So just when I think that the 80's have been cast to the caves of desolation, I'm reminded of this.

Such an incredible piece!

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue III

So with that (CGC 8.0) Mark Jewelers copy of Daredevil 158 to pair with my other old label (CGC 8.0) 158, I thought of putting together another pair from the Miller Daredevil run when I saw this book on the boards here from Andy ( @thirdgreenham ) The price was right and I needed a solid regular copy of Daredevil 168, featuring the first appearance of Elektra.

What I mean by 'regular copy' is that the other copy I have of this issue is a nice UK Pence variant...

I really like these two together and I'm certainly looking forward to the 18 episode series slated to start next year in 2024.  I was thrilled to hear that both Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio are reprising their respected roles as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and Wilson Fisk / Kingpin!  It will be excellent if the look and feel of this new series mirrors that from the awesome 3 seasons of the Netflix show.  I have a feeling they will, as we got a small sampling of what it could like like in the She-Hulk Disney + series that aired last fall in 2022.

I'll get to more on that later but just for the record, I did enjoy the 9 episodes.

It's Good Friday and I have the night off from work.  I'm spending this evening with my Shadow rocks glass and a few sips of Bourbon... sounds about right.

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue III (pt. 2)

I just mentioned that I paired the Mark Jewelers, Daredevil #158 with my CGC (old label) DD 158 and thought to make another pairing with the UK variant of Daredevil #168 with the DD 168 I picked up here on the boards.  I've been wanting to piece these all together, so finally, here it is.

I like it.

I like it, it's good...

Speaking of pairing and Good Friday, I'm reminded of this great tune by Peter Gabriel that was released in 1992. 

That Easter in '92 was certainly a pivotal time in my life and now here we are, 31 years later!

That ultimately turned out to be a good year... yet another good pairing.

Yes, this is a Good Friday, after-all.

Cheers.

Easter Sunday.

What a great weekend this was.

My wife and I spent yesterday (Saturday) 'antiquing' and I found such a unique piece of local history.  Of course I'm looking to flip it and perhaps I'll detail that a little later.  I didn't find any personal treasures, comics or Shadow related material but I'll transition to a cool story about that soon enough. 

In the meantime, we're now at...

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue IV

The Daredevil acquisitions were thrilling for me to obtain... no doubt.

I know they're not 'top of the tops' in terms of grade and desirability, but if it hasn't been made obvious by now, I don't hold grades in such high regard as others... sometimes I'm just happy to have a representation of a certain book or title.  Such is the case with this next one. 

When it was announced that She-Hulk would have her own Disney + series, I think most were skeptical but hopeful.  When the (original) trailer was leaked, apparently it looked horrible and they had to redo or adjust the CGI a bit to clean it up.

Who knows if this is actually true but I don't have a reason to doubt it.  There's been a lot of talk about how taxed the CG department is with MCU properties. Anyways, when the series finally aired, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was entertaining (for me) and I thought that Tatiana Maslany did an excellent job as the 4th wall breaking, Jennifer Walters.  In fact, to me she absolutely personifies the John Byrne era She-Hulk and I hope she can stay within that role.

I'm pretty sure that it was this episode nine introduction that sold me on the entire series.

I thought the nod that Kevin Feige gave to us older fans was fantastic...

Like I said, I found the series to be fun and entertaining and it was great to see Charlie Cox again as Daredevil.  And even though it was nice to see Daredevil in his original red and yellow suit, I would like to see them return to a more traditional look with the Born Again series.  I heard that they may be updating the look a little but we'll see what they actually mean by that.

Now a few months prior to this series, I thought that I should try and secure a reasonably priced copy of She-Hulk #1 in case the series replicated WandaVision in terms of positive reaction and popularity.  Well, I found just the right copy at my LCS and I certainly didn't break the bank when I purchased it. And now I certainly won't get rich if I try and resell it...

It is what it is and for now, it'll stay in my collection.

Ultimately, I think it was right around this time that the market started its correction and many books started to slide.  The days of making big profits were ending but that only opened the door for more buying opportunities which is always a good thing!

Happy Easter!

A long week and a short weekend... sounds about right.

Anyways, I just found this and had to post it as it connects on to my last entry. 

I thought it was pretty cool.

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue V

This book wasn't a speculative purchase, it was more of an impulse buy from last year and it's just a book that I've always been attracted to.  I think it's a very underrated cover.  So here's yet another Amazing Spider-Man book that I picked up a while ago at my favorite LCS as the price was right.  Anyways, I really like this early Luke Cage appearance and again, I just think this John Romita cover is up there with the best of them. 

Exceptionally dynamic, in my opinion.

So I'm trying to fill in a lot of the blanks in terms of comic purchases before I retreat back to my 1930's...

I feel like I have some leeway now as there's a lot of static in the atmosphere right now which is helping to cloud my true position from the TVA. 

It's kind of fun. 

Some of this static comes in the form of moving parts.  For instance, my friend Rob (the first owner of The Book) has moved and is now living upstairs from a brewery in Russia. 

Hey, it is what it is. 

He was living in a State Park here in Central New York so this is a big move for him!

Now of course I'm kidding here.  It's simply an urban legend surrounding his true habitat.

Anyways, back to some books... here's another one that I picked up.  This affordable copy of Showcase #23 and the second appearance of the Silver age Green Lantern was a nice internet find for me as
I stumbled on it while browsing through some various websites.

This was a book that I've never owned before but again, I've always liked the cover on this one.  The fact that it's restored made it even more affordable (besides, I like the purple label set against the fantastic colors on this cover) as his first appearance in Showcase #22 is now out of reach for me.  I owned two copies of that book in the past and I believe I sold them both here on the boards.

Do I regret the sales of those books? 

Well, as with most of my sales (Rob always jokes with me that I always sell low and buy high) I have had a sense of regret but I think I'm learning that letting go isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Rather, it's a function of a process that you're not fully aware of at the time, but later, "for which they sit and wait, when all will be revealed"...

... it starts to make sense to you.

Little known fact, Robert Plant was the first Doctor.

So I have my next entry lined up and it's a topic that I've been holding off on but very excited to get started on. 

Actually, it may be painfully obvious what I've been avoiding and perhaps that will be my last entry before I make my segue back into the shadows.

But for now, it's time to say good evening and good night.

And I have no idea why I would feel the need to post these two videos...

I had to add in a few more lines to the above entry to clean things up a bit... as usual.

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue VI

I have no idea why I like this book so much but I think it might have something to do with reliving that moment in WandaVision that I described a while back when Teyonah Parris made her debut as Monica Rambeau which sent me scurrying to eBay in the middle of that episode. 

The good old days.

So yes, I picked up another copy, this one a direct sales version, but part of the reason was that the price was way too good (in my opinion) at my favorite LCS to pass up.  This issue has dropped like a rock, along with so many others, but I do have faith in this book and this character for the long run.  Eventually Marvel and the MCU are going to have to (want to) reboot the Avengers and well... I think if memory serves me correctly, she led the Avengers for a while back in the mid 80's. 

So we'll soon see Monica Rambeau again the the new movie, The Marvels... I liked what I saw from the trailer that dropped last week. 

It looks entertaining and fun... Goose is awesome!

And while I'm mentioning it, the one series that I didn't get caught up in, (in terms of any comic spec), was the Ms. Marvel series that aired last Spring. 

For me, there just wasn't anything there. 

But a funny thing happened along the way.  My daughter and I ended up watching this series together and we both really enjoyed it.  Actually, I think I enjoyed it more as I was seeing it through her eyes as she was only 2 years removed from high school at the time and seemingly could relate to a lot of the subject matter. 

Well done Marvel / Disney... I think that's the goal you were aiming to achieve.

And now here she is (a year later) in Japan and sending us amazing pictures. 

It's kind of crazy. 

My wife and I left her in Newark, NJ... of all places, and now here she is is in this amazing, incredible 'magic land' (as I like to call it), having the time of her life while teaching English to Japanese children,

I'm so proud of her... I really am. 

Okay, I need to stop before the Scotch decides it wants to go 12 rounds with me tonight.

.

...

Onwards.

I stopped by this same LCS today because I saw the owner (Mike) post on Facebook that he had a newly graded copy of Star Wars #1 as a CGC 7.5.  I had purchased a CGC 6.0 from him last Spring in 2022 and I thought it might be a good idea to try to upgrade this one while prices have dipped.  So I brought in my CGC 6.0 along with a raw copy of Avengers #49 (the last part of the Black Knight story arc).  I really like that book a lot and I think it's an underrated black cover but I do have a graded copy and so I decided to part ways with my raw copy which was probably close in grade to my CGC one. 

And so, with the Star Wars #1 CGC 6.0, the raw Avengers #49, $20 in cash and a large black coffee, I was (happily) able to upgrade!

And this is my Avengers #49, which is still in my collection, to go along with the Avengers #47 and Avengers #48. 

I tell you, Winter The Black Knight is Coming!

...

Mental note- I need to re-scan this one and do a group with the other issues. 

Ok, now here we are.  I think I got everything in that I needed to get to before I fire up the TARDIS.  Now of course there is but one more very important detail to get to before this occurs and it was what I had alluded to in the prior post.

So...

The Sandman.

What the hell did Neil Gaiman do?  Well, I think he kind of made it perfect.

To be continued...

I love this video.

My wife and I saw Tori Amos 27 years ago. My, how the years have flown by!

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue VII

How does a day like this happen?

I have to throw this in here because this was just a great day from start to end.  My wife asked me this morning if I wanted to go to the flea market and after a few minutes of thinking about it, we got in the car left.  It was still kind of early and lately I've been having pretty good luck going later as there's this one guy who shows up near the end of the day and takes another vendor's table after he packs up for the day.  Anyways, I'm so glad we went early today! I bought a few things to resell at our antique booth and then continued on to this other dealer that I'm familiar with.  He had a few comics but nothing that sparked my interest.  I asked him if his business partner was going to stop by later (he's the one that deals with the comics) but I was told that he was actually set up at a collectors show at our local fairgrounds here.  I didn't know about this so I thought to myself that maybe after the flea market either my wife and I could go or maybe I would just head out there myself.  So I was about to leave this vendor's table when I glanced over and picked up this very unique item... something I had never seen before.  The dealer told me that he had no idea what it was and asked if I knew.  I told him that I had never seen anything like it before.  He said that it wasn't a powder horn and I agreed.  It was a mysterious curiosity piece to say the least and he said he'd knock off $10 from the price if I was interested.  To be honest, I was interested at the original asking price but I wasn't about to refuse a $10 discount.  So I bought it, went out to the car to put it in there and continued my hunting.  I picked up some vintage 1980's NFL football helmet stickers, a softcover book on Pulps and some old Royal English ephemera for my wife who was now waiting for me.

I mentioned the collector's fest to her and at first she said she just wanted to go home and I would go myself but then she decided to go with me.  It was only $5 for admission so that wasn't bad at all.  When we got to the fairgrounds, we saw that there were 3 shows going on simultaneously.  A gun show, a folks art show and the collector's fest.  The lot was packed but we found our way to the appropriate building after driving around for a bit to get a parking spot.  Once we got inside, well... something wasn't right.  This collector's fest was actually 95% a sports collectible show.  I guess what happened was a mix-up in advertising and they combined the Saturday and Sunday venues into one and called it a 'Collector's Fest' but in reality, Saturday was the old toys, vintage memorabilia and comics and Sunday was for sports.  After about 5 minutes, my wife said she would wait out in the car

Apparently she got her admission fee returned after talking to the people taking the money at the door.  They apologized and said that the ad had been screwed up after she asked why there were only sports cards in there.

Anyways, she had told me to take my time after I found the only two vendors there in the whole place selling comics, one being the guy I knew from the flea market and have a good relationship with.

So as I'm browsing through the 6 to 7 short boxes of comics, there's a guy to my right pulling out all sorts of books and compiling this impressive stack of comics.  He seemed oblivious to price so I can only imagine what he got.  Now this dealer is notorious for excellent pricing so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.  Anyways, I overheard that he pulled about $1000 dollars worth of books and paid him just around $700 in cash.  So after that guy left, the dealer (his name is John) told me that he had a bunch of Shadow material and wondered if I would be interested. 

Well, I didn't expect that and we exchanged information for me to take a look at this stuff next week!

I can't wait to see what he has.

Anyways, I bought a bunch of 'filler' stuff from him and in all, it came to just over $100.

Now some of this I'll obviously hang on to and some will be set aside to resell at some point, but this was what I came away with and I'm pretty happy with all of it.

Between going though these short boxes and just a lot of 'chit-chat' (as well as discussing the Shadow material) I had spent a lot of time there and all along, I knew my wife was waiting in the car so I pretty much breezed through the rest of the show.  I did make a quick pit stop at the only other comic vendor there but as I was now feeling that my time was limited, I was basically skimming these long boxes.  This vendor had maybe 25 long boxes and there was no way I was going through even half of them.  His prices seemed fair and thankfully, they were all alphabetized.  And so as I skimmed through the books, looking for certain keys or semi keys (of which there were none), I slowed down a little in the grouping of Fantastic Four books as he seemed to have a bunch of the John Byrne run.  After flipping through those and deciding to just leave, I stopped and decided to go back and get a Byrne FF book that the dealer had priced at $3, respectably.  It's one of my favorite issues and I do have a CGC graded copy, just not a 'reading' copy and so with that, I figured I might as well get this one book before I left the show.

Fantastic Four #250 which features an appearance of just about every Marvel superhero that John Byrne is connected to!

And this is my 'affordable' graded copy...

So, I really felt like this was good day and later this evening, as I was looking up pricing on some of the small antique items that I had purchased from the flea market, I stopped and started to go through some of the books that I purchased, thinking of what I wanted to sell and what I wanted to keep.  My wife was talking to me about something as I opened up the bag on the Fantastic Four #250. 

I'll be honest... I have no idea what she was talking about because as soon as I flipped the cover open, I gasped and then blurted out "Ohmygod,ohmygod,ohmygod!".

She stopped talking and was staring at me.

I told her that this book that I was holding was the last book I bought among a table of thousands of books and it was only three dollars.  Then I told her that John Byrne is that artist on this one (she knows the relevance of Byrne and how I feel about him) and finally, I told her that this book had been signed and showed it to her.

She gave me a high five! 

I think she then asked me how happy I was... I'm not sure, it was all a blur!

So yes, the second treasure of the day came in the form of this 'by chance' purchase of a three dollar comic.

So...

What was the first treasure? 

Well, that mysterious unique item from the flea market turned out to be something old... very old! 

Once I researched enough of it to be able to give it a general age and price, I figured that I had just made enough money to cover a fairly big comic purchase that I had just recently made (which I'll get to a little later).

No, this item wasn't a powder horn at all, which that vendor had surmised, but it was close.

This is the item, as I purchased it, for under the cost of two meals at Burger King.

So what is it?

It's called as Rams Horn Snuff Mull and was used for holding powdered tobacco.  It was utilized in Scotland from the 1600's to the 1800's.  How this piece made its way to a central NY flea market is unknown but it is also sad, as how unique and rare these pieces are. 

So like I said, I figured that this would pay for a recent comic purchase I had made but then my wife talked some sense into me.

I think it went something like this...

"Well, you have Scottish ancestors, right?"

"Correct."

As a matter of fact here's one...

...

Don't I wish!

And then...

"It's a Rams horn..."

(Sigh)

You got me... I admit defeat.

The Los Angeles Rams are (seemingly) lost this year but maybe this will give them some luck and perhaps they'll be, at least, able to compete.

And so... I decided to keep this old and unique item despite the monetary gains I could immediately make.  I'm paraphrasing here but my wife seemed intent on telling a story, or rather elaborating on why she thought I should hang on to this item instead of selling it now, where society falters and all that is left is bartering and outright trade.

Why would she be thinking that?

Crazy, right?!

And so, to cap off this fantastic day, the only emotion I can come up with is this one here, courtesy of Carlos Santanta.

For the first time time in a while, I feel like maybe, just maybe, I'm winning.

Next entry...

What a great collaboration here.

From the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992...

First things first...

• I never got around to cleaning up and proofreading last weeks entry so I just did that now.
• Very sad to hear that my friend Rob had been detained by Russian police and was unable to leave his new living accommodations this weekend.
• I was able to get the books that my comic dealer friend set aside for me.  At first I was a little disappointed but it's about to turn around.
• My wife was given a small box of her mothers coin collection this weekend that contained mostly quarters and wheat pennies.  There were some good dates but going through these made me very sad... she collected coins as I do and had set aside a tube of the Bicentennial Quarters.  I do the same - I think I have a roll and a half, all from pocket change. Additionally, there was one gem in this lot and that was in the form of a Large US Cent... one of my favorite coins!  My coin grading is way out of practice but maybe a VF15 to VF20 on that Large Cent?

Ok,

Let's start off tonight with this as we're finally getting closer.

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue VIII

I went to the market this morning, highly anticipating this group of books that I was set to see.  John said he had some Shadow material so I really wasn't sure what to expect.  When I got there, his business partner was there and so I asked him if John had set aside anything for me... he answered yes, he had a pulled a bag out from under one of the tables.  At first, I was a little disappointed because there wasn't much in terms of Shadow but I did see some good stuff in there.  He told me what John wanted for the lot and so I took it even though it was a little more than I wanted to spend... the deal was good and I quickly thought that I might be able to make up most of what I was spending by selling a few of these.

This is the lot of books I got and some I'll keep and some I'll sell... just not sure what yet.  I pulled out the Shadow material as I'll get to that when I'm back in the proper time-stream...

It's funny but yes, that makes the second Firestorm #1 in two weeks but this one had a little bonus added...

So... in general, it was another good weekend but like I said, I did spend more than I wanted to and so with that, I threw a few auctions up on eBay tonight to try and make up for it.  We'll see how those auctions go.  I'm most curious on how this one will go.  Among the group of books I got was a pretty nice section of the Newark, NJ ( ) Star Ledger 'Comic Book Section' from October 26, 1941 featuring Will Eisner's Spirit. 

If I can get $50 for that, I'll be happy.

And now...

...

...

As soon as I saw the first trailer for Neil Gaiman's Sandman on Netflix... I was hooked and I knew right away that I was going to absolutely love this series!

I don't think there's ever been a better casting (well, except Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch and maybe Robert Pattinson as Batman... okay fine, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth are in the discussion too ) as this one.  Seriously though, there can not be another Sandman except for this portrayal by Tom Sturridge.

Just absolutely phenomenal! 

So the first trailer got me super excited for the Sandman series but then I kind of took a step back when I saw the second trailer and read a bit of news.  For me, the Sandman series was about Morpheus and Death and no, I'm not talking about the sequential story line... I'm referring to their impact on pop culture.  This series exploded in the late 1980's into the early 90's and the character of Death was a big part of that.  She was this 'pasty white goth chick' and just seemed to reflect the times.

So like i said, I took a step back when I saw that they changed the look of the character of Death for the series and I was a little confused but I figured that it would work seeing how (the reality of) 'Death' really has no image and I guessed this was where Neil Gaiman was going. 

This is what I'm referring to, as I saw this trailer (at 0.59) ...

So I was still convinced that this was going to be an absolute smash and it was going to reignite the legend of the Dream King... I believed that Neil Gaiman had done a tremendous job in casting when I saw some of the other names involved... seriously Clara and Brienne of Tarth together in a series?! 

I was certainly getting WandaVision vibes from this hype but there was one problem. 

I had no books!

This next entry will detail the journey my wife and I have taken with Morpheus and why I saw this series as a type of 'Event Horizon'. 

That'll probably come next weekend as I'm quickly running out of time on this weekend.

In closing, I'll go here once again as I love this tune.  This time though, I'll post the studio recording and with that, I'll bid you all sweet 'dreams'.

...

...

To be continued...

Well.

I planned on finishing up the Sandman post this weekend but other things kind of sidetracked me and got me too distracted.  Just a bunch of ramblings that I'll at least get out of the way here.  I know that I'm running out of time (line) and hopefully will have all of this all tied up soon enough.

And so, with that...

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue IX

I'll start with this past  May Day.

Sadly, Gordon Lightfoot passed on the first of this month and that's where I'll start this entry.

Everyone is familiar with the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald so I won't post that video, instead I'll go with my second favorite of his...

I spent most of this weekend pricing some comics to throw into our antique booth along with visiting my uncle and getting a wealth of knowledge on other types of antiques - specifically old lanterns which I'm starting to grow fond of.  He (along with my grandfather) had been employed at R.E. Dietz for years and years before they shut down in 1992.  The company moved their manufacturing base here in 1897 after a fire destroyed their building in NYC.  In 1952 they moved their entire manufacturing operation to here in Syracuse but they stopped making lanterns in 1971.  Subsequently, they moved that part of the business to Hong Kong but continued to make truck lighting and hazard warning devices here... that's mostly what I know my grandfather and uncle doing.

Anyways, I was glad that I spent a part of Sunday afternoon with him as his health is failing which just adds a depressing note to the visit but I learned a lot... in a number of different ways. In addition to that, I took my stepson to see Guardians of the Galaxy 3 this weekend.  We liked it and I have a new appreciation and fondness for Raccoons now.    Before the movie, we hit a LCS for Free Comic Book Day and bought a few things.  The highlight for me though was seeing this as one of the freebies from @Crimebuster ... it looks really good!

So I think that's about it, in a nutshell.  Just a busy weekend and now back to the grind.  I'll get back to finishing up the Sandman post next weekend hopefully but I do have to add this.

Real funny, MyComicShop.

Real freakin' funny...   

This was a long but very nice Mother's Day... just getting a chance to sit down now and I'll get to this Sandman pos - oh no! 

My wife just put on Carnivale... one of the best series ever created.  Well there goes that plan. 

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue X

Upon hearing of the Sandm...

Ok, the first episode of Carnivale, Clancy Brown's character, Justin Crowe, wakes up to an episode of The Shadow featuring Orson Welles! 

Now I know for sure that my time is running thin here and the TVA are on to me...

Let's try this again...

Upon hearing of the Sandman series on Netflix, I was not only concerned that I didn't have any Sandman books but it also bought in a flood of memories that me wife and I had shared in the early to mid 1990's regarding the character.  If I remember correctly, I think it was my wife that was first attracted to the DC series as she would often accompany my visits to various comic shops with my stepson.  The actual story behind her attraction to the Sandman though is far deeper than I, at first, remembered.  After talking with her, I remembered that during this one University Bookstore Christmas party, this one guy, who she liked, had her as a Secret Santa for that year and gifted her a bunch of Sandman comics. They might've been the first 10 issues if I remember (somewhat) correctly. 

Well... as it turned out, this guy was, um... 'not her type'. 

And actually, ironically, he revealed that to me this one day, out of the blue.

Life is strange.

His name was (I'll call him) Andre and he was a very nice person... I held a good rapport with him even if my (then unknown to her but later, to be) wife's dreams were crushed back then

I have no idea why I'm posting this...  

I blame the Scotch. 

So my wife had a crush on this guy, Andre.  Now, if I had to describe him, I would have to say late 80's Andre Agassi minus the hair, if that makes any sense.  One day while we were working together, he just straight out of the blue told me that he was gay.  Again, this was around 1990 / 1991 and things were very different back then.  I'll never forget this day.  After he announced, or revealed this to me, my exact words back to him were... "Ok - well I'm not but that's ok and thank you for sharing that."   Afterwards we went back to discussing the things that we had been talking about but nothing had changed.

Except...

I had to tell my wife the news.

And so, like I said, life is strange.

Eventually Andre moved and we never learned what happened to him.  Sincerely, I hope he's had a wonderful life.  Like I said, he was a very good person.

Anyways, this is how and why the Sandman stuck with my wife and how afterwards, as I would take my (now) stepson to the comic store... she continued her interest in the character.

This is a picture of my wife and I during this time in our life (mid 90's).

During this time, there was a trading card set released that featured The Sandman and this is where the story officially begins.

The trading card set.

Most of you remember the Sandman Trading Card Set but do you remember the 'chase' card?

This will be the start of the next post and installment.

To be continued...

On 5/8/2023 at 1:12 PM, Hibou said:

Before the movie, we hit a LCS for Free Comic Book Day and bought a few things.  The highlight for me though was seeing this as one of the freebies from @Crimebuster ... it looks really good!

 

 

I can't take credit for this one, but it is pretty good! There's a company up in Canada that used to be called Chapter House that re-branded themselves as Lev Gleason, and they are reviving all the old Lev Gleason characters, but in the same universe as Captain Canuck. They've put out a few things that I liked, but they've been hit with a lot of delays -- this issue was originally solicited back in the fall of 2021 as part of a series that never happened. I hope they follow through with the Crimebuster mimi-series teased in the FCBD issue, but we'll see if it ever comes out! 

On 5/16/2023 at 4:06 PM, Crimebuster said:

 

I can't take credit for this one, but it is pretty good! There's a company up in Canada that used to be called Chapter House that re-branded themselves as Lev Gleason, and they are reviving all the old Lev Gleason characters, but in the same universe as Captain Canuck. They've put out a few things that I liked, but they've been hit with a lot of delays -- this issue was originally solicited back in the fall of 2021 as part of a series that never happened. I hope they follow through with the Crimebuster mimi-series teased in the FCBD issue, but we'll see if it ever comes out! 

Apologies... I thought for sure this was yours but when I read it, I didn't understand how (what I thought was) you were able to throw in Captain Canuck, or in the story, Captain Catnuck.  Thanks for clarifying and for the information!

Man.

If there was ever a song to sum it all up for me, this just might be it! 

You see, let me explain.  It goes something like this...

"Come sit down, we're lamenting about yesterday's sad ending
'Bout the water in me whiskey
The brass passed off as gold
Another round, we're descending into old tyme mem'ry
Of a day when wood was wooden, silver-silver, gold was gold
Sweet home was home"

Intermission and House Cleaning... 

Epilogue XI

So it appears that the ending of the Sandman post will have to wait another night as I just got home from a great meet up with my friend Rob at his new digs in Russia... that was one helluva trip this afternoon / early evening.  Well worth it however, even if the exchange rate was ridiculous!  Tonight I was introduced to that song above and yes, it hits home like a ton of bricks.  That's me... my thoughts... slowly dissolving, like these ice cubes into this glass of Scotch, each representing a function and each serving as a memory of what once was.  The ice melts, turning a solid into this liquid that dilutes the Scotch.  Or does it?  Maybe it just changes it, allows a metamorphosis to occur, yet letting it retain its base function- to dilute memories. 

Okay, Rob might get worried at that last entry so I'll have to lighten it up a little...

I met him at this new bar that's been newly relocated and renovated and the place was just fantastic!  It was quite the upgrade from the last time I went to this establishment, some years ago.  This evening also served as a nice segue into this new direction I've taken with my collections and such but that's something I'll get to a later time.

I only had a few beers this evening but they were all very good but the best was yet to come as I had probably the most amazing pizza ever. 

Basically it's Balsamic and Goat Cheese with Arugula... absolutely incredible!

Afterwards, I got to see Rob's new place and it looks great.  He has a ton of prints, some of which he's now able to hang and display on the walls.  I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this, but these are so cool.  These woodcuts look so sweet in person... I just never realized just how expensive they are. All that being said, he has an excellent start on what looks like it'll be the ultimate (pop culture inspired)  man cave, when it's all said and done!

I certainly have more to share of this night but like I stated before, that'll come later.  It's funny though, I have mixed feelings about the town that I was in tonight... I just call it Russia for fun, by the way.  I have memories from there that absolutely run the gamut.  From good memories to employment and to stories that I'll never tell.  It's kind of like a weird convergence point but I do believe that my friend Rob is here at the right point in time.  He'll do well there.  One memory I have, I brought up with him tonight as I told him about the last time I was out there.  A friend of mine, who Rob knows, had a house just around the corner from where we were this night and the last time I was out there, this friend of mine (Dan) and I spent a night drinking Absinthe and Whiskey, while listening to Tom Waits on this cold autumn night. 

That seems like it was a life time ago for me... as it actually was. 

Thinking back, that was around 20 years ago!

Anyways, the topic came up this evening regarding how long I've known and been friends with Rob... as it turns out, we figured it's been around 27 years!  It really only seems like yesterday when Rob and I would agree to a time and log in, to play Dreamcast NFL 2K online.

Now just to wrap up this entire day, it was a good one from start to finish.  I got done with work this morning around 8am and normally I would go to sleep when I would get home but this morning, my wife and I had made plans to go out to the trunk sale that was being held by a local radio station.  We had debated whether or not to set up there and try to make some sales but it's a good thing we didn't.  There was very little turn out and not many vendors.  I did find a nice treasure though in the form of signed movie memorabilia.

I found a nice stack of signed flats for under $20... some signatures included in the lot were those of Robert Wagner, Tony Randall and this alluring actress...

Yes, finding a signed movie promotional ad by Brigitte Bardot was certainly worth staying up for but the good fortune didn't end there.  After the truck sale, I wanted to stop at my favorite LCS and I'm glad I did.  Once I got inside, the owner showed me this huge collection of books that he had just bought but hadn't priced yet.  He told me that I should look through the boxes, which I did.  I found a few Miller Daredevil books that I wanted but I also found this.

I didn't expect to go home today with a 1966 Mexican edition of Daredevil #1, but I'm thrilled to have this!  Mike (the owner) sold it to me at an extremely fair price and this was yet another win in terms of foregoing sleep this morning!

So as a whole, this was a pretty incredible day... it began right and it ended right. 

I got some wins in the collection hunt and I had a great evening with one of my oldest friends.  I had some great beers, amazing food... met some VERY nice people (Emily and Brenden) and ultimately left Rob's place with a beer, a hard seltzer, a pack of bubble gum cigarettes along with a bag of chocolate Twizzlers along with this awesome piece...

A laser cut Mekon from Dan Dare (which, by the way, I have not forgotten)!

So I guess in closing, to end this evening...

"Come sit down, we're lamenting about yesterday's sad ending
'Bout the water in me whiskey
The brass passed off as gold..."

Tonight, I was reminded of the past and of the future. 

The memories full and of those diluted. 

Life is life that I suppose... kind of like this river of time as described by Utah Phillips and Ani DiFranco in this favorite 'tune' of mine.

No, the past didn't go anywhere and so, I raise my glass of Scotch tonight. 

To my friends of the past, Dan... and to my present.

Thank you Rob for being that friend who has always been there, through my achievements and through my failures.

Hell...

This actually sounds like one of my old Saturday Night posts. 

Cheers.

Sandman conclusion...

During the early 1990's, pretty much from 1992 to 1994, my wife, my stepson and I did a lot of comic purchasing and comic chasing.  Like I described in the previous post, she was into Sandman comics but that soon expanded to a lot of other books... a lot of DC Vertigo titles which was started in 1993.  It was a fun time... as she was interested in those books, my stepson was all about the X-Men and related titles while I was basically re-starting my collection. As I detailed in Rusty Staples and Sunken Treasure, I believe the highlights of this time for me was purchasing a copy of Journey into Mystery #83.  As a side note, my wife still has her short box of comics and opening that box is like unearthing a time capsule when life was a lot easier and fun for us. Anyways, in 1994, DC Vertigo came out with a set of Neil Gaiman's Sandman cards and if anyone remembers, the early 90's seemed like the Golden Age of non-sports collectible cards.  Well, my wife attacked this set and I would buy her card packs as well whenever we would hit a comic store. 

She put together a binder of cards and eventually she had assembled the entire set.

Now there was this one chase card that all of those that were breaking these packs open at that time, were chasing after.  That card was the Death hologram card.  Back then, I believe it was selling for around $60 which was very high for a modern collectible card.  Now don't get me wrong, the card was very cool as it reflected the highest evolution of hologram technology for the time as was being utilized on comic covers as a sales pumping gimmick from time to time. 

The holographic Death card from 1994...

Ok.  So here's where I'm looking for support...

In 1994, we weren't married yet.  We were boyfriend and girlfriend and so when your dearest is searching for that elusive treasure or chase card, in this case, what is one to do?

Well... I'll tell you what you do. 

You go down to a comic store that has pulled that card and is now selling it outright.  You spend a lot of (1994) money on it and then you also buy a couple of packs of cards as well.  You go home and you so carefully open one of the packs, just so precisely as to leave most of the integrity of the cellophane intact.  You insert the most sought after chase card into the pack while removing a common card.  You then use every and any device at your disposal to attempt to 'reseal' the pack in such a way that it looks convincing all the while hoping that she chooses to open this tampered pack from the opposite end.  You then make sure to hand these two packs in such a way to ensure that the likelihood of her opening them in the desired fashion, is now in your favor. 

You then sit back and enjoy the moment as she opens the two packs in just the manner that you had hoped and discovers that she had 'pulled' that one hard to find card!

A year later... we were married. 

Ok, look... yes, I took a little creative license with the retelling of this tale, as it was greatly abbreviated, but it is entirely true.  But now here is the moral of this story. 

Don't ever deceive your better half. 

Ever!

Whether or not you have the best intentions... don't do it. 

It's not a magic trick and Harry Houdini would not be impressed.  Just let life play out the way it was meant to be... for better or for worse.  Many years later, I ended up telling my wife what I did with those cards and it didn't go over too well.  She was disappointed that it wasn't 'real'... it was basically an illusion and I totally got her point.  It's like that moment when you end up telling your kids that Santa Claus is n... TOTALLY REAL! 

I'm sure you get the point though.   Yeah, even tough my intentions were solidly good, I probably should've just bought the card and given it to her outright in the top loader it was sold in.

Yes.. that's the Sandman story.

Almost.

I didn't mention that my wife had assembled a near complete run of the Sandman by the mid to late 1990's but there was a time when finances got tough and she offered to sell her first 10 issues of the series which would of course feature two of the biggest books... obviously, number one and number eight - the first appearance of Death and yes, that's still such a great book!  I also had bought her the Bowen Arabian Nights statue that came out in 1994.  That we still have and even though it could use a dusting, it's held up pretty well over the past 29 years!

So now we jump ahead... ahead about 27 years and the Sandman series is about to debut on Netflix.  In anticipation of this series, I remembered that I had never attempted to reacquire those books that my wife asked me to sell all of those years ago. She still had a good amount of them in her collection but they were all in the 40's and up into the 70's, I believe.  Still some good books in there but none of the earlier issues.

Well...

That was going to change.

Before the series was about to start, I was able to secure this first issue in a grade that I felt was comparable to what my wife originally had.

And from that, I was able to add a few more raw books from the first 10 issues (I think I only need a couple of issues now) along with these two graded copies...

I was very happy to get this one and paired up to go along with issue #1.

So this is basically the end of the Sandman post except for this one last part. 

While we were watching this on Netflix, I absolutely loved the introduction of the House of Secrets and the House of Mystery. 

Two iconic titles from DC... add in the first introduction of Cain and yes, I needed to get a copy of House of Mystery #175 for myself. 

As we went through the Netflix series, it absolutely cemented us back into the realm of the Dream King but I think it was episode #5 that was the most difficult to watch.

Just twisted stuff...

We loved the series as a whole and I can't wait to see the cast of characters again... from Morpheus to Death... and from Merv to Lucifer. 

The Corinthian is just insane.

It was many months after the series ended and I was going through some of my short boxes of comics and was thrilled (and kind of shocked too) to pull this one out...  I actually had a raw copy of House of Mystery #175 with that awesome Neal Adams cover!  I just couldn't remember where or when I had got this book but that wasn't important.  It's not a bad looking book - it actually looks better in hand.  For some reason, my scanner absolutely hates this book and was wanting to completely change the colors.  I had to go in and adjust the image but even with that, it's not accurate.

Months later and as I

...

...

And so here we are.

The end of house cleaning. 

I do believe that I have most of everything documented and the foundation has been laid for the next part of this adventure.

This afternoon I took my wife and grandson to see Guardians of the Galaxy 3... Rob and I were just talking about that last evening and now that I've seen it for a second time, I have to say that I feel like this is my favorite of the trilogy.  And so with that, I'll end this evening with this...

Edit - I just had to go in and clean up that last Sandman post. 

I added some pictures and details as I think I rushed through some of it.

 What the hell?

Dammit, Rob. I knew if you showed me those, it would ping on their scanners! 

Wait, you have 3 copies of that?!

Oh shi...

***** TARGET LOCATED. MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS. ALL UNITS *****

Wait, what's going on here?

Orson?

No, Lamont?! 

...

...

TVA : **REDACTED**

A dream within a dream...

If only that was the case.  The TVA is determined to get a hold of these books but it's never going to happen.  I know they're constantly monitoring this thread and my movements but for some reason, dipping into the 30's has proven to be successful as an evasive maneuver, yet I'm still not sure why.

Whatever it is, dear TVA, here's one for you.

"I'm so outta here..."

And with that, it's time to go. 

The TARDIS is charged up and 1936 is locked in...

...

...

...

Back here again.  Back home again.

Feels good, looks good and even smells good... if that makes any sense. 

It's 1936 here and this weekend marks Decoration Day where we remember those who passed while serving this country with the last conflict being The Great War.

If only I could tell everyone of the horrors that sit just around the corner and how this next world war will reshape this country like never before.  Well, that's not why I'm here and if I were to share that information, it would most likely shred the timeline and could even alert the TVA to my location.  I think what I'll do here is continue with the pulps from the time but there's also another branch that I'm following which is just as intriguing to me and that revolves around employment.  I just recently picked up this patch which was sewn onto the back of jackets belonging to their truck drivers.

This one has seen some wear but regardless, it's Blue Coal and boy, do they have a say in what's about to be unleashed across the radio waves!

Damn... Carnivale reminded me that I just put myself in the middle of the Dust Bowl.

Fair enough.

As I've stated numerous times, this is the greatest intro to a series in my lifetime.

Next day and second thought edit... for me this ties The Six Million Dollar Man based on nostalgia!

So, yeah... 1936.

The second wave of the Dust Bowl.

I'll work through this one too.

Decoration Day - 1936

Memorial Day - 2023

The start to a relaxing evening...

I've officially declared this out of the TVA's monitors. 

If you're a Pink Floyd fan... you'll appreciate this!

Hats off to Roy Harper!