Now the waiting begins....

I have collected CGC comics for over four years now, but its only during this year that I dove into the wonderful world of conventions. Oh, I had gone to a number of cons with my father when I was a kid, but that was back in the 80s and early 90s. And we never went to any of the big cons, just smaller local ones thrown by Tallahassee LCS or ones in nearby towns.

Now I have a sudden drive to get a big hunk of my CGC collection signed and turned into SS yellow labeled glory! I have Tnerb to thank for this. He went on a signature acquiring spree during 2011 and 2012 and managed to pass me on my New Mutants set in 2012. After six months of sadness at the loss of my favorite first ranked registry set, I decided to hit Megacon in March of this year, taking a big chunk of New Mutants issues with me for Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod to sign.

I also took a number of other issues with me including some Starlog and Star Trek TNG magazines for cast members to sign. I can sum the experience up in one word...

AWESOME!

I loved it! I loved meeting the creators. I loved getting the items signed by everyone. I especially loved it once everything came back graded and gorgeous with fresh yellow labels announcing their presence through the clear plastic.

I also loved knowing that a bunch of those items were now OAKs!! Most of them still are! This caused a chain reaction in my brain and I decided that I would try to attend at least one more show this year.

Before that would come to fruition, however, Surfer99 would lend me a huge hand by taking ten of my New Mutants issues to the Phoenix ComicCon for Bret Blevins to sign. I am eternally grateful to him for this.

Following those being done, I looked and looked around online. But it was when my mother told me she would be going down to Sebastian to stay with her sister for a couple of weeks that I realized that the Miami Supercon would be taking place right around the time she planned on coming back, so we organized it so that I could attend the show and then bring her back home to Tallahassee.

The Supercon went wonderfully and it served as an opportunity for ME to actually help a fellow registry member for the first time. Ronnylama sent me a number of comics to get signed by a few creators there and I was thrilled to be able to do it for him! He also sent me a number of issues for myself that I would later submit for grading or get signatures on! thanks Ronnylama, YOU ROCK!

Tnerb would later inform me of the Baltimore ComicCon and after some financial shuffling, I decided to attend that show as well. I managed to do a one day run down to Tampa for the show down there while waiting for Baltimore. I even managed to help Tnerb with a signature in Tampa as well.

Then came Baltimore and I did a record number of issues for myself at this show! Meeting Tnerb for the first time was the real highlight of the show for me and being able to walk around the con with him was a really fun time! I now feel that I have a brother I never knew and look forward to our next meeting!

Now I have sent off ten more issues to Tnerb for the NYCC coming up next month and could not be more thankful to him for helping me out with them. I have also just sent off two issues to the NY Masters signing for multiple signatures.

With these last two send offs, I have officially ended my signature collecting endeavors for the year. The next Con I will be attending is Megacon again in March. Tnerb will be joining me for that show. If anyone else wants to meet us there, let either of us know.

Anyway, now that I am home and reorganizing my collection, I realize I am in waiting mode big time! Between everything I did at Supercon, Tampa, Baltimore and now what I have sent off for NYCC and the Masters, I have over 150 comics in the process of being pressed and graded or just graded!!

I dont think any will start showing up on my doorstep until at least December and they will continue to show up throughout the first couple of months of next year. I will be all gnashing teeth and tapping feet until then but that is the nature of the business when submitting to CGC.

Thank you to all who have helped me in these adventures, I am forever in your debt! love this hobby and the friendships I have developed with fellow CGC collectors. I cannot wait to see what else this hobby of ours brings in 2014, but for me it will start the same way it did this year...

MEGACON, HERE I COME!!!

Below is a pic of the empty boxes that are just waiting for the SS issues to start piling in!

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