COMIC DETAILS
|
Comic Description:
|
Avengers 1 Universal
|
|
Grade:
|
9.4
|
|
Page Quality:
|
WHITE
|
|
Certification #:
|
1205125001
|
|
Owner:
|
Mississippi Mudcats
|
SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Both Avengers and X-Men made their first appearance in Marvel comics the same month in September 1963. Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember well the excitement I had at finding two new Marvel superhero comics to purchase at the local drugstore. I still have both copies, neither is worth submitting to CGC, as I was not the smartest little kid when it came to preservation.
As for the issue itself, the Avengers, composed then of original members Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, Ant-Man and the Wasp, face off with Thor’s brother Loki, the God of Mischief. (Why is Ant-Man hyphenated by Marvel and Iron Man not?) One thing I have always found rather funny, and which is arguably a mistake by Marvel, is that Loki says on the cover “The Avengers, bah, I’ll destroy you all”. In fact, it was not until after Loki was defeated and captured in Issue #1 that the group agreed they had worked well together and should be formalized as a team. The Wasp suggested the name "Avengers", and Earth's Mightiest Heroes were officially born. So since the Avengers did not even exist as a group during the confrontation with Loki, how did Loki know to call them by a name that the Wasp had not yet suggested?
Also, the Avengers’ stated purpose is to protect and safeguard the world from both domestic and extraterrestrial threats. Finding strength in union, they uphold their tradition to overcome menaces a single individual could not withstand, which draws into question the decision for the inaugural foe to be just Loki, who Thor often battled. It just doesn’t seem like Loki was a big-enough baddie to warrant the formation of a new team?
But putting all that aside, the Avengers went on to be one of Marvel’s greatest hits and the heroes in four of the ten biggest box-office movies of all time. We did own a 9.6 copy of this issue, which is one of six 9.6s topping the census. It was our included example in this set when we claimed to have an 9.6/9.8 run, which was technically correct. But unfortunately, that 9.6 was also trimmed. If anyone actually ever reads my descriptions, which are a work in progress and chronicle my experiences as a collector, you will see a recurring theme of first Marvel issues being high grade purple labels. (My DC keys are usually unrestored, but then they are generally much cheaper.) I personally think that the market punishes such issues too much, they look the same as a universal grade, but cost a tiny fraction as much. That difference has accelerated as time goes by as well.
In this case, our 9.6 was far and away the best restored one available and the only restored copy above 9.2 in the census. The book hails from the Second City Collection and was acquired in the 6/11/2018 ComicConnect auction. It replaced a Stan Lee signed restored 9.2 in our collection.
Then in May 2024 we acquired an unrestored 9.4 copy of Issue #1 to replace our restored 9.6. I cannot say that acquisition was planned, but in our regular effort to put in relatively low auction bids on certain high-grade unrestored keys in the hope of one of them falling into our hands, we picked up the book in the May CL Auction. The acquisition came just a month after our failed effort to acquire an unrestored 9.6 #1 in Heritage’s April 2024 Auction-in which, quite frankly, we weren’t even close. I do feel pretty good about the price, as the book has vibrant colors and is perfectly centered bearing a QES sticker. And we obtained the book at less than 30% of the of the hammer price of the aforementioned 9.6, while enjoying better page quality and a better spine than that book, despite its lower grade.
But the price paid still represents one of the highest prices we have ever paid for a book and we certainly had not expected to get it at the time. In fact, the acquisition knocked us out of bidding on several books we were targeting, so, all in all, it was a little bit of a mixed bag. Prior to acquiring the book, our concentration had been on finishing more sets, not upgrading completed ones; however, on the bright side, I feel the book really elevates this set to the level of our best Marvel sets, even if the price paid delays our efforts to complete a few other sets for a year or so.
|
|
|