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Completeness
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59 posts in this topic

I know, starting this out, that not all of collect anything for "completeness". If you're a fan of any of the A-list superheroes, you probably don't collect for completeness, at least not by character, or in the broad sense. Chasing every book with Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man -- well, unless you were Steve Levine -- isn't really a feasible goal. But then again, that doesn't preclude trying to finish runs. Or complete shorter titles or mini-series.

For people whose goal is completeness, I'm curious what it means to you. When you try to complete a set of books (whether that's by title, or character, or creator, or something else entirely), where do you draw the line? Is a set "complete" when you have one of each issue the set comprises? I assume that's the most basic idea of having a complete set of something. Does it include variants, as we conventionally think of them (stuff like alternate covers, convention editions, multiple printings)? Does it include variants in the stricter sense (stuff like direct market/newsstand variants, prince variants, CPVs, UKPVs, inserts, and so on)? Does it include foreign-language reprints? What about tangentially-related books? An unrelated title from the same publisher advertising your book on the back cover, for example. Or, like Levine's Spider-Man collection, including background characters wearing Spider-Man t-shirts in the set of all Spider-Man books. Does it matter if some of the material wouldn't qualify for CGC slabbing (whether you slab or not): stuff like treasury-sized books or hardcover French editions? What about trade paperbacks? And so on.

Just for the sake of an example -- because it came up in another thread, not because I'm collecting this -- consider NOW Comics' 1993 Mr. T and the T-Force.

  • Would you consider the set complete when you had all 10 issues?
  • ...when you had all 10 issues, plus the two advance editions (gold foil limited and non-foil) of #1?
  • ...when you had all 10 issues in both direct market and newsstand printing, plus the two advance editions?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus the Mr. T and the T-Force Double-Sized reprint comics?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus the 1994 Mr. T und die T-Force, a German-language magazine-sized book printed by Bastei Verlag that (I think, anyway) reprinted material from the US comics?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus The Real Ghostbusters 3-D Slimer Special, a totally unrelated book, also by NOW Comics, with an advertisement for the title in question?
  • Would you want to include the two issues (and potentially their variants) of the 2005 APComics series Mr. T? They don't share any continuity as far as I know, but they were marketed as Mr. T's "return to comics", so APComics clearly viewed the NOW series as its predecessor in some fashion.
Edited by Qalyar
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This is more a question about our goal sa collectors am i right?if so,me its all about evolution,expand my knowledge,seek better grade(easyer than than trying to get better grade at school am i right lol)i like variety,i collect many stuff knowing i wont have all.that being said ,i can set myself a goal more on creator specific,like miller run of daredevil,the rest is une en that run is perfect,so my résolve would be that small portion that mean more to me,.the Killing joke,like it so much im trying to have all kind of points,even have the 11th and first from united kingdom .no i dont try to have all the spider man but ill go fetch the ones that have more meaning or appeal to me,am i making any sense?i create my own sets of what i consider run.

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Or how about just for the story???  For me personally, I would complete a series for the story...I didn’t care what variants I had.  When I started collecting heavily back in the 90s, I would complete a mini series or story line because I wanted to read the whole story.

Whaaaaattttt???

Yup, I’ve read 95%of my collection.  During my long runs, i.e. Detective Comics, AoS, Action Comics, etc., I would put forth a valiant effort to get the collector’s edition of certain books.  Then I would get the regular version..which I would read.  A perfect example would be Superman #75.  That was all I did...I collected to read.  I don’t collect as much anymore, thank God. Too much temptation with all these variants, and too pricey. :ohnoez:

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2 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

It was Ian Levine and he drew the line at newsstand US issues for his DC collection.  He did not include giveaways or foreign editions.  

Ian was the DC who put the wheels in motion, Steve is the recently passed Spidey collector.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/ultimate-spider-man-collection-auction-millions/

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3 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

It was Ian Levine and he drew the line at newsstand US issues for his DC collection.  He did not include giveaways or foreign editions.  

Ian Levine aimed for a complete set of DC, with certain restrictions. Steve Levine assembled an unusually complete Spider-Man collection. I don't believe they are the same person or, to my knowledge, actually related.

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I only collect books up to about 1975 so there are no variants (except F.F. 110 which was a printing error), with a few exceptions such as ROM Spaceknight which I bought the entire run an issue at a time as they came out.

My collecting goal (OCD driven) has always been to complete runs from the beginning to a certain issue cutoff such as issue 200 for ASM, F.F., IH., the cut for X-Men was issue 66, condition for me is not a factor, I have lots of "Well Loved" books.

Avengers I stopped at issue 130 and issue 265 for Thor, how I arrived at those numbers...???

Other titles I completed from the beginning to the end of the title such as TOS and TTA, I am still working on JIM and ST (to issue 134), for those titles I started with the higher numbered issues and worked down so the runs are complete from about #40 up.

When I started collecting Atlas/Marvel Westerns and Sad Sack Titles I decided only 10 cent covers as my cutoff, Kid Colt to #102, Rawhide Kid to issue #25, Two Gun Kid to issue #60, etc.

Other titles I only collected the first issue such as Capt. Marvel, Fantasy Masterpieces, Not Brand Echh, Marvel Super Heroes Special, and Sad Sack titles from the 60's/70's, the exception to this was Marvel Collector Items Classics (issues 1-4) and Marvel Tales (issues 1 and 2)

 

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When I started collecting as a kid in the 70s I was a completest.  My main goal was all X-Men and related character appearances.  But, by some time in the 80s, Marvel was milking that cow to an extreme which I viewed as a money grab.  By the end of the 80s I had given up buying new comics.  When I came back into collecting, my focus shifted to more esoteric GA goals which are not focused on completeness at all.  In short, comic company greed killed the completest in me.

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I’ve decided to compromise a bit on titles that I collect that are still coming out with new issues.  I’ll still buy an issue just to keep the numbering going, but I’m not willing to spend money on every variant cover that comes out.  I also never liked buying reprints.  It would pain me to be an X-Men collector and to have to buy #69-93 for a lot of money.

1 hour ago, Qalyar said:

 

Just for the sake of an example -- because it came up in another thread, not because I'm collecting this -- consider NOW Comics' 1993 Mr. T and the T-Force.

  • Would you consider the set complete when you had all 10 issues?
  • ...when you had all 10 issues, plus the two advance editions (gold foil limited and non-foil) of #1?
  • ...when you had all 10 issues in both direct market and newsstand printing, plus the two advance editions?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus the Mr. T and the T-Force Double-Sized reprint comics?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus the 1994 Mr. T und die T-Force, a German-language magazine-sized book printed by Bastei Verlag that (I think, anyway) reprinted material from the US comics?
  • ...when you had some combination of those things, plus The Real Ghostbusters 3-D Slimer Special, a totally unrelated book, also by NOW Comics, with an advertisement for the title in question?
  • Would you want to include the two issues (and potentially their variants) of the 2005 APComics series Mr. T? They don't share any continuity as far as I know, but they were marketed as Mr. T's "return to comics", so APComics clearly viewed the NOW series as its predecessor in some fashion.

I know you said once you didn’t like signed books but my friend who owns the LCS said that when these came out, Mr T did a book signing for his store and was really nice.  He said he was especially great with all the kids.  He said he still has a long box full of signed #1’s but they’re probably lost in his warehouse 

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I don’t have the long-term mental focus for ambitious, mono tasking, completist goals, as well as often being priced out for many major characters.  
 

Attention deficit outweighs OCD.

I recognise my shortcomings in this respect.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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I focus on Silver Age into Bronze, so variants aren't really a part of my game, though I do buy moderns for reading pleasure and less for collecting. 

The only time I chase characters across books are with the Legion, because that's just how they started out. From Adventure Comics, to Action Comics, to Superboy, Superman, later appearances in Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. 

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3 minutes ago, MatterEaterLad said:

I focus on Silver Age into Bronze, so variants aren't really a part of my game, though I do buy moderns for reading pleasure and less for collecting. 

The only time I chase characters across books are with the Legion, because that's just how they started out. From Adventure Comics, to Action Comics, to Superboy, Superman, later appearances in Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. 

LOSH is a great run. Nice collection, Silver Age through to the Dave Cockrum era for me. Although, mine’s Archive hardcovers.

Edited by Ken Aldred
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1 hour ago, MatterEaterLad said:

I focus on Silver Age into Bronze, so variants aren't really a part of my game, though I do buy moderns for reading pleasure and less for collecting. 

The only time I chase characters across books are with the Legion, because that's just how they started out. From Adventure Comics, to Action Comics, to Superboy, Superman, later appearances in Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane. 

Silver into Bronze is still a pretty variant-rich environment for people who want it to be. Early direct market/newsstand splits, a few reprints, price variants... Some of that's quite rare, too, although I recognize that for most people it's probably not as sexy as "has different cover art" variants!

EDIT: Legion of Super-Heroes, in particular, is an unusually variant-rich title. There are Mark Jeweler inserts, both CPVs and UKPVs, and Whitmans.

1 hour ago, iggy said:

Eventually, “Levine” will be used as a verb when describing one’s collecting habits...

For example: “I’m fixing to Levine the heck out of Squirrel Girl”.

As my icon suggests, I'm trying to Levine the heck out of Black Hole. Pretty sure I've got a full high-grade run of the German edition coming soon (well, international shipping soon) assuming nothing falls through. Man, the Spanish run is tough though, and I've heard rumors that #1 went to a 2nd printing in Spanish to boot...

Edited by Qalyar
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My first goals were to complete runs of ASM & Avengers. I considered my collection complete when I acquired 1 copy of a first print for each issue, which was several years ago. I still buy new issues of those titles and others I've completed. I count annuals as part of the series, but they have less priority to me than monthly issues. I'll accept a 1st print variant  for my collection. That's fine. I think it's ridiculous that Marvel in particular prints at least a couple of variants for each issue and over 50 of them for "special" issues. Every once in a while, I'll see a variant cover that I just like, and I'll spend up to $30 or so to get it.  It's actually pretty low of Marvel as a publisher to sucker a customer base that consists of many people that are compelled to attain perfection and will attempt to buy a copy of every single variant to keep their collection complete. I can't fathom buying 50 different copies of an issue because the covers are different. I'll just stick to my way (which is still expensive and not as much fun as it used to be).

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33 minutes ago, Pat Thomas said:

My first goals were to complete runs of ASM & Avengers. I considered my collection complete when I acquired 1 copy of a first print for each issue, which was several years ago. I still buy new issues of those titles and others I've completed. I count annuals as part of the series, but they have less priority to me than monthly issues. I'll accept a 1st print variant  for my collection. That's fine. I think it's ridiculous that Marvel in particular prints at least a couple of variants for each issue and over 50 of them for "special" issues. Every once in a while, I'll see a variant cover that I just like, and I'll spend up to $30 or so to get it.  It's actually pretty low of Marvel as a publisher to sucker a customer base that consists of many people that are compelled to attain perfection and will attempt to buy a copy of every single variant to keep their collection complete. I can't fathom buying 50 different copies of an issue because the covers are different. I'll just stick to my way (which is still expensive and not as much fun as it used to be).

Yeah. And to be fair, I'm not actively collecting anything that has eleventy-seven-thousand low-run exclusive store cover virgin variants. That probably would take the shine of the whole completeness thing.

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First, the admission... I have about 37,000 books at the moment, so one possibility is that, for me, I'm in danger of having "completeness" be about having one of everything, ever.

In the past, I had aims of completeness that grew too big. Back around 1982, I set out to collect every appearance of the New X-Men (i.e. the post-GSX 1/X-Men 94 team), including their solo appearances. When I started that was a relatively attainable goal, with only a few hundred issues. Now, of course it would be thousands.

Later, I shifted to a focus on CGC books, and smaller sets. I decided (for example) to get a "complete" CGC 9.8 copies of every Adam Hughes cover. I'm currently at #2 on the registry, so I made good headway... but Hughes is releasing a few covers a month, and this could also become thousands of books over time, so I've backed off a bit.

In a sense, an din retrospect, both these projects seem impossible to actually "complete"...

Most recently, I'm focused on "completeness" in a smaller context. There are few artists (such as Dave Stevens or Milo Manara) who have a relatively discrete (i.e. small) number of books that is unlikely to grow substantially, so I'm focusing on CGC copies of those. In this instance, I have no preference for newsstand vs. direct, etc. but I will go after colour or logo or price variants.

My highest "completeness" quest, though, is to try to assemble a high grade, CGC-slabbed set of DC Whitman variants. This has the double advantage of being a reasonable size (about 180 books) and being difficult enough that it will take me some time. I've been at it for about 5 years, and have about 1/3 of the books. To me, this seems a good balance - big enough to be meaningful as a "complete" set, but small enough to actually complete; hard enough to be a challenge, but without being impossible.

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