LowGradeBronze

Heh heh, welcome to the boards! I reckon you're going to want unslabbed copies of those last three so you can actually read them...Glad to see some silver in their! Yep, it's true you don't need to spend a fortune to get good comics if you're happy to wait and keeping checking for new listings, (or wherever it is you buy your books.) I recently decided to track down all the Marshall Rogers Doctor Strange issues from 1981/82, numbers 48 to 53. Didn't take too long and I got them all for good prices, all in fine or better condition. Don't get too caught up in the 9.8 madness, get books you can really enjoy looking at and build your collection that way. Just having the covers to look at behind plastic isn't really a lot of fun, a bit like having a car you can never drive!

UK sellers will often try to make out the UK priced copies are somehow more desirable due to their relative scarcity compared to the overall print run, but I would imagine most collectors, UK and stateside, would prize a cents copy above a pence variant. UK collectors accept their pence copies as acceptable variants of "the real thing" while the cents copy would be universally preferred as everyone recognises it as the original item, the real deal. I don't know of any market where the pence versions are rated or prized more highly. (Certainly individual collectors will have their own pursuits.) eBay certainly brings out the worst in some UK sellers with their "UK copies rarity" sales pitch.

I'm at 7.5 on this since colour breaks on cover are not allowed at 8.0.. But what a nice 7.5 !!!

Please be aware that comics that come from the UK of that age have, well been about a bit, and the interior may be of lower page quality than a comic from the US with regard to humidity etc. You have many more copies of the same comic to choose from in the US too! Good luck, I hope it's a good 'un when it arrives.

AF15 in VG back in 1976 for £25. (A lot of money to spend on one comic when you are only 12 and more than I had but still a missed opportunity!) Also Action 1 which Fantasy Unlimited in London had for sale in 1980 for £1200. Again I was only 16 and my budget for a comic splurge during the holiday was around £25. I bought Epic illustrated 1 that time plus others.

I almost regret (actually I do,) giving away a neat selection of Bronze Marvels and EC Gladstone reprints to a young chap who was just getting started when the DC New 52 was coming out. It included a Doctor Strange (second series,) 48 and some other nice items which I hope he appreciates as I can't afford some of them now! I both bless my luck at buying the right comics, then curse my inability to hold onto some of them!

I can understand why Doc Strange 48 is hotting up, with its Brother Voodoo connection, but 53 is a superb issue for the art and its connection with the classic FF19. So how come it languishes unrecognised as a mini key? I'm glad it does in one way as it makes it affordable. Buying back all the comics I once had becomes really hard once they get boosted to Hot Key status for something only recently concocted in the new movies.

FF 155 to 157: How come the CGC notes don't mention the Mephisto appearances, just the Surfer and Doc Doom? I've always felt these three issues were underrated. Rich Buckler draws the Surfer so well and he pays nice tribute to Buscema's style in SS3 with his Mephisto sequences, especially in 157. Edit: Just checked my copies and of course Mephisto only actually appears in 157. A great 3 issue storyline.

Just one point about terminology: The term 'fair' as applied to a comic book's condition is almost the lowest possible grade. Only poor is lower. I suspect you mean the condition of the comics is actually quite good. I hope you see your rather neat mini collection of Stan Lee signed book's as a potential cornerstone of a collection. I'd certainly be very pleased with them! Welcome to the boards!

I'm curious to know if the statement of circulation, printed from time to time, included the UK pence copies in the stated totals.

Hi, I'm Steve and I'm in the UK. I've been into Marvel in particular since 1972 when I was bought the UK Mighty World of Marvel number 2 on the way home from school one day. Almost 50 years later I'm still as keen as ever. I've swapped, sold (sniff,) and re-purchased so many comics I've lost count, but what I have now I'm keeping and adding to when I can afford it. I'm a fan of low grade stuff these days as I love to handle, read and sniff my comics to be transported back to the 1970s. I've noticed the huge hike in prices in the last 8 years or so for bronze age items that were once overlooked but now recognised as keys, making my mis-spent youth (and mis-spent pocket money,) into very sound investments! Who'd have thought! Look forward to posting some questions in the other forums soon.