years old at this point, the Batmobile had just been introduced in the previous issue, and Batman's origin hadn't even been told yet! This was 1941. The world was such a different, younger place. All of this runs through my mind when I look at this comic. The sight of it overwhelms me. On the rare occassion that I endeavor to take it out and open the pages, I'm simply dumbstruck by the experience. To think of the people that were alive when this comic was made, how the world was so different, or how Batman was such a young, new idea. It's all staggering to me. Until I get Batman #1 (hey, it'll happen some day!) this will always be the most cherished item in my collection.

[Mysterio]

My top, #1 acquisition would be Giant Size X-Men #1. I've been an X-Men collector since #189. This issue always seemed unattainable. The copies I had a chance to purchase were either A) Poor condition or B) Financially out of my budget. It has been my holy grail for years now. Within the last month, I purchased a great copy. It's propped up on my dresser right now so I can look at it in awe everyday!

[Sir Tim Drake]

Excellent topic, shaxper.

I think my favorite acquisition is one that I've mentioned here before: Sugar & Spike #90. I have a relatively low price range compared to some people here, and until last year, I had never seen a single issue of S&S that I could afford. I was at Half Price Books one day, looking through a box of fairly high-priced '60s and '70s comics, when I found an issue of Sugar & Spike that was priced at one dollar. It was a heart-stopping sight. I don't know which was greater-- the pleasure of reading such a wonderful comic book, or the pleasure of finding it for such a low price.

[DDM]

Giant Size X-Men #1
Uncanny X-Men #95
Uncanny X-Men #100-101
Uncanny X-Men #108

[TheHistorian]

Filling in the final volume (#15) in my hardcover Wash Tubbs & Captain Easy set. I was looking for that forever.


Finding the hardcover edition of The Complete Dickie Dare. The softcover is common, but I've never seen another hardcover available. I was looking for that for longer than forever!


A set of the six Barnaby paperbacks that I stumbled upon while searching eBay at the end of last year. I hesitate to reveal how low the Buy It Now was, for the safety of anyone reading who knows what these are... you'd keel over. I did.


Walking in to the store at the Words & Pictures Museum in the final week or two before it closed. Conversation:

Me - "Is the 50% off sale still going on?"

Clerk - "No... it's 75% off now."

Me - *more keeling over*

Holy crap did I buy a lot of stuff. All sorts of Kitchen Sink overstock, Eisner prints, signed editions, etc.

[shaxper]

Excellent topic, shaxper.

I aim to please.


I think my favorite acquisition is one that I've mentioned here before: Sugar & Spike #90. I have a relatively low price range compared to some people here, and until last year, I had never seen a single issue of S&S that I could afford. I was at Half Price Books one day, looking through a box of fairly high-priced '60s and '70s comics, when I found an issue of Sugar & Spike that was priced at one dollar. It was a heart-stopping sight. I don't know which was greater-- the pleasure of reading such a wonderful comic book, or the pleasure of finding it for such a low price.

I'm not familiar with Sugar & Spike (I've only recently begun extending my reading outside of the superhero genre). What's the premise of the series? Why does it mean so much to you?

[MDG]

Me - "Is the 50% off sale still going on?"

Clerk - "No... it's 75% off now."

Me - *more keeling over*
That reminds me of a time at Mid-Ohio Con. As we were leaving, my friend stopped at a dealer who had the slipcased Monster Society of Evil book. This thing had a retail price of around $120, but the dealer didn't see a price on it, so he said,"Ahhh....40 bucks?". My friend paid and said "Let's get going" under his breath.

A second later, we hear the guy yell "Wait a minute!" We stop and he says "Last day of the show. Everything's 20% off." and hands my friend $8.

I have two favorite pickups. One was an auction lot I got at Ithacon in the mid-80s: Trump #1 and #2, three issues of Humbug and issues #2 and #3 of Stan Lee's SNAFU for $24.

The other was also in the mid-80s. Curt Swan was doing a store appearance and had a box--the size that that held 10 reams of paper--full of original pages, most going for less than ten dollars.

MDG

[Graham Vingoe]

there's something about the idea of Curt Swan selling his original art from a cardboard box that is really,really sad.
In terms of my own acquisitions, I guess the one I was most pleased with would be Giant Size Man-Thing 4. Although I'd read the Howard the Duck story in the legendary Treasury Edition, I WANTED that comic badly. Eventually, Comics Showcase in London, had a copy and I paid the hefty sum of £15.00 for it. Bear in mind that this was in the late 80's when I was a student on a £3000 grant and already heavily in debt so that was around a weeks worth of food for 8 pages.I don't regret it, though, some things are much more important than eating.

[MDG]

there's something about the idea of Curt Swan selling his original art from a cardboard box that is really,really sad.
Not really--before art prices really started skyrocketing (mainly due to the internet, if not eBay specifically)--some artists were just happy to get rid of it. I think this was especially true of artists like Swan who made a good living, worked steadily, and had no real attachement to it. 20 or so pages a month over 10-15 years really starts to pile up.

MDG

[DDM]

Uncanny X-Men #66 (hard book to find due to the low print run)

[Sir Tim Drake]

I'm not familiar with Sugar & Spike (I've only recently begun extending my reading outside of the superhero genre). What's the premise of the series? Why does it mean so much to you?

http://www.toonopedia.com/sugspike.htm

It was a series by Sheldon Mayer about two precocious toddlers. It's incredibly funny and clever, but also very difficult to find, since it's rarely reprinted and the original issues are quite expensive.

[Reptisaurus!]

http://www.toonopedia.com/sugspike.htm

It was a series by Sheldon Mayer about two precocious toddlers. It's incredibly funny and clever, but also very difficult to find, since it's rarely reprinted and the original issues are quite expensive.

I know! What's up with that? Can demand be all that high?
I love S & S, but I don't wanna shell out 15-30 bucks a copy. It definitely seems to fetch a higher price than any other DC non-superhero book from the same time period.

[Slam_Bradley]

I know! What's up with that? Can demand be all that high?
I love S & S, but I don't wanna shell out 15-30 bucks a copy. It definitely seems to fetch a higher price than any other DC non-superhero book from the same time period.


I'd guess that due to the subject matter that S & S was more roughly handled and not collected in nearly the quantity of super-hero books.

[telerites]

As far as individual issues - National Comics #7 and Wonderworld Comics #4. Both sport nifty Lou Fine covers. Others include:

Strange Adventures #9 introducing one of the best characters of all time - Captain Comet (with a great cover to boot).
Leading Comics #10 - Finished my run of Seven Soldiers of Victory in Leading.
Punch Comics #1 - Can't really explain it other than I love the cover.

Any comic featuring Marvel's western or monster charaters.
Any Tomahawk comic.

Give me Fin Fang Foom on horseback fighting Tomahawk and that's a crossover I'll buy. :rolleyes:

[shaxper]

Uncanny X-Men #66 (hard book to find due to the low print run)


I'll second that. I spent months tracking down a copy before I bought mine.

[Ron Zoso]

My almost complete set of the EC Comics Library editions. It took about two years of serching/bidding, and more cash than I care to remember, but I finally got all the ones I was searching for.

[DDM]

I'll second that. I spent months tracking down a copy before I bought mine.

I spent a few years looking for mine. I did not want to buy a V/VF copy.

[DDM]

Ms. Marvel #1-23

Although Ms. Marvel was not a popular book in the 70's, therefore it lead to the book's unfortunate cancellation. Due to Ms. Marvel's unpopularity, the back issues are truly difficult to find particularly Ms. Marvel #1, Ms. Marvel #9 (1st Deathbird), & Ms. Marvel #16 (1st Raven Darkholme)/Ms. Marvel #18 (1st official appearance of Mystique).

I got most of the majority of Ms. Marvel off E-bay for $40.00.

[DDM]

Marvel Feature #1-3 (1st Defenders)

[Mike Kuypers]

Boardwalk and Park Place.

[prince hal]

There's a comic cover below, but wait until you read the little tale that goes with it before you click on it. It was displayed in the window of an antique store a few blocks from my house when I was 13 or 14 years old, probably 1967 or 68. My friend and I were walking home, saw it and since both of us wanted it, flipped the quarter it would cost to purchase the book for the rights to it. Can't remember if I called heads or tails, but the older I (and that book) get, the more I remember that I lost the coin flip. Oh, well, I hope my long-lost buddy did okay by the comic, or that it did okay by him.




http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=206456&zoom=4

[dan bailey]

Ms. Marvel #9 (1st Deathbird)

hmmm ... that's the only one i own, as it happens. paid a couple of bucks for it a couple of months ago, thinking (mistakenly) that i had a letter in that ish. (i wonder which ish i did have a letter in ... maybe i completely imagined it.)

[DDM]

hmmm ... that's the only one i own, as it happens. paid a couple of bucks for it a couple of months ago, thinking (mistakenly) that i had a letter in that ish. (i wonder which ish i did have a letter in ... maybe i completely imagined it.)

I'll look through all of my Ms. Marvel books to find your letter today.

[dan bailey]

please don't put yourself to any trouble, though if you do, it goes without saying (though obviously i'm saying it anyway) that i'm very appreciative.

thing is, i've carried the impression for going on 30 years now that i happened to have letters in the 9th issues of both red sonja & ms marvel -- the "9" coincidence is what stuck with me. so maybe it wasn't red sonja 9 i had a letter in, either ... or maybe it was the 9th issue of another comic (super-villain team-up?). i mean, i had only 5 or 6 letters printed in all (tomb of dracula 38, marvel two-in-one somethingsomethingsomething & 54, & the red sonja & ms marvel ones), so you'd think the issue numbers would be embedded in my brain.

(the other memorable thing about having a letter in ms marvel was that it wasn't a particular favorite of mine. i mean, i liked it well enough, but ... of course, the same is true of svtu & mtio, so there you go.)

[C.O. Jones]

Detective Comics 225
Journey Into Mystery 83
Tales To Astonish 27
Avengers 1 and 4
Fantastic Four 1
Flash 110
Strange Tales 101, 110, and Annual 2
Daredevil 1 and 2
Hulk 4 and 5
X-Men 4
Superman 76 from 1952
Action Comics 252

And lately, those Miracleman hardcovers I bought years ago make me glad I did.

[DDM]

hmmm ... that's the only one i own, as it happens. paid a couple of bucks for it a couple of months ago, thinking (mistakenly) that i had a letter in that ish. (i wonder which ish i did have a letter in ... maybe i completely imagined it.)

Dan, your letter is printed in Ms. Marvel #15:

http://www.leaderslair.com/marveluniverse/msmarvel15.jpg

Ms. Marvel #9 may stick out in your mind, perhaps, because you like the issue. At least, that's what you say in your letter.

[dan bailey]

muchas gracias. i'll make a point of obtaining a copy posthaste.

at the very least, i'll have to sit down & read my copy of #9 to see if i can determine what particularly impressed me. (my loc in mtio 54, which i obtained a copy of for the first time ever just a few months ago [by the time it came out, i'd stopped buying comics, & the only way i knew the letter had been printed was when i got a very nice letter from artist gene day thanking me for my compliments therein] concerned an ish from which i remembered not a single panel ...)

[DDM]

muchas gracias. i'll make a point of obtaining a copy posthaste.

at the very least, i'll have to sit down & read my copy of #9 to see if i can determine what particularly impressed me. (my loc in mtio 54, which i obtained a copy of for the first time ever just a few months ago [by the time it came out, i'd stopped buying comics, & the only way i knew the letter had been printed was when i got a very nice letter from artist gene day thanking me for my compliments therein] concerned an ish from which i remembered not a single panel ...)

You give Claremont room for "finding his feet" from Ms. Marvel #3-8 (He came on the book abruptly after Gerry Conway left for some reason).

[Red Oak Kid]

Being a Neal Adams collector, I am always looking for his work. A few years ago I was at a flea market in Fort Worth and a guy had a bunch of long boxes of comics.

Most of them were Archie and Charlton Love comics. But there was a comic for Tandy Leather done by Neal Adams back around 1962. I ended up buying all the Charlton comics and the Adams comic for a resonable price.

Not too unusual to see the Tandy Leather comic since Tandy is based in Ft. Worth, but I was glad to get it anyway.

[Naldo]

Fantastic Four #48 and here's why:

Years ago I played Magic: The Gathering and had bought, played and traded cards for a couple of years. I soon grew bored and put them away for good. The cards I had left, I had put away in binders for about 5 years moving them as I changed residence four times.

One day I had been going through a closet and found the binders and decided to finally rid myself of them. I took them down to a local baseball card/comic shop hoping to find someone that might take them off my hands.

The dude I talked to said that he'd give me $250 cash or $475 trade. I had only been back into comics for a couple of months at that time. In the case was a shiny beautiful FF #48 a definite 8.0 with a price of $495.

I reached into my wallet, pulled out a $20, pointed to the comic and said: "I'll take that".

That grin lasted 3 or 4 days and I STILL love that comic!

[shaxper]

Being a Neal Adams collector, I am always looking for his work.

My favorite Adams work of all time is on Spectre 2-5. Have you seen them?

[Leebenhouse]

Finding out my dad has Amazing Fantasy #15.

I feel really bad for my boss, he used to be a comic collector but ran into money problems in the late 80s and had to liquidate his collection fast. He got less than a grand for a collection including, first 150 Amazing Spiderman issues, a bunch of Kirby FF issues including the Silver Surfer's first app, the First app of wolverine and the whole Silver Surfer series.

If only they had eBay in those days...

[shaxper]

I picked up both Fantastic Four #5 and Green Lantern #1 at a show last weekend. The reality of the situation hasn't quite sunk in yet...

[MDG]

My favorite Adams work of all time is on Spectre 2-5. Have you seen them?
I'm not a big fan of Adams in these books--too realistic. Murphy Anderson was able to make things like the Spectre swinging a comet by the tail or splitting someone down the middle convincing, if not necessarily plausible. Adams wasn't suited to that kind of thing.

Of course Anderson inking Grandinetti on the later issues is pretty weird-looking.

MDG

[Cei-U!]

One of my high school buddies gave me his copies of Avengers #5, X-Men #4 and Fantastic Four #1 as a graduation gift. Nothing else comes close.

Cei-U!
I summon the windfall!

[shaxper]

One of my high school buddies gave me his copies of Avengers #5, X-Men #4 and Fantastic Four #1 as a graduation gift. Nothing else comes close.

Cei-U!
I summon the windfall!


That's quite a gift!

[DarthAstuart]

still a newbie/lurker round these parts but this is such a great thread! really brings back the memories.

two stories, one purchase, one reading:

1) my buddy mike and I used to drive our bikes to garage sales during the summer in case they had old comics. finally, after months and months of nothing, we find a guy with a really big box of old sixties marvel. i flipped out, he flipped out, and we emptied our pockets to buy a few back issues. it was a really amazing collection.

then I tell my dad about it, and he agrees to go down there and hit the guy up for ALL of them...I think he paid about $100 for at least that many vintage marvel and DC comics.

one of them was Avengers 57, first appearance of The Vision. I'd seen that crazy red mysterious cover in Overstreet and always been fascinated by it...to be holding the actual issue in my hands was just awesome. It was such a great day...one of those great collector/hunter moments, plus just loads of awesome vintage comics to read and bag and enjoy.

2) the other one is sorta similar to shaxper's story, except no purchase was involved...northwestern university has a special collection of comics which seems really unpublicized and underused. one day on a lark I went over there to see what they had. they took my ID and presented me with a list, so I picked a comic to read, and it was...

Fantastic Four #1.

that REALLY blew me away. it was by no means a mint copy, but just to be re-reading that classic story (I'd read it before in Stan Lee's Origins book) and holding the actual issue as it was produced in 1963...man that was neat.

[shaxper]

Cool stories! I'm particularly envious of the first one.

[Reptisaurus!]

Sgt. Rock: the Prophecy # 2.
The Goon # 15.
Dead Girl # 2.
Little Lulu Volume 8.
And issues 2, 4, and 7 of EC's Piracy reprints.

My favorite aquisitions are almost always my NEWEST aquisitions. :)

[Sir Tim Drake]

Welcome to CBR, Darth.