Popular Post badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 19, 2022 Fair warning. This will be a long post… I have a very good friend that I hang out with about once a week. I’ve known him over 20 years. He’s 20 years older than me. I went to high school with his daughter. I remember when I used to hang out at her house I always peeked into her dad’s comic book room. Well, back then it wasn’t really a room, more of a glorified closet. I always thought it was pretty cool. All the books on the walls. Everything displayed. I wasn’t collecting comics then. I had stopped about 3 or 4 years prior, probably around age 13 or 14. But I never really lost my interest in comic books. I always thought he was a cool guy, maybe him being significantly younger than my other friends’ parents had something to do with it. We always got along. After high school, I didn’t have much contact with him. His daughter went away to college, I tried and failed at higher learning, started working full time and that was that. Fast forward to about 2007. I was eating lunch one day with a couple friends. We finished up, walked outside and one them said he wanted to run into the comic book store across the street. So, the 3 of us went. It had been a while since I had been to a comic book store. I walked in and for some reason, I got hooked on a copy of X-Men 98. I couldn’t have told you anything about the story of course, the cover just grabbed me. So, knowing absolutely nothing about grading and pricing, I bought it. That one trip that day got me back into collecting. So, over the next few weeks, I dug out my childhood collection. I texted my friend to see if I could stop by her parents house to kind of pick the brain of her dad, as I remembered he collected comics. So, I went over the next day, brought my two long boxes, that I thought, surely there has to be some good stuff in here. I knew I had a Surfer 1 that I had got in a trade with a neighbor kid 15 years prior. I just wanted to see what he thought about my books and just talk comics. I go over, we catch up a bit and he starts looking through the boxes. Long story short, like many kids and adults in the 90s, I had nothing but a collection of what he called “some good reading but not much value” books. That was his nice way of saying two boxes of junk basically. I pulled out my Surfer 1 and said, c’mon this is a good one, it’s a Silver Surfer 1. He says, come with me and bring that book. We go down to the finished basement where his collection now resided. I was amazed at all of the books and toys and art displayed on the walls. It was amazing. He went over to one of his many shelving units, pulled out a book and handed it to me. He said, now THAT’s a Surfer 1. Then he schooled me on what has probably fooled many young collectors, the Fantasy Masterpieces 1. I felt so dumb. We both laughed and then he humored me while I spent the next few hours asking him questions about his collection, what his favorite books were and when he started collecting. Then we got to Amazing Spider-Man. ASM was his favorite. He had been collecting since he was 5. Back in 2007, he didn’t have a complete run. He was missing several single digit issues along with a smattering of issues here and there throughout the run. Over the next 2 years, he completed the run. Him and I for about the last 15 years always hang out, go to shows, trade books, just basically do what friends do. A few months ago, we were discussing a copy of Hulk 1 I had picked up recently. It was a low grade, married back cover CGC 1.0. That was one of the few big silver age Marvels that he’d never owned. He asked if I’d consider trading or selling and since I had a better copy, I said sure. So, we agreed upon value and that I’d accept part cash/part trade. He then asked if I would be interested in picking out a few ASM books to use as the trade portion. I was completely shocked. For 15 years, he would basically trade anything. If I brought him something he liked, anything in his collection was up for grabs. Except the ASMs. He never said they were off limits, I just always assumed so. So, I never tried. So I was extremely surprised when he offered. I asked him if he was sure, and he said he was. He said it would be a lot easier for him to go out and get back whatever issues he let go, instead of going out and getting a Hulk 1. So, i pulled out a few issues and we made a deal. About a month ago or so, I was leaving his house one night and he happened to mention in the most casual way that he thought he’d let the rest of the Spideys go. I had a few books he wanted and he said he’d have no problem letting some of the keys go. Jokingly, I asked if he wanted to let the entire run go. He thought about it for a second and said, yeah, he’d let it go. I couldn’t believe it. I laughed as I walked out the door saying thanks for laying that on me so late, I wouldn’t be able to sleep when I got home. So, the next weekend, I went down to his house with the books I knew he wanted. I asked him if he was serious about letting the run go. He said yes. He said that he had so much fun over his life collecting ASM, but, his interests had changed a lot over the past 10 years, it didn’t hold the same value for him anymore. He’s gotten deeper into GA and especially PCH. Don’t get me wrong, he still has love for the SA and BA, as those are his favorite eras. Especially bronze. I remember one time years ago I asked him what it was like growing up a kid in the 70s. His exact response was “reading horror comics and listening to Alice Cooper, what could be better”. That response makes me smile every time I think about it. So, this is my long winded way of saying I acquired his entire volume 1 run of Amazing Spider-Man. He asked if I wanted the #1, a CGC 2.5 copy, but that would’ve been an entirely different deal. I couldn’t afford the run with that book in there as well. I honestly never intended to include that in the deal because I thought it would be better if that stayed with his big Marvel SA key collection. Basically only missing TOS 39 now. I have issues 2, 3 and 5-441. Missing only 1, 4 (which I did have but traded to another friend who wanted it), 238 (his copy was signed and personalized to him) and 434 (who knows where this one went). It’s been really fun going through these books. Only a few “bummers”. The 13 has CT down the left hand side and the 14’s spine is split and and has tape and glued tears. 22 and 32 are both missing a cut out from an ad page each. Other than that, everything is complete. He had no idea about the missing coupons or CT. He’s had some of those issues so long he couldn’t remember where he got them. So, if you made it this far, hopefully you aren’t bored out of your mind. I’ve included some not so great pics of the 12c issues and some keys. Thanks for reading! @ADAMANTIUM @Wolverinex piper, nmtg9, Readcomix and 25 others 26 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 19, 2022 Mmehdy, thehumantorch, Treco and 22 others 25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattTheDuck Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 My man, that is one incredibly awesome story. Congrats on getting all those great books at one whack. That must have felt like you were dreaming - I used to dream about this kind of find in the 70s. Still waiting for my dreams to come true! Congrats! jimjum12, Chief1332 and badback83 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primetime Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 great to hear the detailed story Ethan, and congrats badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 1:36 AM, MattTheDuck said: My man, that is one incredibly awesome story. Congrats on getting all those great books at one whack. That must have felt like you were dreaming - I used to dream about this kind of find in the 70s. Still waiting for my dreams to come true! Congrats! Thank you. It’s kinda weird, you know? One day I didn’t have any ASM issues, the next, a 99% complete run. It has definitely been fun rebagging and boarding, flipping through all the incredible stories from past decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 1:52 AM, Primetime said: great to hear the detailed story Ethan, and congrats Thank you Ben. It’s been fun. Now what to do? Upgrade a few, maybe? Primetime 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WolverineX Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 What a collection! Thank you for sharing the story. It was a fun read. Do you have plans of reading the whole arc? Excelsior! badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 7:45 AM, Wolverinex said: What a collection! Thank you for sharing the story. It was a fun read. Do you have plans of reading the whole arc? Excelsior! I’m really not quite sure. A lot of it I’ve read in the past, individual stories. But never one continuous read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyJack Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 What I got from that story is you're not really a doctor. Seriously, as someone who sold a virtually complete SA run of Spideys, I can relate. Congrats! badback83 and KCOComics 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 9:25 AM, KirbyJack said: What I got from that story is you're not really a doctor. Seriously, as someone who sold a virtually complete SA run of Spideys, I can relate. Congrats! I play one on tv. But, thank you. There’s just something different about SA Spider-Man. Classic art, classic stories. KirbyJack and jimjum12 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wall-Crawler Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 As someone who aspires to have the full run and is short about 20 issues (including AF #15 and ASM #1 ) I thought this was a great story and congrats on the acquisition! It was also very cool to hear about how you got back into collecting and your friendship! badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH19 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Such a great story. Congrats! badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 9:55 AM, Wall-Crawler said: As someone who aspires to have the full run and is short about 20 issues (including AF #15 and ASM #1 ) I thought this was a great story and congrats on the acquisition! It was also very cool to hear about how you got back into collecting and your friendship! Thank you. You’ll reach your goal. Might just take some “collection finagling”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 10:20 AM, JohnH19 said: Such a great story. Congrats! Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief1332 Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Amazing friendships often lead to amazing stories. Congratulations badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 10:45 AM, Chief1332 said: Amazing friendships often lead to amazing stories. Congratulations I absolutely agree. Thank you! Chief1332 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treco Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Great story! Thanks for sharing. Makes me wish I had a collector friend nearby. None of the friends I have in my life now are interested in comics. badback83 and jimjum12 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badback83 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 11:59 AM, Treco said: Great story! Thanks for sharing. Makes me wish I had a collector friend nearby. None of the friends I have in my life now are interested in comics. Thank you. That’s a bummer. Are there any shops or shows near you? I’ve made some good friends just by going to those two things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treco Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 12:01 PM, DocHoppus182 said: Thank you. That’s a bummer. Are there any shops or shows near you? I’ve made some good friends just by going to those two things. I fell out of the local loop years ago as I got married and started raising a family. Basically stopped collecting. As I am getting older now and gaining more free time back, my goal is to maybe start making some shows again. The only comic book shops in my vicinity mainly just deal in gaming and new product, neither of which are of interest to me. Currently, this forum is my main connection to the hobby. badback83 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piper Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Thanks for sharing the story. Now begins the inevitable upgrading... badback83 and Chief1332 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...