Can I Compete With the Best GA Collections?

[David Swan]

My goal is to one day win Golden Age set of the year and I thoroughly intend to meet that goal even if it takes me a decade or more but the fun is in the journey. So with the 2014 Registry Awards posted I thought I'd look through this years winners and see if I could possibly be competitive using my Captain Marvel Adventures collection. I'll go through them on by one.

 

1. ALFRED PENNYWORTH, JOKER'S WILD, Batman comics. Registry pointwise this one destroys me. I will never have this many registry points. Some very high grades mixed in with some middling grades but to be missing only 3 issues out of the first 100 issues of Batman comics is astounding. Presentationwise it's near bare bones with no images and only nine brief descriptions. With 17 comics added this year alone it's a very active set.

 

 

 

2. hkp, What the Church run might have looked like? Mickey Mouse Magazine, Another monster on registry points. This one is 100% complete with more than half having images. The activity is very low with only two comics added since 2012 and those seemed almost like a quick dash before voting started. This one is pretty awesome.

 

 

 

3. clarkkentdds, Off to the Museum, Superman comics, A truly awe inspiring collection but a surprise winner given than the set is obscured. I guess CGC felt ok in un-obscuring it for the competition. The number of high grade early issues of Superman puts a tear in my eye. It's a thing of beauty with nearly 20 times the registry points of my Captain Marvel Adventure collection. My collection will NEVER compare. On the other hand there are zero images and the descriptions are pretty much pointless with descriptions like 'OWW'. This is an active set with 9 comics added this year alone.

 

 

 

For me the best of the three was the Mickey Mouse Magazine with a far better presentation but it was lacking in activity. I'm surprised 'Off to the Museum' was even considered given that the set is obscured. I was a little disappointed this year since the GA winners were dominated by registry points mostly in lieu of presentation and I simply cannot compete with these 160K+ registry point behemoths. My goal is to reach about 36K registry points in the next 8 years and that isn't even a quarter of the lowest registry points in any of this year's winners. I understand that there is also the best presentation award but I really do think the GA winners should have more than the bare minimum. 'Off to the Museum' is a tease and I wish I could see those issue.

 

See more journals by David Swan

[bagofleas]

When the judges are deciding which sets to award, they take everything into account for the Best-Age-Set awards. But ultimately it seems to come down to completeness/overall grade quality for these awards, especially the GA ones.

 

If you have a vast majority of the set in typically higher/highest graded quality overall, then you have a very good chance of winning one of these in the future.

 

If you really put time and effort into pics and descriptions on top of completeness and grade quality, then you can also be considered for Best Presentation.

 

It looks to me like this is exactly what you are doing, as your set is coming along nicely. I think if you keep at it and focus hard on your presentation like you currently are, you should definitely win either or both of the awards at some point. Keep at it!

[bagofleas]

Check this beauty out!

 

http://www.wwcomics.com/comicdetail.asp?Product_ID=CaptainMarvelAdventures_32_17257

[Brandon Shepherd]

Good luck, David! Your set is coming along nicely and I really enjoy your writing. That CMA #32 on World Wide is beautiful!

[David Swan]

That CMA is a new one. It's definitely now on my radar.

[Silver Collector]

I'm surprised 'Off to the Museum' was even considered given that the set is obscured. I was a little disappointed this year since the GA winners were dominated by registry points mostly in lieu of presentation and I simply cannot compete with these 160K+ registry point behemoths. My goal is to reach about 36K registry points in the next 8 years and that isn't even a quarter of the lowest registry points in any of this year's winners. I understand that there is also the best presentation award but I really do think the GA winners should have more than the bare minimum. 'Off to the Museum' is a tease and I wish I could see those issue.

 

I'm guessing that 'Off to the Museum" had un-obscured his/her set for the judging? Otherwise it wouldn't be considered. I see lots of obscured sets have that happen around judging time.

 

Mike

[adamstrange]

hkb/tb's set of MMMs is simply marvelous and he occasionally posts images in the GA Forum. More than a decade in the making, it took considerable effort to put together. I've had the privilege to see a number of the books in person and it was quite a treat.