Collecting every appearance of a character 1 1

[FineCollector]

There's talk lately about run collectors being dinosaurs that are dying out.  Certainly, collecting 1-100 of a series is a run, but I consider it just as impressive to pick up all of a character's appearances through the years.  Does anyone still do that?  Did you have a character you were working on back in the day?

I didn't start as a run collector, I just picked characters I liked, and tried to follow their story.  Absorbing Man was the first one I can remember.  I believe it was a Hulk issue, where he washed up on the beach after fighting Thor, and my first thought was, "I need to find that Thor issue!"  All the writers throughout the years understood the character, so it's a good read.  I can say I appreciate my Absorbing Man run as much as I enjoy a Hulk or Thor run from those same years.

So... who has the biggest Joker collection?  Are there Deadpool completists who are still buying every appearance, the same way there used to be Green Goblin collectors?  Are there any hardcore Shadow or Tarzan buyers out there?

[badback83]

About 10 years ago I started trying to get every Hulk appearance.  I had all of the Tales to Astonish and most of 102-200.  Had 1-6, minus a 2.  After that, I just kinda lost interest I suppose.  Other series started to get my attention and maybe that's what ended it?  In a weird way, I feel guilty for not sticking with it.  

[paul747]

33 minutes ago, FineCollector said:

There's talk lately about run collectors being dinosaurs that are dying out.  Certainly, collecting 1-100 of a series is a run, but I consider it just as impressive to pick up all of a character's appearances through the years.  Does anyone still do that?  Did you have a character you were working on back in the day?

I didn't start as a run collector, I just picked characters I liked, and tried to follow their story.  Absorbing Man was the first one I can remember.  I believe it was a Hulk issue, where he washed up on the beach after fighting Thor, and my first thought was, "I need to find that Thor issue!"  All the writers throughout the years understood the character, so it's a good read.  I can say I appreciate my Absorbing Man run as much as I enjoy a Hulk or Thor run from those same years.

So... who has the biggest Joker collection?  Are there Deadpool completists who are still buying every appearance, the same way there used to be Green Goblin collectors?  Are there any hardcore Shadow or Tarzan buyers out there?

Let them keep talking, this has been a great time to steal great books at decent prices.

[entalmighty1]

I wouldn't say run collectors are declining, I would say key collectors are coming out of the woodwork because people see those as the money books.  Like @paul747 said, that just means you can get the non-key mid run books for next to nothing, because you don't have as much competition.   

More to the point of the thread, I have several meta-collections within my books, including specific characters, or themes.  That's the beauty of this hobby, in my opinion.  You're never really "finished."

[lizards2]

I still go after complete runs, but not necessarily every appearance of a character.

I think the first major completion for me was Daredevil, then Iron Man.  But I'm still working on Tales of Suspense (39-99) and many, many others.  I only need a couple books for Tales to Astonish (27, 35-101) and Strange Tales (101-168), but you can probably guess which ones I'm short on.  

Everything was going smoothly for decades, and then with the price take-off beginning in the 90s I've pretty much been priced out of the market on a lot of books.  In retrospect, when I was younger I should have been focusing on the earlier issues, instead of picking up all the later, cheaper issues first. 

I would love to finish my high grade Baby Huey collection - that's probably doable if I focus on the main title.  There are a bunch of other appearances which I have not researched.  I stumbled into file copies of #s 1 and 2 back in the early 90s, so have those out of the way.  I think that collection is actually complete, but not HG - still have about 30 issues to go.

I think the fish in the face collection is doable, as far as mere completion - but it will be difficult/expensive in HG.  I gave up on completing the parachute cover collection, as there are just so many, and far too many GA books for me to ever afford, but I'm still picking up issues here and there.

When I was young, I wanted to collect every comic in OSPG.  Now I'm resigned to never completing titles that I had once thought were achievable.  

[mysterio]

I'm working on several long runs, and consider myself a run collector, but the space issues with keeping several runs of 200-300 books are getting a bit impractical. I may need to make some difficult choices moving forward. A lot of the runs I am collecting now, mostly pre-hero Marvel, are pretty expensive in the 6.0-8.0 grades that I am trying to buy them in. The challenge is fantastic though.

Years ago I toyed with the idea of collecting every appearance of Spider-man, my favorite character. I still think that this may be practical if you stuck to, say, pre-1975 or pre-1980 appearances, but in the 1990s when crossovers got ridiculous it becomes pretty insane to try to keep that up.

Edited November 10, 2017 by mysterio

[Ken Aldred]

I admire collectors who have the patience and focus to put together such long runs.

I have neither of those qualities.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[Cocomonkey]

I've been putting together a complete Uncanny X-Men run that I'm about 66% of the way through, and have toyed with the idea of picking up other appearances. If I see another book with them in it, I may pick it up, at least if it's SA and maybe BA, but at the same time, that's much less of a priority. I'd thought about putting together an Adam Warlock run and had a list of appearances somewhere, but thanks to the MCU enough of those have become pricier (between Adam's appearances and the overlap with Thanos's appearances) that I've shelved that idea. I've also put together or worked to put together a few other title runs (but not character appearance sets), some of which I've had to break up a bit for one reason or another. I think appearance sets can be more difficult, though, depending on the character. Someone that doesn't get overused too much? Sure. Someone who seemingly appears in 15 books a month? Bit more difficult on the wallet and storage space...

Edited November 10, 2017 by Cocomonkey

[Scrooge]

5 hours ago, FineCollector said:

Are there any hardcore Shadow or Tarzan buyers out there?

You forgot Conan!

I have most (missing just a couple) Tarzan appearances: Dell, Gold Key, DC, Marvel, Dark Horse ... but stopped when Dynamite published some stories recently 

I believe I have all of Conan's appearances: comics, mags, Marvel, Dark Horse.

[classicaaron]

I collect a lot of runs such as Spiderman, Iron Man, Cap, Avengers, Batman, Xmen, Wonder Woman, and more.  but only actual character appearance I worry about is Spawn.  I have every single appearance ever.  for the most part its been pretty easy to keep up with though.  I also have every single figure they made to.

[newshane]

12 minutes ago, classicaaron said:

I have every single appearance ever.  

I'd almost bet my paycheck that you don't. 

[Scrooge]

30 minutes ago, newshane said:

I'd almost bet my paycheck that you don't. 

He stated that for Spawn. That's doable.

[NoMan]

Quicksilver. He's my man. Every. Single. Apperence. Ever.  

Then I  sold them all for something like $21.35 in the early 00s.  

[Cocomonkey]

2 minutes ago, NoMan said:

Quicksilver. He's my man. Every. Single. Apperence. Ever.  

Then I  sold them all for something like $21.35 in the early 00s.

Even X-Men 4? 

[NoMan]

2 minutes ago, Cocomonkey said:

Even X-Men 4? 

Yes. My heartbreaks many many times over selling my collection. As I recall xmen 4 was in bad shape, but... 

trying to not beat myself up over the mistake of dumping my collection. Just trying to move on. 

I'll get xmen 4 again

[newshane]

1 hour ago, Scrooge said:

He stated that for Spawn. That's doable.

I know he stated that for Spawn. It's nowhere near as doable as what you think. 

Go to SPAWNWORLD and look at all the issues listed in the checklists. 

I've been collecting Spawn almost exclusively for the last 4 or 5 years in an attempt to put together a complete 9.8 run. 

There are TONS of foreign issues, one-shots, variants, etc. Some of them with print runs fewer than 100. 

Spawn is a mother and no one would know that better than me. 

That being said, if he truly does have EVERYTHING...I'd love to see pictures of his legendary collection. 

I think saying that he has "every appearance" is hyperbole at best. We're talking thousands of books. 

[newshane]

I'll just issue the challenge right now...

if you have every appearance of Spawn...I'd like to see side-by-side pics of his 185 Sketch Edition and 232 EWU special along with a sticky note that says YOU OWE ME YOUR PAYCHECK. 

 

 

 

[Scrooge]

3 minutes ago, newshane said:

185 Sketch Edition and 232 EWU specia

Do these share the same interior? I ask since your definition and my definition are likely difference. When I say I have every appearance, that means every different story the character is in. When you say every appearance, you see to include alternate editions of the same story. With my lens, an exhaustive set of Spawn appearances is probably a lot easier than through your definition. Plus, I'll admit it, I know nothing about Spawn.

[Shawnismaximus]

It was always my goal to do this with Spider-man but the older I get the more I realize this is basically impossible.

That being said, I'm debating maybe doing this but having a cut-off date of 1990 or something (like Mysterio's comment above).

Also it's very likely I will never own Amazing Fantasy 15 or Amazing Spider-man 1 due to the price. Unless I can get it very cheap. I paid 80 bucks for a VERY low grade ASM 3 a couple months ago and it makes me happy. The back cover was completely missing as well as the top 1/3 of the front cover. It aint pretty but it's MINE!

[999ghosts]

Anything with Rogue in it. Although I did miss out on some of the latest expensive variant cover. Also have most of her action figures (missing two) and own every Rogue statue. Also trading cards, card game and other stuff she is pictured on.