The Summer of the Lay-over.

I should have called this "San Diego Comic Con 2013" or maybe "This Summer's comic adventures" would have been more apt but after spending so much time at airports all over the world this Summer I'm officially burying the word "layover" with this entry. To give you an idea I spent over 24 hours waiting in various airports...not boarding, or sitting in planes...but waiting. It was awful, tedious and mind-numbing..but to be honest it was all worth it.

 I was lucky enough to get my same job back at San Diego Comic Con, being a signature witness for CGC. I had a lot of fun again, interacting with all the creators, watching them sign people's comics and trying to keep a straight face when some fanboy was so nervous he dropped all his comics and then kicked them while they were on the ground. 
A nice bonus was that I had to witness the David Duchovny/Gillian Anderson signing, the Ex X-files stars were reunited and were doing a limited signing at SDCC. Duchovny was a little surly, although I did talk to him a little and Gillian Anderson was radiant as a blond and very friendly. 

A personal highlight was the Sam Kieth signing..although the "MAXX" creator looked like he would have rather been on the beach, he was a delight to talk to and made a lot of time for the fans...It was truly wonderful to see how he graciously answered every single question even after he was asked for the 5th or 6th time. 

But of course, it wasn't all work...I was there as a fanboy as well and spent hours and hours digging through comic boxes and looking at portfolios filled with orinal art. O picked up about 100 comics, nothing really earth-shattering, as my comic collection has been complete for a few years and I just go for upgrades these days. 

But I did manage to get some really nice pages of original art that have been on my want list for years. I made a few videos of some of the stuff I brought back... click on the vids twice to go to my Youtube channel so you can see them in High Def. 





San Diego Comic Con 2013 Comics Haul Part 1
San Diego Comic Con 2013 Comics Haul Part 2

San Diego Comic Con 2013 Comics Haul Part 3
 

And this year I did something I swore I would never do...I actually stood in line for some San Diego Exclusive Toys, my wait wasn't that bad, but I know some people stood in line for 4-5 hours to get a My Little Pony toy or an Angry Birds Star Wars action figure set. It was an interesting experience, but I'm not sure I would do it again.

A 1000 comics February

Well I managed to hang on and continue my reading quest of 2011. It's been a lot of fun and I'm convinced now that not only will I reach the 1000 comics mark, but I'll keep reading long after that. By my last count I still have over 3000 comics which I haven't read yet...so I'm good for a while ;)

Anyway this is what I read in February :


Creepy 33-41.
Amazing Spider-man #562 to #578.
Amazing Spider-man #501 to #524.
Eerie 1 - 22.
B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth Gods #2
Captain America - Hail Hydra #2
Doctor Strange - From the Vault #1
Hellboy The Sleeping And The Dead #2
Iron Man Thor God Complex #1
The Walking Dead #81
Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates #1
New Ultimates #5
Ultimate Thor #4
Victorian Undead II #4
Warlord of Mars #4
Ultimate Captain America #2
The Boys #51
Daredevil Reborn #2
Love and Capes - Ever After #1
Silver Surfer - an all new beginning #1
Iron Man #252 - #300
Iron Man 2.0 #1
King Conan Scarlet Citadel #1
Orson Scott Card's Speaker For The Dead #2
Sherlock Holmes - Year One #1
The Mission #1
The New York Five #2

Think outside the box

Getting comics halfway across the globe is both an exciting and a maddening experience. Sure you enjoy the anticipation of waiting and hoping this will be the day your little box of treasures arrive. But at the same time you get disappointed if it doesn't arrive on the expected date and you hope and pray it arrives at all...preferably intact.

But as I'm geographically challenged there is no way around, this and my gargantuan yearly shipping bill are the darker sides of collection, but once the box arrives, everything is right in the world again and I temporarily forget all the woes and focus instead on the wonders.

The last 2 weeks I was on pins and needles as I was expecting a rather important package and because of all the non-working days due to Easter, it was stuck in transit somewhere. To make matters worse, it got stuck in customs as well. My friendly neighborhood customs official opened the box, even though the value was below the import-duty threshold. Once he opened and inspected the box he came to the conclusion I didn't have to pay duty or tax and all forms were filled in correctly. But I still had to pay $15 to get my box back, because he had inspected it and all inspected packages carry a $15.00 cost... I have given up trying to understand the logic in all of this.

But once the package was finally delivered I focused on the contents and got that stupid grin again. This time the box wasn't as filled as previous boxes, but it did hold some key books.

I made yet another video showing all the goodies, let me know if you get tired of all these vids and want me to post pics again. I filmed it this time as I seem to get a lot more reaction to vids than to pics, I guess that's Youtube for you.

Here goes...



If you really don't care for videos and want to see which keys I'm talking about (yeah go ahead and spoil the surprise) you can click HERE to see a pic of the two keys (but the vid is cooler)

Oh and as always you can check out the videos in higher resolution directly through my Youtube page Chromiumcomics Youtube page

The postman always rings twice

It's been a while since I made and posted a video. But seeing as my previous one just broke the 5000 unique views barrier (I can't believe 5000 people actually watched it) and it's almost Xmas I thought I'd give it another go. it's a bit silly and a lot geeky, but you comic fans know the great feeling when books you bought finally arrive.

As I'm geographically challenged it sometimes takes months before I get my hands on the books I bought as I tend to have a bunch of them shipped together to keep the postage in check. Yesterday two boxes arrived at once and...well watch the vid and let me know what you think. Couldn't find the trademark white surgical gloves this time, so I'm doing it all ,gulp... barehanded




If you want to watch the video in a higher resolution, which I thoroughly recommend, you can click on THIS LINK. Makes it easier to make out all the details.

You complete me

Well about 6 weeks I announced that I had just started collecting Daredevil and would try to finish #1 - #100 in a relative short time. As usual I went overboard and went completely Colonel Kurtz about the whole thing. After 6 weeks I can proudly (?) say that I only need 3 more issues to complete the entire run. I pestered and hounded everyone I knew to sell me the books and I'm sure it won't take that long until I get the 3 remaining books and I can read them back to back.

Here's a pic of issue #1.
I just love the old-school costume which I think was designed by Bill Everett and Jack Kirby. The red one is more dramatic and probably more iconic, but this one just plains rocks..even though his bum looks big in it (the stuff I notice when I read comic books...)

Anyway with a little luck I'll be able to complete this series before the end of the year. 2008 hasn't been my best year for completing series/runs. Of course the previous years were the salad years as was able to complete all the A-series. This year original art took most of my focus, time and not to mention money. But I've grown a little sour on art as the prices continue to soar into the stratosphere. So 2009 will hopefully see my return to the fold and will reap completed series galore.

I'm not sure, but the only series I think I completed this year was Captain America.
But I did start collecting a few other series/runs that I hoped to complete this year. Alas it was not to be, but I'm very close to some of them and maybe just maybe I can pull another rabbit out of the hat before the end of the year.

Here's a little breakdown

• Tales of Suspense - need 7 more issues to complete the series


• Incredible Hulk - need one more book to complete the series


• Journey into Mystery - need 10 more books to complete the series

And then of course there are the smaller runs I'm working on, but more about those in a later update.

When Tony and Steve shared a book...

Loyal readers of my blog will know that I’m all about completing series and runs.
The most joy I get out of the whole comics-hobby is when I’m able to start with a single book of a certain series and then go out and complete the entire series issue by issue. Is it the thrill of the hunt or a deep-rooted psychological quirk that makes me do this?

I honestly don’t know and I’ll be the first to admit that I often buy books I know I’ll never read just to get the series complete. But once I do complete a quest I get a nice warm feeling all over. Trouble is that it fades away fast.

So once a series is complete I move over to another series and so on. I’ve been using the same system for about six years now (when I first started collecting funny books) and at any given time I’m working on three different series which makes it easier than to just concentrate on one single title. It broadens my scope and I get to find more books at one and the same dealer thus saving on shipping.

I do cheat a little however, once I get a series down to 5 or less missing issues I’m “allowed” to start a new series. And last month I got some more Caps in and I managed to get my want list down to a single issue. So at the moment I only need Captain America #111 to complete #100 to #400 and of course I’ve already started on a new series.

I chose Tales of Suspense this time. Having already completed Iron Man #1 - #400 and the entire Cap series, it’s a logical choice as both series continued from TOS #39 - #99.
But it’s also a rather stupid choice timing-wise. With the buzz of the new Iron Man movie coming out (trailers look fantastic) interest in anything Iron Man have soared. TOS has long been a sleeper title due to the relative popularity of Iron Man, but things are changing fast and most TOS and Iron Man books have increased in value/cost the last 3 months or so...just when I decide to have a go at the run and now want Tos #39 - #99 and got off to a good start, need 22 more issues.

But I’m also still gunning for

JIM #83 – JIM #125( need 14 more issues)
Hulk #102 - #550 (need 34 more issues)
Captain America #100 - #400 (need one more issue)

I'm hoping to complete all of the above this year so I can start on Batman #1 - #400, but I'm buying to much Original Art of late to drop some serious coin on that series alas.

And for cover fans, here are a few of the TOS books I got in this week. Enjoy

One is the magic number

Short and sweet entry this time. Just wanted to share this picture with you. Last week I pulled my Silver Age number 1s for a photo op.
Why I did it I'll explain later, but at the moment I just want you to take a look at the pic and look at the number 1s...and think about when #1 isn't #1. Confused ? Read on.

I put my nine most important (Silver Age) first issues in the picture, but only 6 of them have a #1 on the cover...but I assure you they are all "first issues". So what's up .
Well Fantastic Four #1, Avengers #1 Amazing Spider-man #1, Iron Man #1, X-men #1 and Silver Surfer #1 are self explanatory, but what about Amazing Fantasy #15...why does this Marvel Uber key carry the number #15 ? Well because it was the 15th issue in the series that spotlighted various new heroes/concepts and nobody had any idea that this Spider-man character would stick. Well he did and because of this we are stuck with this strangely numbered issue as the first Spider-man issue.

And what about Hulk #102...In 1964 the Hulk became the backup feature in Tales to Astonish (sharing the book with Giant-Man) and when in 1968 Marvel finally was able to renegotiate their distribution deal they seized the opportunity to expand their monthly titles and gave the Hulk his own book.
Tales to Astonish had run tot #101, so it seemed logical to continue the numbering on the first Hulk issue and so it came to be that the first issue of Hulk V2 was issue #102

Same thing with Captain America. Tales of Suspense had run to issue #99 when in 1968 Marvel could finally give both heroes (Cap and Iron Man) their own books. Cap continued the TOS numbering and started at #100. For some reason they didn't follow this logic with Iron Man and the first Iron Man issue got a #1 on its cover. But it could have easily (and logically) been #100 as well.

But why did I pull the issues and take the pic ? Why now ? Well mainly because this is the last time these books were all in my possession Two of the books in the pic have left my collection. I no longer own Amazing Fantasy #15 or X-men #1. I didn't sell them, I didn't lose them and they didn't get stolen. Nothing like that...I traded them.
To find out why I was prepared to do away with these two super keys, and more importantly what I got in trade...tune in next week