Books that took forever to finally make it to your collection

[Jezebel Bond]

Here's one that took me almost 20 years, which is terrible because that's over 2/3rds of my life...but I *finally* got one. Getting one wasn't hard, but getting one in NM was. I had already read a dog-eared-to-hell copy but always wanted a prime copy. I always have to fight off my hubby and brother from nicking it.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/3153/supesvsspidey.jpg (http://img709.imageshack.us/i/supesvsspidey.jpg/)

I'd love to know what print runs of this was like...I see VF copies going for over $30.00 on eBay and closer to $80-$100 in stores.

I'd never forget the look on my dealer's face when his 'high-grade' copy arrived. I watched him open over the priority mail box...and as he took it out, the whole cover fell off, which makes me wonder just how long that glue on the squarebound edge will last.

And if you thought getting this book was hard, just try getting a bag and board with it, some sellers just cry about finding it in a warehouse lol...

What books have you finally got that took a long time to get in your collection? I've started on other Treasury editions, starting with Spider-Man first.

[Frequency]

Not a rare comic by any means but it took me forever back in the day for the comic shop that I frequented to get a copy of Avengers West Coast #94. This was before the days of buying comic books online.

[dan bailey]

Nearly 42 1/2 years after I began reading the series (with #48), as of last month I'm the owner of Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos #1, courtesy of a regular on this board whom I'm not naming just in case he might be embarrassed at having his absolutely amazing generosity (yes, he sent it to me with no compensation involved) revealed. About 5 years ago I'd landed #s 2-9 (or -10 ... can't remember at this late date) in an eBay auction for about what a reader's copy of #1 would go for, but I never expected to be able to complete the run of my all-time favorite series. (The 2nd-highest-priced issue in the series, #13, I've owned since late '76, when it happened to be included in a grocery bag full of Silver Age Marvels I bought for a few bucks off a childhood friend* whose older brother no longer had any interest in them.)

(Deleted the rest, which merely showed me at my considerable -- &, I like to think, somewhat uncharacteristic -- worst.)

[Cei-U!]

Name-calling and insults aren't helpful, dan, and neither is carrying this pointless squabble over into another, unrelated thread.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

I just located Spectacular Spider-Man vol. II #64 at a convention about a month ago. My Spectacular Spider-Man vol. II series is finally complete!

It is the first appearance of Cloak & Dagger but it's not exceedingly rare. However, it's been hard to find in a price that I was willing to pay. I managed to snag it for $4.

[spoon_jenkins]

I didn't purchase Uncanny X-Men #244 (the first appearance of Jubilee) when it came out. Unfortunately, it then soon zoomed up to the $20 to $40 range. Well, a couple years back, through who knows what strange black magic, I was able to buy a copy off ebay for about $1.25 plus shipping.

I also had trouble find an affordable copy (or any copy for that matter) of X-Men at the State Fair of Texas prior to the ebay era. That was a giveaway comic that was once included in a Sunday newspaper.

[The Confessor]

It is the first appearance of Cloak & Dagger but it's not exceedingly rare.


It is, however, a great, great comic. One of my favourites actually...although Cloak & Dagger's second appearance, in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #69 & #70, is even better IMO!

As for comics that it's taken me a long time to track down, I suppose the one that immediately springs to mind is Marvel's Star Wars #107 - the final issue. I had built up a complete run of issues #1 through to #106 a long time before I finally found a copy of #107 to complete the collection. This issue had the lowest print run of any in the series and consequently, the asking price for it really was high when compared to the price of #106 for instance. At the time that I was originally looking to acquire it - during the 1990s, before the advent of the internet - I never saw it at a price that I was happy paying.

I finally bought it for about £4.00 (approx. $6.00) as one of my very first comics related transactions on eBay in 2000 or thereabouts, from a guy in the USA. I was really stoked to have finally completed my collection which had been missing this single issue for around 5 or 6 years by that point.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

Sweet score on Star Wars #107. That comic was going for obscene prices when the Star Wars prequel films hit theatres.

As for PPSSM #64, I found it interesting that Cloak did not exhibit the stutter he's now know for.

[spoon_jenkins]

It is, however, a great, great comic. One of my favourites actually...although Cloak & Dagger's second appearance, in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #69 & #70, is even better IMO!
Amen! I read those comics for the first time a couple months ago (albeit in b&w in Essential format) and really enjoyed them. I think they're significantly underrated.

[Simon Garth]

I started collecting X-Men from #97 and eventually picked up 95 & 96 without spending much money on them). I got pretty much every issue until #201 -- apart from 122/3 (I think - the 2nd Alpha Flight and first Arcade issues EDIT: I was off by 1 - it was #121/122), which for some reason had terrible distribution in England. It took me about 5 or 6 years to eventually pick those up, and they're probably the most expensive comics I've ever bought - I think I went to as much as £5 or £6 for each, which may not seem like much now, but was a pretty tidy sum of money in the mid-80s, I can tell you. Probably equivalent to at least, oh, £10 or more now!

I never did get #94 or GS1 (having read both of those in reprint while I was still buying X-Men, I had no desire to pay big money for 2 really awful comics)

Getting those two issues coincided with an utter disillusion with the X-Men (I think I picked them up just after the end of the Paul Smith run), and dropped out of comics entirely a couple of years later - well, there's a happy ending for you!

[GreatLakesAvengers]

I agree. I was impressed at how well #64 held up to modern-comics-storytelling comparisons. I'm pretty excited to read Bill Mantlo's Micronauts, now.

[Reptisaurus!]

With the internet and considering I don't need near mint - or even good plus copies, this has never been a problem for me. Theoretically.

Eventually I'm sure I'll be trying for a Gorgo or a Konga # 1. THAT's gonna take some doing.

However..

I try to use local comic shops whenever I can. Which means that some books... Just don't really turn up much. Here are some major wants:

* The Marvel Team-Up with Spider-man and the cast of Saturday Night Live.

* The DC Comics Presents with Santa Claus.

* Brave and the Bold 55 and 56.

* Superman vs. Muhammad Ali.

* Reptillicus # 2. (The comic that was renamed Reptisaurus.) I see # 1s everywhere, but # 2s are REALLY hard to come by.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

There are two copies of Reptilicus #2 available right now on Atomic Avenue.

http://www.atomicavenue.com/atomic/IssueDetail.aspx?ID=103614

[Reptisaurus!]

There are two copies of Reptilicus #2 available right now on Atomic Avenue.

http://www.atomicavenue.com/atomic/IssueDetail.aspx?ID=103614

Cool. Last time I looked I couldn't find it on the Internet. (I found all the others, although Supes/Muhammad Ali is goin' for 40 bucks at rock bottom.))

I MAY have to break down and order one of those with my Christmas bonus.

[Jezebel Bond]

Cool. Last time I looked I couldn't find it on the Internet. (I found all the others, although Supes/Muhammad Ali is goin' for 40 bucks at rock bottom.))

I MAY have to break down and order one of those with my Christmas bonus.

I saw several on offer maybe a month or so ago from a dealer I had previously bought from on-line. He had found several NM copies in a warehouse. Starting price (ie not negotiable) was almost a fifty though - oww! It's on my own wants-list too, but in terms of opportunity cost, I simply used that money elsewhere and will get back to it. Also want to replace my Superman vs Wonder Woman.

Someone mentioned Spectacular Spider-Man above...that reminds me of a couple of glaring omissions from the first series I still have to get. Those include the Miller books, #27 and #28 and an unbagged 40. My copy came in a pre-sealed 3 pack that I never opened. :biggrin:

[GreatLakesAvengers]

#40 ... that was the second part of the Schizoid Man storyline, right?

Or was that into the multi-part Lizard story already?

[The Confessor]

Sweet score on Star Wars #107. That comic was going for obscene prices when the Star Wars prequel films hit theatres.


Yeah, I know and in fact, the prices of the whole run started to escalate starting around 1995, once the hype about the prequels, and the Special Editions that came out in 1997, began to start. I had a nice time feeling really smug watching the prices of issues #1 - #106 go up and up, since I’d acquired them all between 1989 and 1994, before Star Wars-mania began to resurface again.

I guess that by the time I picked up #107 in 2000 the prices had come back down, once everyone realized that the prequels sucked! LOL…no, I’m only joking, I actually really like the prequels but I know that a lot of fans thought that The Phantom Menace was rubbish and that no doubt had a knock-on effect in the comic marketplace.




As for PPSSM #64, I found it interesting that Cloak did not exhibit the stutter he's now know for.


No, you're quite right...although he only had the stutter before he became Cloak, right? If memory serves me correctly, I think the stuttering was first established in the 1983 Cloak & Dagger 4-part mini-series that re-told their origin. Don't quote me on that though, but I'm reasonably confident that's true.




Amen! I read those comics for the first time a couple months ago (albeit in b&w in Essential format) and really enjoyed them. I think they're significantly underrated.


Yeah, I think you're right generally but they're not underrated by me at all...as you'll see in this year's Classic Comics Xmas. Oops! I’ve said too much! :redface:




I agree. I was impressed at how well #64 held up to modern-comics-storytelling comparisons. I'm pretty excited to read Bill Mantlo's Micronauts, now.


Yeah, now you see, that's what I thought too. But I have to say that Micronauts left me totally cold. They used to print it as a back-up strip in the UK Star Wars Weekly comic, which I used to read as a kid in the late 70s and I never liked it then. But I decided to give it another shot just a few months ago and I've gotta say, I think it's just one big yawn.




Here are some major wants:

* Superman vs. Muhammad Ali.


Oh yeah, that's big on my wants list too but it's so expensive, isn't it? There's no way I'm paying what it usually goes for. However, I do keep an eye out for it on eBay in the hopes I might one day pick it up cheap. I think most of the reason it's so expensive is because it's never been reprinted due to legalities over all of the celebrity appearances in it (I believe that's the case, anyway).

[adam_warlock_2099]

As much as I enjoy Silver Surfer (being introduced to him through his third series) it took me a while to obtain the four issues (#15-19) that weren't reprinted in Fantasy Masterpiece. But that was probably only the span of five years at the most. Once I dropped $40 for a VF (maybe better, I've never had it apprasied) copy of Silver Surfer #15 back in 1997, I found it easier to claim the other three issues.

[Cherokee Jack]

CAPTAIN AMERICA # 154 took me years to find in the pre-net days of the early 90s.

[Reptisaurus!]

Oh yeah, that's big on my wants list too but it's so expensive, isn't it? There's no way I'm paying what it usually goes for. However, I do keep an eye out for it on eBay in the hopes I might one day pick it up cheap. I think most of the reason it's so expensive is because it's never been reprinted due to legalities over all of the celebrity appearances in it (I believe that's the case, anyway).

Yes. *Sigh*

By far the most expensive, in Ebay prices, of any other team-up book on my list.

HOWEVER, the Overstreet Guide prices are considerably better than what it goes for on Ebay. So I'm hopin' to find some suck...er...conscientious dealer who has a kinda beat-up copy and goes by Overstreet.

[howyadoin]

I'd kill to have some of those Treasury Editions again. I'm guessing I lost mine in the Great Flood of 77. All I know is, Spider-Man and Superman in one book, when I was all of 12 or 13 years old? Cooler than the Fonz.

[Jezebel Bond]

#40 ... that was the second part of the Schizoid Man storyline, right?

Or was that into the multi-part Lizard story already?

It was Part 2 of "Schizoid Man and Spider-Lizard".

I'm waiting to get an unbagged copy to actually read it...that should happen early next year.

[GreatLakesAvengers]

I just looked up the cover. It's pretty sweet!

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/60930948398.40.gif

Seeing it makes me want to go dig that issue out and read it!

[Jezebel Bond]

I just looked up the cover. It's pretty sweet!

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/large/60930948398.40.gif

Seeing it makes me want to go dig that issue out and read it!

Yep, eye-catching cover.

The one I use to make people to a double-take is #1...Tarantula's pose is quite similar to Amazing Spider-Man #147. Also, yellow background, Spidey's in the same part of the cover...they could almost be twins!

http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/spectacular-spider-man-1976/1-1.jpghttp://www.coverbrowser.com/image/amazing-spider-man/147-1.jpg

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

Gah! There's been so many...
I remember not wanting to buy FF #244 because it was $3.50...
I finally managed to get Thor #224 after flip-flopping for months on getting it... There's an Iron Man issue, danged if I can't remember the number right now, during the Rhodey Iron Man era that I kept putting off...
Avengers West Coast #80 took 2 years because I didn't want to buy anything associated with "Operation Galactic Storm", but it was the only issue I was missing to complete the set and in the 50 cent bin. I changed my mind a week later and it was gone.
G.I. Joe #106...prices make a dramatic jump after issue #100...
Thunderstrike #19...wow, did that one take forever to find!
Warlock & The Infinity Watch #25...