Set Description:
The last comic I need to complete this set in 9.8 or higher with White Pages is #147. I recently found three nice copies and immediately sent them all into CGC. I hope I don’t jinx it but I think at least one of them is a 9.8 and now that I eagerly await the results, I have mixed emotions about completing this set. This set is a direct result of my chronic alcoholism and it’s not because I went on a bender and binge bought a ton of Swampy slabs. I’m not trying to say liquor is bad, I’m just saying it’s bad for me. Like Matt Cable bad. As of writing this in July, 2026 it’s been over 8 years since I’ve had a drink and I’ve used comic book collecting to help deal with intense cravings over this time. The origin of this set began in early 2018. My drinking at that time was so debilitating that I was finally willing to go to in-patient rehab for it. I tried AA and out-patient but always relapsed. The rehab I went to was not just for alcoholics. In fact, most were there because of the opiate crisis. There I learned that no matter what drug you were there to try and quit, we would all develop what are called cross-additions. In recovery an addict’s brain starts to be able to manufacture dopamine on its own again and we immediately get hooked on the ability to feel pleasure again without the aid of a drug. In my case when alcohol and pot were removed, I developed a strong desire to buy graded Swamp Thing comic books online to give me spikes of dopamine. Before I entered treatment, I only owned 9.8’s of #21, 22, 23, 24, and 27 and by the time I left rehab I would say I had at least 40 graded Swamp Thing issues. They were all getting delivered to my home and my roommate would just stack the boxes in a huge closet. When I got home after two months, it was like Christmas on steroids opening everything. I racked up some credit card debt doing that, but I quickly settled up by selling some of my Marvel 1st appearances from the silver and bronze ages. The act of selling comics on ebay and Comiclink also helped to distract me from the cravings and I planned to set aside the money that I was spending on drugs and alcohol to buy raw Swamp Thing’s and get them graded. Then in 2019 I met SOS_fan (a.k.a Eric) through the private messaging feature on the registry. At that time Eric had the best Saga of the Swamp Thing set which contained 3 Pasko’s, all the Moore’s, all the Veitch’s, all of the Wheeler and Collin’s except for #93, 104, 108, 118, 122, 123, 124, 138, 139, and four issues from the Millar run (#141, 145, 146, and 171). I had been struggling to get 9.8’s of seven Moore issues and reached out to Eric to see if he had any extra copies to sell or if he could recommend comic dealers. I came to learn that Eric originally wanted to complete the set but since he started building it he got married, had kids, and also realized he liked collected original art more than comics. Eric is incredibly friendly and fun to correspond with. He told me that he would sell me any issue from his set and encouraged me to pick up the baton and try and finish the sucker. At that time I wasn’t interested in the full set, just the Alan Moore ones and any issue with a John Totleben cover. Over the next year I found a comic dealer on ebay who sold me high grade copies of #151-154, 156-161, 163, 165-169. I started sending those into CGC and they all came back 9.8. The feeling from getting those grades was a high akin to winning at a slot machine and I wanted more of that. I went back to the same dealer and bought every one of his Nancy Collins issues. Shortly after I messaged Eric, told him the hunt was on for everything and gave him a huge want list. I didn’t think it would take six more years to potentially finish this set but it served as a crutch for dealing with destructive addictive behavior during this time and I’ll miss it when it is complete. Maybe I’ll celebrate its completion with a glass of whiskey. Just kidding. Unfortunately this set isn’t very good for quitting smoking. Constantine is a walking advertisement for nicotine I’ve found. Thanks for reading and if you are having a hard time with addiction or if you ever want to talk about Swamp Thing stuff, you can always message me.
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