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Post your top grail books

97 posts in this topic

Steve O'Day's quest for the Nightingale to complete his SOTI collection is a good theme to pick up for a Labor day Weekend diversion.

 

We all have our grails. I'm sure this isn't a new idea for a thread.

 

But it is a movable feast isn't it? When I first got the photojournal, the books I most wanted were Earthman on Venus and Amazing Adventures #4. neither is in my collection now, yet I don't mind, because other grails have emerged.

 

What are yours? How many you post is up to you, but I'll go with five. They aren't necessarily the best books in my collection, just the ones I wanted most at the time!

 

Perhaps the one that has stayed the course best is Super Mystery V6#3. This is one I spent many years searching for before a low grade copy turned up. Missed out on more than one nice copy. Finally found a keeper, oft posted here.

 

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But before Supermystery, there was Man from Planet X! For some reason, I just loved that cover - more a movie poster than a comic. And of course, the book is notoriously hard to find. How many copies have you seen with taped spines? This copy has been with me for 18 years. I've never found a better.

 

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Continuing with the sci-fi theme, it was certainly my favorite genre for many years. At first I tended to focus on Avons. One day I was in a London comic store and the owner said he as expecting a visit from a lifelong Planet Comics collector. The shop owner had just returned from San Diego with the last issue this collector needed to complete the run. He was 80 if he was a day. I thought how remarkable that he had dedicated an entire lifetime to completing one title.

 

When I first got into Planets, I focused on the later GGA covers. The early issues didn't interest me so much, were very expensive, and in any case impossible to find. But over the years, my interest in earlier issues waxed even as most later issues waned, bar one or two exceptions.

 

For a while, no book was higher on my wants list than Planet Comics #4. I went through several copies before Jeff's old copy came my way via auction. I still regard it as the quintessential sci-fi cover.

 

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I suspect I am somewhat atypical in board company because my collection shrinks year by year rather than grows. That's because I tend to focus on acquiring higher grade copies of books at the top end of my wants list, rather than the completion of long runs. God forbid I should ever complete a whole title!

 

But I did buy and flip an entire title in order to keep my copy of Catman #15, which I had wanted ever since I'd seen the Mile High copy. Why go to such extreme lengths? Because I doubt I'll ever see another copy!

 

Catman15.jpg

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But before Supermystery, there was Man from Planet X! For some reason, I just loved that cover - more a movie poster than a comic.

And of course, the book is notoriously hard to find. How many copies have you seen with taped spines?

This copy has been with me for 18 years. I've never found a better.

 

ManFromPlanetXCGC25_zpsb4c80a9e.jpg

 

I like that cover and this painting homage.

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Currently, my grail has still not be found. It's Redskin # 8. When I started my synchronic collection, I didn't know which book would be the last one but I don't believe I'd have fathomed it would be Redskin # 8. My money would have been on either of these 3: Venus # 18, This Magazine is Haunted # 3 or Fawcett Movie Comics # 15 but all these I have, Venus from Golddust, TMiH from Vermont Phil and I cheated and got the reprint of FMC # 15 (should really look for an actual copy hm ) but never would have thought of Redskin # 8. So, I've been looking for A copy, yes, I have NOT seen a copy ever, let alone in grade, since July 2001 or as of tomorrow, 12 Years and 2 months.

 

Of the last 3 below, I found the Nellie on eBay last year and the Bill Boyd in a box at the Baltimore Con in 2011. Redskin # 8 :sorry:

 

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Another book that would fall in that category is Fight # 31. It's a book I'd been wanting since I first saw it on the boards and then it fell on my want list once I decided to collect a complete set of Senorita Rio and figured it would be a stretch for me to get it. The book is hard to get, got hot for a period but fortunately, Bill D., a local dealer, had a copy that I was able to needle out of him and I feel he sold it for too little, wittingly or unwittingly I am not sure but I know I won't let this copy go until the bitter end.

 

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[font:Times New Roman]I have a fairly long list of grail books. Here are my top 5 grail-ish acquisitions (no particular order):[/font]

 

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[font:Times New Roman]Always wanted these gems in my collection. With an able assist from MrBedrock I acquired these treasures a year or so back. Thanks buddy.[/font] :hi:

 

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[font:Times New Roman]Love this cover so much that I lusted to own a HG copy of it for decades. Thanks to Gator, I finally obtained this beauty. >>> :cloud9:

Note: At one point I had two copies of this epic fire vs water battle-book before leveraging the under-copy to acquire another Timely treasure.[/font]

 

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[font:Times New Roman]Recent CLink auction upgrade of a perennial classic.[/font] :banana:

 

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[font:Times New Roman]Hit Comics premier issue with a killer Lou Fine cover is tied with another S&K grail. I just can't choose one over the other having chased after both for long-time. [/font] :cloud9::cloud9:

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[b6c24532-13f6-492d-b8a3-20b3e0512cc2_zps6669407e.jpg

 

 

 

Great set of books! What's the pedigree on this one? hm

 

Just some old garage owner.

 

Ah, yes. Now I remember someone posting pictures of the shed not long ago. I wonder if this is still true (from Nelson's site): "CGC has only graded 23--the smallest percentage of any of the 45 pedigreed collections here."

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Sadly, most of my grail books remain elusive! This book was on my want list for a long time before a suitable copy came up for auction. In pre-internet days it was considered a tough book (or at least I had a tough time finding one, but then again I didn't have many connections).

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This Catman wasn't quite a grail, but it was close.

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For a while, no book was higher on my wants list than Planet Comics #4. I went through several copies before Jeff's old copy came my way via auction. I still regard it as the quintessential sci-fi cover.

 

PlanetComics485.jpg

 

That is a nice book! I tried to bid on the Central Valley copy on CLink last summer, but for some reason my sniper bid didn't go through, even though it should have according to CLink's timer. (I guess there's always some risk of that with sniper bids.)

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