For This Is the Day... That a Superman Died
Adventures of Superman 498 Fourth Printing

COMIC DETAILS

Comic Description: Adventures of Superman #498 Signature
Grade: 9.8
Page Quality: WHITE
Certification #: 1274009011
Owner: Iconic1s

SET DETAILS

Winning Set: For This Is the Day... That a Superman Died
Date Added: 12/17/2019
Research: See CGC's Census Report for this Comic

Owner's Description

<i>From the 'NO ONE CAN KILL SUPERMAN!' collection.</i>

I may have referred to other books in this set as my grail from time to time, but this book is truly my <i>grail of all grails.</i> The cover art for Man of Steel 19 is still my favorite <i>art</i> in this set but I really love the way this Adventures of Superman 498 fourth printing comes together as a whole. There is something about the combination of the black and white image of Superman laying upside down on the ground and the purple and yellow title that is very appealing to me. Add the DC Universe logo and the roman numeral IV to the mix and it’s just incredible! This is truly a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Although not part of the book, the yellow ss label goes pretty well with this book too! This book's holder had a small crack on the lower left corner when I bought it. I finally worked up the courage to send this book, as well as a few others in this set to get reholdered in September 2020. That was the beginning of getting all of the books in this set in the new holder.

I had been searching pretty hard for a copy of this book worthy of submission. I paid way too much for a sealed <i>Funeral for a Friend</i> box set hoping for a 9.8 inside the box. It seemed that each copy I found had a different isolated trouble area, whether it was a corner issue, spine tick, or some other defect, while the rest of the book would be perfect. The copy from the box set had never been removed but had shifted ever so slightly within the box for so long that the ink near both staples had been rubbed off. The possibility of me finding a 9.8 of this book was not looking good. At the same time there was one 9.8 Signature Series in the census but it was not listed in any registered set. I wondered who the lucky owner of that book was.

While discussing some of the other books from <i> the 'NO ONE CAN KILL SUPERMAN!' collection</i> I asked the owner on a lark, whether he happened to have a 498 fourth printing. He replied that he did, <i>but</i> it was a ss! I just about fell on the floor and didn’t even try to hide my excitement. Even when letting him know how much I wanted this book, the owner was completely fair in his dealing with me. I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy some of the people you meet while collecting, but this was truly an extraordinary experience, which is another reason for me to make sure it is known which 15 books came from that collection.

This was the lone 9.8 in the census when I added it, and is signed by Dan Jurgens. It doesn’t get any better than that!

<b>In the collector world the term grail is often used to describe something we are in search of, <i>a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after.</i></b>

Because this book is <i>MY</i> grail I included a picture of what many now believe to be the <i>ACTUAL</i> grail in the second picture slot. I have always been fascinated by the legend of the Holy Grail as well as the Arthurian legend so I thought it would be fun to include this here. Excerpts of a 2018 History Channel article by Christopher Klein are below.

"In their book "The Kings of the Grail", medieval history lecturer Margarita Torres and art historian José Miguel Ortega del Rio claim the Holy Grail rests inside the Basilica of San Isidoro in the northern Spanish city of León. They say that a three-year investigation led to their conclusion that the hallowed cup that Jesus Christ supposedly drank from at the Last Supper and that was used to collect his precious blood is a jewel-encrusted goblet that has long been known as the chalice of the Infanta Doña Urraca in honor of the daughter of King Ferdinand I, ruler of León and Castile from 1037 to 1065.

The researchers had been investigating Islamic remains in the Basilica of San Isidoro when they came across medieval Egyptian parchments that mentioned that the holy chalice had been taken from Jerusalem to Cairo and then given to an emir who ruled an Islamic kingdom on Spain’s Mediterranean coast in return for the help he gave to famine-stricken Egypt. The emir then gifted the chalice as a peace offering to the Christian King Ferdinand. The goblet has been in the basilica’s possession since the 11th century and in plain sight in the church’s basement museum since the 1950s.

The chalice, made of gold and onyx and sprinkled with precious stones, is actually two goblets fused together, one turned up, the other down. The upper half is made of agate and missing a fragment, exactly as described in the Egyptian parchments. Scientific dating has placed the origin of the cup between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D. They concede they cannot definitively prove that the chalice actually touched Jesus’s lips, only that it is the vessel that early Christians revered as the one used at the Last Supper. “The only chalice that could be considered the chalice of Christ is that which made the journey to Cairo and then from Cairo to León—and that is this chalice.”

This is not the first time that the Holy Grail has been “found.” From Latvia to Scotland, more than 200 goblets in Europe alone have been posited as being the holy relic. Some claim the cup rests in the sewers of Jerusalem while others believe that the medieval Knights Templar took the goblet from Jerusalem during the Crusades and eventually secreted it away in New World locations. Some theorize it is even hidden inside Fort Knox.

If there is a Holy Grail, proving that it indeed was the goblet used by Jesus would be nearly impossible. One thing that’s all but certain, however, is that in spite of the latest announcement, history’s greatest treasure hunt will continue."

<i>Not everyone believes in grails however...</i>

According to Carlos de Ayala, a medieval historian at a Madrid University, “The Grail legend is a literary invention of the 12th century with no historical basis. You cannot search for something that does not exist.”

<i>All I can say is it must stink to be that guy!</i>
  
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