Post Your Top 3 Personal Comic Book/Original Art Acquisitions of 2013!

[NewWorldOrder]

Hey Gang,

 

I did this same thread the last 2 years so I figure I just keep it going again this year.

 

Show the comic board community your Top 3 Comic Book and/or Original Art purchases for your collection for the year ending 2013!

 

(Post only personal acquisitions, and not items you have sold or dealer profit books, etc...)

 

Maybe a little background on each item in relation to why each collectible was a top priority for you in 2013..

 

Wishing everyone has a Happy Holiday Season!

 

 

 

SOT

 

 

#1 Amazing Fantasy #15 CGC 3.0 OW

 

Courtesy of a random eBay seller that I bought right before SDCC. Been looking for one this whole year that presented well while in lower grade since CGC 5.0 & above prices are just going insane. When I was 22 I foolishly didn't not take my first bonus check (that would have covered what a CGC 3.0 was going for back then) and buy an AF 15 back in 2002 with that money. My parents told me I should save that money instead of buying a comic book. More good advice from the baby boomer generation. I am glad it only cost me 5K more to buy the same book tens years later.

 

Very happy for now this copy is my personal copy of my favorite Superhero of all time as well as the 3rd most important comic book of all time! The flagship of my ASM collection.

 

 

 

 

 

#2 Amazing Spider-man #55 CGC 9.4 WP

 

Courtesy of good old Bob Storms (BlazingBob). I slave at HighGrade Comics booth a couple comic book shows per year and Bob sometimes throws me a comic book here and there. Thanks Bob!

 

This is one of my favorite covers of not only ASM, but all comic books in general.

 

 

 

 

#3 Amazing Spider-man #39 CGC 8.5 WP

 

Courtesy of Ed Robertson (Robocard) just last week at the Long Beach Comic Con. Another one of my favorite ASM covers & issues that has perfect centering and PQ I was looking for.

 

 

[maloney414]

Break out the

 

This thread is always fun to watch! (thumbs u

 

Everyone should post. Not just the heavy hitters. It's fun to see what everyone is passionate about. I'll post mine later today.

[mysterio]

I always enjoy reading these threads too.

 

As for mine, my #1 pickup in 2013 came out of a raw collection I picked up in August and sold off on the boards throughout August and September. I kept this one for myself, and this was probably the only way I would have ever gotten a copy. I was very pleased at how it graded out.

 

 

 

My second favorite acquisition came from Dale Roberts at WW Chicago. This was another raw purchase, and a significant upgrade of a very tough book in grade.

 

 

 

#3 was a purchase from a board sales thread (thanks Fantasyland15!). Anyone who collects TTA or pre-hero Marvels in general knows how tough this book is in general, let alone in decent grade. I've been looking for a run-worthy copy for easily 20 years.

 

 

 

Honorable mention: a key I've always wanted, and it is very attractive for the grade. From boardie MoJoePin's sales thread a few months ago.

 

[freshcollect]

I'm going to enjoy watching this thread, but I'm going to share as well. Was a really hard decision for me to pick 3, so I'm going to cheat a bit and the 3rd won't be a standard acquisition.

 

For me 2013 was actually getting back into the hobby. I read comics when I was a kid, and have collected on and off for close to 30 years, and I'm certainly not a heavy hitter. While admittedly in the past my focus has been on buying/reading new books and filling in the odd holes in a run, I've rarely taken a true collector view as much as a fan/reader view. Getting back in this year was the result of a good friend dragging me out to Comic Con, and with his focus on keys it got me thinking more about what I wanted to acquire.

 

I decided that I'd focus my comic collection on 3 main things that have been my long time favorites:

 

1) GI Joe - this was my first comic and a long time favorite toy as well

2) Avengers - the second comic I actively bought and read, I really loved the team concept, but if picking my favorite character it would certainly be Hawkeye.

3) Deadpool - a much later addition to my favorites, I followed this character from his first mini-series.

 

Anyway, enough backstory, on with the top 3 pickups in reverse order:

 

In Number 3 - some OA that I was very happy to see show up on E-Bay, even though it doesn't have anything to do with those 3 focuses. In one of my collecting phases, I was reading everything Image (who wasn't back then?), but at the time a couple of artists really started to be my favorites, and it was the first time I noticed I was researching a creator and buying everything they did. One of those guys was Tony Daniel, and the comic in question was The Tenth. I'm happy to see that Tony has become a heavyweight over at DC while I was out of the game, and love his art in those books, but I'll always tag him with this series.

 

 

In Number 2 - Even though I've been a Deadpool fan since early on, as I mentioned I rarely went back and searched out keys like first appearances, so in focussing my habits this time around, a logical book to be on my must have list would be the 1st appearance of Deadpool, picked this up from someone on the boards, and happy to have one of my 3 top books that I set when I got back into things.

 

 

In Number 1 - This is where I cheat a bit, I'm going to show more than 1 book, but they aren't new pickups. These are all books that I've had forever, the acquisition was the autos now on them. I know some folks will say I've ruined them, others will wonder why they aren't in yellow slabs, but they are what they are. I didn't even know about yellow slabs when I got these done, so that wasn't an option. I did know that I was killing the resale value, but I didn't care. As I mentioned my friend got me out to the Ottawa Comic Con this year, and it was my first time actually meeting comic book creators, the fact that Chris Claremont who wrote so many of my favorite stories and George Perez who without a doubt was my favorite illustrator early on were both there was a huge plus (Hama was supposed to be there but cancelled, which would have been an epic addition, but I digress).

 

As someone who's always collected (cards, pins, toys etc), taking the step of getting something signed meant that I was guaranteeing it was so important to me that I don't care what it's worth, I'll never sell it anyway. I really think that mentally put me over the top and back into comics fully. I'll also add that George's perennial good nature and attitude really swung me over to permanent fandom for anything he does.

 

So here's a few of the key items I got signed, without a doubt my favorite is Infinity Gauntlet, loved that mini as a kid. I'm still a fan of massive crossovers, team books and the galactic stuff, making this good timing to come back, although they're much more expensive than they would have been 2 years ago. I will definitely be adding an IG 1 CGC SS at some point in the future.

 

 

Funny thing is I'm pretty sure I already know which 3 books I'll be putting up in this post next year!

[ItsJustRyan]

Picking three is tough, but here's my 2013 picks:

 

Hulk 181 - CGC 8.0

Bought from HarveySwick on the boards

 

 

GSXM 1 - CGC 8.0

Bought from Nikelspot on the boards

 

 

Daredevil 1 - CGC 3.5 (old label)

Bought from jsilverjanet (Hector) on the boards - no scan yet

 

I slid in IM#55

 

Thanks guys and Happy Holidays (early)

[Artboy99]

#1 Planet Comics 48 double cover

 

 

#2 Incredible Hulk 1 5.5

 

#3 Mask 1 & 2 tandem

 

 

 

[maloney414]

Here are my top 3 comics:

 

#1 Thorn: Tales from the Lantern

 

The independent comic "Bone" by Jeff Smith has always been a favorite of mine. I enjoyed it as an adult, and enjoyed reading it to my kids as well. I highly recommend it!!

 

I know many of you have never heard of this book, so here is some info. "Thorn: Tales from the Lantern" was published about 8 years before Bone #1. Jeff Smith used the characters in a newspaper strip called "Thorn" in his college newspaper "The Lantern" at Ohio State University. This book was a collection of some of those strips and was sold on campus.

 

Since this was years before Bone was ever a comic, and was sold to college kids instead of collectors, not many have survived. In fact, they are hard to find and down right scarce in high grade.

 

This is the nicest copy I've ever seen. Definitely a Grail purchase for me. (thumbs u

 

Here is a link to the boards discussion we had about it after I purchased it earlier this year: Copper Pride and Joy thread

 

 

#2 Showcase 22

 

1st appearance of Green Lantern. (thumbs u

 

Really nice looking for the grade too. This book has bounced around between boardies. It used to belong to Comicdonna, then Columbia Comics, and now it's found a home with me.

 

 

#3 Journey into Mystery #83

 

1st appearance of Thor! (thumbs u

 

It was in my price range and it's got the right eye appeal I'm looking for so I went for it. It does have a crack in the slab, but the book is ok. It's complete, no resto, no tape, no missing chunks, no writing, etc... none of my pet peeves.

 

For a CGC 1.8, I think it looks great.

 

 

 

Invincible OA by Ryan Ottley

 

I also have one grail piece of OA I added this year as well. (thumbs u

 

As you can tell from my avatar I'm a big Invincible fan. This year I finally got a large commission from Invincible artist Ryan Ottley.

 

I quick story about this piece. A few years ago Ryan Ottley came to the Baltimore Comic Con. I really wanted to get a commission from him, so I ran right to his table when the doors opened; however, he had immediately filled up and I missed out. I talked to him for a while and watched him do sketches for others. Then of course, I saw some of those sketches flipped a few months later. It just rubbed salt in the wound.

 

So after that experience I began volunteering for my LCS every year to get a dealer pass. Don't hate the player, hate the game as they say. So this year, when he finally came back to Baltimore I was 1st in line. About a 1/2 hour before the show opened.

 

It looks F'N fantastic in person. There are more grey tones on Invincible and the clouds that aren't being picked up in the scan...

 

I love it. It's currently getting framed as my x-mas present from the wife

 

 

 

 

[Badger]

3) ASM #101

I've looked for a nice affordable copy of this for a while. I did a little happy dance when it arrived in the mail!

2) Daredevil #16

Thanks Roy (VintageComics)!

1) Mystic Comics Vol2#2

I did not buy much Golden Age this year but I did snag this one.

[maloney414]

#2 Incredible Hulk 1 5.5

 

 

Great book!!! I'm happy to see you with another Hulk #1. (thumbs u

 

I remember you telling me about your full run of Hulk comics when you sold me your previous copy.

[DeliBebek]

1. Something of an Ernie Colón fan, I am very happy to have these three lovely comics in my collection.

 

2. Something of a Blue Beetle fan, I am very happy to have these two lovely comics in my collection.

(Yes, an upgrade is due on this one.)

 

3. Something of a Mayda Munny fan, I am very happy to have this 5-page feature in my collection. Also, art by Ernie Colón.

 

I also completed a few runs: Y:The Last Man, Frank Thorne issues of Red Sonja, and X-Men 94-120.

[Erndog]

Had a fairly quiet year in 2013 compared to 2012.

 

I'll do my top pickups in 3 separate categoiries: comic, sketches and original art:

 

Comic:

 

Journey Into Mystery #85 (1st Loki)

 

 

 

Sketch:

 

Leinil Yu

 

 

 

Original Art

 

Paul Limgrenco

 

[Mijael.Levy]

My first one : 4 Fantasticos 36 (Strange Tales 111) I was very lucky to find this book in this grade

 

 

2. I brought this from Columbia Comics

 

 

3. I got this one from ebay from a very nice seller

 

 

 

 

 

[BaltimoreLauren]

 

[DeliBebek]

 

That one's worth three.

[romanheart]

Looking back I spent way too much flippin money.

 

I will go with these three although I had a lot of nice pickups.

 

Thanks to nearmint for selling it to me.

 

 

[NewWorldOrder]

Great stuff so far everyone!

[fantasyland15]

This is a great Post. Felt I had to be in it. Hard to choose but I guess these are the standout ones. Can't help myself when it comes to EC / Atlas ( plus Dr Strange). Another small step in my high grade quest.

 

 

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I know there are four but had to include Dr Strange. Signed by Lee and Brunner.

 

 

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[Larryw7]

 

 

 

 

This one gets an honorable mention.

 

 

 

[EC ed]

[GIJOEISAWESOME-migration]

 

 

tree-fiddy