When everything has to go.... these DON'T!!

20 months ago a few of us here on the registry did top ten lists of the books that we would not part with come hell or high water, even in the case of an emergency sell-off or purging of our slabbed collections. I also jumped on this idea and did what I referred to as a PSL, or Purge Survival List of my top ten books at the time.

Well it's been almost two years and with 2015 looming on the near horizon, I have decided to revisit my list and make a new top ten PSL for 2014. After all, since the last time I did this, I have been to a number of shows, had a major portion of my collection signed and regraded or submitted raw to CGC or purchased already slabbed from the various online auction sites.

In the future, every year just after Christmas, I will try to do an updated, annual PSL for the new year, since changes are bound to occur. This is very difficult to do, especially now that I have nearly 1,000 slabs in my collection. It's very hard to pick just ten that I can't part with. Truth be told, there are far more than ten, but these would be among the very top. This time around, my PSL holds books that are far more rare and less likely to ever be able to replace. So without further ado, here is my PSL 2014!!

#10 - Infinite Crisis #1 RIE CGC SS x4 9.8 WP

This one is the same as last year. A more modern book, with all four creator signatures on it. Andy Lanning, Phil Jiminez, Geoff Johns and Jim Lee! I just love the cover and while there are 15 SS 9.8 copies out there, I don't believe there is another one with all 4 signatures! Even if there is, finding another copy and getting all of the signatures on it would be extraordinarily difficult to ever do again!

#9 - All four of my Copper Age CGC 9.9s WP

Warlord #82, Warlord Annual #1, and Wonder Woman #4 and #6!

Again, the same as last year. Also again, actually four books in one. While this is a top ten list, I group these together only because they all fit into the top ten category for me, but putting them in individually would take up half of the list. Copper Age 9.9s and up are very rare and nearly impossible to replace, especially when 3 of these are OAKS!

#8 - Starlog Magazine #130 CGC SS 9.8 WP

The first newbie to the list! After requesting for a set to be created for Starlogs, I dug through all of my old copies and pulled a bunch that I felt had high chances for top grades. This one was among them, so when I got Denise Crosby of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame to sign it, it became a real treasure for me. This book holds a lot of nostalgia for me, since I am such a huge ST:TNG fan and also since I picked this copy out myself right off the shelf back in 1988, when I was just 14 years old!

#7 - Little Dots Uncles and Aunts #2 CGC 9.6 OW/W

This one not only remains from my last PSL, it bumps up one spot. I have to keep at least one Harvey comic from my slabbed collection and given the choice, this one is definitely it! The jet black cover on this beauty makes it nearly impossible to find in this condition. There's only one other copy out there in this grade, with none higher!

#6 - Daredevil #168 CGC 9.6 WP

This one drops significantly down the list from last time. Not because it means any less to me, but just because it's far more readily available to replace should I ever need to. The only reason it's on this list at all is strictly due to the sentimental nature of it for me. My father and I found this copy in a friend's basement and bought it for $5 back in 1986. This copy holds great memories of my father for me, so it would pain me greatly to ever let it go!

#5 - The Hulk! #13 CGC SS 9.8 WP

Another newbie to the list! This series started out as The Rampaging Hulk and then turned into just "The Hulk!". This particular issue features the first ever published artwork by my favorite comic artist, Bill Sienkiewicz, who took over drawing duties of the Moon Knight portion of the book with this issue. I bought this copy raw off of Ebay, took it to Megacon, had Bill sign it and was elated to have it receive 9.8! It is now the only SS 9.8 copy in the world, making it completely irreplaceable!!

#4 - Marvel Graphic Novel #4 CGC SS x2 9.8 WP

No surprise here. This book stays on the list, in exactly the same spot as last time. Having a 9.8 copy signed by both Claremont and McLeod, with a head sketch of Sam Guthrie (Cannonball) on it as well, make this irreplaceable for me. My big brother, Tnerb has an even better copy now, with a full sketch of Cannonball on the back of his, but I still hold the same reverence for my copy now as I ever have since getting it done.

#3 - Jonah Hex #1 CGC SS 9.8 WP

Another newbie on the list, and debuting very high as well!! I bought this copy already graded for $300 and took a gigantic risk in cracking it for Jose Luis Garcia Lopez to sign at Baltimore CC 2013. I did it because I had always wanted a 9.8 copy of the book, and because it is now the only SS 9.8 in the world!! Another irreplaceable OAK!!

#2 - Howard the Duck #1 CGC SS x2 9.8 WP

Yet another newbie to the list and coming in even higher than #3 did!! I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled I was with this book! I bought it raw from a dealer on Ebay, sight unseen for $100! I always wanted a high grade slabbed copy of it, so I took it with me to Tampa Bay CC 2014 and had both Frank Brunner and Marv Wolfman sign it! I was thoroughly astonished to have it achieve 9.8, which only one other copy has ever done before. But unlike that single other copy, this one has been signed twice, while the other one has only been signed by Brunner! That makes this the single greatest copy of this book in existence!! WOW!!!

#1 -.........

Oh, come on now. Do you really need me to tell you? Most of you know me well enough by now to know that there is only one book that will ever hold the honor of the top spot on my PSL. But for those uninitiated few out there, here it is:

NEW MUTANTS #1 (1983) CGC 10 WP!!

This book started me on my CGC journey, and it will still be in my possession when my ultimate journey comes to an end. There really is no need for me to go into detail as to why this book stands head and shoulders above all others in my collection. It's age, grade, and significance should speak for itself. So I will bring the list to a close and continue to bask in the loving glow of myyyyyy preeeciiiooooooouuusssssss...... AHEM! Sorry about that. This book brings out the Gollum in me. Hahaaa!

So there you have it, everybody! A great PSL with representatives from Marvel and DC and even Harvey. Books from the Silver Age, Bronze Age, Copper Age and Modern Age, featuring both comics and magazines, some signed and some not. There are old hats, as well as some new faces! But one thing remains the same among them all...

They all are staying right here with me, no matter what may happen or what may ever cause me to need to sell my collection off.

I can already tell you that my PSL for next year will be different than this, since I currently have some books in process right now that will be vying for their chances to occupy spots in my illustrious PSL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Below is a pic of the Hulk! #13. I've shown it before, but you can never see it enough!..... right??

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