Picked up some new OA tonight...

Well, I picked up some new Original Art tonight on the CGC Sales Forum. I think the Cap headshot will be part of my Christmas present from my wife and the Silver Surfer will be part of my birthday present in Feb. Anyhow, enjoy!

Went to the Plainville, CT Comic Show

Despite telling myself I wouldn't buy anything, I decided to go to the local comic show. During the week off from school (No students, yay!) I've been cranking out page after page on my thesis in addition to reading tons of books. A break was definitely in order. I stopped and pulled $20 out of the ATM just in case there were some readers that would be of interest or in the event I found some BA/CA ASM issues to fill holes on the cheap. More importantly, I had a pen and piece of scrap paper to jot down phone numbers/email addresses for following up with people who had any big fish I'd be interested in.

I slept in and combined with doing chores, I didn't get there until 12:30pm. The show goes until 2pm so I had missed most of the raffles (*spoon*!), but the crowds were mainly gone. Definitely a plus when it came time for digging through the longboxes. The show is located in a VFW hall with around 30-40 dealers. Not huge, but enough selection to keep you busy for a little while. As I started to make my rounds, I saw the department head for the writing program at the community college where I taught last spring. He's not only into collecting, but also is a known comic historian in the area. Good guy to chat it up with. We talked about his semester on sabbatical, as well as some professional work he's doing in comics for the classroom- social issues, etc.

I moved around checking the racks first for the big fish, but didn't see any that really jumped out at me. Mind you, big fish that are in low grade- I only like to look if there's a possibility of my buying it. Consigned to hunting for fillers, I started diving into the boxes. One fella had a box with a BUNCH of early, early ASMs in it. They were stored in mylars but the tops of the mylar (and yes, the comics) were bent from being stored in the long box. And we're talking about some expensive books here, low grade or not. We talked about some grades, and I took down his email address on one particular ASM. The next show wouldn't be until January 2008, and I should be recovering from purchases made here on the boards to look at this particularly EARLY Spidey.

After digging around, I found a set of Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars at 3/$1.00 (minus #8 which I already have), the last issue of MTU, and 2nd printings of TMNT 1 & 2 all for about $15 (mid to high grade). Nothing wild, but perfectly fine for study break reading material to be sure. And I always liked the MTU cover with two of my favorites on there (X-Men and Spidey).

So, it wasn't a convention but it's the closest I could manage at this point in time!

The Hit List

I'm quickly approaching the completion of my Amazing Spider-Man collection. I can't begin to explain how much work this has been, and how thrilled am I to be moving forward like I have been. While there are plenty of fillers to get, these are the big dogs left to reel in:

1. 2nd appearance of Spidey, 1st JJJ, and the beginning of the best comic title to date!
2. 1st appearances of the Vulture and Tinkerer. I'm not as excited about this one as I never liked the flying geriatric.
4. 1st Sandman. I have to admit that I'm really looking forward to this one. AND I found a copy I might be able to buy!!!
7. 2nd Vulture. Again, not as excited about this issue, BUT it's cheaper than #2 AND I also have a copy lined up to buy.
13. 1st appearance of Mysterio. Probably one of the best Ditko covers out there... and yes. I DO have a copy lined up.
17. 2nd Green Goblin w/ an appearance by the Human Torch.
22. 1st Appearance of Princess Python. No one really important, but I need it to fill the run ;)
29. 2nd Scorpion and another great looking cover. Copy lined up for purchases too!-)

So really, of the 8 I'm missing, I've already got 2 that I'm definitely buying and another 4 lined up for possible purchases. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited!

Collecting Comics v. Hoarding Comics

My brother Chris had, until the past year, the largest collection of comic books I had ever seen dating back to when we were kids. I would probably guess that he has.... about 2,000-3,000 comics stored in the attic of my mother's house. Since getting back into the comic scene, I'm probably around 650 packed into 3 long boxes leaving me far behind him in the numbers game.

Of course, size isn't everything right? ;) I'd like to think of my little collection when compared to his as precision hitting versus wild swinging. I'm not trying to build myself up by putting his collection down- not by a long shot. In many ways, his collection is almost entirely responsible for my wanting to build one- first as a child and again as an adult. But my brother is less concerned with the grade of the book as he is in simply owning it. Where I am more focused in my collecting habits, he is more inclined to grab a host of different books. I'm not advocating my method as better than his. It's just interesting to me how this these strange little funny books produce such different neurosis in their owners. :-D

But I wonder if it's just a phase? I should ask him about that sometime, if he went through a period of focusing in on only one or two titles and then just went for everything? He's got a couple of years headstart on me so... But hopefully for my wife's sake I won't experience the hoarding phase since she's already looking at my boxes like they take up a little more space than they ought to.

Here Goes...

Most likely if you're reading this, you clicked on my link from my profile on the CGC Forums. Okay, well I've decided to make another attempt at blogging. I had one running for a number of years and frankly, it just dwindled. I might get it started again... who knows? But for now, this one will focus primarily on my hobby of comic collecting. Call it one more opportunity to wax poetic on my geek-fix. So here goes...

June 2006: One month left to my committment to the U.S. Army and I've been reintroduced to comic books by a friend. Later that evening, I spent around $10-$15 on eBay for a set of the Batman/Detective Comics Knightfall series.

November 2007: Thousands of dollars and some 650+ comics later, the collector bug has bitten, and I'm fully into the hobby. I thoroughly enjoy my Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and Lord of the Rings tabeltop models but they are very time consuming. Comic collecting is far more flexible in how the time is spent- though sometimes I do spend far more time scrounging around online than I ought to. How many others have gotten back into the hobby like this I wonder? Probably more than I'd imagine.

So... I'm probably going to begin mapping out some of my collecting goals. I've put together a nice website listing my wishlist, some useful links that I enjoy using, and I will slowly begin putting my entire collection online. Why? No idea- probably something to do while killing free time at work or as a break in between the writing of my Master's thesis.

Anyhow... nothing too exciting right now, but who knows? Maybe I'll have something of interest up here in the near future?