grendel013

But did you see my set of 9.8s all white pages? That took me 20 years to put together. You can put together a set of 9.6s today by going on ebay and Shortboxed for about $3000.

Just wanted to post this pic. This is an advertisement for B&W Grendel #2. Would love to know if Matt Wagner still has the original art or if not where it ended up. I remember seeing the artwork for the cover of issue #1 (MY FAVORITE) on eBay years ago but the auction was out of my price range at the time. To me, these early ads are just as important as they are so rare and limited.

Here’s the Magebook I have. Reprints Hero Discovered #1-4. I think Comico published this one and a volume 2 and then they changed gears and published them under Starblaze Graphics. Anyone seen the Comico version before?

That is a good idea. I bought the Grendel Vol 1 Omnibus for the same reason. I have the original Magebook Vol 1 that I guess Comico published itself. Then they switched over to these Starblaze graphics volumes. I'll have to dig that out. I've never seen another one besides the copy I have.

Same here! Grendel #7 (1987) was the first time I saw and purchased a Grendel comic. I loved the vivid colors and stylized artwork of the Pander Brothers but it was the advertisements for Devil by the Deed (the compilation of the Mage back up stories) that piqued my interest in finding the original back issues. From that point forward I was hooked.

Grendel's first appearance (and first published work by his creator Matt Wagner) was in Primer #2 (1982). Although he was featured on the cover, the Primer story was only 10 pages and the issue is shared with two other unrelated stories. The 1983 B&W Grendel #1 is his first full appearance and origin. The series was cancelled after the third issue as the publisher Comico was transitioning to color comics. Grendel then reappeared as a 4 page color back-up story in Matt Wagner's new title Mage; appearing in issues #6-14. In 1986, Grendel Volume 2 (all color) begins the tale of the second Grendel (female) and then travels many, many, MANY years into the future where the story focuses on several different folks who took on the Grendel persona. I have them all but the original Grendel is the one I love. Especially the B&W series as I just love the raw simplicity.

My favorite book of all-time. 😈

I completed my 9.6 white page set today. 😈

Since you have the set in 9,6 white I would think that is an option! What makes you think issues 1-3 wouldn’t get the 9.8 after a clean and a press? Were they already pressed? If there was some major defect I’d think they wouldn’t grade 9.6 in the first place. For an $1000 investment you could potentially make a $3000 set into a $18,000 set. Wow! Now this is REAL gambling now that I think about it. 🤣

You really have three choices if they ever present themselves.1) Buy an already graded 9.8 and probably pay a whopper for it. (At least there are 42 graded universal blue.) 2) Buy up raw copies as they become available and submit those after a cleaning. (You know you’re not gonna want to chance submitting without a clean and a press now that that has become the norm.) 3) Send yours for a clean and press and then ask for a regrade. I needed to do all three over the last 20 years to get the 9.8 set. Do the math and think about it for a bit. Your book isn’t going anywhere so take your time if you’re not sure. I only pulled the trigger when I was ready.

My Grendel #1 had the one tiny stress line on the spine as stated in the grader notes but still was awarded the 9.8. The Primer is a different animal because of the black cover. It’s definitely a pricey risk but sending to CGC for cleaning and pressing and then a regrade MAY pay off. But just make sure you let them crack the slab open if you decide to go this route. Then they know that it’s already been graded a 9.6 and you’re paying for the clean and press and the regrade. They may lean towards upgrading to a 9.8 because they see through your submission that that’s what you’re trying to do. They will assign a new certification number if you go this route which I did not realize. Don’t crack it open yourself and do the cleaning/pressing outside of CGC and resubmit as a raw book. Then it lowers your chance of getting the 9.8. Heck, they could lower the grade on you.

Someone must have snagged the Grendel #2 9.6 white pager off of Shortboxed. It was listed on there for $300. There were copies on eBay not too long ago for under $200 including the one I grabbed. Someone really should grab the number ones because of the page color and the price. I did contact both sellers and the issues were already cleaned and pressed so I doubt they are candidates for resubmitting to try to get upgraded to 9.8. Folks should keep that in mind if you have 9.6s that were graded prior to cleaning and pressing becoming available.

Oh… and for any one interested in having a complete set of these Grendels all in 9.6 white pages, now is the time to buy. eBay has a Primer #2 for $1600 (now $1500) and two Grendel #1s for $480 and $500. Shortboxed has issue 2 for $300 and issue 3 for $250. So for $2630 (now $2530) plus all the tax and shipping you can have the entire set cgc new universal blue labels 9.6 white pages. I wish it was this easy when I was building my set! I was ordering raw copies from Ed Koch and making deals with Jonny Quest artist Mark Hempel trying to get pristine copies to submit myself to CGC. Geez you kids have it easy these days. 🤣

Thank you sir! And here’s the added twist with my relationship with Skrog… Besides the indicas for Grendel #1 and Skrog #1 being switched during printing, I happen to share the same last name of the creator of Skrog. And although I did not pull the trigger on purchasing the 9.6 Skrog #1, I did recently purchase 8 raw copies for $13 from an eBay seller recently. I ended up giving a copy to my brother and 7 of my cousins. 🙂 Besides Primer #1 and Skrog #1, I also have a copy of the Skrog Special that reprints issue 1 and the never released issue 2. So I do consider myself a Skrog completist. I’m actually a completist of every early B&W Comico comic. If the guy drops his price about $50 I def would grab the 9.6 but $90 is just too much… or is it???🤣

Oh! One other thing… (I feel like I’ve taken over the chat board)… I am now also the proud owned of a complete set of all 9.6 white page Grendels. I purchased a Grendel #3 yesterday. Almost giving up on getting all 9.8s, I started putting together a set of 9.6s over the last two years. Since I was only shy the one issue, I figured I should complete it regardless of completing the set with 9.8s. Now THIS set may go up for sale. But being such a super fan, I’m in no hurry to sell and think I’ll hold onto them as well.

My personal collection isn’t very big so I would be okay being “the Grendel guy” for the rest of my life. I’d sell everything else but this set would be tremendously difficult for me to let go. It would really take a personal tragedy for me to sell. Even then, since I have already hit some financial rocky points in my life, I’d probably find some other way. I think I’d sell my vehicle and ride my bike before I sold these. 🤣

I feel ya but it’s too late. CGC is in possession of them as we speak. I just hate that the grade is so tiny. You can’t even see it from my display case causing people to want to get closer and pick it up. If I was just into collecting keys, I would have left it be. But I want the whole set to be uniform.

This would be a good place to look for a warehouse find...

I thought I read somewhere that about 10,000 copies of Primer#2 were printed. Less for Grendel #1. Maybe I'm confusing this with another indie title like Cat & Mouse.

Did you guys ever see this site? Rare Comics - Grendel #1 and Primer #2: (recalledcomics.com)

Are you saying that getting the first appearance of Skrog slabbed is a waste of money? LOL. I see someone on ebay is selling a 9.6 Skrog #1. I'd buy it but not for the $90 he's asking.

Btw... what does anybody think reasonable values would be? I really don't think I'll ever sell these but when I insured them, I think I valued the set for about $18k just to cover my . Thoughts? At this time I think a set of all 9.6's could be accumulated for less than $3k but considering the rarity of the 9.8's I definitely can't go by the price guide. I think COMICMYLARS tried to corner the market and I never spoke to WASMITH but he's probably like me, a true fan of Grendel and won't let his set go unless a tragedy occurred. Thoughts?

Thank you for all the well wishes! I will definitely post more pix and update the registry as well when the other books come back. I am still kind of in awe because it literally took 20 years to get this set built. There's a guy selling his set on eBay for almost $23K but even as much of a super fan as I am of the original Grendel, this seems like he's shooting for the moon. Besides, three of the four books had off-white to white pages. I've heard many people say "Who cares. Nobody looks at the inside." but who's gonna spend that kind of money and not get TOP OF THE LINE. I think my patience paid off. Knowing there are now only 6 copies of issue #2 graded 9.8, I wonder how many complete sets are out there. There's me, WASMITH and the guy on ebay COMICMYLARS. Any way, thanks man. Take care. -Guy

Oh man. I hope there aren't any screw ups. LOL. The Primer 2 and Grendel 3 were just picked up by CGC today so it's out of my hands now. I feel ya on having a 9.8 cracked open unnecessarily. Once these two come back I don't think they are ever leaving my possession again. I did insure these for a tremendous amount of money just in case. I did feel like the original submission was handled very professionally but I won't be completely at ease until they are back home. I would have left them be but I just hate the label from 2003. You can't even read the grade from six feet away. That's the "big money" issue too so for display purposes, it will be nice to have all four books with the same label. Fingers crossed!!!