Set Description:
Synopsis: This is a complete set with a minimum grade of 9.6, Overall, 88 out of 100 issues are 9.8s and 12 are 9.6s. Of the 12 9.6s, 10 have white pages and six come from pedigree collections (three Pacific Coasts, two Currators and one Rocky Mountain).
Background: The Avengers were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and debuted in September 1963 in The Avengers #1. Labeled "Earth's Mightiest Heroes," the original Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor and the Wasp. Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.
Marvel initially published the Avengers bi-monthly through issue #6 (July 1964) and monthly thereafter through issue #402 (Sept. 1996), with spinoffs including several annuals, miniseries and a giant-size quarterly sister series that ran briefly in the mid-1970s.
Writers of the first series included Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, David Michelinie and Roger Stern. Artists included John Buscema, Tom Palmer, Neal Adams, George Perez, John Byrne and Steve Epting.
While the line-up often changed, the Avengers were always an all-star ensemble cast of established superhero characters from the Marvel Comics universe. Diegetically, these superheroes usually operate independently, but occasionally assembled as a team to tackle especially formidable villains. This in contrast to certain other superhero teams such as the X-Men or Fantastic Four, whose characters were created specifically to be part of their team, with the team being central to their identity.
Lee and Kirby reportedly created the Avengers to start a new line of books and to cross-promote Marvel Comics characters. Reportedly, the thought at the time was that an Iron Man fan might buy an Avengers book because Iron Man appears in them, and in turn take an interest in Thor, who appears in the same book as Iron Man's friend and comrade. The cast usually featured a few highly popular characters who have their own solo books, such as Iron Man, alongside a number of lesser-known characters who benefit from exposure, such as Quicksilver or Hawkeye.
The Avengers have appeared in a wide variety of media outside of comic books, including several different animated television series and direct-to-video films. Beginning in 2008, they were adapted in a series of movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, culminating with The Avengers in 2012, The Avengers: Age of Ulton in 2015, The Avengers: Infinity Wars in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019, which ended with the deaths of Captain America, Iron Man and the Black Widow. Those movies remain four of the top 15 grossing films of all time.
Our Collection: I actually still own a couple of raw Avengers #1s, at least one of which I bought from the drugstore on the square back in Oxford MS in 1963. Of course, those raw books are just readers, as I never knew about preserving them when I was a kid. But this run has long been a favorite. Strangely enough, despite the success of the movies, these books are still some of the more affordable Marvels with a couple of exceptions, probably because the title originated after many stalwarts like FF, ASM, JIM, TOS and TTA.
In 2020, we finally achieved our goal of having all 100 issues in 9.6/9.8. However, in 2021, we traded away our #4 9.6 in exchange for a much rarer book, which completed another set. From a value standpoint, it was a terrible trade, but we have always been more collectors than investors and figured we could probably always find another #4 9.6, even if we end up paying more. We finally acquired another #4 9.6 in 2024, so this set is back to being a complete 9.6/9.8 collection, albeit with one restored book, but we won’t dwell on that minor negative LOL.
We have perhaps an unrealistic goal to find all 9.8s from #10-100, so if you have a 9.8 we need, specifically Issues #13, #14, #25, #28, #29, #35, or #43 and are interested in converting it to cash, please e-mail us or contact us via the registry and we will get right back to you ASAP.
Current Stats:
100/100 Books
88 9.8s-All Highest Graded
11 9.6s-2 Highest Graded
1 9.4-Highest Graded SS
63 WP
31 OW/W
5 OW
1 Cr/OW
2 Single Highest Graded
88 Highest Graded
12 Second Highest Graded
28 Pedigrees
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