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.

The Joke's on you Batman !

I once heard somebody say that Batman is so good he could be a Marvel character... which as a Marvel zombie myself, struck a chord. Now I must admit I have nothing against DC, it's just that I chose a side and am sticking with it.

But there is no denying that Batman is one of the all-time great comic book characters, maybe the most iconic one of all. So even I couldn't help but start collecting Batman. My initial target was to get #1 though to #500 ... But that's a very tall order. I still haven't broken the top ten issues yet, but I do have a nice #11.

I still need about 40 issues to get them all, but I went for the Joker covers first.
Everybody loves the Joker and he really knows how to jazz up a cover.
In this video I'm showcasing my complete set of Joker covers from the Batman series from the Golden and Silver Age, from Batman #1 to Batman #200.

I didn't bother with the Joker covers from #200 onwards as it would have made the video too big and most of you have probably seen them all. But who knows there might be a few GA or SA covers here you've never seen. Enjoy !

A 1000 comics in 2011 Indian Summer

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but I was almost buried under a mound of comics..a bit like Spidey when Kraven put him 6 feet under. That's how many comics I read the past two months.

I knew that August would be good as I had a lot of free time, away from TV and computers and just me, a deckchair, the beach and some adult beverages. You gotta love a holiday in the sun when half your luggage consists of trades and comics.
Plus I had to make up for July where I only managed 141 comics.
August made well up for that slip, in fact I have now fully accepted that I have no life to speak of as I read 311 comics in August (-insert mocking graemlin here -)

Much to my surprise I was able to continue in the same vain throughout September and clocked up another 274 comics in that month. Mainly because I started reading a really long run of Hellblazer in August (260 issues) and just continued reading in September.

So after all that I'm now less than 100 comics away from breaking my target of reading 2011 comics in 2011. October looks like the month where I reach my goal, but I've already decided to just continue until January 1st just to see how many I manage to read in one full year.

Anyway, for you librarian-types out there here's what I read the last two months :
(deep breath)


August 2011 311 comics read.

Lone Wolf & Cub Book #3 (3 comics)
Fafhrd & Gray Mouse Book #1 (2 comics)
Reload 1-3
Wolverine the JUngle Adventure (2comics)
Iron Age 2 (2 comics)
Iron Man 2.0 #6 + #7
JIM 625
Logan's run aftermath 2 + 3
Marvel zombies Supreme 5
Mighty Thor 3
Moon Knight 3
Mystery Men 2 + 3
Planet of the Apes 3 + 4
RASL 11
Red Skull 1
Red Skull 1 + 2
Red Sonja Revenge of the gods 4
SHIELD 2
Sherlock Holmes Year one 4 + 5
Supreme Power 2
That Hellbound train 2
The Mission 5 + 6
The Strange case of Mr Hyde 3 + 4
Ultimate Fallout 1-3
Batman the Dark Knight #4 (2011)
Conan, island of no return #2
Conan Road of Kings #6
Conan the Barbarian The Mask of Acheron (2 comics)
Creepy #6 (2011)
Criminal the last of the Innocent #2
Daredevil #1 (2011)
DC Comics the new 52 (2 comics)
DC retroactive Batman the 70's
Fear Itself #4
FF #5 - FF#7 (3 comics)
Formic Wars Burning Earth #7
Hellboy the Fury #2
The Boys #56 + #57
The last mortal #2 + #3
LOEG Century 02 1969 (4 comics)
The Mis-adventures of Adam West #1
The Walking Dead #86 + #87
Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates #5 + #6
Warlords of Mars Dejah Thoris #5
Warlords of Mars Fall of Barsoom #1
Warlords of Mars #8
Northlanders #1 - 42
Saga of the Swamp Thing 1-7
Thor Viking 1-5
Hellblazer 200 - 237
Hellblazer 1-110
Red Prophet Tales of Alvin Maker 1-6
Orson Scott Card's Goldbug
Criminal - The Last of the Innocent 3
Ultimate Fallout 4/5/6
The Walking Dead 88
The Cape 1
Ultimates V5 #1
That Hellbound train 3
Supreme Power 3
Mystery Men 4
Moon Knight 4
Kick Ass 2 #3
JIM 626
Iron Age 3 (44 pages, counts as two)
Iron Age Omega
FF 8
Fear Itself 5
Elephantmen 32
Daredevil (2011) 2
Conan Road of Kings 7
Batman the Dark Knight #5 (2011)



September 2011 274 comics read.

Criminal Bad night 1-4
Hellblazer 111-199
Hellblazer194 - 199 + 238-257
Fables 19-27 (8 comics)
Hulk (2008) 1-21
Justice League (2011) 1
The Rinse 1
Ultimate Hawkeye 1
Hulk (2008) 22 - 37 ( 16comics)
Drums #1 & #2
Iron Man 2.0 #8
Planet of the Apes #5
Red Skull #3
The Last Mortal #4
Conan (Dark Horse) #1 - #50
Catwoman #1 (2011)
Chew #20
Conan Road of Kings #8
Daredevil #3 + #4 (2011)
Fear itself #6
Hellboy The fury #3
Moon Knight #5 (2011)
Mystery Men #5
Northlanders #43
Planet of the Apes #6
Proof Endagered #4 + #5
The Boys #58
The Vault #1
Ultimate Hawkeye #2
Warlords of Mars Dejah Thoris #6
Warlords of Mars Fall of Barsoom #2
Warlords of Mars #9
The Umbrella Academy Apocalypse Suite #1 - #6
House of Mystery #1 - #41 + annual #1 + #2

A 1000 comics in 2011 JULY Summer slacking

Well Summer finally arrived and with that my 9-week long holiday began, weather was awful in July so all of this should have combined in to a perfect storm and made for excellent comic book time. Alas things turned out differently.

I really have no idea how it happened, but July was my worst month this year concerning the amount of comics I read. I had a lot of free time and still only managed to read less than 150 comics. A pittance compared to the previous months.


Now before all of you start thinking that I spend all my time at work reading funny books and that's why the amount is so low this month I need to clarify some things.
I entertained my friend Andy for about a week and took him to Holland, France and the UK and there was just not time (or inclination) to read comics at all, we just had way too much fun.

I also cleaned out my attic and spent half a week migrating one of my systems from Xp to Win 7 (64)....and believe you me, I would have much rather spent that time reading comics.
Set up a new laptop and spent days trans-coding video files for my Ipad²

In August I'm going on holiday again, but this time it's a beach holiday, so I'm going to pack about 150 comics (and a few books) so let's hope I get my numbers up again.

Anyway, the results of the Belgian jury for the July month of the year 2011 :


JULY (141)
Marvel Team -up #51 - #80
The Horrorist (90 pages counted as 4 comics)
Chiaroscuro 1-3
Detective Comics #395
Lucifer Nirvana (48 pages)
Blade Runner #1 & #2
Raiders of the Lost Arc 1-3
Wulf 1
Ironjaw 1
America Vs The Justice Society 1-4 (counts as 9 comics)
Books of Magic 1-4 (counts as 9 comics)
Conan Savage Tales 2 + 3
Eerie 32/33/34/35/36
Creepy Archives #10 (Creepy 46/47/48/49/50) 290 pages : 13 comics
PVP Awesmology 600 pages 27 comics
Marvel Team-up #81 - #98
Alpha Flight #1 (2011)
B.P.R.D. Hell On Earth Monsters #1
Batman - The Dark Knight #3
B.P.R.D. Casualties #1
Captain America #1 (2011)
Chew #19

A 1000 comics in 2011 JUNE - initial target reached

No need for false modesty now, I've always known I would get to the 1000 comics mark well before the last day of 2011. But I wasn't sure I would get to 2011 comics in 2011...well I'm getting more confident now.

During the month of June I managed to already reach the 1000-comics-read-point, which was good as to be on track for 2011 comics I had to reach at least 1006 comics before July 1st. At the time of writing I'm now at 1200 comics, but have to be careful as I'm doing a lot of traveling again this Summer. I just got back from another comic trip and I'm still visiting London in July. In August I'll be going to Asia for another three weeks and really don't see me lugging a suitcase of comics with me.

Today I received about 15 hardcovers from my friends at www.cheap-comics.com so that should cover my 180 comics for July, but I don't know how August will fare...maybe I'll break down and get an Ipad² and get a digital subscription for all the modern comics I read monthly...Hmmmm ?

For you comic-book fans, here is the list of the 225 (a new record ! ) I read in June 2011 :

JUNE (225)
Marvel Team - Up 21-50
FF #3 + FF #4
Conan - Road of Kings #5
Daredevil Reborn #4
Elephantmen #31
Iron Man 2.0 #5
Journey Into Mystery #623
King Conan - The Scarlet Citadel #4
Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead #5
Kirby - Genesis #0
Planet Of The Apes #2
The Mission #4
Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #4
The Mighty Thor #2
Red Sonja - Revenge of the Gods #3
The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #2
Hellboy The Fury #1
BPRD The Dead Remembered #3
S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Flashpoint #2
Moon Knight #2
Witchfinder Lost And Gone Forever #5
Fear Itself #3
M.D (EC Comics) 1-3
Starman (1996) 1-80 + Annual 1/2 + Secret Files 1
The Boys #55
Criminal - The Last of the Innocent #1
Annihilators #4
Formic Wars Burning Earth #6
The Iron Age - Alpha #1
Journey into Mystery #624
Logan's Run - Aftermath #1
Mystery Men #1
Love and Capes - Ever After #4
Conan - Island of No Return #1
Kirby Genesis #1
Last Mortal #1
Ultimate Captain America #4
Red Sonja Blue One-shot
Supreme Power #1
Warlord of Mars - Dejah Thoris #4
That Hellbound Train #1
Love and Capes - Ever After #5
Iron Man V2 (Heroes Reborn) 1-13
Iron Man V3 #1 - #55

A 1000 comics in 2011 MAY (I have another)

May was the first month where I really struggled a bit. I still have a ton of unread comics,but the last few months I was concentrating on all the trades I still had to read and have now nearly wiped them all out.

The problem was that I couldn't decide which series to start with so in the end I settled on two series that I plan to sell in the near future, and it would be a shame to sell them without even having read them. About 30% of the comics I read this month were moderns, which is good as that way I'm still keeping in touch with today's market/story-lines.

I'll never "love" modern comics as much as I do the Silver Age and Bronze Age ones, but a lot of them are very well written and some of the art isn't bad either.

Anyway here's the list... I read 190 comics in May 2011 which brought the grand total on May 31st to 938 comics read in 2011. I should crack the 1000 comics mark somewhere during the first week of June.

Ultimate FF 1-37 + annuals 1,2
X-Factor 1-70 + annuals #1 - #9.
Annihilators 2
Dark Horse Presents #1 80-pager (3)
Feat itself Sin's past one-shot (4)
Journey Into Mystery #622
Red Sonja Revenge of the Gods #2
Ultimate Thor #4
Iron Man 2.0 #3 + #4
Warlord of Mars #6
Warlord of Mars - Dejah Thoris #2
The Walking Dead #84
Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead #4
FF #2
Hate Annual #9
Conan - Road of Kings #4
King Conan - The Scarlet Citadel #3
Sherlock Holmes - Year One #3
The New York Five #4
Ultimate Avengers vs New Avengers #3
Planet of the Apes #1
Rasl #10
The Mighty Thor #01
The Mission #3
The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde #1
Moon Knight #1
Annihilators #3
The Boys #54
Sir Edmund Gray, Witchfinder - Lost & Gone Forever #4
Marvel Zombies Supreme #4
Thor, whoever wields this Hammer (JIM 83/84/88)
B.P.R.D. The Dead Remembered #2
Fear Itself - Spider-Man #1
Fear Itself #2
Fear Itself - The Homefront #2
Gladestone's School For World Conquerors #1
Extra (EC comics) #1-#5
Formic Wars Burning Earth 1-5
Flashpoint #1
Captain America - Hail Hydra #5
Chew #27
Warlord of Mars - Dejah Thoris #3
Hellboy Being Human one-shot
Marvel Team - Up V1 1-20

A 1000 comics...April overdose.

April 2011 came and went and brought a lot of nice, sunny days. I'm happy to report that at least 30% of the comics on the list this month were read lounging in the garden, enjoying a beer (or five).

You'll also probably notice that I went completely overboard and read 235 comics this month, or an average of about 8 comics a day, every day. May and June will seem like lean months compared to this. Anyway I'm at 743 comics now after 4 months, so the new total of 2011 comics even seems feasible at this point.

Here's what I read this month :


Strange Adventures #205-216 Deadman
Brave and the Bold (vol.1) #79, #86 and 104
Aquaman (vol.1) #50-52
Challengers of the Unknown (vol.1) #74
Criminal V1 #6 - 10
Criminal V1 #1 - #7
Amazing Adventures #1-6,
Amazing Adult Fantasy #7-14
Amazing Fantasy #15.
Creepy #42 - #45
Elephantmen - Man & Elephantman #1
B.P.R.D. The Dead Remembered #1
Fear Itself - The Homefront #1.
Infestation #2
Kick Ass 2 #2
King Conan The Scarlet Citadel #2
Logan's Run The Last Day #6
Marvel Zombies Supreme #2 + #3
Sir Edmund Gray Witchfinder Lost And Gone Forever #3
The Boys #53
The Mission #2
Chew #18
Captain America - Hail Hydra #4
Eerie #28 - #31
I kill giants #1 - #7
Infinite Vacation #2
Fear Itself #1
Hellboy - Buster Oakley Gets His Wish One-shot.
Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates #3
Love and Capes - Ever After #3
First Wave Special #1
Catwoman #1-#18, #32 & #50
Catwoman Secret Files and Origins #1
What If Karen Page had lived
What If Jessica Jones had joined the Avengers
The Pulse #1 & #2
Flinch #2
The Losers #1-#8
30 Days of Night Bloodsucker Tales #1 & #6
Dark Days #5 & #6
Black Dragon #1-#6
Lucifer, the Morningstar option #1-#3
Alias #1 - #28.
Captain America Comics #1 - #4
Wolverine Logan #1 - #3.
The Uncanny X-men #151 - #175
Tales of the Crypt #7 - #12
Captain America #43 - #50, #600/#601
Captain America Reborn #1 - #6.

The final bricks in the wall.

Pop quiz hotshot, what do Incredible Hulk #92, X-men #63 and Sandman Mystery Theater #66, #69 & #70 all have in common ? Give up ? I thought you would, well I got them all in a single package this week and they each were the final issues I needed to complete those three series.

It's a nice coincidence that I managed to complete three series all at once, especially considering, the X-men series took me five years, the Hulk four and the Sandman MT books have been on my want list since 2007 !!
So how come it took me this long to get them and was it pure serendipity that I managed to get them all in the same month ?

Now none of them are particularity expensive, the Overstreet Price guide has the Hulk #92 (in NM) at $5, The X-men #63 guides F/VF at $60 and the Sandman Mystery Theater are at best worth a few bucks each. The trouble was finding them in the first place and getting a decent deal in the process.

X-men #63 was easy to find, it's plentiful in any grade and never sells over guide. It's one of the better issues of the first X-men series, Neal Adams goodness and a cool Magneto cover. But for some reason it ended up the last issue I still needed to get. I really don't like paying $14.00 in shipping for a $50 book...so each time I saw one for sale I was hoping to bundle it with something else to save on shipping, but I struck out every time and passed.

By sheer chance a collector was selling a bunch of Silver Age X-men books, including this one AND some modern books..including the elusive Incredible Hulk #92.



Now Hulk #92 is the very first Planet Hulk issue, which is the best Hulk storyline of the last 20 years, so collectors have been scrambling for this book which starts it all. Last year I was able to purchase the entire Planet Hulk run...with #92 missing. Every comic book store I've been to in the last 3 years had this issue missing...Sure they were on eBay, but at 2X to 3X the guide price (and then I would have to break my rule of paying shipping for a single book as well). But like I said I finally found a seller who was selling it a reasonable price and had another book I wanted.

And then there were the Sandman Mystery Theater books. A lesser known Vertigo title, but one of the very best from the 1990's (not to be confused with Neil Gaiman's Sandman series). Sandman MT lasted for 6 years and never disappointed, if you go back to this post from May 2007 you'll see I was already raving about the series...and I was also boasting that I had completed it. Well I wasn't lying, I was only being stupid...I thought the series stopped at #65 and later found out it went on another 5 issues. Which of course,I didn't have.

So I started hunting them down which turned out very difficult. The final five issues didn't have a large print run as the series was slated for cancellation and a lot of comic book stores didn't even bother to order the final two issues.
Issues #69 and #70 were particularly difficult to find. Remember these are basic $3 books which will never appreciate or become valuable..and still Mile High comics is selling #69 for nearly $15 (5X guide) and doesn't even have a single copy of #70 for sale. The only people buying these are the idiots like me who complete series and just have to had every single issue.

But getting all of them was more than worth it, nothing beats the feeling of getting a series complete, and when you manage to do more than one in a year, not to mention a week, it's a real red letter day on my calendar.

With X-men #63 I now have X-men #1 to #250 complete, I used to have #251 - #450 as well, but I sold those in the big purge of 2010.

With Incredible Hulk #92 I now have amassed my longest and completest run ever.
* Incredible Hulk V1 #1 - #6
* Tales to Astonish #59 - #101
* Incredible Hulk V2 #102 - #474
* Incredible Hulk V3 #1 - #112

That's 544 consecutive Hulk issues from 1962 tot 2007 (when the series ended and I did as well)

And with those Sandman issues, I can finally proclaim Sandman Mystery Theater #1 - #70 complete (and yes, this time I've checked to see that #70 is really the last issue)

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

Journey Into Mystery...and beyond

Thor has always been somewhat of an odd duck in the Marvel stable...great art, great stories, possibly the strongest hero in the Marvel Universe, but virtually unknown to the general public.

Up to a few months ago, only comic book fans would have known that the Norse god of thunder is also a regular Marvel character...and that he tends to speak in Shakespearean English. I guess it was just a step too far, people could suspend their disbelief and accept an angry guy turning green and hulking up, a rich inventor and AA-club member making a 21st century armor and even a guy getting bitten by a radioactive spider...but a 1000 year old mythical Asgardian god that comes to Earth and sounds like Macbeth or even Hamlet...nah that just wouldn't fly.

So for nearly 50 years, The Mighty Thor, to use his full name has been a b-player at best. Which is a shame because there are some very nice books in the series. Most of the top artists and writers loved to work on Thor as there were almost no boundaries. Space adventures, magic, mythical legends, down to earth rough and tumble with the Avengers...it's all happening for Goldilocks. Jack Kirby has even gone on record to say that Journey into Mystery was his favorite series to work on. You can't really get higher praise than that.

So anyway, as most of you know Marvel will be releasing the Thor movie in 2011 and this could very well propel Thor into the limelight and the public eye.
Even if the movie flops, the ad campaigns will reach into every household and hopefully people will finally understand what it really means when it's Hammer Time.

For me it will be a welcome relief as I have tried to get people to start reading Thor (any time period) but almost nobody does...so to get the ball rolling so to speak I've made a little video of the very first Thor covers/comics, when the series was still called Journey into Mystery.I managed to complete Journey into Mystery #83 up to Thor #400 a few years ago and still haven't read them all..but I just might start on them in the coming weeks.

The video on this page is only the TRAILER, if you want to view the full video (and you know you want to) just go to my Youtube channel : ---> Thor's Journey into Mystery full video. Oh and watch it in 480p for more details.

Trailer :

FACTS of life

This weekend (23rd + 24th of October) I'll be attending the FACTS convention again. if my math is right it will be my 9th time. Now for all you non-Belgians, you should realize there are NO Comic book conventions at all over here, in fact I don't think there are more than a handful throughout Europe.

Sure we have comic strip cons nearly every month, but the American comic book isn't exactly a staple here.
In essence Facts isn't really a comic book convention, it's a popular culture convention, much along the line of the big San Diego Comicon.
When I started to attend there were maybe 10 comic book dealers and no books older than say ten years. Slowly the comic book part was dying and I remember one glum year where there were just 5 comic book dealers and there was nothing at all that interested me.
But the next year some new people joined the organization (yes Boom, I'm talking about you) and the comics part started to blossom again.
FACTS was able to book more and better artists, which in turn led to more fans turning up which lead to more dealers coming which lead to even more fans coming etc...

Last year the 15.000-attendance (or 15,000 if you don't like the metric system) figure was breached, which is incredible for such a small country and this year everybody fully expects that figure to be reached and even overtaken again.
But alas some things haven't changed, there still is almost nothing at the entire con that I'm looking for. There are almost no Silver Age or Bronze Age books for sale. Can't really blame the dealers as the brave ones who do bring them, don't sell a single issue. There is just no interest in vintage (and expensive back issues). Most collectors, no strike that I should actually call them "readers", are interested in trades, hardcovers and cheap singles from the last 10 - 15 years. Why buy a €300 Silver Age Spider-man book when you can buy the hardcover for €20.00 and have enough money left to buy hundreds of cheap one-euro comics.

Some readers do become collectors over time, but it's a slow progress and doesn't really happen the first 5 years when somebody comes into the hobby.
And to be honest, the rare vintage stuff that is for sale at FACTS can be found cheaper online most of the time. At the con you pay more for the convenience of being able to look through the book, don't have to pay shipping and be secure in the knowledge that the comic doesn't have to be shipped thousands of miles.


So why am I still going ? Well mostly because it's a lot of fun. I know a lot of people there among the staff, exhibitors and visitors and it's always a treat to meet up with them every year. I also tend to go toy-shopping for my kids (this year my son wants a Joker action figure and my daughter wants a Power Girl or Hawkgirl).
And then there are the artists...all credit to FACTS, they manage to get top-shelf artists every year, but as I'm not a modern comic book fan, most of them don't toot my horn...but now and then they get one that even I in my curmudgeonly way like.

I'll be lining up this year to do a meet and greet with Dave Gibbons and have him sign my Watchmen page...that should be nice.
But mostly I will be selling trades and hardcovers at the cheapcomics.com booth, like each year I'll be assisting my friend Chris to bring wonder and joy to the masses in the shape of luxury (and cheap) reprints.
It's always a lot of fun to meet other readers/collectors, to try and answer their questions and generally talk "comics" with them. Maybe steer them in the direction of a new series they didn't know or help them complete a storyline.
I'll probably be dead tired at the end of it all, will have spent too much money on toys, won't be able to go box-diving to find some bargains and will undoubtedly forget to eat again this year....but I can't wait. Bring it on, it's FACTS time again.
Oh and if you are looking for me, I'll be the one wearing the green suede Puma's.

Time Capsule

Sometimes it's not all about being busy or not having enough time...and often it isn't even about just being too bone-idle...No the reason I've been away so long again is plain and simple that I had zero inspiration and had no idea what to write about. And I rather not write anything than ramble on without rhyme or reason.


Previous entries were almost always about my new purchases. Series I was completing, runs I was putting together or sweet sweet keys.
But after collecting for 7 years now I'm almost done...and I don't buy that many books anymore. What I now mostly buy are upgrades, but does the world really want to read that I've upgrade my Fantastic Four #5 from CGC 4.0 in OW pages to a CGC 4.5 with W/OW pages ? I don't think so.I did complete a very large series recently that I've been working on for almost 3 years, but I don't have the final book in hand yet and when I do I'll probably make a video of it all..yes my Youtube channel is getting all the love (and the hits) these days. So look out for that in the near future.

While I haven't been buying the great quantities I used to, I have been selling quite a large number of books. At one point I had nearly 12.000 books which I managed to whittle down to around 10.000 but that was still way too many. So I decided to get rid of all my books after the 1985 cut-off date. Why 1985 ? Well I've always been of the opinion that something was lost after Marvel released "Secret Wars" in 1985... it was like the Marvel universe expanded ten-fold and the quality got lost among the claptrap. It was also the time I stopped reading comics as a kid (Secret Wars #1 was the last comic I bought for almost 20 years)...my own Time Capsule as it were.

So in brief I should be able to get the collection down to about 6000 books, almost all from 1961 to 1985 every Superhero book From Fantastic Four #1 to Secret Wars #1.
I've been trying to re-read all the books that I'm selling.. but it's not easy. I recently sold Amazing Spider-man #301 - #441 and before I put that huge pile in a box to ship out I sat down and started reading the books again...I didn't last long.
I didn't care for the stories and the art did nothing for me. I understand people growing up with these book might have a soft spot for them...but I knew if I didn't sell them right there and now, I would never read them again...so why keep them.

Grey day

Why is it that most of of my rants and raves seem to center about that most lovable of Green Giants, your friendly neighborhood Hulk. I've already bored you how I completed Hulk #102 - #570 and how I'm very close in completing the Hulk run of Tales to Astonish...but the real mother-lode are of course the first 6 Silver Age Issues.

I bought issue #3 about two months ago from my good friend Andy Nutella at Golden Age Collectibles and that sparked me on to get the other 5. Being early Silver Age they are alas not that easy to find or really affordable, so I had to move some things around. Especially issue #1 was a pain in the neck. It's by far the hardest Silver Age key to track down. I'm in the middle of trading one of my original art pages and soon the deal should be done.
It's not as expensive yet as Amazing Fantasy #15 or Fantastic Four #1 but it's far far rarer. The reason for this is of course that it didn't sell so well when Hulk #1 was released in May 1962.

In the first issue, the Hulk was gray because Stan Lee wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Stan Goldberg the colorist had problems with the grey (or gray) coloring, resulting in different shades of gray, and even green. After seeing the first published issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green.

The original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963) due to low sales.A bit surprising as Marvel had put the top team on the book. Stan Lee had written each story, with Jack Kirby penciling the first five issues and Steve Ditko penciling and inking the sixth. Still the character didn't appeal to kids and the book was no more.

Stan Lee, never one to doubt himself, was convinced the Hulk was a viable character and the character immediately guest-starred in most of the more popular comics and months later became a founding member of the Avengers.

A year and a half after the series was canceled, the Hulk became one of two features in Tales to Astonish in issue #60 (Oct. 1964).Kirby and Lee realized their character had found an audience in college-age readers. Stan has always stated he wrote the Hulk for a more mature reader and not for the kiddies that wanted a monster-mash-up.
In fact the real "star" of the book has more often than not been Bruce Banner and not the Hulk.

Would that the original series had simply continued, for those first six issues represent some of the most amazing comics to come out of the Silver Age. During the initial run, the Hulk played as more of a Mr. Hyde to Bruce Banner's Dr. Jekyll, and Banner's noble struggle to control his darker side drove a powerful tale of regret and redemption, gorgeously illustrated by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. As with Mr. Hyde, the Hulk possessed much of his alter ego's intellect, and actively schemed against his better half to ensure his survival.

It was only later that the Hulk was "dumbed down" a sad predicament that took almost 25 years and Peter David to rectify. Peter David also turned the Hulk back to his original grey colour during his 12-year tenure on the book.So there you have it, a nice little grey-to-green and back again history lesson. Only thing that remains now are the scans of the 6 books I just picked up.
If you want more info (and visuals !!) on the Hulk books and Tales to Astonish in particular then feel free to visit my Youtube channel as I have a new video up on this very subject (and watch it in HD). Chromiumcomics Youtube Channel

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

Jolly Green Giant

Well after what seems like forever I managed to complete my Incredible Hulk series.. but not really. I took me over a year to get the very last issue I needed, not that it's that rare but I was never in the right place at the right time. But this week I managed to snag Incredible Hulk #180 and that was all she wrote.

Here's a little scan, the grade isn't anything to write home about, but it's good enough for now. A nice little extra bonus is that the book was signed by Herb Trimpe.



Now Hulk #180 is an odd little book, mainly because it has the very first Wolverine in it, but it's not considered to be Wolverine's first appearance. And that's why the next issue is about 10X to 15X as expensive as this book. Hulk #181 is THE bronze age key and widely accepted as the "first Wolverine".

But then there's this :


Yes, that's the very last panel of issue #180 ... still so sure that #181 is the first appearance of everyone's favorite mutant ?
Now I know I won't convince anyone as most people use these three arguments to "overlook" issue #180. Feel free to subscribe to some/all/none of them.

1) ”Wolverine’s appearance in #180 is a teaser/advertisement for the next issue. He’s not a part of the story in that issue.”
2)”You don’t see much of Wolverine in #180. #181 is the real introduction of the character where we learn what he’s about.”
3)”It’s not considered a full first appearance if it’s a one-panel cameo at the very end of the issue...those don't count”

What I am sure about is that issue #180 won't be skyrocketing in value. A lot of people who firmly believe that #180 is the key have been investing in this book with the hope that some day the world would catch up and that this book would be way up there value-wise with #181. Never going to happen, every year the gap between the two books is getting bigger and bigger.

But enough about these two books... at the very start I mentioned that I completed the Incredible Hulk series...but not really. Well there's a reason for that. The Incredible Hulk starts with issue #102 (1968) and my run continues until #586 (or Hulk V3 #112 ....stupid Marvel)... that's 485 issues + the annuals. But there's more. Before the start of the series, Hulk starred in Tales to Astonish from issue #60 (Oct. 1964) through to issue #101 (and then continued in Incredible Hulk #102... first issue of the new series). So I need to get those issues as well...someday
But wait, there's more still. Before the Tales to Astonish run there was a short-lived Incredible Hulk series in 1962 which only lasted 6 issues... So I need to get those as well...and Hulk #1 isn't exactly cheap.

But at the moment I'm glad I managed to complete this series, and with some luck I should be able to complete a few other large series this year. Stay Tuned

Read all about it

You know we internet aficionados have it easy in this day and age when we want to talk about our comic books. It doesn't matter where you live or how socially inept you are, you will easily find someone who shares your viewpoint on a certain book, character or storyline.

Finding someone to argue with about those particular subjects is even easier. We have chat-room, internet forums, newsgroups and the really weird can even start their own blog to ram their views down the world's throat.

Back in the day the only medium available to fans was the letters column in the back of the comics. Most of the comics had one or two pages of "letters of comments". In the beginning these were just your standard "I hate" or "I love" letters but slowly reader participation increased and it became a valid means for creators to get feedback from their adoring (or not so adoring) fans. And let's not forget it was THE place for comic fans to "meet" likeminded people. You have to remember that at the time, they were publishing full addresses and fans started writing each other.

When people ask me why I stubbornly read my Silver Age comics (and not keep them slabbed) instead of the reprints that I also own, I point them to the letters pages, the ads, the editorials..for me they are an integral part of the whole comic book experience and they give me a very cool wormhole into the past and into the mindset of your average comic reader of the 60's.
But what really gets my rocks off is when I stumble onto an old fan-letter written by a fan/kid who later turned into a Marvel/DC mainstay. A lot of famous artists, editors and writers got their first taste of comic publishing when their letter was printed in "Avengers Assemble!" (Avengers), "Letters to the Living Legend," (Captain America), "Spider's Web" (Amazing Spider-Man), or "X-Mail," (Uncanny X-Men).

This week I was reading the first 20 or so issues of Fantastic Four and I was pleasantly surprised how many "names" were scattered all over the letters pages and I thought I'd share a few with you.

Uncanny X-men and Legion of Super-heroes legend, the late great Dave Cockrum was a very avid comic fan and letterhack back at the very beginning of the Marvel Age.
Dave was a young sailor in the US navy and wrote a lot of letters to Amazing Spider-man, Avengers and Fantastic Four.

In fact Dave met and married his first wife through the letter page of Fantastic Four #34. She read the letter and became interested because he was a sailor and a comic fan. Dave and her exchanged letters, met up and got married !

Anyway here's a scan of an earlier letter Dave Cockrum sent in to Fantastic Four #22 from January 1964. Don't you just love it how Dave criticizes the inking on the X-men books.
Enjoy !

Cancel Christmas ?

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like to give myself presents... and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Especially at Xmas time I really like to indulge myself and buy something "really nice". Last year I bought my JIM 83 and my Batman 11. The year before that my ASM #1 and in 2005 my present of choice was Fantastic Four #1. So what's the big book I'm giving myself this year ?

Well to be honest there isn't going to be one... and no art page either. The main reason is that I haven't been able to find anything that :

A) fits in the budget.
B) Is a grail or close-to-a-grail.
C) Is of acceptable condition to me.


The budget-clause is a given, I'm looking for something around the $1250 range...which should get me a good selection. But it's clause B that's giving me the problem... there isn't really that much out there anymore. Top of the list is a nice Tales of Suspense #39 in 3.0/3.5 with at least Off-white pages, next up is a very nice looking X-men #1 in 4.0/4.5 again with the same pages...and then there's.. well to be honest that's it really.
Sure I could take the money and buy 4-5 books from my want list and complete a series...but that wouldn't be the same. My Xmas present should be one single knockout book which I normally only can afford around Xmas. So I guess it's not going to happen this year

But all is not lost, for once I did manage to get into the Xmas present thanks to a cool gift I got from my German friend and fellow collector Rudy. And here's me wearing it in all its monochrome beauty (and I'm not talking about the hat)
Just click the pic for a higher res version and Merry Xmas to all and thanks for reading my blog from time to time :)

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.

My box of orphans

Loyal readers of my rambunctious rambling (yes I'm channeling Stan Lee again) already know that it's all about the complete picture for me. The alfa and omega of my collection (and my collecting) is to complete series or very large runs. In fact I pride myself on doing exactly that ; starting with a single issue and then work my way up (down ?) to the very first issues. I hate stray books, books I own accidentally. Got them as freebies, got them when buying a larger collection or stupidly bought them on a whim. And even though I hardly ever look at them...I know they are there, waiting in the night and defacing my otherwise perfect collection of books that "belong"

So what I normally do is give them away as freebies myself. Lots of people I know are very happy to get a single issue of a series, as a means of introduction or simply just to own another comic. I never bother to sell these as I can't be arsed really to set up an auction for a single book...besides who would bid on it ?

It's safe to say that I've almost completely purged my collection of these misfits, put them out to pasture, sold them down the river...basically got rid of them. Except for one single box. The box of orphans I call them, books I can't really give away (honestly because some of them are worth a fair amount of coin and others because they're basically cool). So there they sit, snugly between my Avengers and Fantastic Four series.

While I was dusting my comics cabinet (yes I turn into a woman twice a year for 20 minutes) I pulled the box and took a look. Much to my delight I was able to take out another few books to put (hide !) in my "freebie" box..but at the end of the day a fair amount remained and I thought it maybe would be an interesting read to see what lurks inside my darkest of secret possessions.
So I pulled about half the books and maybe you'll see a book you've never seen before or heard of...

Ok the first batch


There are some oddball books in there like "The Impossible Man Summer Vacation Spectacular" from 1990. No idea when I bought this, but as I didn't buy comics from 1986 through to 2000 I must have picked up up somewhere probably for the cool Doom cover... From the period where Marvel did special Summer books to cash in some more, gotta love the 90's.

More interesting is the "Logan's run #6" in FINE from 1976. It's a $10.00 for the sole reason that it has a backup story featuring Thanos in his first solo story (shortly after his cameo in Iron Man #55. Loved the TV series and I picked this one and #5 at a local con about 5 years ago for about 50 cents each. Still haven't read them

The 'Marvel Triple Action #2" from 1972 is a killer book which reprints Fantastic Four #58 where Doom steals the power cosmic from the Silver Surfer (hey just like the second FF movie). Very precious book to me as one of the few Marvels that I picked up as a kid (I think in 1976 when I was living in England) and still have today. A book I'll never sell...but have no idea where to put either. And just look at that fantastic cover

While writing this I tossed the Black Panther #2099 in the freebie box as well, paid full cover for this about three years ago...I blame alcohol.

"New Mutants #87" is the only New Mutants book I own and luckily it's the only one you should own. It's a $20 - $25 book in this condition. Picked up a new mutants run years ago and this book was in there twice. Kept the best copy sold the rest.
Edit : Just saw a little blemish on the back cover...it's a NM- . . . crap.

Another book I picked up in England is "Moon Knight #1" from 1980 ...a few years ago I bought the entire series, read and sold it again. This one remained and will probably end up as a freebie as well. Cheap Batman clone

And saving the best for last... "Captain Marvel #1" from 1968 in VG+. I got this book as a freebie with a purchase a few years ago. Ashamed to say I don't remember who sent it to me and I really should as I just looked it up and it's a $30.00 book

Well this was quite fun for me, I'm off to read the Captain Marvel #1 and maybe, just maybe I'll have a stab at the Logan's run books as well.

Next time I'll dig out another batch of "orphans"

be well.