Latest and final addition to this set...

WARNING...This is a long journal, .

The most important journal I have ever written and it wont allow comments on the boards, even though I removed all special characters in the punctuation...argh. If you feel so inclined please DM me your comments, thanks.

How hard could it be to create a set of Xmen appearances made outside their own title during the time when they really had no book to call their own? Then once created how hard could it really be to find every one of these appearances in NM 9.2 or better condition? Well it took 8 years...from 2007 to 2015...and I can finally say my Xmen the Missing Years set is now 100 percent complete with the addition of Amazing Adventures 9 featuring a very early Magneto crossover appearance. Before I get into the story behind acquiring this book though I want to reflect a little bit on having completed this set...45 books in all. Many of these books were SO difficult to find in grade...Im not even kidding...but you all know what Im talking about because you have your own hit list of books that have eluded you for years.

Ive always been a huge Xmen fan ever since I started collecting back in 1987. I would go to my LCS in Lodi, CA...the Comic Grapevine...every week to pick up new issues, chat with Doug the owner, browse through back issues of Uncanny Xmen, and pick up as many issues as I could afford. I still have all of those Xmen books too and only need about a dozen more including issue one to complete that set of reading copies. But we arent here to talk about that so let me get back to the point of this journal.

The collection...

Below is a summary of my collection, all of which have W or OW to W pages.

3 books in NM minus 9.2

7 books in NM 9.4

1 book in NM 9.4 with SS...2 more pending thanks to bagofleas

34 books in NM plus 9.6

To give you an idea of which books took the longest to find in NM condition, Im providing a complete list here in the order they were acquired. The first one was at the end of 2007, I picked up 4 in 2008, only 2 in 2009, 4 in 2010, 3 in 2011, 8 in 2012, a whopping 16 in 2013 when the set was added to the registry, 5 in 2014, and the final 2 issues in 2015.

11.23.2007 Captain America 173 CGC 9.6

02.10.2008 Hulk 172 CGC 9.6

09.17.2008 Defenders 15 CGC 9.6

09.30.2008 Amazing Adventures 16 CGC 9.6

10.08.2008 Avengers 110 CGC 9.6

07.24.2009 Captain America 172 CGC 9.6

08.17.2009 Captain America 174 CGC 9.6

03.08.2010 Hulk 150 CGC 9.6

03.16.2010 Captain America 175 CGC 9.6

03.26.2010 Avengers 111 CGC 9.6

08.30.2010 Marvel Team up 4 CGC 9.6

02.22.2011 Amazing Spiderman 92 CGC 9.6

07.23.2011 Hulk 161 CGC 9.6

08.04.2011 Marvel Team up 23 CGC 9.6

01.25.2012 Fantastic Four 104 CGC 9.6

03.17.2012 Sub-Mariner 52 CGC 9.2

03.28.2012 Amazing Adventures 12 CGC 9.4

03.28.2012 Avengers 102 CGC 9.6

09.25.2012 Defenders 16 CGC 9.6

10.21.2012 Amazing Adventures 10 CGC 9.4

11.19.2012 Ka Zar 3 CGC 9.6

12.14.2012 Amazing Adventures 15 CGC 9.6

01.16.2013 Sub Mariner 54 CGC 9.6

02.26.2013 Amazing Adventures 11 CGC 9.6

03.16.2013 Ka Zar 2 CGC 9.6

03.28.2013 Amazing Adventures 17 CGC 9.6

03.29.2013 Shanna the She Devil 5 CGC 9.6

03.30.2013 Sub Mariner 53 CGC 9.4

04.16.2013 Fantastic Four 102 CGC 9.4

05.16.2013 Avengers 117 CGC 9.6

05.16.2013 Iron Man 69 CGC 9.6

05.16.2013 Iron Man 70 CGC 9.6

08.02.2013 Avengers 88 CGC 9.4

09.01.2013 Marvel Tales 30 CGC 9.6

09.11.2013 Fear 20 CGC 9.4

09.11.2013 Iron Man 68 CGC 9.6

10.07.2013 Amazing Adventures 14 CGC 9.6

11.18.2013 Amazing Adventures 13 CGC 9.2

03.26.2014 Avengers 103 CGC 9.2

03.28.2014 Avengers 104 CGC 9.4

03.28.2014 Spidey Super Stories 6 CGC 9.6

05.30.2014 Giant Size Fantastic Four 4 CGC 9.6

09.03.2014 Fantastic Four 103 CGC 9.4

04.03.2015 Avengers 137 CGC 9.6

10.24.2015 Amazing Adventures 9 CGC 9.6

Every book contains the following...

Pictures of the front and either a picture of the back or a picture of the featured character.

The year the book was made and the CGC grade.

The current CGC census for the grade at the time of purchase.

The purchase price of my book and the selling price of another in same grade...this helps me with valuation.

Notes from the CGC case including appearances and signed by dates with creator names.

Summary of comic details from marvel.wikia.com.

Pedigree significance and origin, if known.

Previews or Bullpen announcements made at the time of publication.

Reviews from independent web sites, if available.

Notable quotes from the book.

Sure thats a lot of stuff, but it makes the books all that much more interesting to me, and hopefully to others...nothing is obscured cause I like making my collection available to others to view as well.

Now about this Amazing Adventures 9...

I had just posted a journal about acquiring the second to last book in my collection, Fantastic Four 103 CGCSS 9.4, when my friend Ronnylama posts the question...which book do you need? The next day I get a text saying he found and purchased the book and would press it then send to me. Say what? Floored, speechless, dumbfounded, humbled, thankful, amazed, excited. I believe that was the order in which I experienced those emotions, . Ron...your friendship, generosity, hospitality, and kindness never cease to amaze me...thank you again SO much.

Fun fact about this issue...

Besides the awesome Magneto and Inhumans appearance, one of the little things that make this book from 1971 so cool is that it features a letter to Marvel from none other than Jeph Loeb. I would not have even known this if it werent for the notation on the CGC case...thanks CGC. Ive actually met Jeph a couple of times through a friend and I remember him being a funny, down to earth guy. According to Wikipedia he began collecting comic books during the summer of 1970 when he was 12 years old. Anyone curious what he had to say in this issue? If so, read on.

Dear Stan and Gerry,

Once again I press these mighty keys to present another probing and provoking problem. It concerns a certain group consisting of six non evil, royal blooded Inhumans and one rather oversized but very useful Lockjaw. MMMMM...6? Inhumans...lets see now...Black Bolt, Triton, Gorgon, Karnak, Medusa...wasnt there another one somewhere? Ahhh, yes, the one called Crystal...didnt she lose her heart to that Johnny Storm character somewhere along the line? But whats this? I thought she left 8 months ago with Lockjaw...a matter of life and death. But I thought that Lockjaw could travel unimaginable distances...in a matter of minutes.

Stan, I think you see my point. Maximus total conquest is not complete because he has neglected Crystal and Lockjaw. Even in FF 82 Maximus states that he will never gain total conquest over the Great Refuge unless all of the royal family is defeated. So to win myself an ol No Prize, I predict that one of these days Crys is going to return to the Great Refuge to find considerable changes. Then it would be Crystal against the brain forces of Maximus. A mind blowing battle with Crys at the slight advantage due to the element of surprise. And, since Maximus does not know the full extent of his