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Superman: Funeral for a Friend

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Brandon Shepherd

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I've been building the perfect beast that is my CGC Death and Return of Superman set, going on 12 years now. My set is an assemblage of subsets, including the "Doomsday!" and "Reign of the Supermen!" chapters, along with all the multiple printings of the various issues, Platinum Editions (Superman #75, Adventures of Superman #500), and Collector's Editions.

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Another subset, or beast, is the "Funeral for a Fried" chapter, a collection of nine books that tell the story of a world without a Superman. I consider this to be the best chapter of the saga, with those closest to Superman mourning with the citizens of Metropolis, other characters in the DC Universe, President Clinton and the rest of the world. With the exception of Superman: The Man of Steel #21, each cover is fantastic. Outlined with a black boarder, these books are a challenge to find in 9.8 grade. I scored Superman: The Man of Steel #20 recently, now I'm only three issues away from having all the first prints in 9.8 holders. 

Requiescat in pace, Superman.

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The JLA #70 is on it's way to Sarasota for a new holder. I found Adventures #498 raw, it's one of my favorite books that I've submitted, I still can't believe my luck, those black covers are not forgiving when it come to defects. As for Man of Steel #20, I paid way more than I should have, but I really needed it, at least the book itself is very sharp, plus it’s a great cover.

Edited by Brandon Shepherd
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I sent 70 yesterday to get graded. I have the whole set including all of the cross overs and the 4 new Supermen. None have been read or left their original bag. Any value in these?

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17 hours ago, Deuceboi said:

I sent 70 yesterday to get graded. I have the whole set including all of the cross overs and the 4 new Supermen. None have been read or left their original bag. Any value in these?

Most of these books are only valuable in 9.8 holders and even that can be hit or miss. Superman #75 Platinum Edition does have some value raw, and slabbed in a lesser grade. The only other anomalies would be some of the later DCU printings, which can fetch some high prices raw and in holders graded below 9.6. I heard a CGC 9.4 Action #686 2nd printing went for a pretty penny. As for the other books, I've seen 9.8s go for $25 to $70, it seems like it just depends on the day. 

Good luck with your #70! :wishluck:

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Yea when i was a kid my dad bought me an my brother 2 copies of every comic in this set including the crossovers that never left the bag/back and one copy for us to read...i think I sent 71 in too

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On 7/29/2019 at 2:20 PM, Deuceboi said:

I sent 70 yesterday to get graded. I have the whole set including all of the cross overs and the 4 new Supermen. None have been read or left their original bag. Any value in these?

Update?

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I'm getting closer to completing my graded set of Funeral for a Friend!

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I just need Adventures of Superman #499 and Superman: The Man of Steel #21 in CGC 9.8 grade to have a complete set of first printings.

Adventures of Superman #499         Superman The Man of Steel #21      

I also need the third printing of Action Comics #685. :smile:

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The second to last book I needed, now in my hands.

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Now it comes down to Adventures of Superman #499...

... well, and Superman: The Legacy of Superman #1 and the Newstime special, tie-ins to 'Funeral' for completion sake.

Superman: The Man of Steel #21 came from Mycomicshop.com, it had been up for several months but I held off because I thought $99.95 was too much. I kept waiting to see if a 'Make an Offer' option would appear but it never did. Mycomicshop.com also had an Adventures of Superman #499 in 9.8 for sale, but I did not care for the truncated DC Bullitt logo, or the $130 price tag. I've now come to accept that many of these first printings will stay in this price range, gone are the days when 9.8 books like these would go for $30 to $40. 

I also initially held off on this piece because of the cover art, which I find to be the weakest of the storyline, every other cover knocks it out of the park. I hate to call this cover lazy, especially since I'm not an artist, but there was so much potential. The cover still does what it's supposed to, which is to alarm you and grab your attention your attention, but the P.O.V and word balloon really throw this one off. The story inside Superman: The Man of Steel #21 does however make up for this, I actually got chocked up reading it for the first time when I was 11 or 12 years old. The flashback sequences of Jonathan 'Pa' Kent and young Clark, intertwined with the present day grief-stricken Kents are a real gut punch, with the interior art and writing you really feel the emptiness, guilt and heartache. 

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@Iconic1sand @onlyweaknesskryptonite can you get me some tissues please? :cry:

I will say I'm glad I caved in and spent the $100, the book itself is a beautiful 9.8, it's also a tough one to find where the DC logo and/or the UPC box in the left corners are not truncated. Plus I got to cross off an item on the set list.

Final thought, this should have been the cover. 2c

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You can also view my "Funeral for a Friend" set on myslabbedcomics.com.

https://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=3035

Edited by Brandon Shepherd
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Congrats Brandon!  Really enjoyed your story!  I agree, that would have been a pretty great cover... the similarities between that image and Lois holding Superman at the end of Superman 75 are pretty cool.  Poor Ma, but hooray for you for adding this book!

P.S. sorry, no tissue to offer you... use it up every time I bump my WTB post...  Does make me sad to think about 11 or 12 year old Brandon crying into his comic books though, no wonder it's so hard find these books in 9.8! :jokealert:

Edited by Iconic1s
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54 minutes ago, Iconic1s said:

P.S. sorry, no tissue to offer you... use it up every time I bump my WTB post...  Does make me sad to think about 11 or 12 year old Brandon crying into his comic books though, no wonder it's so hard find these books in 9.8! :jokealert:

Right?!

I was so upset I punched all the collector’s packs and two packs at Toys ‘R’ Us back in the day. All those JLA #70 4th prints, AOS #499 3rd prints and MOS #20 2nd prints... So much damage! Now I really need tissues. 

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