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Finally Numero Uno

It's taken me years and a bit of cash but I am finally in the top spot in Captain Marvel Adventures. My recent ascent was helped by the fact that Starman221 was going in the opposite direction. Seeing the goal within striking distance I did a sprint to the finish line and put myself fairly deep in the red based on my buying budget but that's cool because I always pull myself back out. My recent purchases may be my last for most of the rest of the year unless a must have item appears. My nex
David Swan1

David Swan1

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A New One on Me

SO I was working on acquiring a new comic for my Captain Marvel Adventure collection and was working on trying to find a price we could both agree on. This went on for awhile and I finally concluded that the seller wasn't going to budge anymore so I went to buy it. To my surprise the seller suddenly jacked up the selling price by $100. I don't know if I pissed the seller off or they figured they could squeeze me for more. I can say I will never give in to some greedy or stupid seller and it's
David Swan1

David Swan1

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CGC Tragedy

Maybe not tragic but unfortunate. I decided to buy a fairly inexpensive All-American Men of War off Amazon. Although it was a middling grade it was the second highest known grade and was selling for less than $100 so grabbed it up. When I received it in the mail I was surprised. Rather than send it in a box it was sent in a large envelope and bookended with two pieces of thick cardboard. There is a reason every other CGC comic I've received has been sent in a box and it became evident the mome
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My First Two Custom Sets

I decided to create a few custom sets and naturally based them both on Captain Marvel Adventures. My first is the legendary Monster Society of Evil run which lasted 25 issues. The longest continuing comic story line of the Golden Age in any comic.   The second custom set includes the 28 issues city stories.   In neither of these runs do I own even half the comics but it's a fun new goal to try and complete them. Someday I might add some more custom sets. I was considering including all the
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My 2015 CGC Year in Review

I added six new comics to my Captain Marvel Adventures collecting in 2015 which was more than expected but I came across several can't miss auction items late in the year. Because of the unscheduled purchases I enter 2016 deep in the red and may not be buying my next comic until spring time. At this point I'm only scheduled to buy three comics in 2016 but that's always subject to change based on availability and the three are some big ones. Overall I've done a good job of keeping my finances in
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My Humble CGC Collecting Beginnings

As I get closer to the number one spot in Captain Marvel Adventures I thought I'd look back on how it all began. It started with Superdickery. Superdickery.com is a hilarious website devoted to covers and interior frames where Superman is being a... well... a . This was common during the Silver and Bronze Age when DC enjoyed having covers where Superman is acting out of character in order to attract the attention of readers. It was inevitably the effects of Red Kryptonite or Superman acting
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Less then 10K Away

I am now within 10,000 registry points of taking the top stop in Captain Marvel Adventures. I'm proud to add a very lovely 9.0 copy of issue 82. It's not the highest grade but it's pretty darn good and the highest grade of 82 I've yet to see for sale. I've gone way into the red in my comic budget but I make exceptions for auction items that fit into my collection. It may be until late spring before I make another purchase unless another must have comes along. To see old comments for this
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Hit the One Third Mark

All my CGC collecting resources are being devoted to Captain Marvel Adventures and I've finally hit the one third mark on the way to 150 issues. I seriously doubt I will ever own all 150 issues but having 50 is a nice start. There are still enough comics available online to keep me busy for years to come. I still lag over 10,000 registry points behind the leader but I'm literally eating into his lead. The comic that got me to the 50 issue threshold was from starman211's own collection so as my
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Can I Compete With the Best GA Collections?

My goal is to one day win Golden Age set of the year and I thoroughly intend to meet that goal even if it takes me a decade or more but the fun is in the journey. So with the 2015 Registry Awards posted I thought I'd look through this year's winners and see if I could possibly be competitive using my Captain Marvel Adventures collection. I'll go through them on by one. 1. BarristerBaker, Golden Age Flash, Flash Comics. One of the few Golden Age winners in recent years with a registry point tot
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Mid Year Assesment

I have continued to devote my entire monthly comic budget to Captain Marvel Adventures and the progress has been significant. Since January I've added just one new issue but it was a biggie and almost single handedly satisfied my required number of registry points to achieve my goal of taking the top spot within a decade. At this point I have 7.5 years but I'm well ahead of pace. Three years ago at this point I had purchased 11 CGC comics and bought 27 total throughout the year. Two years ago
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My Latest Purchase

This is my first CGC acquisition since early September 2014 but it's a big one. Captain Marvel Adventures #56 is my second ever 9.6 and it's an issue I've been eyeing literally for years and it's likely to be my biggest pickup for the next few years. I may actually be picking up a second, far less costly, CMA issue within the next week but after that I may have another half year break as I gather my funds. I have a very strict budget and my purchases are all plotted out for the next few years
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Just Checking In

I haven't purchased a CGC comic since early September and the first possible next purchase would be early March but that in no way means I have given up my dream to have the best Captain Marvel Adventures comic collection. Quite the opposite. I have big plans this year but I have a strict budget and I dug myself a big hole with a monster purchase last year and I'm just now back in the black. What I've been doing is reading a lot of Golden Age CMA stories available on ComicBookPlus.com to furth
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My 2014 CGC Year in Review

2014 was a great year with my main goal being to focus on quality over quantity and to put all my energies and money into Captain Marvel Adventures. In 1012 I purchased 27 comics and in 2013 I reduced the number to 13 while this year I purchased just 6. I ended the year below budget and went well over 3 months without a single purchase. On the other hand I broke my previous record of registry points for a single comic twice and picked up my first 9.6 graded Captain Marvel Adventure comic so I de
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Steve Ditko - The Grey Negotiator - Part 2

There is a telling story about Steve Ditko where he sent a 6 page letter to writer Steve Skeates who had written a -script for a The Question story when both worked at Charlton Comics. From CBR, "This 6-page letter was sent because of the loose wording Steve Skeates employed when The Question was engaged with a criminal -- calling him "friend"." Skeates referred to the letter as "scary" http://ditkocultist.com/2012/01/19/related-articles-cbrs-urban-legends-revealed-steve-ditko-3/ This was no
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Mr. A- The Best Deal

"The Best Deal" was published just last month (November 2014) in Mr. A #15 which means he was 86 when he produced these stories. Were there really 14 other Mr. A comics? It was published by Robin Snyder and Steve Ditko and contains two Mr. A stories the first being "The Best Deal". According to Wikipedia Steve Ditko said in 2012 of his self-published stories, "I do those because that's all they'll let me do". What I read from that quote is that Ditko would like to do more mainstream stuff but th
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Steve Ditko - The Grey Negotiator

Let me start by saying I have no axe to grind with Steve Ditko. I consider him one of the most creative and influential artists in comic history. His design of Spiderman's costume is one of the most iconic ever created and I've generally found his art style unique and appealing. I also don't disagree with ALL the values Ditko expresses, for example I'm right there with him when he supports reason and logic. In fact I agree with a lot of things he says but as I will show in my journals Ditko take
David Swan1

David Swan1

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The Return of Mr. A

Tomorrow I will begin a new series of journal's on Mr. A and Steve Ditko so if you liked my previous journal's prepare for more of the same. I will endevour to be as hard hitting as Rex Graine himself To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Mr. A revisited

Awhile back I did a series of articles on Steve Ditko's Mr. A that some people seemed to enjoy so I've decided to revisit the character because he's just so darn fascinating. I managed to win 4 more Mr. A comics on EBAY so once they arrive I'll be creating some new journal's discussing the character. For those who are unaware Mr. A was Steve Ditko's ultimate realization of an Objectivist hero. His first attempt was The Question but there were limits on what Charlton comics would allow so Ditko
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My First Experience with a Digital Comic

I rarely buy new comic books, sticking exclusively with compilations, but I was interested in the new Multiversity series by Grant Morrison and when the latest issue came out last Wednesday I really was chomping at the bit to read it. Problem was I was out of the country at the time. So I decided to give digital comics a try and download it onto my Kindle device. Here is my experience. First, the price of a digital comic is the same as the physical comic which in this case is $4.99. I know t
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Captain Marvel Stuff

There are a few Captain Marvel (the REAL Captain Marvel) items coming out I thought I might mention for fans. Grant Morrison's Multiversity: Thunderworld Adventures will... oh heck, let me just quote Wikipedia "The fifth one-shot, illustrated by Cameron Stewart, Thunderworld Adventures takes place on Earth-5 and features characters from the Captain Marvel family. Morrison described this book as "a classic Shazam book but it's done in a way almost like a PIXAR movie or the way we did All Star
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Checking Out Mile High

I recently moved to Denver and yesterday got a chance to check out the Mile High Comics shop which is more of a warehouse. The first thing I noticed was what a weird location it is and it really is like walking into a warehouse. There is a big banner out front but the front door is unlabeled. Going inside is like entering the Mecca of geekdom. The volume of stuff is so far beyond anything I've ever seen before it was awe inspiring. I'm used to comic book shops maybe 10 to 20 percent the size o
David Swan1

David Swan1

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ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Anyone who's seen my collection can easily glean that I am a big Captain Marvel fan so I am excited to see that DC will be producing a Captain Marvel movie, called Shazam! (for legal reasons) *Ugh*. With a release date of 2016 I wanted to do an infrequent update on the movies progress. Here is my first update... it's been pushed back to 2019. I do believe they WILL make it since Disney/Marvel is rolling around in dough and DC needs to get SOMETHING in the theaters to compete but seriously, fiv
David Swan1

David Swan1

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My Biggest Purchase Yet

There were only a handful of highest grade issues available and I let one slip through my fingers so I was determined to try and avoid it happening again. World Wide Comics had two highest grades but the combined price, for me, was very high although reasonable given the quality of the two comics. This is part of my quality over quantity goal. I hadn't purchased anything since May so I had a nice amount of money to spend but this still put me well in the red and there I will stay until the end o
David Swan1

David Swan1

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The Dark Side of Collecting

Back in the late 80's early 90's I got heavily into sports card collecting and if you know anything about the hobby at the time you're probably already letting out a sigh. The only player I know of still active from that era is Derek Jeter and his time is running out. I've decided to purge most of my cards which is a painful act given the time and money I spent on the hobby but I have to face facts the nearly 100% of all the cards are essentially worthless. I put most of the blame for what hap
David Swan1

David Swan1

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Could I Win Best Presentation?

My goal had been to win Golden Age set of the year and it's a very very long term goal but I'm starting to think my chances are better in the Best Presentation category as it's not nearly as much of a brute force competition. I thought I would go through the 2014 winners and see how I compare. This is a completely self-serving posting that I will use just as a comparison when next years awards roll around. With 100% images, 100% description and a long description for the set my Captain Marvel Ad
David Swan1

David Swan1

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