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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 11:38:38 GMT -5
Not a long hunt but a memorable one. Back in ‘87 I was browsing at one of my go to shops, Forbidden Planet (NYC) and came across the recently launched Grendel series. I’d never heard of the original Hunter Rose story, but was totally hooked by the Pander Bros. art and premise of the Christine Spar Grendel. Searching the racks I found issues 2-6 but no 1. At the counter I asked about that missing issue and the clerk said they’d sold out but made a couple of calls and found a place in midtown that had some and off I went. What I’d totally forgotten as I came up from the subway a half hour later was, it was St. Patrick’s Day and the parade was going on, blocking me. Being young and dumb, I decided the easiest thing to do was cut across the parade, which resulted in several police officers trying to chase me down. Amazingly I managed to evade them (Luck of The Irish?) and yes, I made it to the shop and got my first issue. I then took a way different route back home just in case, and binged the series. Like I said young and dumb. Now that's a story! |
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Post by DubipR on Sept 16, 2024 11:48:30 GMT -5
It took me 29 years to finally get a copy of Adventures of Pussycat #1.
The book doesn't come out in public often or in somewhat decent conditions. Auctions of the book, I've always lost. Hundreds of conventions, internet searches, it was a fruitless chase until February this year at an old school comic show (two hotel ballrooms of nothing but comic dealers) this vendor had and for a great price. Found it along with a few other mini white whales for my collection.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 11:59:49 GMT -5
It took me 29 years to finally get a copy of Adventures of Pussycat #1. The book doesn't come out in public often or in somewhat decent conditions. Auctions of the book, I've always lost. Hundreds of conventions, internet searches, it was a fruitless chase until February this year at an old school comic show (two hotel ballrooms of nothing but comic dealers) this vendor had and for a great price. Found it along with a few other mini white whales for my collection. Close to 3 decades, holy cow. I can only imagine how you felt when it finally happened, it must have been surreal  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 14:49:46 GMT -5
eBay now vs eBay circa 2002 is nothing like the same thing, sadly. I bought a few massive runs for sub $1 an issue. It's quite sad that so many prices are up 10 fold. My salary isn't up 10 fold 😅. It's even worse on Silver Age comics- everything is slabbed, and no one seems to sell runs.
Tbh, I've never come across a regular silver-age or bronze-age book that has more slabbed copies than good old fashioned 'raw' copies. The ratio of slabbed to 'raw' is usually just a small fraction. It only gets significantly higher for limited edition, or rare books.
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Post by DubipR on Sept 16, 2024 14:54:48 GMT -5
It took me 29 years to finally get a copy of Adventures of Pussycat #1. The book doesn't come out in public often or in somewhat decent conditions. Auctions of the book, I've always lost. Hundreds of conventions, internet searches, it was a fruitless chase until February this year at an old school comic show (two hotel ballrooms of nothing but comic dealers) this vendor had and for a great price. Found it along with a few other mini white whales for my collection. Close to 3 decades, holy cow. I can only imagine how you felt when it finally happened, it must have been surreal Oh yeah. It was a 'holy spit' moment. I'd almost given up on looking for one as if I don't see it on the rack behind the tables and boxes, I know its not going to be in their backstock. Walking by, I see it. Stop look at it ask them if I can see it and just laid down cash right there. Walked away smiling. I was thinking if I didn't find it by the time I turned 50, I would just give up. After years of asking every vendor at every show and tireless emails after shows about their backstock they didn't bring... nada. First show of 2024, I struck gold. |
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Sept 16, 2024 15:27:10 GMT -5
There was about a 30 year gap for me from acquiring issues 1, 3 and 4 of the 4 issue Dick Tracy: The Unprinted Stories from Blackthorne to finally getting issue 2. I first got issue 3, then 1, then 4, all within about two years of each other back in 1988-1990. This was of course pre eBay, so those 3 issues were acquired the old fashioned way, through patience and from 3 separate comic shops in Calgary. Throughout the 90s, finding Blackthorne Tracy's became increasingly difficult. By 2003 or so my trips to comic shops, along with disposable income, dried up. By 2009 I was pretty much out of the hobby and didn't get back full force until 2020. What do you think one of the first things I did was? Buy a copy of The Unprinted Stories #2 off eBay of course (I also quickly purchased a few other loose ends from my 90s collecting days as well)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 17:10:05 GMT -5
There was about a 30 year gap for me from acquiring issues 1, 3 and 4 of the 4 issue Dick Tracy: The Unprinted Stories from Blackthorne to finally getting issue 2. I first got issue 3, then 1, then 4, all within about two years of each other back in 1988-1990. This was of course pre eBay, so those 3 issues were acquired the old fashioned way, through patience and from 3 separate comic shops in Calgary. Throughout the 90s, finding Blackthorne Tracy's became increasingly difficult. By 2003 or so my trips to comic shops, along with disposable income, dried up. By 2009 I was pretty much out of the hobby and didn't get back full force until 2020. What do you think one of the first things I did was? Buy a copy of The Unprinted Stories #2 off eBay of course (I also quickly purchased a few other loose ends from my 90s collecting days as well) I took a break for about 8 years myself at one point, I can relate to picking back up where you left off. Glad you found your way back to the hobby, and congrats on finally landing #2 after 30 years! |
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Post by Calidore on Sept 16, 2024 18:29:46 GMT -5
The two major hunts I can think of weren't actually comics. One was the lone Doc Savage novel I was missing, which I finally found at a sci-fi convention (I think Glen Cook was the seller). The other was a childhood hunt for the one Kiss bubblegum card I was missing. But I guess that wasn't really a hunt as it was random chance. A friend finally got it and traded it to me.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 18:37:21 GMT -5
The two major hunts I can think of weren't actually comics. One was the lone Doc Savage novel I was missing, which I finally found at a sci-fi convention (I think Glen Cook was the seller). The other was a childhood hunt for the one Kiss bubblegum card I was missing. But I guess that wasn't really a hunt as it was random chance. A friend finally got it and traded it to me. The "random chance" you mention reminds me of something similar when I was a kid. Folks may be familiar with the late 70's Marvel Pocket Books that collected various works, and there were 3 volumes of Spider-Man in particular. The first and third I got almost at the same time, but probably a good 2 years went by before the second one showed up at the bookstore. There wasn't any real "hunt" as I was tiny and didn't know anything about after market sellers and neither did my folks. But I looked for that book every time we went to the bookstore (and at that age 2 years seems like a lifetime) and then one day it was just "there". Total random chance. Congrats on finding that last Doc Savage book (nothing like completing a set), and nice childhood anecdote! |
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Post by The Captain on Sept 16, 2024 18:52:32 GMT -5
I live in an area that is blessed with comic shops, conventions, etc., so for me, the “hunt” has never been about finding a particular book but finding it in a condition I could live with for a price that I was willing to pay. If I wanted something badly enough, there was always a copy somewhere within a few hours’ drive, but was I willing to overpay for something just to mark it off the list was always the question, particularly in lower grade.
It did take me a few years to find the “right” copy of Captain America #117, but beyond that, I can’t think of anything that sat on my Want List for more than a year or so.
That said, my Want List currently consists of zero books, as the only hole in my collection is something that I am, as of today, unwilling to shell out for. Thankfully, I have a reprint copy of it and can read the entire series without issue.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2024 19:11:38 GMT -5
I live in an area that is blessed with comic shops, conventions, etc., so for me, the “hunt” has never been about finding a particular book but finding it in a condition I could live with for a price that I was willing to pay. If I wanted something badly enough, there was always a copy somewhere within a few hours’ drive, but was I willing to overpay for something just to mark it off the list was always the question, particularly in lower grade. It did take me a few years to find the “right” copy of Captain America #117, but beyond that, I can’t think of anything that sat on my Want List for more than a year or so. That said, my Want List currently consists of zero books, as the only hole in my collection is something that I am, as of today, unwilling to shell out for. Thankfully, I have a reprint copy of it and can read the entire series without issue. The current market has definitely removed some books from my list. Even ones I "could afford" still but no longer have the same meaning to me priced where they are now. Like you, I can still happily read them as reprints, and at the end of the day, sometimes that's all you need. |
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Post by The Captain on Sept 16, 2024 19:37:34 GMT -5
The current market has definitely removed some books from my list. Even ones I "could afford" still but no longer have the same meaning to me priced where they are now. Like you, I can still happily read them as reprints, and at the end of the day, sometimes that's all you need. This is my feeling exactly. I have a tidy little side hustle buying collections of Magic: The Gathering cards, stripping them down, and selling off the valuable ones. I make about $1500 per year in profit off of that with minimal effort, because there are ALWAYS people who have rent or bills to pay and who will dump their cards for cheap. Even though I have the money to get pretty much whatever I want, I always question the utility of spending significant money on a single issue just to say that I own it. I’m in the process of whittling down the chaff from my collection, because my wife and I are both in our 50s and starting to think about downsizing our house/life once our girls are out of college. Maybe I’ll keep all of my key issues and some other series (don’t think I’ll be able to part with my Captain America run), but what does one more book, key or not, get me? I’ve already read them in collected editions or reprint floppies, so WHY spend money just for the sake of owning 32 pages of newsprint? |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 16, 2024 22:03:25 GMT -5
Not a comic book; but, it took about 40 years to figure out a movie, that I saw as a kid, on tv, while visiting my great-grandparents. I knew it was a European detective or spy thriller; but didn't know much else ad only recalled a chase across a rooftop and nearly plunging through a door into nothing, below. It was only a couple of years ago that, by chance, I identified it as the Eurospy film, Mission Bloody Mary, with Ken Clark.
The trail of investigation led me to the Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films, the Fantomas trilogy (with Jean Marais), the second Doctor Who film and a couple of other Eurspy films.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,197 
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Post by Confessor on Sept 17, 2024 2:14:50 GMT -5
I think the comics I've been looking for longest and want the most are the four issues of the short-lived '60s Angel and the Ape series I need to complete the run (copies seem to be as rare as hen's teeth over here in the UK), and Amazing Spider-Man #194 (first appearance of the Black Cat).
Issues of the former series are usually afordable, but hardly ever come up for sale on UK comic seller's websites of on eBay. ASM #194, on the other hand, is just a comic I've never been able to find for a price I was willing to pay and in a condition that I could stand.
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Post by james on Sept 17, 2024 6:15:47 GMT -5
Issue 165 of the Avengers had always been an issue I was never able to get my hands on even though it was not a key issue. Back in Pennsylvania in the 80’s it was so hard to find. Maybe because it was the second issue of my favorite storyline ever.
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