X-MEN: THE EARLY YEARS - COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The first issue I purchased of X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS was #4.  I started buying the mag regularly and soon acquired #1 from a comics dealer, leaving only #s 2 & 3 to fill the gap.  However, I never quite got around to getting it before the series was cancelled with #17.  That was back in '94/'95.  Occasionally, I'd browse through the comics and remember that I still required two back numbers to complete the set - then I'd put them away and forget again.  I already had the stories in various printings, so I really didn't need them, but there's always something about absent issues which compels the true collector to seek them out - eventually.

Yesterday, 19 years after first buying the title, I finally took possession of the two missing mags required to complete the run.  It was with a sense of accomplishment, but somehow also of sadness, that I opened my cupboard doors, united the comics with their comrades and crossed that particular task off my 'things to do' list. 19 years, eh?  I wish I could erase them from my mileometer, but, truth to tell, it doesn't seem that long ago.  And somehow, paradoxically, it seems like an eternity away.  Maybe one day I'll be able to understand that.

So, I now have all 17 of them - which means what, exactly?  Well, for a start, it means that I can now give them their very own Cover Gallery post on this blog.  There are other gaps in my comics collection I've yet to fill, one of which is winging its way to me even as I type these very words.  It's CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL #2, finally acquired a whopping 40 years after I first purchased #1.  Don't worry - I'll be bound to do a blog post on it when it arrives as I'd hate for you to miss out!  (Wotcha mean, "Don't trouble yourself!"?)