ALMOST THERE ON COMPLETING BOB'S SILVER-AGE SUPER-HERO COLLECTION...

When I recently snagged Amazing Fantasy #15 it was not only my personal "grail comic" from the past 40 years or so, but it also completed my run of Amazing Spider-Man and pretty much all major appearances of Peter Parker's masked identity.  I also realized that I was pretty close to complete on most of the major Marvel super-hero series, though granted, the ones I'm missing are mostly key issues and are not particularly cheap.   If I can score one key a year, that would be awesome, but it will likely be less frequent than that, if at all. 

In Marvel, I'm quite far away from complete on the Western and Romance titles, as well as pre-hero mystery books (Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales of Suspense, and Tales to Astonish) for issues from before the super-heroes came along and took over these books.  

I've been tracking the Marvel hero books I need very closely and I'll tick them off the list on this page as I acquire them.  I'll typically post pictures on Bob's Blog and Facebook of any of these books as I get them.  I'm chipping away at the ones that aren't super-expensive as I find them for a price that seems right to me and with good "eye appeal".

For the "super keys" that are >$1000 for even a copy in terrible condition, I'm going to need to go to a "grail" system and work on those one at a time, though if a deal comes along that is too good to pass up I'll figure those out as I go along.

As I buy books, they'll be taken off the list when I get them physically in my hands!   
The Countdown was at 110 books away from complete on Marvel "super-hero era" comics when I started this page.

                                                                                                                                     Current Grail: Incredible Hulk #1 (1961) 

•  Hulk [1]  1 (Origin/1st App)
• Journey Into Mystery (Thor) [1]  83 (1st Thor)   
• Tales of Suspense (Iron Man) [1]  39 (Origin/1st App)
• Tales to Astonish (Ant-Man) [1]  27 (1st Hank Pym, not in costume) 

SILVER AGE MARVEL COMPLETE RUNS
These extend into the Bronze and Modern Ages...

• Amazing Spider-Man (including Amazing Fantasy 15) - begins Aug/Sept 1962
• Avengers - begins Sept 1963
• Captain America (including Avengers 4 + Sgt. Fury 13 + Tales of Suspense 58 up + solo series) - begins Mar 1964
• Daredevil - begins Apr 1964
• Doctor Strange (Strange Tales 110 up + solo series) - begins July 1963
• Fantastic Four - Marvel Superheroes started here in November 1961
• S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strange Tales 135 up + solo series) - begins Aug 1965
• Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos - begins May 1963
• Silver Surfer (solo series + all FF appearances) - begins Mar 1966, Silver Surfer series runs Aug 1968 thru Sept 1970
• Strange Tales (the Superhero issues 101 & up) - begins Oct 1962 with Human Torch, Dr. Strange debuts in #110
• Sub-Mariner (Tales to Astonish 70 up + solo series) - begins Aug 1965
• Captain Marvel (including Marvel Super-Heroes 12-13) - begins Dec 1967, Captain Marvel solo series begins May 1968 and runs thru 1979 
• X-Men - begins Sept 1963

--> and here we start bumping up against the Bronze Age as far as  Marvel super-hero 'runs' go

COMPLETED RUNS: Beware, Chamber of Chills, Chamber of Darkness, Creatures on the Loose, Crypt of Shadows, Dead of Night, Dracula Lives! (magazine), Fear, Haunt of Horror (magazine), Journey Into Mystery (v2), Man-Thing (v1), Marvel Chillers, Monster of Frankenstein, Monsters on the Prowl, Monsters Unleashed! (magazine), Supernatural Thrillers, Tales of the Zombie (magazine), Tomb of Darkness, Tomb of Dracula (v1), Tower of Shadows, Uncanny Tales, Vampire Tales (magazine), Vault of Evil, Weird Wonder Tales, Werewolf by Night (v1), Where Creatures Roam, Where Monsters Dwell, Worlds Unknown
Am I missing a title that should be here?  If so, send a note to: bob@comicspectrum.com

                                                                                                                                              DC Grail: Showcase #4 (1956)

Lest the impression come across that I'm only a fan of Marvel, I am pretty close on my DC collection outside of Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman, just not as close as with Marvel.  I do have several complete runs of super-hero stuff, but
I'm missing lots of DC's War, Mystery, and Romance comics from the Silver/Bronze Ages and continue to keep an eye out for these in addition to the super-hero stuff listed here.       {} indicates books on order but not received yet

• Action Comics [x]  Numerous issues from #220 (Sept 1956) thru 250, then 252-269, 271-276, 278-282, 284, 287, 291, 304, 309
• Adventure Comics [x]  Numerous issues up to 247(1st LSH), then 248-259, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266,  267(2nd LSH), 269(1st Aqualad),  270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 278, 279, 280, 283, 284, 285, 303
• Batman [x]  Numerous issues from 100 (June 1956) thru 103, then 105-143, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 181 (1st Poison Ivy), 227
• The Brave & The Bold [23]  1,  2,  4-17,  19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24,  25(1st Suicide Squad)
• Detective Comics [x]  Numerous issues from 225 (1st J'onn J'onzz)  226 (MM origin) 227-240, 242-272, 274, 275, 277, 279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 286, 288, 289-297, 299, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306, 307, 311, 314, 322, 323
• Flash [7]  Showcase 4 (1st SA Flash, start of Silver Age)  8(2nd Flash) , 13 & 14(3rd & 4th Flash)
   Flash 105 (1st Mirror Master),  106,  110(1st Kid Flash) 
• ​Showcase [20]  1, 2, 3, 4(1st Flash),  6 & 7(1st & 2nd Challengers of the Unknown), 8(2nd Flash) , 9 & 10(Lois Lane), 11 & 12 (3rd & 4th Challengers), 13 & 14(3rd & 4th Flash), 15 & 16 (Space Ranger), 17, 18, 19(1st - 3rd Adam Strange) ,  20(1st Rip Hunter) 
• Superboy [x]  1 thru 78,  80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 88,  89 (1st Mon-El),  90,  91,  97,  98 (LSH, 1st Ultra Boy), 104,  109        Annual 1
• Superman [x]  Numerous issues up to 116, 118-145, 147 (7th LSH),  148,  149 (8th LSH),  150,  154,  158,  159,  160       Annual  1, 2, 3, 5
• Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane [x]  1 thru 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 44, 51, 55   Annual  2 
• Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen [x]  1 thru 58, 61, 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 74, 77  
• Wonder Woman [x]  1-40, 42-117, 119-128, 130-133, 135-138, 140-153, 155, 158, 160, 161, 163, 165, 167, 173      WW Archives v6
• World's Finest [x]  Numerous from 84 (Sep/Oct 1956) thru 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 127, 131, 133, 138 {139}
  

• Blackhawk [x] 9-150, 152-183, 185, 186, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 198, 202, 203, 206, 208, 209, 210, 213, 314, 215, 216, 217, 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 233, 235, 239
• Challengers of the Unknown [x]  Showcase 6, 7, 11, 12  own title: 1 - 13, 16, 19, 21, 30, 31, 34
• Mystery in Space [x]  1 thru 52, 53 (1st Adam Strange) 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 72, 73, 76, 100
• My Greatest Adventure [x] 1-64, 67, 68, 69, 75, 76, 77, 79
• Rip Hunter, Time Master [2]  Showcase 20 (1st Rip Hunter) own title:   1 
• Sea Devils [10]  Showcase 29 (3rd appearance) own title:  15, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 34, 35 
• Strange Adventures [x]  Numerous thru 109, 111-127, 129-139, 141-151, 153, 154, 156, 157, 159, 160, 162, 164, 167, 168, 171-177, 179, 181, 182, 183, 184(2nd Animal Man) 185, 189, 191(2nd Enchantress) 202
  

Most extend into the Bronze and Modern Ages...

• Aquaman (including Showcase 30-32)
• The Atom (including Showcase 34-36)
• Justice League of America (including Brave & The Bold 28-30)
• Doom Patrol (including My Greatest Adventure 80-85) 
• Green Lantern (including Showcase 22-24)
• Hawkman (including Brave & The Bold 34-36, 42-44 + Mystery In Space 87-90)
• Metal Men (including Showcase 37-40)
• Metamorpho (including B&B 57, 58, 66, 68)
• Plastic Man
• Shazam (just the later DC issues titled Shazam, not any of the Golden/Atomic Age Captain Marvel from Fawcett)
• Teen Titans (including B&B 54 & 60 + Showcase 59)