Amassing My Complete Amazing Spider-Man Run

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lorddunlow
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Amassing My Complete Amazing Spider-Man Run

Post by lorddunlow »

So, as far as iconic comic characters go, Spidey's my favorite. Spiderman and X-Men were the only non-Image, non-Valiant, non-Indie stuff I bought back in the 90s. The "end" of Amazing Spider-Man at issue #700 (I know it's been a marketing gimmick and they'll probably restart the numbering as if it never changed) put a thought in my head. If I were to try to obtain of full run of any long term comic, it would be ASM. This would be a long term thing, of course. Just pick up issues when I find them.

I'm asking if anyone thinks this is feasible and advice on how to go about it. Also, what are the REALLY hard-to-find/expensive books in ASM that might shut me down on completing a full run?

I figure if obtained 1-700 I would make Amazing Fantasy #15 the icing on the cake at some point in my golden years.

I just think it would be cool to have something that I'm constantly working towards.

p.s. Definitely not interested in the CGC route if that makes any difference (although I figure for the more pricey ones, any copy in good shape will probably only be available slabbed).
Last edited by lorddunlow on Wed Sep 18, 2013 1:02:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by X-O HoboJoe »

:o An admirable and daunting task indeed. The early books and the early 2000's had some lower print runs, IIRC, but if you're not setting the bar at a certain grading threshold they're all out there. It's only a matter of $ for the keys. The important gamble right now would be do you pull the trigger to get your AF 15 now? It's gone nuts in the last few years so sustainability of that demand is what you're rolling the dice on.

Unless you're willing to be evil . . . cheap keys come to those who lie in wait. :twisted:
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by StarBrand »

No, it is not feasible.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by lorddunlow »

StarBrand wrote:No, it is not feasible.
There's a guy that has a blog called "Chasing Amazing" and he states that he is only missing #1, 3, 4, 6, and 16. Now he started as a child in 1987, but it's doable. He doesn't have an AF 15, but it's not like people walk around with 2 copies of it or anything...
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by X-O HoboJoe »

lorddunlow wrote:
StarBrand wrote:No, it is not feasible.
There's a guy that has a blog called "Chasing Amazing" and he states that he is only missing #1, 3, 4, 6, and 16. Now he started as a child in 1987, but it's doable. He doesn't have an AF 15, but it's not like people walk around with 2 copies of it or anything...
Again, evil!
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by lorddunlow »

X-O HoboJoe wrote:
lorddunlow wrote:
StarBrand wrote:No, it is not feasible.
There's a guy that has a blog called "Chasing Amazing" and he states that he is only missing #1, 3, 4, 6, and 16. Now he started as a child in 1987, but it's doable. He doesn't have an AF 15, but it's not like people walk around with 2 copies of it or anything...
Again, evil!
I'm closing in on the location. It's only a matter of time. I mean, the guy is only a 3 hr drive away. :twisted:
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by StarBrand »

lorddunlow wrote:
I'm asking if anyone thinks this is feasible
No, it is not feasible.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by 400yrs »

Go for it!

I also started as a kid and finished it off a few years ago with a rag copy of #3. No AF 15 though, but that is ok.

If I was starting now, I'd start off hunting cheap lots on ebay or bin diving at cons and stores. I also did the same for daredevil and am just missing issue #1. I started on a few others including flash, iron man and the like, but I've lost interest in it.

For a short while, I considered going after all the ASM variants, but I gave up on that one too.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by 400yrs »

StarBrand wrote:No, it is not feasible.
Sure it is. Many issues are still in dollar bins. There's a store here that has a six dollar silver age bin and there are double digit asms in there.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by StarBrand »

If you go for it, lorddunlow, start a thread here somewhere and let us know how it's going.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by Elveen »

Setting up at cons and meeting and talking to dealers has shown me that ALL books are available
The dude next to me in Vegas had an amazing 15 on the wall.

If you have the scratch, then go for it.
You might want to do your research and go after some of the harder to find modern books first and then the silver stuff.
I can tell you that silver age spidey books are easy to find at cons.
Spider-Man vol. #2 #36, not as much. I see much more SM #129 than vol 2 #36 at cons.
The #129s are not cheap, but they are there.

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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by StarBrand »

It might be a good idea to search eBay auctions for amazing spider-man lots as well. :thumb:
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by hulk181man »

It's a great run to collect and you wouldn't regret it...I started in the mid-1980's too and need about 55 issues to complete the run.

Not quite as close as 400yrs on DD --- need 4 issues to complete that run, 48, 53, 55, & 75
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by 400yrs »

One thing that I would recommend is counting the pages within the silver and bronze age stuff. Nothing is worse than figuring out you are missing pages and have to buy another copy.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by Escaflown4 »

It might look daunting from the beginning, but go for it! It's definitely feasible as I remember I started the quest back in 2009 and completed my run from 1 - 700 including AF 15 and all the annuals early this year. In reality, it took about 3 years as I took one year hiatus from comics after my daughter was born. Here are some tips you might want to think about.

1) The most expensive books of course are the early Silver Age issues all the way to the Punisher first appearance in #129. Then you will have the other key issues that can cost quite a pretty penny depending on your targeting grade level like #238, 252, 298 - 300. The most important step in attempting this quest is trying to figure out the best grade range to collect without breaking your bank. For example, this is my grade range target.

#1-20 = 4.0 - 6.0
#21 - 100 = 6.0 - 8.0
#101 - 129 = 8.0 - 9.0
#130 - 700 = 9.0 and above

2) Buy in bulk whenever possible. This will cut down the cost dramatically instead of buying one book at a time. Take your time and surf through Ebay or the CGC forums for anyone selling straight runs. Also check out your local comic shows and you will often get good deals when buying in bulk. Raid the 50 cents / $1 dollar bins whenever you see them. You never know what you might find. If you look hard enough, anything after issue #129 can be had for $1 or less except for the key issues.

3) When dealing with raw books, be wary of possible restoration on the early issues like from 1 to 20 and the other major key books. Unless you can get them ultra cheap, I would play it on the safe side and pick up the big key issues graded only.

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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by Escaflown4 »

400yrs wrote:One thing that I would recommend is counting the pages within the silver and bronze age stuff. Nothing is worse than figuring out you are missing pages and have to buy another copy.
I can't agree more as I have encountered once or twice I gotten a Silver Age issue with missing pages. I rarely see Bronze Age books missing pages, but I have came across many of them that are missing the Marvel stamps. Nothing hurts more then looking through a nice high grade Hulk 180/181 just to see the stamp has been cut out inside. :!:

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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by lorddunlow »

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna start this soon.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by StarBrand »

I met a guy who completed an Amazing Spider-Man run, but chose to end it at 441, the issue the original numbering ended. I wonder how many others ended their Amazing Spider-Man runs with that issue.
(I was just giving you a hard time saying this isn't feasible, lorddunlow. I wish you all success if you go for it.)
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by lorddunlow »

Escaflown4 wrote:It might look daunting from the beginning, but go for it! It's definitely feasible as I remember I started the quest back in 2009 and completed my run from 1 - 700 including AF 15 and all the annuals early this year. In reality, it took about 3 years as I took one year hiatus from comics after my daughter was born. Here are some tips you might want to think about.

1) The most expensive books of course are the early Silver Age issues all the way to the Punisher first appearance in #129. Then you will have the other key issues that can cost quite a pretty penny depending on your targeting grade level like #238, 252, 298 - 300. The most important step in attempting this quest is trying to figure out the best grade range to collect without breaking your bank. For example, this is my grade range target.

#1-20 = 4.0 - 6.0
#21 - 100 = 6.0 - 8.0
#101 - 129 = 8.0 - 9.0
#130 - 700 = 9.0 and above

2) Buy in bulk whenever possible. This will cut down the cost dramatically instead of buying one book at a time. Take your time and surf through Ebay or the CGC forums for anyone selling straight runs. Also check out your local comic shows and you will often get good deals when buying in bulk. Raid the 50 cents / $1 dollar bins whenever you see them. You never know what you might find. If you look hard enough, anything after issue #129 can be had for $1 or less except for the key issues.

3) When dealing with raw books, be wary of possible restoration on the early issues like from 1 to 20 and the other major key books. Unless you can get them ultra cheap, I would play it on the safe side and pick up the big key issues graded only.
Thanks for this very thorough post. I'm sure I'll take a a little longer to complete this run than you did. (Especially ASM #1 and AF #15 - I'll have to wait until my wife is senile). As for the recommendation to buy grade books for the early books and keys, I think that will definitely be the safest route (after dealing with loads of overgraded books on ebay just trying to get a Manhattan Projects #1). However, I would like to look at the books. Two questions: 1. How hard is it to open a slab up (any major risk of damaging the book doing so)? 2. Would all comic collectors descend upon me with pitchforks for doing so? (I would never plan to sell these books).
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by Elveen »

I think it would be great for you to make a video blog of you cracking ASM slabs.

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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by lorddunlow »

Elveen wrote:I think it would be great for you to make a video blog of you cracking ASM slabs.
I think I would have to make sure my location was secret. I think greg would personally try to stop me from continuing with it.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by hulk181man »

400yrs wrote:One thing that I would recommend is counting the pages within the silver and bronze age stuff. Nothing is worse than figuring out you are missing pages and have to buy another copy.
This is excellent advice. I once bought a nice looking #3 off ebay only to find the pin-up page was cut out. It was very tightly cropped, almost undetectable if you don't know to look for it. Of course I returned it and the seller was 'amazed' to learn of the missing page :roll:
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by dbngaa »

Go for it! Went over to ebay just to see what kind of lots are on there - found this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Amazing-Spi ... 370wt_1330" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There were several lots covering a similar number of books. Not saying it's a great deal or anything, just that there are plenty of people who have already done a lot of the work for you.
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by X-O HoboJoe »

hulk181man wrote:
400yrs wrote:One thing that I would recommend is counting the pages within the silver and bronze age stuff. Nothing is worse than figuring out you are missing pages and have to buy another copy.
This is excellent advice. I once bought a nice looking #3 off ebay only to find the pin-up page was cut out. It was very tightly cropped, almost undetectable if you don't know to look for it. Of course I returned it and the seller was 'amazed' to learn of the missing page :roll:
The dreaded "eBay Near Mint?"
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Re: Thinking about collecting Amazing Spider-Man

Post by maraxusofkeld »

Someone on the cgc boards has from 200-700 for sale for under 2k.


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