I have the best big brother in the world!!

Ok, kids. STORYTIME!! YAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

Once upon a time, there was a young man who bought all 8 issues of the comic book mini-series "Fallen Angels". The young man got them all graded by CGC and all but two came back in 9.8!

The young man was happy about the ones that got 9.8, but really wanted to find 9.8 copies of the other two books to have a complete set in 9.8 or better.

A year later, the young man's big brother found copies of the two books that were good enough to get 9.8 and gave them to his younger brother! The young man was thrilled, and after getting them signed by the cover artist, he had them graded by CGC.

They both came back in 9.8, and the two brothers lived happily ever after.

THE END.

Hahaaa! Ok, this is simplistic, but it's also completely true!

In early 2013, I bought all 8 issues of the Fallen Angels mini-series from a seller on Ebay who promised me they were all very high grade books. After receiving them and looking them over myself, I had to agree with him. I wanted to get this series because of three members of New Mutants being featured in it.

I sent #4 to Desert Winds to get Val Mayerick to sign it at SDCC 2013, since he was there. Then as Tampa Bay CC approached, I planned on submitting the rest of them for universal grading. That's when I noticed that Joe Staton and Mike Mignola were going to be at Baltimore CC, which I had just decided I would be going to. So I held back #5, #6 and #8 since they could sign them and submitted the other four copies at Tampa Bay CC.

Long story short, when I finally got them all back, 6 of them got 9.8s and two got 9.6s! Turns out both the dealer and I were right! The only two books to not get 9.8 were #3 and the #4 that Val Mayerick signed, unfortunately. So I planned on eventually finding 9.8 worthy copies of those two in order to complete my set.

Fast forward all the way to Baltimore CC the next year. Once again my big brother and I were hitting the show floor in search of signatures and books. I hadn't really made any mention of this set for a long time, nor do I have any designs to really look for the two I still needed in 9.8, due to having so many other things I wanted to do at the show.

At one point on the first day, Tnerb walked off to do some looking around while I was standing in line for a signature. When he came back, he handed me a few comic books and said something along the lines of, "I found these at a dealer and they look great, like 9.8 possibilities. I know you're trying to put together a complete set of them". That's paraphrasing, but what's completely accurate is that he handed me a few copies of Fallen Angels issues, including #3 and #4!!

I was flabbergasted! I was even more astonished when I looked them over later at the hotel and determined that they were definitely 9.8 worthy! Not astonished at Tnerb's grading accuracy, which I already knew was fantastic. But astonished that both books were at the show and he just happened to be at the right place at the right time to find them. The fact that he thought about me when he saw them and picked them up for me is just another reason to show why I love my big brother so much.

To make matters even better, Tom Palmer was attending the very same show! Talk about timely!! Not only did Tnerb manage to find the two books I needed to complete the set in good enough shape to achieve 9.8, but the cover artist could sign them right then and there!

So that's exactly what I did! I prepped them right there in the hotel room and took them to Tom Palmer on the last day of the show and submitted them to CGC, along with another Palmer signed book which I found at the show. I will do another journal on that book very soon.

So the books just got back in my hands and the verdict is in! Ol' Eagle Eyes (Tnerb) strikes again!! My 9.8 set of all 8 books is complete thanks to you, big bro!! Thank you so much! I couldn't have done it without you!!

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