What's tough to get out there in Moderns? ...anything?

[mrwoogieman]

I'm still looking for a Predator v. Magnus Robot Fighter trade paperback from Dark Horse. It has a fantastic Barry Smith painted cover of the two title characters standing with hands on hearts like it's the pledge of allegiance before the battle.

[BassGMan]

I believe that hands down the number one hardest to find Modern issues are the ones I am about to disclose. And I am serious with this. You may all remember the Double Impact mini-series by High Impact that were published around 1996 or so from writer/artist Ricky Carralero. Seven issues came out, then restarted and then came out Volume 2 with only two issues. All cr-ap, and all very common. Then Carralero hired a guy by the name of Armando Huerta, a little known but brilliantly talented Mexican artist. Huerta's style was very adult, and very graphic. His airbrushed paintings were used for covers and his pen and ink work was used for interiors. This guy is of the calibur or Boris and Olivia and has since gone the "pin-up" route. Anyway, after the first two volumes of terrible Double Impact comics were released High Impact (later named Another Bad Creation or ABC) started to release more Double Impact comics, now subtitled RAW, and Art Attack, among others with Huertas work, published between 1997 and 1999. The print runs for each were from what I heard about 3,000 - 5,000 each and I believe some of the variant covers much less. Not only that, but since most of them were very explicit and adult, I am pretty sure many were not even ordered or shipped. ABC/High Impact comics with Armando Huerta covers now are extremely hard to find and the ones that are available are starting to command very high premiums on Ebay, of course some of the better ones sell for more than others and some are more rare as well. I have purchased and sold a few hundred over the past few years with prices ranging from $3 to $75 each. Great books. -------Sid

[comicartfan]

Elseworlds # 1 is tough....as is TMNT 1 , Cerubus 1. Not as tough, but still elusive is Miracle Man 15 , Star Wars 107 and Flash 350 - at least in higher grades.

[Warlord]

Is it just the FINAL LAST issue of each run that is hard to find or is it the last few issues of each run.

Well, since the "last issue is low print" idea wasn't established by Valiant...

Vampirella, GI Joe, Transformers, Star Wars, etc., are probably all very low print

in the last dozen issues, but the idea that the LAST issue is low print

seems to make the last issue more popular.

 

For Valiant, any 1995-96 issues are pretty low print... in the 9,000 to 20,000 range,

but in the long run, it comes down to the absolute final issues that have moved

into the $5 and $10 price range... with the others leading up to it at $2 to $4.

 

If we're mentioning "tough moderns", I would say that

the Predator vs. Magnus 64page graphic novel is extremely tough...

There are tons of copies of 1992's Predator vs. Magnus #1 and #2 comics,

but that 1994 graphic novel is very elusive...

 

I think it was greatly underordered since the

original comics were still so plentiful.

 

[Warlord]

Wondering if moderns are getting tough to find relative to Silver and/or Bronze Age primarily due to the lower print runs of the late 90's to early 2000. Specifically in DC's

 

By far, and I mean BY FAR, the toughest modern DC to acquire is a complete set of Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children.

 

Acquiring all 33 items is next to impossible, particularly as issue number 27 HAS to be the single rarest comic from the last twenty years.

 

It took me nearly three years of incredibly intense searching to complete the set, and apart from the first ten issues, they almost never come up..

 

[Warlord]

Is it just the FINAL LAST issue of each run that is hard to find or is it the last few issues of each run.

 

Hawkman 33 from the 1990s was supposed to not exist, particularly as no copy ever shipped to England from Diamond when it was a new release. All the dealers said it was a myth until I actually found one and held it in my hands.

 

[valiantman]

Gimme.... NOW!!!

[Warlord]

Gimme.... NOW!!!

 

[EwanUK]

Agree this thread is very interesting - the ones about the challenges of collecting usually are - which is why I enjoy Ian's so much.

My interests are actually neither particularly Marvel nor DC (they're Charlton) - but I prefer DC's any day. I recently got a nice copy of Flash 123 which I'd wanted since I was 14 - lovely cover and a classic all round!

 

I enjoyed Crisis when it first came out (and I was 13) - but read the TPB a few years back and found it a little turgid - though the Flash death is well written.

 

Anyway... rare modern's:

MM 15 is not that rare - it's scarcer than most of the others - but 23 and 24 are 'rarer' but undervalued. Although I understand there's been a recent warehouse find of 24.

MM 2D has less than 100 copies - I've seen it once on ebay.

 

All the end of run Charlton's from 1985/ 1986 are scarce. Indeed the Charlton Bullseye Special from 1986 may not actually exist at all.

 

Real scarcity is looking for a comic on ever dealer web-site in the US and UK, monitoring ebay for a year - and never, ever seeing it.. ever. Much like Ian's Buzzy issue and my Space Adventures 14.

[Ian_Levine]

Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children number 27 HAS to be the single rarest comic from the last twenty years.

 

I'm impressed.

Have you got the whole set

[Ian_Levine]

Hawkman 33 from the 1990s was supposed to not exist, particularly as no copy ever shipped to England from Diamond when it was a new release.

 

And now I'm even more impressed.

You've obviously got an awesome collection.

[sckao]

the last rom is pretty tricky

 

Hmm.. I'm not so sure about this one. Rom #75 seems to go for less than $5 on eBay consistently. There's a BIN on eBay right now for a NM- copy for $5.

 

I've picked up 4-5 copies of it in the last six months as well just going through bins at local stores. (average cost.. about $2.)

[FlyingDonut]

I don't think Flex Mentallo is that tough - there are sets on eBay all the time.

[Warlord]

Beautiful Stories For Ugly Children number 27 HAS to be the single rarest comic from the last twenty years.

 

I'm impressed.

Have you got the whole set

 

No, the series didn't catch my interest when it first came out. I have mostly just the later (HTF) issues!

[Warlord]

Hawkman 33 from the 1990s was supposed to not exist, particularly as no copy ever shipped to England from Diamond when it was a new release.

 

And now I'm even more impressed.

You've obviously got an awesome collection.

 

It's a decent collection, but nowhere nearly as comprehensive as yours. A couple of reasons - A) I've never had a clearly defined collecting goal such as "all DCs". So my collection spans Marvel, DC, and plenty of independent titles. Whatever titles I decided I liked. And B) With the exception of a smattering of GA issues, I don't have much of a collection that pre-dates, oh, say early 1960's. Heck, the only Buzzy I have is a Buzzy #10, and it's just the cover!!

[Illiterati-migration]

I enjoyed Crisis when it first came out (and I was 13) - but read the TPB a few years back and found it a little turgid - though the Flash death is well written.

 

[shiverbones]

well with flex mentallo, i think its on ebay all the time because its so well known that people find it & flip it. In the scheme of things its not easy, but its not impossible. Ebay is the great equalizer.

 

The girl who would be death is just a really cool mini with GREAT Art by Dean ormstrom that a lot of people overlooked because they thought it had something to do with the Endless Death, but its much more roundabout than that. Its great writing by Kiernan too, nice stuff. Print runs by the end were under 10,000 i think.

 

Beautiful stories is definately rough. I always forget that series because i am not actively seeking it.

 

the Private war of Willy Schultz by Charlton is very challenging to put together, as are most of the 1985 revivals.

 

The Last issue of gold key's Turok(#130) is quite a task

[valiantman]

The Last issue of gold key's Turok(#130) is quite a task

I've seen quite a few of these... I believe they were in the Whitman 3-packs.

[shiverbones]

aaack really! 3 packs that have turned up recently? I would love an upgrade!

[valiantman]

aaack really! 3 packs that have turned up recently? I would love an upgrade!

I don't know for sure about how many... but a couple months ago I was really

interested in getting some Turok #130s because I have Turok #1 (Four Color 596)

and I figured I might as well have the "first issue" and "last issue", then work

on the books in between. Anyway, there was a seller on Ebay who had about

a half-dozen three packs that just said "Turok" along with the other two titles...

In the scans you could see that the Turok in the bag was #130.

 

A friend of mine collects Turok (Dell/GoldKey/Whitman) and he said that the

toughest issues are actually around #121 - #126... because the last 3 or 4 issues

(#127 - #130) are commonly found in three-packs... but those issues just prior aren't.