Acquiring the Taskmaster!

Earlier this year, while Tnerb and I were at the Baltimore Comic Con, we had just finished off getting everything signed that we had brought to the show.

In the closing hours, we traveled up and down the aisles looking for elusive goodies to line our collections with, whether that be actual comics or TPBs or figures or whatever struck our fancy.

As we were perusing through one particular dealer there, I was looking over TPBs on his shelves when Tnerb called me around to the other side. In his hands was a copy of Avengers #196.

Ronnylama had one of these with his bunch of comics that I got signed for him at Supercon just a month or so earlier and I decided that at some point I would try to acquire a copy for my Copper Age 1st Appearances set.

As I came into view of what Tnerb was looking at, my interest perked up. He asked me what I thought about it condition-wise, so I gave it the old bagofleas eyeballing and told him that I felt it was a 9.6 for sure, but wasnt totally sure if a pressing would up it enough to a 9.8 or not.

He agreed with me but ultimately decided not to purchase it. I decided to take a chance and give it a shot, so I paid the $20 that the dealer was asking for it.

Since George Perez and Joe Rubinstein were present at the show, I figured I would try to get their sigs on it. Problem is, Perez was only signing items if you had purchased tickets earlier at the show. I had not done so because he was not one of the creators I had originally planned on getting any signings from, so I wasnt able to get him on it.

But Rubinstein was under no such limitations. So with a cheerful heart, I acquired his sig in the presence of a CGC witness and submitted it for pressing and grading.

Astonishingly, it achieved the vaunted 9.8 grade with WP and the gorgeous Yellow Label that looks really good with it (see below). This is the first time for an older comic I bought at a show to turn right around and get a 9.8!

This issue really puzzles me. I can see the fact that it is the 1st appearance of the Taskmaster, but I dont understand the degree to which collectors seem to ascend this particular issue to. It does not rate very high on the registry-point-front at only 50 points in 9.8 (55 in SS 9.8), but it always sells for high prices!

An unsigned 9.8 WP Universal Label copy just sold on HA last week for $283! I have exactly $55 total invested in this copy, so thats a pretty fantastic deal!! Ironically, this makes for an RP/AP of x1, since the money I have in it equals its registry point value.

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