The Defenders

[vaillant]

And "early Bronze Age" at that… 

 

I thoroughly love and value your approach as, if I was less prone to scatter myself in too many things I would be doing exactly the same. Actually, that was more or less the intention when I restarted buying Marvel age books.

 

Ms. Marvel… You’ll probably do good even reading just the last issues, after the costume change. They are also the better ones.

[lmehaffey-migration]

Just got my #10 (bought from an Ebay seller): paid 40.00 for it and that seems fair, considering its condition. I'd say its VF- or F+; I'm taking it to a local grader Monday. Still debating on whether to spend the 150.00 on a CGC 9.2 copy. Oh well: now for a couple of hours spent inventorying -- I only have about 25 more long boxes to work on! Good thing my wife is spending the day with one of our grandchildren!

[zosocane]

Count yourself lucky if it comes in at VF.

 

This. A thousand times. Excluding established/reputable comic book sellers/dealers that sell on eBay, eBay is a wilderness. Avoid sellers that offer no returns. And comb through the seller's feedback to see if buyers are raving about grading, or not. That usually indicates whether the seller is a fair grader.

 

WTTB.

[lmehaffey-migration]

I agree with you on Ebay -- this is the first time I've bought anything from the site. I've always been leery of buying anything that I cannot see before paying for it. I may have lucked out on this one, though and only paid about what it is worth (maybe a bit more, depending on what my comic book shop guy tells me). Probably will not do this again.

[zosocane]

I agree with you on Ebay -- this is the first time I've bought anything from the site. I've always been leery of buying anything that I cannot see before paying for it. I may have lucked out on this one, though and only paid about what it is worth (maybe a bit more, depending on what my comic book shop guy tells me). Probably will not do this again.

 

Just to clarify, I think eBay is a great resource for books and data, but when buying raw books, a few suggested "rules of the road": (i) avoid sellers that offer no returns; (ii) avoid sellers to lazy to provide (or who purposefully put up) fuzzy scans; (iii) take the stated grade with a grain of salt, and study the scans critically and carefully; (iv) conversely, if no grade is stated, be more scrutinous over the scans and only bid if there are plenty of scans; (v) critically analyze the feedback entries, and read the tea leaves on whether the seller is a fair grader; and (vi) avoid sellers that do not answer your questions about the book.

[Rommin]

And "early Bronze Age" at that… 

 

I thoroughly love and value your approach as, if I was less prone to scatter myself in too many things I would be doing exactly the same. Actually, that was more or less the intention when I restarted buying Marvel age books.

 

Ms. Marvel… You’ll probably do good even reading just the last issues, after the costume change. They are also the better ones.

 

Thanks! So far it has been a blast. Ya, the MM's are, um, okay I guess

[lmehaffey-migration]

Excellent, and appreciated, advice .... this seller seems to have met most of those criteria (I'm still wary of the grade - headed out to the shop in a bit); if I do this again, though, I will definitely reread your post beforehand!

 

[vaillant]

This thread needs more stuff…

 

My undercopy of #4 (I do not have my keeper scanned).

Actually, I believe it is in the same grade.

 

[lmehaffey-migration]

Still a nice copy -- mine is about the same quality as this one; most of my set was bought raw at various older comic book shops in my area, so very few of them are really high-grade (the exception being my #1, which I bought graded).

[namisgr]

Copy I bought off the rack:

 

 

 

Upgrade copy:

 

[scooter99]

Copy I bought off the rack:

 

 

 

Upgrade copy:

 

 

Both copies are beautiful. Love the centering and the colors are vibrant.

[Warren Oates]

Copy I bought off the rack:

 

 

 

Upgrade copy:

 

 

Nice registration on that slab.

 

I think Defenders 1 is also famous for having a printers crease in the title area.

[Andthen]

This is my only copy so far.

 

[lmehaffey-migration]

Nice!

[joe_collector]

I was quite underwhelmed when I read the Avengers / Defenders War storyline, mediocre compared to Gerber's work on the title.

 

Come on, that was the first major cross-over, and as a kid looking for it during the summer, it was a real blast to locate and read each part of the story.

 

It had some great covers too.

[Ken Aldred]

I don't recall reading it as a kid. Maybe some parts of the storyline weren't distributed to England? I don't even remember it as a black-and-white Marvel UK reprint. The first time I read it completely was in Essential Defenders Vol 1, when I'd already become old, picky and jaded. As you said, some very nice Romita covers.

[Comicopolis]

I don't recall reading it as a kid. Maybe some parts of the storyline weren't distributed to England? I don't even remember it as a black-and-white Marvel UK reprint. The first time I read it completely was in Essential Defenders Vol 1, when I'd already become old, picky and jaded. As you said, some very nice Romita covers.

 

It's very formulaic. The later issues are much more original and interesting.

[Justin Case]

Giant Size Defenders #3 seems to be attracting some attention. My understanding is its the first appearance of Korvac but was he really that important a villian.

[pjray55]

Giant Size Defenders #3 seems to be attracting some attention. My understanding is its the first appearance of Korvac but was he really that important a villian.

 

I haven't seen this book show up in high grade very often. I just had a 9.2 come back a couple weeks ago and I had a 9.4 pop on Friday.

[vaillant]

I don't recall reading it as a kid. Maybe some parts of the storyline weren't distributed to England? I don't even remember it as a black-and-white Marvel UK reprint. The first time I read it completely was in Essential Defenders Vol 1, when I'd already become old, picky and jaded. As you said, some very nice Romita covers.

 

It's very formulaic. The later issues are much more original and interesting.

I can see why Joe Collector liked it, but for me, that I started reading Marvels at age 9, the good stories were these which explored the relationships between the characters or introduced mysterious situations, rather than seeing the heroes fighting among them for some misunderstanding… :shrug: