Defenders 10

EXPENSIVE BACK-ISSUE ALERT!

This cost me £24 incl p&p off ebay. And it's only a FN- copy. Mind you higher grade copies are in the £80-£100 range so I'm making do with this one. Still £24 is quite a bit to pay for one issue and I reckon it's one of the most expensive bronze-age issues I've purchased. probably Iron Man 55 being the most.  It completes my Defenders run and the issue itself is important as it's a key issue in the Defenders vs Avengers war from 1973.

Pleased to have got this.

Defenders Number 11 - upgrade!

Uptill now this was my copy of Defenders #11

This is my new VFN- copy!

Defenders Masterworks Vol 1

This Masterworks volume finally arrive in the post today. It's taken two weeks and it seems that this is a replacement copy. Anyway, it's here and I'm pleased that I've got these early Defenders stories.

Added to My collection: Defenders #3

A 99p purchase from ebay. There's a knock on the bottom left hand corner but otherwise it's in great nick. As I speak a VFN copy is going for just under a £10 so I think I've done well with this one.

More Howard the Duck

Reading has been a bit slow over the Christmas period due to visitors and watching episodes of Fringe back-to-back but I'v now got up to issue 14 and have read the Treasury (which unusually for the time included a brand new story).

Although the Treasury was fun these other issues haven't been quite as good as earlier ones. The whole Howard for President was probably more fun at the time but the subsequent issues when Howard "qwacks" up are a bit to odd for my taste. I'm going to give HTD a little break to see if I enjoy it is smaller doses and read a novel - the sequel to Feed!

Added to My Collection: More Defenders!

Well unless I get really lucky and snap up issue 10 or very early issues including those in Marvel Feature, these will be the last Defenders comics I will buy as I now have a complete run from 4-39 except No. 10.

These FN/VFN issues were picked up on ebay for 2.99 each including postage.

Added to my collection: Howard the Duck and Defenders

More ebay purchases arrived today. As I've said before, I'm trying to collect early Defenders issues without spending too much and I managed to pick these two VG/FN issues (together with #16which I've already got) for £2.25. Which is pretty reasonable.

Also picked up for 99p issue 30 of Howard the Duck by Bill Mantlo and Gene Colan. This is a pretty scarce issue to be honest having both a low print run and ND in the UK and dealers normally sell it for over £5. Just got the final issue #31 to get now for the complete run but that is also scarce and ND.

I've always loved that cover as it was featured in Bullpen bulletins but I must record some love for Defenders issue 12 cover. That's a superb bronze age cover.

Hulk 207 -212

I've finished reading the next 6 issues of the Incredible Hulk which means I'm halfway through the 2 years worth of issues I plan to read at this time.

These issues continue the entertaining run by Len Wein and Sal Buscema.

I absolutely love this cover. I'm sure it's John Romita but the Grand Comics Database guesses Ed Hannigan who was doing a few of the covers around this period. This is much better than those so I still think I'm right.

It's a good run so far. I'm enjoying this much more than older issues. Len's scripts are easy to read. He's got more variety in his storylines and Sal's Hulk is a joy to behold.

Added to my Collection: Defenders!

Whilst I'm collecting The Defenders, I'm not wanting to spend much so the condition of some of the issues I end up buying is probably not the greatest. Issue #8 is a VG condition and is perhaps on the borderline of what I consider acceptable as a collection standard.

No. 30 surprised me as it's written by Bill Mantlo not Englehart or Gerber. It's drawn by Sam Grainger and is a done-in-one issue. I like the cover!

I'm please to have aquired these as they fill a couple of gaps and just a handful left to get.

Added to my collection - More Bronze Age goodies

Just added via one ebay purchase 2 more comics to my collection and an upgrade of Marvel Team-Up 84. My old copy was water soaked so it was nice to pick up a FN+ copy for 95p together with Defenders 38 and Two-In-One 86.

The Defenders fills a gap so I now have16-39 except for No. 30. That's a priority. At the time of writing I can't decide if to get some Masterwork editions to get the early issues some of which are quite expensive. No. 10 is approx £40. Too steep for me on this title. All the others I've bought have been about £2.

The 2-in-1 Sandman issue is supposed to be notable due to the fact it goes towards redeeming the Sandman. I know that storyline has now been abandoned but at the time it was popular. I couldn't resist adding this so I could read it even though 2-in-1 beyond issue 75 were not really high one my wants list.

Added to my collection...Defenders!

Wow. A whole bunch of Defenders back-issues have arrived today and yesterday. No. 4 featuring the return of Valkyrie is written by Steve Englehart and was picked up in VG+ condition for approx £2.50 which was pretty good. The later issues are all Steve Gerber and are FN/VFN for £1.77 each. Some nice copies and I'm looking forward to reading those sometime.

Not too many Defenders issues to get now. I've noticed #10 with it's classic cover and Avengers x-over going for a fair price (£40+!!) so I'll probably not bother with that one but others I will continue to pic up cheap. The priority issues are No. 30 and 38 which are need to fill two conspicious gaps.

Added to my collection...

I've received these comics this week. All from various Ebay sellers and all at 99p except for the Hulk where somebody had the cheek to also bid on on the item taking it to £2.04!!

I've mentioned before that I'm collecting early Defenders issues when I can find them cheap, the Hulk #264 fills a gap which just leaves # 257 to get and the Marvel Two-In-One Annual comes recommended after being voted the 2nd best Thing story of tall time on Comics Should Be Good.

UPDATE:  I actually sat down and read the 2 in 1 annual before storing it in the longbox. Now that doesn't happen very often! It was a fun read but I wouldn't have put it in my top 10 Thing stories.

New Purchases - Defenders Back-issues

Received today from EBay 3 issues of the Defenders. No.s 31,32 and 33.

All £1.05 each so nice and cheap and actually paid for using money gained from selling my Magic Online collection. The Defenders is one of those series where it is possible to pick up lower grade issues cheap on EBay as they were distributed in the UK back in the 1970s. 

I've read only a few issues but the series is constantly praised on Bronze Age Babies so I've decided to collect up to issue 39 which I think is the last Steve Gerber story and the end of the Headmen storyline.