User blog:TeamBadkid/Where's Stan

What comics are your comic book collection? My cousin is out to collect the first appearances of every X-men member ever. A friend of mine is on a mission to own the entire Spiderman-Ditko run. The comics I grab for my collection usually looks random when I bring them to the counter. However there is a method to my madness and haphazard purchasing.

With the exception of 3 comics (Uncanny X-men #226, amazing spider-man #300, and New Teen Titans #44), my comic book collection is solely comics with Stan Lee cameos. I've have always been a fan of Stan, Marvel, and comic books but this quest of mine is a fairly new. It only started a year ago, when I heard that Stan "The Man" Lee was coming to my city for the Wizard World Comic con. Knowing Stan is very old and probably wont make to my city again I knew this was my chance to get a comic signed by him; but which one? I was ready to drop a hefty dollar on Fantastic four #48 or Avengers #4. While I was lurking on forums and talking to friends who are major collectors There were two questions that always seemed to pop up regardless of who I asked. 1) Are you planning on selling it? 2) Is it worth anything to YOU?

Great questions. If I wasn't going to sell it, I was going to make sure I loved the character or the book I was going to get signed. So back to the drawing board. I remembered seeing Superior Spider-man #16 (the one with Stan Lee dressed up as Spider-man) and thought "Stan Lee makes cameos on his movies, I wonder if he made any in comic books?". With more research and a big thanks to Marvel Wiki. I found out that he has made cameos. Quite a few actually. So I grabbed Fantastic Four #10 (his first appearance) on eBay and had that signed by Stan and then graded. In between finding the comic and getting it signed, I had a really fun time reading through it and finding Stan and Jack in the books. So I looked on Marvel Wiki again and got another. Again, having a fun time tracking down the comic and finding Stan inside. This started my journey to collect every appearance of Stan Lee in comic books.

I did make a few rules for myself. Mainly: No buying on eBay and other websites. I mean seriously with eBay, Midtowncomics,Milehighcomics, ETC if I wanted to, I can purchase everything and be done with it in a day. But what's the fun in that? So all my comics will be purchases at Cons or at comic shops. With the exception of the first one I purchased, I've been holding up to this rule pretty well.

SO, back to the basic questions: Am I planning on selling it? NOPE =) Is it worth anything to me? I know my collection isn't worth much to anyone else, but I'm having a great time hunting them down and cataloging them when I get it. It's like my very own Where's waldo or scavenger hunt. My collection brings so much joy and satisfaction.

I want to thank everyone for keeping Marvel Wiki up to date. My collection would be no where if it weren't for you guys! I'll post what I have, and continue to post as I obtain more.