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Holy Grails...

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I was reading in a post this morning (the Hulk 181 post) and someone refererred to Hulk 181 as the holygrail of the 70s and it got me thinking...being a child of the 80s

 

What would you guys say is the holy grail of the 80s? Dark Knight #1-4 maybe?

 

How about the 90s? (Just from collecting then...even though it isnt worth anything...Id say its Spawn #1, it was so desired in the 90s...)

 

Your thoughts on the one comic of each of those decades that 10 years from now will be the holy grail of that decade.

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Interesting question.

 

We could probably assume Action #1 is safe as the Golden Age holy grail. For the Silver Age, probably ASM #15 (or maybe FF #1?).

 

There have been various threads recently arguing that there may never again be "another Hulk #181," since that book came out in the final years of primarily-newstand-distribution and during what in retrospect is a (relatively) pre-Hype era (i.e. no Previews, no Internet). And though opinions differ-- to put it mildly-- over how much hoarding took place in the 1970s, I think it is safe to say substantially more hoarding took place in the 1980s and early 1990s.

 

The other thing that is different since the 1970s is the quick reprinting of popular storylines. So anybody in the 1980s who wanted reading access to Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Phoenix Saga, etc. had and has ready access to TPB reprints. And in the case of Dark Knight and Watchmen, the stories read better as TPBs anyway (the Phoenix TPB suffers from the "He's Dead Jim" cliff-hanger endings between chapters).

 

So I dunno... would future collectors value getting the first print of Dark Knight #1, Watchmen #1 or Spawn #1? Maybe so, in the case of the striking cover image of Dark Knight #1, and the surprise sell-out of the first printing (I'm sure lots of comic shops in the day ordered Dark Knight #1 based on how many of Frank Miller's Ronin they managed to sell...)

 

But I'm having a hard time reconciling the ideas of "1990s comics" and "holy grails!" Which means: We will all be surprised in 2015 or so with what obscure 1990s book is then in demand! First Authority characters in Stormwatch? Some future spin-off from a Gaiman Sandman arc? confused-smiley-013.gif

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But I'm having a hard time reconciling the ideas of "1990s comics" and "holy grails!"

 

I am as well, and always look back at the 1990's as the period when adults formally took over the new comic market. That's why I think there are "grail opportunities" (albeit on a much lower scale) in the 1980's.

 

If adults were the primary buyers circa 1990-to Present, and kept their comics in nice shape, who will be the potential market for back issues in 10-20 years?

 

Two words: No and One.

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80's gotta agree with jc on the ASM 300

90's (due to the mass speculation, and large number of manufactured collectibles) i say venom lethal protector #1 black error cover.

seriously... it goes a long way towards depicting the overall scene of comic collecting in the 90's. with a ton of gold, platinum, and holoplatinum gold tipped variant covers out there... this book was a hard to find gem that encapsulated everything that the gold and platinum #1 issues wanted to be but werent. rare, hard to find, and a character with a possibility of longevity...

just a thought

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80's gotta agree with jc on the ASM 300

90's (due to the mass speculation, and large number of manufactured collectibles) i say venom lethal protector #1 black error cover.

seriously... it goes a long way towards depicting the overall scene of comic collecting in the 90's. with a ton of gold, platinum, and holoplatinum gold tipped variant covers out there... this book was a hard to find gem that encapsulated everything that the gold and platinum #1 issues wanted to be but werent. rare, hard to find, and a character with a possibility of longevity...

just a thought

 

sleeping.gif

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80's - ASM 300 ...absolutely no doubt

90's - I am of the opinion that the print runs were just too huge on any of the potential candidates to make them challenging/interesting enough for collectors

00's - the dury's still out (its only 2003!)

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Yeah NM 87 is 3/90 so it may have even hit the stands in late 89 but probably came out invery early 90. I never was really sure about what year that book was but I definitely considered X-Men 266 as a 90's book even before I checked to see it came out in 8/90.

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I was reading in a post this morning (the Hulk 181 post) and someone refererred to Hulk 181 as the holygrail of the 70s and it got me thinking...being a child of the 80s

 

What would you guys say is the holy grail of the 80s? Dark Knight #1-4 maybe?

 

How about the 90s? (Just from collecting then...even though it isnt worth anything...Id say its Spawn #1, it was so desired in the 90s...)

 

Your thoughts on the one comic of each of those decades that 10 years from now will be the holy grail of that decade.

 

Here is my list of Holy Grails that we will all be searching for in 10 years!

 

Evil Ernie #1

TMNT #1-4

Origins #1

ASM# 238, 252, 298, 300, 344

Hulk 324, 340

Witchblade #1

X-men #266

Macross #1

Cry For Dawn (entire series)

Harbinger #1-4

GIJoe 1-25

Transformers #1-5

 

Timely

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