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Avengers collecting thread!
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1,730 posts in this topic

1 hour ago, Shaolingoat said:

By all means, it's always interesting to hear which issues have given other collectors trouble!

Without turning this into a WTB thread -- though, all inquiries are welcome -- here are the books I'm still hunting for.

  • #53:  I have a 9.0 ... Bob Storms of HighGradeComics.com has a raw NM copy that he is submitting to CGC, and if it comes back 9.4 I will probably buy it.
  • #56:  Another 9.0 ... this one has been impossible for me to find in 9.4 with OW/W pages or better (there was a nice OW copy on eBay and I almost broke down).
  • #57:  My copy that I thought was really nice came back an 8.0 for some reason.  This book is not hard to find, I'm just being way too picky.  I keep debating -- well-centered 9.4 with white pages, or go for 9.6?  There's been a bit of paralysis but I hope to make my move some time in the next few months.

Once I get these three books, I will have #10-100 in 9.4+.

Then in the Bronze Age, I am still looking for well-centered 9.4s of #103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, and 116.  If I get those plus the three above, I will have #10-131 in 9.4+.  I set my cutoff at #131 because it's the last issue before the switch to "current size."

Now, as for #1-9 ... I went big and got a 9.4 WP of #4 earlier this year.  I also have #8 in 9.4.  Here they are:

5aab03de5291b_Avengers4CGC9.4.thumb.jpg.40a97dd01809502ac3128826444108c2.jpg

5aab03eb5faea_Avengers8CGC9.4.thumb.jpg.4fe36c56adbf3093be1edfe00df3089c.jpg

As for the rest:

  • #1 - 8.0
  • #2 - 9.0
  • #3, 6 - 9.2
  • #5, 7, 9 - 8.5

So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading those 8.5s to 9.0 or all the way to 9.4 (I know someone who may have a #7 for me, while #9 is super hard to find).  I would be very, very content with #1 in 8.0, #2 in 9.0, #3 in 9.2, and #4 up in 9.4+.  Someday!

And lastly, I'd like to have the first five annuals in 9.4+ and would still need #1 and #3 to finish that off.  I've toyed with the idea of also getting going all the way to #10 (which I do have in 9.4) -- wouldn't be too hard.  I've always liked the Thanos cover on #7 and that's a "hot" book right now but not very expensive really.

That's my story, what's yours?

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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One other thing ... since you asked which issues gave me trouble, off the top of my head I would say the following took some patience to track down in 9.4:  #21, 29, 31, 34, 43, 48, 52, 80 (for the longest time the only 9.4 copy for sale on the internet had a big date stamp on it -- don't like those), 84, and 95 (centering was a frequent problem on this one).

Happy hunting!

 

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22 minutes ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Without turning this into a WTB thread -- though, all inquiries are welcome -- here are the books I'm still hunting for.

  • #53:  I have a 9.0 ... Bob Storms of HighGradeComics.com has a raw NM copy that he is submitting to CGC, and if it comes back 9.4 I will probably buy it.
  • #56:  Another 9.0 ... this one has been impossible for me to find in 9.4 with OW/W pages or better (there was a nice OW copy on eBay and I almost broke down).
  • #57:  My copy that I thought was really nice came back an 8.0 for some reason.  This book is not hard to find, I'm just being way too picky.  I keep debating -- well-centered 9.4 with white pages, or go for 9.6?  There's been a bit of paralysis but I hope to make my move some time in the next few months.

Once I get these three books, I will have #10-100 in 9.4+.

Then in the Bronze Age, I am still looking for well-centered 9.4s of #103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, and 116.  If I get those plus the three above, I will have #10-131 in 9.4+.  I set my cutoff at #131 because it's the last issue before the switch to "current size."

Now, as for #1-9 ... I went big and got a 9.4 WP of #4 earlier this year.  I also have #8 in 9.4.  Here they are:

 

As for the rest:

  • #1 - 8.0
  • #2 - 9.0
  • #3, 6 - 9.2
  • #5, 7, 9 - 8.5

So I'm toying with the idea of upgrading those 8.5s to 9.0 or all the way to 9.4 (I know someone who may have a #7 for me, while #9 is super hard to find).  I would be very, very content with #1 in 8.0, #2 in 9.0, #3 in 9.2, and #4 up in 9.4+.  Someday!

And lastly, I'd like to have the first five annuals in 9.4+ and would still need #1 and #3 to finish that off.  I've toyed with the idea of also getting going all the way to #10 (which I do have in 9.4) -- wouldn't be too hard.  I've always liked the Thanos cover on #7 and that's a "hot" book right now but not very expensive really.

That's my story, what's yours?

That #4 is insane, and the colors on the #8 are impressive as well.   Very Nice.  

I've got 1,2,4 in an 8.5 at present, with plans on upgrading my 2 and 4 to at least 9.2's this year depending on the market.  I'll likely hold on to my 8.5 #1 though as I feel it presents very well.

aven1124077.thumb.jpg.5da131ba0a559350dee47065cc9eae93.jpg

Other than those three 8.5's, the rest of the current collection is 9.2-9.6 up to 100.  Looking to upgrade at 21 and 52, and eventually bump my 9.2 #57 as well.  

I'll echo your thoughts on the #56.  I was able to grab a 9.4 #56 here off the boards last year, it's been difficult to find a well presenting copy of that in high grade.  

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19 minutes ago, Shaolingoat said:

That #4 is insane, and the colors on the #8 are impressive as well.   Very Nice.  

I've got 1,2,4 in an 8.5 at present, with plans on upgrading my 2 and 4 to at least 9.2's this year depending on the market.  I'll likely hold on to my 8.5 #1 though as I feel it presents very well.

aven1124077.thumb.jpg.5da131ba0a559350dee47065cc9eae93.jpg

Other than those three 8.5's, the rest of the current collection is 9.2-9.6 up to 100.  Looking to upgrade at 21 and 52, and eventually bump my 9.2 #57 as well.  

I'll echo your thoughts on the #56.  I was able to grab a 9.4 #56 here off the boards last year, it's been difficult to find a well presenting copy of that in high grade.  

That's an awesome #1 and a really impressive run overall.  Looking forward to hearing updates!

I only *just* managed to find #52, it had been eluding me for a while.  Same for #21, which I got from Bob Storms as part of a big bundle (#2, 8, 13, 21, and 34).  When I got that group of books, for a minute something about the issue numbers was nagging at me -- and then I suddenly realized why.  They're all Fibonacci numbers.  O.o

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Well, I don't quite have the high grade CGC stuff you guys do, but I do have a story some of you fellow Avengers fans may find interesting. 

I put together my Avengers run when I was in high school, so I didn't have much money. Through some good fortune involving Christmas money, I had acquired a bunch of low-mid grade books from early in the run, but I had a massive gap in my collection from #57-100, only owning a couple of them. This was in the mid 1980's, pre-internet, and none of the stores in my area had any of the issue from this period for some reason. Late SA - the 15 cent books - were just impossible to find.

So one day I see an ad in the Want Ad, which was like craigslist, but printed once a week and sold at newsstands. It's from a guy in Boston, about an hour away, who says he has a bunch of old comics he is selling, by appointment only. 

I was 14 at the time, so I talked to my Dad and he agreed to spend the day driving me in to meet this rando at his house to buy some comics. So I called the guy and set up an appointment for a Sunday afternoon. 

I scraped up some money - not a lot, maybe 70 bucks or so, but it was all I could get my hands on by hook or by crook. We go in, and this middle aged guy escorts me and my dad upstairs to this empty bedroom where he just has all these long boxes laid out, his whole collection, all priced and ready like a store, except, you know... it's in some guy's guest bedroom. 

I knew I only had money for Avengers books, so I asked to see that and never even looked at the rest of the thousands of comics there. 

I ended up spending every dime I had on Avengers books, and other than a VG or so Avengers #5 I paid him $12 for, I focused entirely on that elusive #57-100 gap. 

Though a couple of them, like #100, were mid-grade, most of them were much nicer. It turned out this guy was the OO and had bought them off the shelf himself, read them a few times, and then kept them socked away.

 

Here's what I ended up with that day:

I paid $10 each for #57 and #93.

#92 and #95 were $5 each. 

All the rest of these were $2 each from the OO. 

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Not shown are lower grades #5 and #100 that I bought that day for $12 and $6 respectively, as well as super high grade copies of #68 and #70 for $2 each that each unfortunately have one popped staple, so I didn't scan them when I did the rest of these. 

That was quite a day in the life of a young Avengers fan!!

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28 minutes ago, Crimebuster said:

 

  Hide contents

 

Not shown are lower grades #5 and #100 that I bought that day for $12 and $6 respectively, as well as super high grade copies of #68 and #70 for $2 each that each unfortunately have one popped staple, so I didn't scan them when I did the rest of these. 

That was quite a day in the life of a young Avengers fan!!

That's a great story, thanks for sharing it.  My dad and I used to pretty much do the same thing in Indianapolis in the early to mid-80's.  I'd grab a copy of The Trader on Friday, and we'd make plans to collection hunt all day Saturday.  Good times.

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19 hours ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Without turning this into a WTB thread -- though, all inquiries are welcome --

Then in the Bronze Age, I am still looking for well-centered 9.4s of #103,

Lou, I've got the Rocky Mountain pedigree copy of Avengers #103 in cgc 9.4 for sale here on the Boards now.

 

Edited by namisgr
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20 hours ago, Sweet Lou 14 said:

Without turning this into a WTB thread -- though, all inquiries are welcome -- here are the books I'm still hunting for.

  • #53:  I have a 9.0 ... Bob Storms of HighGradeComics.com has a raw NM copy that he is submitting to CGC, and if it comes back 9.4 I will probably buy it.
  • #56:  Another 9.0 ... this one has been impossible for me to find in 9.4 with OW/W pages or better (there was a nice OW copy on eBay and I almost broke down).
  • #57:  My copy that I thought was really nice came back an 8.0 for some reason.  This book is not hard to find, I'm just being way too picky.  I keep debating -- well-centered 9.4 with white pages, or go for 9.6?  There's been a bit of paralysis but I hope to make my move some time in the next few months.

Once I get these three books, I will have #10-100 in 9.4+.

Then in the Bronze Age, I am still looking for well-centered 9.4s of #103, 105, 107, 108, 109, 111, and 116.  If I get those plus the three above, I will have #10-131 in 9.4+.  I set my cutoff at #131 because it's the last issue before the switch to "current size."

 

I know what you mean about #103, I had to hunt high and low for a looong time before finally lucking into a decent copy (not for sale - and not my fingernails):

IMG_0357.thumb.JPG.e900c3b2d20f39854af59

Edited by Black_Adam
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