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"Definitive" List of Bronze Age Marvel Keys
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Started by Sweet Lou 14,

109 posts in this topic

Sweet Lou 14

Sweet Lou 14

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On 7/23/2017 at 10:11 PM, Lazyboy said:

Strange Tales 170 - ??

Remove:
Amazing Spider-Man 135, 150
Avengers 93, 100
Daredevil 158
Fantastic Four 112
Ghost Rider 1
Iron Fist 1
Uncanny X-Men 142

Add:
Avengers 181, 195, 196
Giant-Size Creatures 1
Ms. Marvel 9
Savage She-Hulk 1
Strange Tales 178-181
The Cat 1
X-Men 96, 97, 107, 117, 130

Thanks for putting so much thought into this ... and sorry for the late response.  I finally had time to look carefully through the price guide and evaluate all of these recommendations.  I decided to remove Amazing Spider-Man #150 and (Uncanny) X-Men #142 because their guide prices don't stand out among neighboring issues, but I kept the rest because those issues do stand out price-wise (even though I acknowledge that they don't all represent "key" character intros or story lines).  I also decided to add some but not all of the issues you're suggesting, for the same reasons.

On 7/26/2017 at 9:42 AM, Brian48 said:

Captain Marvel #25?  Well, at least it was a book I always coveted anyway.  Although I think it's probably in the same class as DD #158 and on the fence for a lot of people.

Although the sword and sorcery genre may be dead, I really like Creatures on the Loose 10 (1st Kull by Wrightson) and Chamber of Darkness #4 (conan try-out by B.Smith).  I like Strange Tales #180 as well for 1st Gamora.

Added all four of those -- thanks!

On 7/26/2017 at 4:24 PM, Harley Troy said:

Ms. Marvel 18 is the key Mystique book to have

Added this one as well -- you're right, the guide has it significantly higher than #16 or #17.

 

Thank you all once again for the suggestions!

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Sweet Lou 14

Sweet Lou 14

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7 hours ago, Von Cichlid said:

You gotta include Iron Man 128.

Also, is the 282 and 266 Bronze Age?

Just added the #128, thanks.  As for the others, I did cheat and toss in a few books that wouldn't count as Bronze Age (Spidey #238 and #300, plus those two, off the top of my head).  I could remove them.

Basically (from my selfish point of view as a Silver Age collector who has complete raw Bronze / Modern runs of all the major Marvel books) this is my list of "make sure you have a good copy" books from the period where I'm no longer spending the money on graded copies of every book in the run.  So it's not an exact science but I welcome feedback if people think some of these books simply don't belong in the list.

This has been a very helpful exercise, and I'm grateful.

 

 

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Sweet Lou 14

Sweet Lou 14

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On 8/2/2017 at 1:04 PM, UhDerh said:

You guys have a whacked out definition of "key".  Half these books listed aren't even close to being keys.

Obviously the term is extremely subjective, and the list above is very loose.  I've already got CGC 9.4 copies of the handful of "true keys" on that list -- ASM #129, G-S X-Men #1, Hulk #181, X-Men #94, etc.  But as I said a couple of posts above, I'm just looking to create a more comprehensive list of books that I might consider getting graded out of the many long boxes of complete runs I own.  Think of it as a list of candidates from which I'm going to choose (and which others may find useful in deciding what interests them).  I'd rather have the list be too inclusive and then everyone can decide which subset they care about.

I'd certainly be interested in hearing your stripped-down version of this list, and I imagine it would probably line up well with my own.

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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1 hour ago, Hat_Trick66 said:

Marvel Preview #2? First origin of The Punisher?

Did I miss it, or do you guys not consider it a key book?

While I personally think it IS, I don't know too many people who go around collecting origin issues or thinking Origins are keys... Or at least not as much as first appearances, and not at least in the same vein as your traditional "key".

Thor 168 origin of Galactus I like too EDIT: I guess the thor is technically SA, along with Xmen 12, but those two origin issue's I hear about and not too many others :) 

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ADAMANTIUM

ADAMANTIUM

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49 minutes ago, JTLarsen said:

Pretty sure origin stories...when not embedded in 1st apps...are keys.

I agree, I just don't hear it as often as I'd like from others....

So Marvel Preview 2 = "Definitive" key :)

 

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01TheDude

01TheDude

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On 7/18/2017 at 8:57 AM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

** EDITED TO INCLUDE CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS **

Hi everyone,

Having assembled complete Bronze Age (and almost-complete Silver Age) runs of most of the prominent Marvel titles, I'm in the process of having my collection graded and figuring out which of my books have the most value (not to mention which of my copies aren't up to snuff and need to be replaced with better copies).

As part of this little project, I wanted to put together a "definitive" list of the Bronze Age keys that I should be focusing on in evaluating and potentially upgrading my collection.  I've put together a preliminary list off the top of my head -- I'm sure isn't complete, and I'm interested in hearing the group's comments on what books need to be added to this list.  I'm sure there will be a few cases where you'll be tempted to say "How could you forget about this book?!" and so on, so please be gentle when pointing out glaring omissions.  Like I said, this was off the top of my head.

I'm also going a bit from memory as to where the boundaries are between what people consider late-Silver and Bronze.  Generally I'm talking about 20-cent to 30-cent cover prices, but a 15-cent book like Conan #1 is usually called Bronze.  So there's probably some gray area there too and I am open to your thoughts.

I also cheated a bit on the other end for a few titles, going well past what most consider the Bronze Age to toss in a few more recent books that are typically sought after.

Here's what I've put together so far, in alphabetical order (and with a lot of variation in value / desirability -- some of these books are clearly much stronger than others):

  • Amazing Adventures #11
  • Amazing Spider-Man #101, 121, 122, 129, 135, 149, 194, 238, 300
  • Astonishing Tales #25
  • Avengers #83, 93, 100, 112, 181, 196
  • Captain America #117, 217
  • Captain Marvel #25
  • Cat #1
  • Conan the Barbarian #1, 23, 24
  • Daredevil #131, 158, 168
  • Fantastic Four #112
  • Fear #19
  • Ghost Rider #1
  • Giant-Size Creatures #1
  • Giant-Size X-Men #1
  • Hero For Hire #1
  • Incredible Hulk #141, 180, 181, 271
  • Iron Fist #1, 14
  • Iron Man #54, 55, 128, 282
  • Marvel Feature #1
  • Marvel Premiere #1, 15, 47
  • Marvel Preview #4, 7
  • Marvel Spotlight #2, 5, 32
  • Ms. Marvel #1, 16, 17, 18
  • Night Nurse #1
  • Savage She-Hulk #1
  • Special Marvel Edition #15
  • Star Wars #1
  • Strange Tales #169, 180
  • Sub-Mariner #8, 34, 35
  • Thor #165, 166, 193, 225
  • Tomb of Dracula #1, 10
  • 2001 #8
  • Werewolf By Night #32
  • X-Men #94, 101, 109, 120, 121, 129, 130, 141, 266

Very interested to hear what other books should be on this list, and bracing for ridicule on whatever I've inadvertently left out!

why do you have these two (Thor 165, 166) on a list of Bronze keys? They are Silver Age imo.

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Sweet Lou 14

Sweet Lou 14

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21 hours ago, 01TheDude said:

why do you have these two (Thor 165, 166) on a list of Bronze keys? They are Silver Age imo.

You raise a good point.

I don't think there's a clear consensus on the Silver / Bronze boundary.  I originally thought that the rule should be that 15-cent cover prices are Silver, and Bronze starts with the 25-cent double-sized issues (November 1971) followed immediately by the string of 20-cent "picture frame" covers.  But Conan #1 (October 1970) is a 15-cent cover and seems to always be thought of as a Bronze book.

Here are the 15-cent covers in my list above, sorted by publication date:

  • Sub-Mariner #8 (Dec. 1968)
  • Thor #165 and #166 (June / July 1969)
  • Captain America #117 (Sept. 1969)
  • Conan #1 (Oct. 1970)
  • Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970)
  • Sub-Mariner #34 and #35 (Feb. / March 1971)
  • Incredible Hulk #141 (July 1971)

So, if we use 1970 as the litmus test, that would eliminate the first three bullets above.  I think that feels right for the first two, but Cap #117 definitely feels like a Bronze book to me.

What do you think?  Where should I draw the line?

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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Sweet Lou 14

Sweet Lou 14

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Just now, 01TheDude said:

165 is the last 12 cent book-- 166 is 15 cents

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I've never thought of a 12 cent book as bronze. Your list though-- so your rules... Not sure many consider 166 a key (perhaps a minor one if that).

You can't really do this by price alone.

 

Yep -- I didn't bother to go back and look at the cover prices for these two.  I am going to remove them from the list.

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