Another MGN Success!!! posted by bagofleas

[CSJournals-migration]

Key? No. OAK? YES!!

 

One of my lofty, but at least feasible long-term goals in my graded comic book collecting endeavors is to eventually have all 75 original Marvel Graphic Novels in CGC 9.8 WP.

 

This is a very difficult goal to achieve and I have a LOOOOONG way to go before I ever hope to reach it. But little by little, one at a time, I'm very slowly getting there.

 

For a while, I held the number one ranked MGN set, but when a bunch of them showed up in 9.8 earlier this year on Ebay, somebody paid extremely high prices to acquire most of them, then inputted them on the registry and passed me for the top spot. I'm slowly gaining ground on them but it will be some time until I catch up again. This is due to a number of reasons.

 

MGNs are notoriously tough to find in high grade. The large, cumbersome nature of the books makes them difficult to store and protect, and many of them have solid, jet black or solid white covers, making them highly susceptible to visual imperfections. Add to that the lower print runs of many of them and you have a recipe for difficulty in finding 9.8 copies.

 

While some of them are immediately recognizable and even iconic and highly sought after, most of them are not so easy to locate, let alone in good enough shape to have graded. In fact, many of them don't even have a graded copy yet!

 

Such is the case with one that I just recently located at the Baltimore Comic Con. While browsing around the dealers with my big brother, I came across a raw copy of MGN #30. It's titled "A Sailors Story" and I knew of it, but hadn't found a nice enough copy anywhere yet.

 

It's not a big key or anything. It doesn't feature a major Marvel character. It's not highly sought after. It's nothing "special", per say. It's just one of the many MGNs that no one has ever submitted for grading before, and I still need in order to ultimately have a complete set.

 

I found it in a magazine box, among a few other magazines and took it out of its bag for a close eyeballing. It looked gorgeous except for a couple of small indentions that did not crease or color break the cover in any way. So I had to decide whether a press would be necessary or not.

 

Ultimately I paid for the book ($5), paid to have it pressed ($25), paid to have it graded ($28) and paid to have it shipped back to me ($10). That's $68 total to get the book from the dusty dealers box to its final, graded completion.

 

For me, that's a deal, when you're talking about what would become an OAK for a set I want to complete, because no matter what the final grade was, this would be the only graded copy to date of this MGN!!

 

I now have the book back in my hands, and I'm happy to say that my estimation of its condition was right on the money! I am one happy camper!!

 

Now I'm no grading expert by any stretch of the imagination. My big brother is a much stricter grader than me in my opinion, which typically results in the graders generally agreeing with him in most instances. But apparently I'm pretty good at grading these awesome Marvel treasures.... unlike square-bound annuals, which we won't mention here....... please.

 

This isn't the only MGN I found at Baltimore though. At a different dealer, I also found a copy of MGN #18, which is the John Byrne She-Hulk issue! It has a jet black cover and is extremely hard to find in top grade. I believe it is 9.8 worthy as well and will submit it soon! I'm just waiting for a little while to see if maybe I can it signed before grading.

 

I also have a copy of MGN #2 that my big brother gave to me a while back, which is the P. Craig Russel Elric issue! I believe it is 9.6, but definitely worthy of grading, since it is an especially tough issue to find in high grade due to its jet black cover.

 

These books are more expensive to grade and much harder to locate in high grade, but I feel that ultimately they are very much worth the effort.

 

See more journals by bagofleas

[SW3D]

Back in the early 80's I was late adapting to MGN's. I didn't know what to think of them. They were beautiful and glossy... but did they fit into the traditional comic book scheme of things or were they just a fad? I didn't help that their cover price was equal to several comic books and i had a small allowance to work with. So what was I going to choose? And i remember making the trek to my LCS, and seeing them on the walls dangling like golden carrots i couldn't afford and feeling quite poor and stupid for it. It seemed like everyone else gobbled them up while it was left out in the cold. Eventually, after months of saving up, I bought a few, but 2nd and 3rd print runs... and i felt cheated somehow. The MGN that took my eye was Simonson's Starslammers... because it looked cool and Simonson was the hot artist of the day. Thankfully that is a 1st print run and remains my only MGN 1st print along with the HC MGN The Shadow's Hitler's Astrologer.

 

I have MGN 1-3, and i remember those all black covers are so difficult to handle... Any touch by your fingers could leave a mark or stain or impression. And trying to read the damn thing was another exercise in stress and futility because of the covers. I doubt my copies could achieve 9.8 because of it.

 

I'm glad your set is coming along. It's a lofty goal you're after, but I am rooting for you. I remember your latest acquisition. When it first was displayed on shelves, I didn't know what to make of it. I was a dumb teenager disenfranchised by comics as I was in my senior year of High School going into College. So I passed on it.

 

After 27 years I am curious to know, what is the story about?

 

SW3D

[bagofleas]

To be completely honest, I have never read this one before, and if it wasn't for fear of messing up the grade potential by handling it too much, I would have read it before submitting, but since I was at the show and could go ahead and submit it right there, I did so.

 

I plan on acquiring a cheap reader copy somewhere sometime and reading it.

 

I too did not own most of these originally, when I was a kid. I remember owing the first five or so and the DD one and the SpiderMan hooky one and a couple of the punisher ones, but otherwise I also did not have most of these, but I always loved them and wished that I had acquired more of them.

 

 

[Brandon Shepherd]

Hey bagofleas,

 

I just spent some time perusing thorough your unique MGN set. I also pulled my copy of MGN #5 recently, not a 9.8 candidate by any means but I still found myself fretting over getting finger prints on the black pages. It had been several years since I read God Loves, Man Kills, great read, powerful.

 

I have enjoyed your journals and set descriptions about these odd sized books. Some of the covers that stood out to me in your collection were Void Indigo, Conan the Reaver and the Joker-esq Black Widow cover. The novel that I want to find to read because of your set would be the Dracula issue. It sounds like it would fit with my other Dracula comic novels, being in story form with illustrations.

 

It's great that you have been able to find these unique books in raw form at various shows and shops. I also liked your story about the Venom novel being listed as a 9.6 but really being a 9.8.

 

Best of luck with the rest of this set (as well as your other sets)!

 

Brandon

 

P.S. Too bad there was never and Indiana Jones MGN.

[bagofleas]

Thanks, Brandon!!

 

Yeah, an Indy MGN would have been awesome!! I just love these because of their unique nature and original single shot storylines. Also, there are issues with stories or characters that don't otherwise exist on the comic universe. Like this particular one shown in this journal.

 

You're right about that Black Widow one being very joker-esque. I thought the same thing when I saw it.

 

I have come across some other really nice copies at shows, but they just weren't quiiiiite 9.8 worthy.

 

Your not the first person to mention their interest on the Dracula one. I've had a number of people talk about how neat it is and how they didn't even know about it beforehand and how they would love to find a copy. It's the only MGN done in written form with illustrations rather than in strictly comic form. And the artwork that IS in it is very compelling.

 

Thank you for the comments and keep up the collecting!!!