Precious

Debuting in the heat of Marvel's Silver Age war comics — specifically the gritty pages of Capt. Savage and His Leatherneck Raiders #10 in 1969, courtesy of Gary Friedrich and Dick Ayers — Precious is a character with a surprisingly wide footprint for someone with a compact catalog. What makes their story genuinely intriguing is the range: from the battlefront world of Leatherneck Raiders to the street-level action of Power Man and the Bendis-era Avengers, Precious has crossed some of Marvel's most distinct corners over more than five decades. The company they keep is colorful to say the least — sharing pages with the likes of Princess Python, Ringmaster, and Elliot Franklin speaks to a world of Marvel's more flamboyant and dangerous players. With two key-issue appearances tucked into just nine catalog entries, Precious is exactly the kind of deep-cut discovery that reminds collectors why digging through the long boxes is always worth it.