a few stubborn X-Men books in my high-grade run

[atomised]

Apologies if this belongs in an X-Men collecting thread, didn't see that subject.

 

About three years ago, I started assembling a high grade (9.0+) run of X-Men first series books. Now that I'm almost there, a few books have for some reason stood out as particularly difficult in that run. Yet these books are not keys and from what I can determine, shouldn't be more difficult to acquire than other books. Wondering if other collectors run across stubborn books in the middle of SA runs (particularly the X-Men) that dog them for no real obvious reason. Are some books simply harder to obtain for non-obvious reasons? (print runs, cover design considerations that hinder high grades?)

 

For me those books have been.

 

X-Men #5 in 9.0+ Not really a key and next to a major key in issue #4. Man this book has been tough for some reason. I keep thinking it will be simple and I missed I think the one 9.0 offered through clink in 2016

 

X-Men #15 in 9.0+ Cool cover and origin on the Beast and definitely not a key. Two 9.0 gpa sales last year. It's been a tough acquisition. Not sure why.

 

X-Men #16 in 9.0+ It's a nice cover and third appearance of The Sentinels but really nothing key about this issue. I just don't see it available often. There were two GPA sales last year of 9.0+ and maybe clink had one.

 

 

 

[Ghost Town]

X-Men #5 has that dark blue cover and #15 has the dark purple cover. That could could be part of the reason.

 

And even though #16 is mostly a yellow cover, the colors are pretty dark along the spine.

 

#41 was very tough for me to find in 9.6. It's still one of the tougher issues to find in really high grade. And that's another cover with very dark colors.

[atomised]

X-Men #5 has that dark blue cover and #15 has the dark purple cover. That could could be part of the reason.

 

And even though #16 is mostly a yellow cover, the colors are pretty dark along the spine.

 

#41 was very tough for me to find in 9.6. It's still one of the tougher issues to find in really high grade. And that's another cover with very dark colors.

Helpful feedback. #41 reminds me a bit of #17 in terms of that strong red hue throughout. Are you focusing on ultra high grades?

[Ghost Town]

X-Men #5 has that dark blue cover and #15 has the dark purple cover. That could could be part of the reason.

 

And even though #16 is mostly a yellow cover, the colors are pretty dark along the spine.

 

#41 was very tough for me to find in 9.6. It's still one of the tougher issues to find in really high grade. And that's another cover with very dark colors.

Helpful feedback. #41 reminds me a bit of #17 in terms of that strong red hue throughout. Are you focusing on ultra high grades?

Yes. I think I'm 7 issues short of 9.6 or better for #1-93.

[atomised]

X-Men #5 has that dark blue cover and #15 has the dark purple cover. That could could be part of the reason.

 

And even though #16 is mostly a yellow cover, the colors are pretty dark along the spine.

 

#41 was very tough for me to find in 9.6. It's still one of the tougher issues to find in really high grade. And that's another cover with very dark colors.

Helpful feedback. #41 reminds me a bit of #17 in terms of that strong red hue throughout. Are you focusing on ultra high grades?

Yes. I think I'm 7 issues short of 9.6 or better for #1-93.

Congrats. That's impressive.

[Ghost Town]

X-Men #5 has that dark blue cover and #15 has the dark purple cover. That could could be part of the reason.

 

And even though #16 is mostly a yellow cover, the colors are pretty dark along the spine.

 

#41 was very tough for me to find in 9.6. It's still one of the tougher issues to find in really high grade. And that's another cover with very dark colors.

Helpful feedback. #41 reminds me a bit of #17 in terms of that strong red hue throughout. Are you focusing on ultra high grades?

Yes. I think I'm 7 issues short of 9.6 or better for #1-93.

Congrats. That's impressive.

Thanks. I've been working on it for over 35 years.