Set Description:
A long while back, I made the decision that I wanted to eventually have graded 9.8 copies of all 13 books that made up the Mutant Massacre storyline.
This was partly because I already had a decent start on them, but also because it was one of my favorite mutant storylines of all time.
I had already picked up all five Uncanny X-Men issues (#210-#214) that were part of this set, as well as the one New Mutants book (#46). So I set about trying to locate the other seven books I needed.
I found one of the two Thor issues (#374) on WorldWide Comics, which was also a Newsstand copy. The other Thor book (#373) I managed to win on Ebay. I also found the Power Pack issue (#27) on Ebay as well. With the three X Factor issues, I got two from Ebay (#9,#10) and one from WorldWide (#11).
The single Daredevil book (#238) was the only one that I didn't buy already CGC graded. It was a raw copy given to me by Ronnylama. I submitted it at Megacon 2013 for Universal grading and it got 9.6 WP. This was also the first show were I cracked books for signatures, one of which just happened to wind up being the New Mutants #46, which I got Chris Claremont on.
Once I went through my first personal cracking, signing, and regrading process at Megacon 2013, I began to look for every opportunity to get more signatures. This wound up giving me the desire to have all of these Mutant Massacre books done in SS 9.8!
So the next book I cracked was the Power Pack #27, which I sent to Desert Winds to have Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove sign at SDCC 2013. Luckily it retained 9.8 and became the second book in this set to upgrade to SS 9.8!
Then came Baltimore CC 2013, which was an amazing show. It was where I met my long lost big brother, Tnerb as well as cracking over 70 books for signings! Five of them were the two Thor issues and all three X Factor issues for this set! All five of these got two signatures apiece, and ultimately they all retained their 9.8 grades!!!!
Since my Daredevil #238 from Megacon was not back yet, I decided to take my OCC (Original Collection Copy) of the issue with me for Sal Buscema to sign. It wound up getting 9.6 as well. So now I had two 9.6 copies of the book, one signed and one not.
Then I sent Uncanny X-Men #210, #211 and #214 to Tnerb to have them all double signed at NYCC 2013! These all managed to retain their lofty grades as well.
Then came ECCC 2014. Boy howdy, did it come! It came with four creators who could sign my two Daredevil #238 books. Unfortunately, the two graded copies I had were both 9.6 and it came down to deciding whether it was worth it to get these sigs. Ultimately, I decided to go ahead and do it. After all, how could I pass up on an opportunity for FOUR signatures all at once?...... right?
The books I had done at ECCC wound up coming back to me in just 35 days. That's regular days, not business days! I don't how they got done so quickly, since I did not do Fast Tracking on them, but I wasn't complaining, especially when I saw the results.
I expected both Daredevils to come back retaining their 9.6 grades, since I did not have them pressed, but astonishingly, the one that I had originally received as a gift wound up bumping up to 9.8!! I kind of wished it had been the one that Sal Buscema had originally signed but I wasn't complaining. I mean, how could I possibly be upset at having a quadruple signed 9.8 copy now?...... right?
This is the point at which I had the honor to receive a 2014 registry award for Best Copper Age Set for my Mutant Massacre collection! I had a feeling that after six years of solid collecting and submitting, I was finally going to win a major award, and it turned out I was right!
So now I just had two more books to get turned into SS copies (X-Men #212 and #213). It was Baltimore CC 2014 that gave me my first "crack" at them. I cracked my Uncanny X-Men #213 and took it with me for Alan Davis to sign. Unfortunately, his line was always ridiculously long and I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get him on it. That's when I decided to go ahead and pay the extra $10 CGC was offering to get the signature for me.
The next day at the show, I realized that I had forgot to put all of my information on the submission form and I went to Mike to see about locating it and fixing the invoice, but because of the timing and busy-ness of the show, they had no way to quickly locate it. But Mike assured me that they would take care of it.
And he turned out to be right. The invoice showed up in my order status page like always and ultimately the book came back retaining its 9.8 status, but with a lovely yellow label and an Alan Davis scrawl on it!
So now I'm left with just the X-Men #212, which I always felt would be the trickiest one. I bought my copy almost six whole years ago (2008) and paid way more than it sells for now. Back then there were only 25 copies in 9.8. Now there are plenty of them out there. But the reason I'm particularly worried about this book is the dark black cover.
Covers like this are always more susceptible to showing damage and fingerprints. I will have to be extremely careful when dealing with it, when the time comes to do so. I look forward to the moment when I can finally get this last book done and complete my full SS 9.8 set of this storyline!
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