The "UNholiest" grail...

[RaccoonRaccoon]

For all the collectors out there, what was your VERY FIRST "grail" that you had to, needed to get, and why?

 

For me (i'm not a huge collector) it was ASM #252. Why? When I was growing up I would walk two blocks to a candy store that sold a few comics. Every month I would get my ASM fix. Anyway, when 252 came out, for some reason the store didn't get the shipment. After some time, I went to a few comic stores and the price was $10+ for this comic. I refused to pay that much, mostly since I didnt have much $$ to spend.

 

I stopped collecting around 1987 and just got back into the hobby. Not too long ago I purchased several raw ASM 252's (from ebay, where they were very overgraded, but that's a different story) and later, one CGC 9.6. It may not sound like a big deal, but for me I was truly happy. Especially when I got the 9.6, it took me back to the candy store and it erased my disappointing feeling!

 

I guess this is what comic collecting is about at times!

[falderal-migration]

My first one was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 first printing. I was at a local small comic show in 1987 and picked it up for $120. At the time I had never spent over $20 for a comic. I started collecting in 1985 when issue #5 came out and so I had to track down the first 4. This first printing of #1 was the first one that I found and it seemed like a good price at the time. When I got older and needed money to buy my first car I sold my Hulk 181 and my ASM 129 but TMNT #1 was my first grail book so I have never parted with it.

[Pirate]

no true grail but i started collecting around xmen 145 or so. I went back and starting picking up the byrne stuff which was about the same it is today price wise so was hard for me. I remember the shop having an FF #1 for $200. Don't remember the grade but the guy working at the shop had it on time payments. This was around 84 or so i would guess.

[THE_BEYONDER]

Here's mine...

 

 

I was born in '71, and missed that book on the newsstand by a year or 2. I couldn't afford to pay the "premium" it commanded back then. It was pretty much the only 'wall book' I ever wanted, and eventually saved up and got one.

[october]

Mine is my ASM 300, which will be supplanted once I get an ASM 129. I remember wanting both books so badly when I was a kid and not being able to afford either. After coming back into comics three years ago, ASM 300 was one of the first books I bought. It was a really weird feeling finally owning a copy of something I had wanted for so long.

 

[mar-vell]

when i was a kid back in the early eighties it was undoubtedly x-men #94!!! You couldn't find that book anywhere and prices were insane if you did see one! That cover was so great i just had to have it! Luckily i found an obscure ad in a comic book or magazine advertising a VF+ copy for $35!!! I bought it and when i got the book it was nearly perfect bordering on VF/NM!!! The guy must have been a collector to give such a great deal --you could expect to spend well over $100 for a copy like that at a convention or a flea market. The only problem was how disapointing the story and inerior art was-- I was expecting something special! What a letdown!

[TheBrockley]

Mine is my ASM 300, which will be supplanted once I get an ASM 129. I remember wanting both books so badly when I was a kid and not being able to afford either. After coming back into comics three years ago, ASM 300 was one of the first books I bought. It was a really weird feeling finally owning a copy of something I had wanted for so long.

 

 

Ditto,

 

Was the first "expensive" comic I got, my grandmother purchased it for me when I was younger, it was a Wall book and the first time I seen it I was like "Who's that on the cover?", I always remembered Spider-Man in the blue & red, the shop owenr told me the alien costume story and I begged Nanny weeks for it, I was exstatic when I got it for my birthday,

 

Still have my copy, sent it in last year and it came back CGC 9.2, not bad considering I read it once a year or so for 10 years before I sent it in.

[ronm3-migration]

For all the collectors out there, what was your VERY FIRST "grail" that you had to, needed to get, and why?

 

For me (i'm not a huge collector) it was ASM #252. Why? When I was growing up I would walk two blocks to a candy store that sold a few comics. Every month I would get my ASM fix. Anyway, when 252 came out, for some reason the store didn't get the shipment. After some time, I went to a few comic stores and the price was $10+ for this comic. I refused to pay that much, mostly since I didnt have much $$ to spend.

 

I stopped collecting around 1987 and just got back into the hobby. Not too long ago I purchased several raw ASM 252's (from ebay, where they were very overgraded, but that's a different story) and later, one CGC 9.6. It may not sound like a big deal, but for me I was truly happy. Especially when I got the 9.6, it took me back to the candy store and it erased my disappointing feeling!

 

I guess this is what comic collecting is about at times!

 

That was one of my big books as well. I still have about 12 copies that have been untouched since i bought them. I also have about 12 copies of 253 with the white rose i believe as well. I just need to find them. My comic store only allowed me to buy 2 at a time.

[kidcolt]

My first grail was an Amazing spiderman 129

[Kermit the frog]

 

my first grails (because they were bought at the same time/lot/seller) were amazing spidey 121, 122 and 129 (all at worst in VF+)!!!

it was one huge/gorgeous lot i've acquired around 6 years ago...some of the best deal i (will) ever made.

 

regards

[Anfield Fox]

Mine is my ASM 300, which will be supplanted once I get an ASM 129. I remember wanting both books so badly when I was a kid and not being able to afford either. After coming back into comics three years ago, ASM 300 was one of the first books I bought. It was a really weird feeling finally owning a copy of something I had wanted for so long.

 

 

Mine too! It was in the early nineties and i had been taken to my first con. Spider-Man and Venom were my favourite characters so i had wanted that book for such a long time. Most people were selling them for around the $80+ area which for a kid i couldn't afford. When it was time to go home i came across a copy which was around 6.5-7.0 (this long before cgc ever existed so it was marked as VFN) for $30. I asked him if he could knock it and said ok $25. I took every penny from my pocket and begged him. I was still a few bucks short but he let me have it.

 

It's still my favourite comic 13 or 14 years later. In 1998 i bought the chromium variant for cover price. In 2001 i bought a CGC 9.6 with white pages. I think i'll just keep buying them until i have every copy in the world

[Norrin_Radd]

The only person I knew who collected comics growing up was my Uncle. He was a big Conan fan. So I'd say Conan #1 was my first real grail when I started collecting. I bought a nice VF/NM copy in February 2003.

 

 

But, I was forced to sell it ten months later. I still haven't really gotten into reading Conan (either the old series or the new). At some point I'll read the TPBs.

 

 

Since joining these boards, I've now got several grails I plan on acquiring. And they are alot more expensive than Conan #1.

[precodekeith]

The only person I knew who collected comics growing up was my Uncle. He was a big Conan fan. So I'd say Conan #1 was my first real grail when I started collecting. I bought a nice VF/NM copy in February 2003.

 

 

 

Conan #1 was my first grail book as well. Purchased in 1981 or 82 when I was ten or eleven. Can't pin it down. Paid $35 for it- nice Fine- still have it! Still have my complete Conan run!

[Norrin_Radd]

Conan #1 was my first grail book as well. Purchased in 1981 or 82 when I was ten or eleven. Can't pin it down. Paid $35 for it- nice Fine- still have it! Still have my complete Conan run!

 

I've only read Conan #1, KS Conan #1, and King Conan #1. They didn't do a whole lot for me. But I was a big fan of the movie so maybe I'll like some of the comics and end up collecting them.

[chrisco37]

I had a few at various stages in my early collecting years. They were all "wall books" at my first LCS. The books were:

 

FF #21 VG/F - I paid $30 for it. By far my biggest purchase to date at that time.

 

ASM #97 F/VF - This one was $30 IIRC. Loved those GG-Spidey issues.

 

Silver Surfer #14 NM - Paid $22. I stull own this one and it was the very first book I ever submitted to CGC. Came back 9.0 OW.

 

I also went on a spree buying all the McFarlane ASM's I had missed (I started getting this monthly at issue #315). I can't really call those "grails" as the most expensive one, #300, cost me all of $4.50.

 

I then took my 10+ year hiatus from collecting. Upon my return, I acquired alot of books I had wanted back when, but could not afford:

 

TOS #58

ASM #122

FF#52

Hulk #181

[THE_BEYONDER]

Conan #1 was my first grail book as well. Purchased in 1981 or 82 when I was ten or eleven. Can't pin it down. Paid $35 for it- nice Fine- still have it! Still have my complete Conan run!

 

I've only read Conan #1, KS Conan #1, and King Conan #1. They didn't do a whole lot for me. But I was a big fan of the movie so maybe I'll like some of the comics and end up collecting them.

I was never really into Conan as a kid, but I've read Conan 24 twice over the last week. Could very well be my favourite book right now.

[lighthouse]

When I was about 8, I had put together a run of Thor starting at 223 up through what was current at the time, probably issue 280 or so... A buddy of mine down the street, same age, had a run of Fantastic Four from 2-up and he had a price guide. I didn't care much for FF at the time, and he wouldn't let me read anything from before about issue 130 (which may explain why I didn't care for FF). But I kept looking in his guide at Thor 193. It listed at way more money than any book I had (probably about $6 at the time). I really didn't have a clue why, but I knew if it was that expensive it must be really good.

 

I didn't actually get a copy of that book until I was 26. I stopped collecting comics for many years, switching to sports cards and then Magic. By the time I bought a 193, my earliest Thor was a JIM 87. And it was kind of a letdown. I expect that if I had found a 193 back when I was 8 or 9 I would have picked a new grail and kept working my way backwards. As it is, my collecting jumped around and behind that issue to where it became irrelevant...

[COI]

ASM #129. As a kid in the late 80's, I saw it pictured in a price guide, and I had to have it.

ASM #121 was a close second.

[B-Smooth]

I collect Magic too. I cannot believe the price jumps every year in Alpha and Beta cards. The power 9 are just off the charts. Its better than owning gold.

[COI]

The first 40 or so Conan issues are some of my favorite bronze books.