JohnH19

Got this one at my LCS yesterday.

Here’s my upgrade for the #7 I posted above. I wasn’t unhappy with my other copy but I couldn’t pass this one up after drooling over it at my LCS for the past several months. It’s not an easy book to find raw in high grade.

My upgraded 62, and also a 47, have finally arrived.

Got these in the mail and from my LCS in the past few days.

I love that Batman!

It’s a split and the back cover lays open like that. I would never risk damaging a book for a photo.

That’s why I’m not in the market for an upgrade. A book that presents this nicely would cost 4-5 times what I paid for this one a little over two years ago.

Here’s some books that I don’t believe I have shared in this thread.

4.0

Here are my issues 11-20. I love the short Romita run from 12-19 so these are some of my favourites. The lengthy and legendary Gene Colan run begins with issue 20.

An 8.5 beauty!

Curious as to how much the spine split would bring the grade down. There’s also the two small tears on the back.

Too bad about the bottom corner.

A very nice book other than the creasing along the spine.

One of my favourite books. I would love to see it out of the bag.

Surprising things sometimes happen at auction. The iconic cover of 227 obviously carries a heckuva lot of weight but 31K is a huge amount.

Regarding your other question; I no longer have any of the Spidey books I collected as a youngster. I started collecting at the tail end of what I still feel is the greatest run of comic book stories in history; ASM 39-56. With the back issues I accumulated, I had them all. They were magnificent then and they're magnificent now. Unfortunately, IMO, the title took a swift downturn beginning with issue 57 and the combination of a decline in the quality of the stories and the price increase to 15 cents with issue 75, I stopped collecting ASM with issue 81. The Kangaroo was the last straw! Not long after, I sold my 48 issue ASM collection, dating back to issue 20, to a friend for a 5 dollar bill. Hey, that was just about cover price value! I thought I did pretty well on the deal.

I bought all of my current issues at drug stores. I passed by one on the way to and from school so afternoon stops were almost a daily occurrence. What a magical smell those old school drug stores had. Around the same time that I bought the 55, which would have been September of 1967, a couple of friends and I hopped the bus to a used book store somebody told me about. We were 8 years old. Anyway, this little book store, owned by a guy who looked like the Terrible Tinkerer, had second hand comics under the counter. The Tinkerer pulled out the stack for me and I walked out of there with 25 books from 1966 and 67, mostly ASM and Tales of Suspense, maybe a few FF, for the princely sum of $1.25. I know I got most of the early Romita issues, including 39 and 40, in the haul. It was a joyous moment in my life that I'll never forget.

The centring is better on the bottom one but I’m not sure about the overall condition.

Issue 55, not this particular copy, was the second 12 cent Spidey I bought off the rack in 1967. Issue 54 was my first 12 cent book but 25 cent ASM King Size Special #4 was my first ever Marvel comic.

This is a decision you will have to make. What will make you happier, having an AF15 or hanging on to the books you will have to give up to get one? It’s a question only you can answer.

Aren’t all of Mr. Romita’s?

A fantastic display of funny books.