COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Conan the Barbarian 24 Universal
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Certification #:
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1050797002
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Owner:
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Rune
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
This is a very beautiful Conan the Barbarian #24 book at 9.8 with pure white pages, near-perfect cover orientation and cover centering. Over the years I have collected photos of several different Conan the Barbarian #24 CGC 9.8 books, and of course I miss photos of many similar books, since CGC has registered 59 of these books in July 2017 (and none better than 9.8). Of the 37 books I have seen, 19 had pure white pages, 5 books of these 19 books had near-perfect cover centering - and although book 0975863009 for years was the best I had ever seen, this current book and the Suscha News pedigree book 1027532003 have slightly better cover orientation (ok, maybe 097863009 has more vivid cover colors, sigh, but not much :-). So choosing a book with both near-perfect cover orientation and centering is extremely difficult, and although Conan the Barbarian #24 is the least scarce of all CGC 9.8 Conan the Barbarian issues 1 to 24 books, it took me several years to find this book. So finding a Conan the Barbarian 9.8 book may not be difficult, but finding one with pure white pages together with picture perfect cover centrering and orientation is insanely difficult - and a great challenge for comic ultra-nerds ;-)
In contrast to what some collectors may believe, this book is not the conclusion of the Barry Smith drawn Conan stories. After finishing Conan the Barbarian #24, Barry Smith continued his amazing work in Savage Tales #2 and #3, making Savage Tales #3 with an astonishing amount of 37 pages of pure Barry Smith art the final farewell from Barry Smith. But regarding "Conan the Barbarian" and "Savage Tales", Conan the Barbarian #24 was the last Barry Smith book to be printed in color, and the last cover done by Barry Smith, if that should count for something... ;-)
Another interesting observation is that this book has a certification number just one number higher than my Conan the Barbarian #23 9.8 WP book, so although these books were bought several months apart, it seems these two books originated from the same set (and from the same owner). So I am just guessing that I am not the only collector selecting books with great eye appeal (=near-perfect cover centering and orientation).
To wrap up this text, currently (July 2017) there are 59 CGC 9.8 books of Conan the Barbarian #24 and I know of these 39 books (actually 40 books, but one cert number is impossible to read):
1003143001, OW-W, Signature Series
1027532003, WP, Suscha News pedigree
1051554009, WP, Suscha News pedigree
1051554010, WP, Suscha News pedigree
0051819054, WP
0051819056, WP
0251258003, WP
0251317002, WP
0779748009, WP
0975863009, WP
0981343015, WP
1006492004, WP
1015189011, WP
1015189012, WP
1041669002, WP
1050797002, WP
1094051011, WP
1097194008, WP
1205726012, WP
1211735023, WP
0006540001, OW-W
0023677005, OW-W
0069494002, OW-W
0159837006, OW-W
0177823018, OW-W
0913096009, OW-W
1024341001, OW-W
1038317003, OW-W
1138273001, OW-W
1203068023, OW-W
1211735020, OW-W
1211735021, OW-W
1293080007, OW-W
1337824010, OW-W
1338010002, OW-W
1392104015, OW-W
0004709005, O-W
0060217012, O-W
1336933004, O-W
(WP = White Pages, OW-W = Off-White to White Pages and O-W = Off-White.)
If the numbers represent tendencies, then about 50% of all #24 9.8 books have WP, 40% have OW-W and 10% have O-W.
I have photos/scans of 37 books, but books with near-perfect cover centering and orientation are very rare - so far only 0177823018, 0975863009, 1027532003, 1041669002 and especially 1050797002 seem to qualify. You can see the 37 books here:
http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue24
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