Closing in on a comic book collection milestone!

[Akira]

you're telling me! I started it a little while back and have #1-7 so far:

sweet stuff!

nice!

[Shane McCarthy]

Uncanny X-Men was the first comic book that I ever purchased with my own money (#221)...at Safeway while my mom was buying groceries.

Man, same here! I bought 221 and 222 together from a local newsagent. I remember reading them that night and turning to my Dad, "Look! This guy, if he gets punched in the face he hurts the other one's hand!"

Crazy.

[gaspar]

awesome man. I bought issue 86 yesterday. I'm now 24 issues away.

That's pretty pretty sweet! Getting close!

gaspar...ran into 2 people at the show that said they had 101 for 100 bucks...would you like for me to get their info tomorrow?

Nah, thanks so much for looking though. I'm going to try to trade for it with Jef UK, and if that falls through for some reason, I'll check eBay or the shop here in town has one for $70. Thanks again though, I really appreciate it!

nice!

Thanks, I dig 'em!

Man, same here! I bought 221 and 222 together from a local newsagent. I remember reading them that night and turning to my Dad, "Look! This guy, if he gets punched in the face he hurts the other one's hand!"

Crazy.

That's nuts! I did almost exactly the same thing. I passed up #220 because the cover "looked gross." That's the main reason always remember exactly which issues I started with. I had to go back several years later and buy #220 for a few dollars more than cover price because I didn't buy it that day for 75¢, but I started with 221 & 222 on the rack at the grocery store and loved them!

[gaspar]

Could do. I'm going out of town this weekend and won't be able to get into my longboxes until next week, so remind me, G.

Just bumping as a reminder, and checking to see if you had a chance to look yet. No rush, just curious. Thanks!

[afroloq]

Just saw your messages man...no prob!!

[gaspar]

Just saw your messages man...no prob!!

I appreciate you checking on them for me! Those were just too far out of my price range.

[Mr. Dave]

Very cool run of the X-Men to collect. I started with colelcting with UXM 248 and I have built back to #171. But I am in awe of you with only 101 to go you are so close. Getting Giant Sized and 94 is why I have not built too far back. I am a little intimidated but those prices.

That being said I am really focusing on Avengers and getting an entire run. I have from 130 to current (I count New Avengers as ongoing Avengers). I have picked up every spin off and ongoing series to come from the Avengers like West Coast Avengers. I have been in a holding pattern the last few years. But I have a bunch of the high priced books that I am missing already. Hope to pick this up again soon.

[gaspar]

Very cool run of the X-Men to collect. I started with colelcting with UXM 248 and I have built back to #171. But I am in awe of you with only 101 to go you are so close. Getting Giant Sized and 94 is why I have not built too far back. I am a little intimidated but those prices.

That being said I am really focusing on Avengers and getting an entire run. I have from 130 to current (I count New Avengers as ongoing Avengers). I have picked up every spin off and ongoing series to come from the Avengers like West Coast Avengers. I have been in a holding pattern the last few years. But I have a bunch of the high priced books that I am missing already. Hope to pick this up again soon.

Thanks! You started your collection not too long after me (#221), and it's definitely taken me a long time to get this close. I've been intimidated by the prices at times, but you can find deals if you just keep looking, don't try to find them all at once, and don't mind settling for a lesser grade copy.

I've gone through several long spells where I haven't bought any issues for months or possibly years at a time. Then I'll go on a run where I'll buy a half dozen or more all in a week or two just because I have some extra money or find a shop that has some great copies at good prices. Just keep your lists and don't give up on it.

Make connections too and people will be on the lookout for what you need. I think I said it earlier, but I got my #94 basically for free...it's a fairly low grade reader copy that I got from the manager of my LCS at the time (it's closed now) because he wanted some stuff that I picked up at San Diego Comic Con. Those things cost me cover price + standing in line for autographs (something I was going to do anyway) and I basically filled in THE KEY ISSUE of the run (other than Giant-Size #1 which I still don't have) for next to nothing!

Another LCS runs a twice a year 50% off sale on most of their back issues. For the past several years I've been able to pick up anywhere from 1 to 10 or so issues that I've needed during these sales at half price! When the listed price is $15-20 on these issues, that brings them down to a much more reasonable price! Then some of them are lesser grades, listing for $10 or under, so I was able to pick them up for $3-5 each~! Basically the price of a new comic book these days with the $3.99 cover prices...I'd much rather fill in a key issue that I'm missing for my collection!

So, if I've learned anything while working on this, it's patience...if you want to put together a full run of anything, you could probably do it in a week or two, but you're going to pay a TON for it. I don't now and never have had that kind of money. I can pay $20 here and $30 there and that's about it...but eventually that adds up to something that you'll be happy with!

That Avengers set sounds pretty sweet too! Keep working on them!

[changingshades]

Thanks! You started your collection not too long after me (#221), and it's definitely taken me a long time to get this close. I've been intimidated by the prices at times, but you can find deals if you just keep looking, don't try to find them all at once, and don't mind settling for a lesser grade copy.

I've gone through several long spells where I haven't bought any issues for months or possibly years at a time. Then I'll go on a run where I'll buy a half dozen or more all in a week or two just because I have some extra money or find a shop that has some great copies at good prices. Just keep your lists and don't give up on it.

Make connections too and people will be on the lookout for what you need. I think I said it earlier, but I got my #94 basically for free...it's a fairly low grade reader copy that I got from the manager of my LCS at the time (it's closed now) because he wanted some stuff that I picked up at San Diego Comic Con. Those things cost me cover price + standing in line for autographs (something I was going to do anyway) and I basically filled in THE KEY ISSUE of the run (other than Giant-Size #1 which I still don't have) for next to nothing!

Another LCS runs a twice a year 50% off sale on most of their back issues. For the past several years I've been able to pick up anywhere from 1 to 10 or so issues that I've needed during these sales at half price! When the listed price is $15-20 on these issues, that brings them down to a much more reasonable price! Then some of them are lesser grades, listing for $10 or under, so I was able to pick them up for $3-5 each~! Basically the price of a new comic book these days with the $3.99 cover prices...I'd much rather fill in a key issue that I'm missing for my collection!

So, if I've learned anything while working on this, it's patience...if you want to put together a full run of anything, you could probably do it in a week or two, but you're going to pay a TON for it. I don't now and never have had that kind of money. I can pay $20 here and $30 there and that's about it...but eventually that adds up to something that you'll be happy with!

That Avengers set sounds pretty sweet too! Keep working on them!

Excellent advice. the only thing I can add is keep looking. Look in 50 cent bins at cons, look in street markets, just keep looking. you might not have the nicest copies, but youll at least have copies.

[gaspar]

Excellent advice. the only thing I can add is keep looking. Look in 50 cent bins at cons, look in street markets, just keep looking. you might not have the nicest copies, but youll at least have copies.

I couldn't agree more. I've had a slip of paper in my wallet (actually, the paper has lasted through probably 4 or 5 wallets) with my "needs list" written on it so I'd have it with me EVERYWHERE! You never know when you'll run across someone with a box of back issues that just might have one you need for 50¢ or a dollar. I've picked up issues at garage sales and collectibles/antiques shows where I didn't expect to see any comics for sale. Always be on the lookout, you never know when you'll find a key issue for a great price!

I remember buying a good handful of my back issues at a baseball card shop that I used to frequent. They got into comics during the "Death of Superman," chrome, variant, sealed with a trading card, etc. era. They must have bought out the back stock of some other shop because they had some really nice back issues, but they were all priced at high book price. I went in one after "the market had crashed" and the owner had decided to rid himself of those dozen or so boxes of back issues and had all comics on sale for $1 each! Of course, most of them were those variants that I had no interest in, but in the X-Men, there was a good stack of issues I needed in the late 100s/early 200s! Picked up some other random goodies too!

You never know when you'll run across stuff like that...be prepared