A Kansas City comics retailer is offering up a rare find for comics fans: the entire Marvel comics collection—yes, every single one—beginning with the publisher’s official launch title, 1961’s Fantastic Four #1, to its most recent issues. (Plus, the collection includes every Marvel magazine edition, graphic novel and reissue from the ’70s and ’80s for the completists among us.)
The whole bundle, which includes somewhere between 32,000 and 34,000 books, is being sold as one package for $200,000 or, for a reduced price of $50,000 without the 100 most valuable issues, according to Frank Mangiaracina of B-Bop Comics, who is offering the trove. The price, Mr. Mangiaracina told the Observer, is a serious discount considering that the total sum of each issues’ value would be closer to $400,000.
“It’s culturally important,” Mr. Mangiaracina told the Observer. The hope, he said, was for an institution of museum to purchase the collection. So far, B-Bop has received several “serious inquiries.”
Mr. Mangiaracina explained that all of the issues after 1970 are in excellent condition, ranging from grades of “very fine” to “mint,” while some of the earlier issues may have wear and tear because the original owner bought them as a child. Nearly all of the books were bought upon release, from a newsstand, though the owner has had to fill some gaps over the years; early issues of Amazing Spider-Man were bought later.
Many of the issues in the collection are significant both for introducing iconic characters into the Marvel Universe and for their pristine condition. In 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, Marvel gave readers the first appearance of Spider Man—who has gone on to appear in cartoons, and not one, but two movie franchises. That same year, the golden-haired, hammer-wielding Asgardian god of Thunder, better known as Thor, made his first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #83. And while the collection’s issue copy isn’t perfect, the infamous villain Doctor Doom made his first appearance in Fantastic Four #5.
The issues take up 106 long boxes, with a few larger ones to store the oversized books. But for interested buyers, make sure to account for a little extra storage space, as the store says it will continue to add every recently published issue through the end of 2015.
B-Bop will offer the entire collection as a single lot sale through February.
