Well...

Not exactly what I thought I'd be writing about tonight but such is life. Rob texted me this morning to let me know that a coworker of ours (for me, it has been almost 15 years since I was there) passed away.  She wasn't that old, in fact, she was right in line with where we are and yet, apparently her time came too soon. What is crazy is that just mere moments before I heard this news, I was thinking about an old boss who passed away unexpectedly just 8 years earlier.

They both shared the same name.

Time is relentless... unforgiving.

So this was Good Friday.

Maybe not.

I raise this glass of Scotch tonight to our dearly departed... to one who tried to help as many as she could, whoever should cross her path.

Yes, a sad day indeed my friend.

What was special about her? Well... in my opinion, she never judged a character. She took you at face value, listened to your trials and tribulations and would offer healing. Kind of a strange approach in these days.  Regardless... I have to dedicate this to you tonight, Lou...

I believe you were one that was able to see through the static.  I've met spiritual advisors and tutors in my travels... and you were one of them.

Rest in peace.

...

Goodnight.

Hm... interesting.

This is the year of the knife.

I can't help but to think of this one last video...

It never mattered what your background was.

Cheers.

In the end, we're ultimately left to our own devices... we're left to our own worlds. 

And within that, we find solace!

What a depressing day this turned out to be... tomorrow is Easter and should be a better day hopefully.  I went up to visit my stepson who has been in the hospital for a month now.  I'm not going to get into the particulars but it's been frustrating for him and us as well.  Some days are better than others.  Perhaps I'll talk a little more about that later.

It's just been one of those days. My daughter is home for a couple of days for Easter break so we just finished up coloring eggs, as has been our tradition for years. That was fun and enjoyable.  My wife requested a David Bowie egg so I came up with this...

Our dog was curious to see what was going on up there so we let her investigate...

Anyways, I know I've gotten sidetracked here often and this journal has jumped around quite a bit.  I need to get back on track as there's so much that I've been wanting to talk about.  I suppose if I look back, I can see that I kind of left off (in terms of documenting the series of events), back in October of last year (yikes), talking about acquiring and ultimately submitting 3 books to CGC.  Just to recap, those books were: a copy of Amazing Spider-Man 300 that I bought raw, a copy of Amazing Spider-Man Annual 16 that I got in that awesome lot of ASM Annuals and a copy of West Coast Avengers 45 that I bought raw but paid more than I should've. In total, I had invested just under $400 for these 3 books but that's a little skewed because of that ASM lot. I'm figuring the whole price I paid for the lot as the cost of the 1 ASM Annual 16 even thought that shouldn't be that way.

I thought the grades would be as follows:

ASM 300 - 7.0

ASM Annual 16 - 9.8

West Coast Avengers 45 - 9.8

I sent these out to CGC in February following the conclusion of WandaVision and requested that they get pressed by CCS.  As the weeks and months passed, it became painfully obvious that I shouldn't have sent them to CCS because it added so much time to my Fast Track order.  The books finally arrived back to me in October. I was a bit disappointing that I didn't get the 9.8s that I hoped for but instead received these grades...

ASM 300 - 9.0

ASM Annual 16 - 9.6

West Coast Avengers 45 - 9.4

I was shocked that the ASM 300 came back as a 9.0 and that certainly offset the disappointment I felt by not getting the 9.8 on the ASM Annual 16 and the WCA 45!

These were the 3 books prior to shipping them out to CGC...

And now back...

Now in my normal fashion, I shuffled things around a little bit and I'll get to that...

Ultimately, the ASM 300 and the ASM Annual 16 left my collection but returned a short time later but in lower grades.  I used the cash difference, from the sale to the repurchase, to put into other books that I had to get!  I decided to keep the WCA 45 because there wasn't really any room to make a substantial profit based off of what I paid for it, unlike the other 2 books.  I really like those and still wanted them in my collection so I decided to get a couple of newsstand versions but at lower grades.

Here are those books now which sit nicely in my collection.

Like I said, the profit I got from the sale of the two higher graded books, I used to get some other nice comics and I'll get to those shortly.

I can't believe this.

What a way to end this night... I just saw that a copy of Prize Comics 18 just sold here on the boards this past Thursday.

What was I doing Thursday when this sold?

Working. 

That damn book will continue to haunt me to the end.

Major congratulations to the boardie who snagged that.

It lasted a good 3 hours or so too. 

On 4/17/2022 at 1:05 PM, ft88 said:

It lasted a good 3 hours or so too. 

Unreal... three hours of my life that I'll never get back. 😂😕

It was 11 years ago when I had the chance to meet Neal Adams at the NYCC of 2011.  I was nervous and even though I was now into my 40's, a fanboy nonetheless.  I bought the hardcover edition of Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali (an all time favorite of mine) and I approached Neal at the table in his ever present blue shirt. 

It was at this moment, that I didn't realize at the time that I would not get again. 

I asked him if he could sign the book... which he also suggested that he could add a simple Remarque.  Of course I took him up on that offer only to watch this "simple Remarque" develop into something amazing to me!

In this moment I was able to watch 'THE' Neal Adams sketch something right before my eyes.  The man who helped to inspire my comic book artist idol (John Byrne), the man who fashioned and developed Batman, Green Lantern and Superman into what I would always remember as a child... this man, this artist... was frantically finding his lines right before my eyes!

His comment to me as he finished up this quick Superman profile sketch...

"Hey, that's actually pretty good."

I will always remember that moment!

Rest in Peace, Neal.

His contributions to this industry will never go unappreciated.

As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for the vision and talents of Neal Adams, we might never have realized the full anarchy that the character of the Jok...

...

Damn.

Someone is ringing the doorbell.

At this hour?!

What the Hell.

It's nearly Eleven PM on a Sunday night!

Fine.

Who in the wor...

...
 

...

ATTENTION!

YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!

***************************************

TIMES.

1.5.84

Oceania.

***************************************

***************************************

FOR RELEASE TO ALL MINISTRIES.

A TIMELINE VARIANCE HAS BEEN DETECTED AT 43.0481° N, 76.1474° W.

ALL UNITS RESPOND.

Oh my God...

Damn you Rob, what the hell have you gotten me into now?!

This Sunday, this Mayday, was supposed to be a nice afternoon of beer and excellent conversion.

You said that you had a special 'gift' for me.  You said that I wouldn't believe it... I paid for all the rounds but what the hell, man?!

You played my game better than I could ever hope to play my own game! 

My car didn't blow up, nor did yours. 

Who are these guys that are staring at us?!

Seriously?!

Wait, what?

Oh no... what have you done?

This timeline is all screwed up.

Or is it?

Rob, I have to get this out... you know there's no way I can contain this information. You do realize that this is the first conclusive proof of the alternate reality?!

Um, EARTH 2... ?!?!

I'm going to have to write fast.

they're still knocking at the door.

I have 3 minutes?

Fine.

The most amazing book that I have ever held in my hands was literally just dropped in my lap.

Look! 

I have proof of what my life looked like just mere moments before... all seemed so simple!

Wait...

I was just talking about Neal Adams.

Did he break the barrier?

This is impossible.

They're in...

This picture says 1936! 

This isn't right. What the hell is going on? 

This is the Justice League?!

Holy Sh...

...

...

...

...

*** CONTENT SEIZED BY THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION ***

I escaped.

The Ministry of Information will never find the book.

Rob, I had to bury it... I'll tell you more about that later.  Trust me, it was the only way!  Hopefully I can throw them off by getting back to the more acceptable dialogue and posts. I suppose I'll start with this one here tonight as a test. 

I must take a moment to pay my respects to yet another dearly departed. This year sucks.  RIP George Perez.  We've all paid attention to his declining health and the numerous attempts to send aid to him in the same manner that he sent aid to (many of) us in our teenage years.  His contributions stand alone... as did his style.  My perpetual joke about George Perez, to those that I would find myself in a conversation with, would be that viewing his page spreads and artwork would make your eyes bleed.  It was THAT intense!  He was certainly a comic art draughtsman ... I raise this glass to you too, George. 

When Rob and I attended our 2nd NYCC, I saw that there was an opportunity to see him, talk to him and pay my respects.  At that moment, I chose to use my time and money towards Ramona Fradon. I don't regret that decision one bit... I love Ramona. But looking back... I just regret that I never got the opportunity again.

Therefore, I overpaid for a CGC book this weekend in guilt.  I'll get to that one too, soon enough.

But for tonight, perhaps this is where I'm going and it's all because of that damn Doctor Strange : Multiverse of Madness movie.

Alternate realities.

I'll try not to include any spoilers here...

So, this weekend was a bizarre one. Between work, my stepson's health and this movie, I felt that I had my plate full. Perhaps I overindulged because I just realized tonight that I bought A LOT of books this weekend.  What was I searching for?!  Well, I certainly found a lot of good deals.

So, my daughter and I went to see Doctor Strange MoM this weekend and it was my first experience at a Movie Tavern.  It was a bit pricey but we shared a plate of seasoned fries while my daughter had a strawberry milkshake and I had a large Stella.

I had heard rumors about this movie but I was actually shocked to see some of them play out until it hit me.  I realized what had happened to me over the course of the past two years.  I've already written that I felt that I had grown a crush on Elizabeth Olsen but now, here, I was faced with the certain reality that I was emotionally attached to WandaVision. That would explain my initial reaction to this two hour movie.  As I told Rob... it needed to be a 9 episode Disney+ series!

It took me a whole day and a half to absorb what I had watched but ultimately, it took some online reaction posts and speculation to settle my racing thoughts and questions.

You see, I can now admit that I needed the Scarlet Witch in the MCU.

Damn you Elizabeth Olsen... maybe this short with Aubrey Plaza did it.

From what I've read, the Scarlet Witch is **REDACTED**

In terms of CGC, I probably overpaid for a book or two this weekend but it's reasonable.  I'll have to get to that too in time... I have a theory of where the MCU is headed in terms of it's relationship with **REDACTED**

So how does this all fit in?

This weekend kind of fell upon itself at once.  Perhaps the Multiverse is real and perhaps we've all been  **REDACTED**

***** CONTENT EDITED BY THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION.  NO FURTHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. *****

...

I thought that by burying that damned time variant book on "The Bat", I would be able to avoid the MoT or is it the TVA? I'm not sure these days.  Regardless, I figured I should try yet another approach to get back to undetected status by the Spiders. 

So, I'm going to try this... I'll mix everything together into a muddled soup in such a a manner that not not even the most seasoned MoT observer could detect anything.

So let's start here.

Neal Adams.

I didn't see this coming but his passing has really had a weird effect on me and I believe it's because I just went back to watch some relatively recent videos of his.  He made it through the 'End of the World' of 2020.  He still had vision, he still had ideas and he still had plenty of talent yet it was all snuffed out... seemingly so quickly.

It was this video that kind of broke me in terms of what exactly we've all lost.

Damn.

Rest in Peace Neal and thank you... thank you so much for your tireless contributions to our dreams and imagination.

Yes, that's a relatively long video but I do think you'll see it too.

You know, thanks to my friend Rob, I found this video on line too and I have no idea where it originated from.

Hm.

Strange, right?

Again, I have no idea where this came from.  Looks like some kind of fan fiction writing to me, right?

*Ahem*

I'll get back to "The Bat" soon enough, but as I re-read through these last few posts, it becomes very obvious that what I need to do is to go back to the end of WandaVision and where that took me in terms of my collecting habits. So right around the same time that I sent in those 3 books to CGC that I just discussed (prior to THE BOOK) I went off on this wild pilgrimage to acquire copies of books that related to where I thought the MCU was headed especially in relation to the character of The Scarlet Witch.

It was a lot of fun and even more importantly, it was educational.

I'd have to say that this was where I was at my peak of buying 'speculative books'.

So these were pretty much the basis of my spec books following the conclusion of WandaVision ...

Now without giving any further spoilers, it seems that a few of these books may pan out but we'll see how that goes.  There are a couple of titles here that I've bought multiple copies of. 

Again, we'll see!

So in conclusion, for this night, it seems that there are a ton of ideas and wishes out there in regards to the MCU and the characters of Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Vision and others but if there's one thing that I would've liked to see (in a comical sense as it relates to Multiverse of Madness) it would be this...

In the iconic scene (near the beginning of the film) of Guardians of the Galaxy, which featured a dancing Chris Pratt (Star-Lord) ...

... there was a certain scene introduced in Doctor Strange MoM which could be considered comparable in loose terms. Although it might not have been from James Gunn, I would love to see that scene edited and put to this specific song as Wanda comes in and ... well, I'll just leave it at that. 

So as I was just cleaning up last night's post, I came to the realization that this needs to happen and if it did, I would absolutely lose my mind!

I'm kind of losing track of days, not to mention losing my mind at the thought of a Batman meets Scarlet Witch event.

This week started off good but devolved into more personal sadness... I'll keep that to myself for the time being but I mention it because I feel like it's going to find its way into tonight's post.  Let's start here... I've been finding some great books and I've been making some deals here on a local level so that at least is keeping my spirits up when they would probably be at a low point.  I'll be going to see Doctor Strange again tomorrow with my stepson's son (which would be my Grandson, plain and simple.) I took him to see his first movie back in 2008 which was now (Incredibly), 14 years ago.  The movie was Iron Man (the first one) and he was 9 years old at the time and after the first few minutes of the film, he turned to me and just yelled "WOAH! I'm going to have a heart attack!"... I actually thought he was going to because this was something brand new to him and yes, he's a lovable comic geek like the rest of us. Well, my daughter just saw Doctor Strange for the second time (this time with her friends) and apparently there's a 4DX experience and from what I've heard, it's definitely something special.

So that's what we'll be doing tomorrow.

As for tonight... I'll pretend I'm in a diner. 

Maybe Tom's Diner and I'll meet up with my friend Rob. 

We used to meet up for coffee before we discovered the Wide World of Beer.  It's kind of funny but this song came out almost 3 years ago and I'm just hearing it now and kind of addicted to it. 

I just think it is awesome!

So, I did something weird over the course of these last two weeks in terms of buying a book and I think it makes for an interesting story and that being this... I overpaid for a book.

(Wow!  You don't say? Yes, I know...)

I've talked about the effect that Neal Adams' passing had on me and like many collectors, we went and sought mementos.  I was no exception.  I've owned a lot of great Neal Adams books and based on what used to be in my Sig Line as well as what was once on my wall, some iconic books as well!

< Sigh...>

But as I thought back to all the Neal Adams books that I've owned, both signed and unsigned, there was one that was blatantly missing... it was obvious but why was that?

Well, the answer came to me a couple of weeks ago in this way.

My wife and I have had many discussions over music and there are numerous songs that she just doesn't care to hear.  It's not that they're bad songs or that that she doesn't like them... no, it's something more simple .  As she's said to me so often when it comes to this discussion, it's goes something like this...

"I heard that song so many times on the radio."

"My sister played that song every day!"

"I played the hell out of that album."

And so I finally understood why I never gave Batman #251 a look when it came to acquiring and appreciating Neal's work.

You see, that cover, that image was synonymous, for me, with the 70's and 80's.  I know I had school folders and notebooks with that image on them and after a while, I suppose it simply blended into the woodwork much like those awesome 70's songs that I enjoy so much and that my wife didn't share the same enthusiasm with me.

Kind of like this one...

So, perhaps you get the idea.

Now where am I going with this?  Ok.  Well I've been looking for a copy of this book for a little bit but now even more so after Neal passed away. 

Yes, Batman 251.

Yes, it's a great cover and yes, it transformed the Joker from a clown to a maniacal lunatic.

It's iconic, no doubt... and it's also historical.

(Just making sure you've all seen this.  I have no idea where it originated from though. Seems kind of strange. Hm...)

It was a book that has been long lacking in any iteration of my comic collecting ventures.  And so I started looking... and looking. I found many nice copies and some of them almost got me to the point of bidding but in the end, I'd refrain. But then, a few weeks ago I saw this copy.  When I first saw it, I may have laughed - I may have scoffed. But I added it to my 'watch list'.

Days passed and ultimately weeks passed, yet every day I would see this book in my list.  I couldn't stop going back to look at it.

I mean, it has two full circles.  (There was another attraction to this as well, but I'll get to that later.)

For those paying attention, that's important to me, right?

Finally, I realized something profound.  I realized that every time I went looking for a copy of this issue, I knew I would be nearly heartbroken if I saw that this poor, lonely copy had sold.  Had I fallen 'In Love' with a book... I mean that's impossible, right?! Well, on this one particular Sunday I decided to reach out to the seller and see if I could get this book at a discounted price.  The seller, graciously, worked with me and I came to an agreement on a price that I felt was fair but yes, certainly high.

But in the end, I got the book and once the negotiating was over, I thought back to what had actually overcome me.

It took a little bit but I finally got it.

What was it about this one particular copy of this one particular book???

Upon some self reflection, I came up with this...

This was the representation of my childhood.  A cover so identifiable with the early 70's.  A cover so well known... yet a book so damaged, or so loved?

And there it was... the 'Event Horizon', if you will. 

This book is me.

A book so common, so damaged and so not cared for... or was this a book so loved, so shared and so special?

It could be one or the other, or it could be both.  I'll happily settle for it being a bit of the two ideas I just put forward.  And that's why I kept going back to this book.  It epitomized my growing up in the 70's and therefore, I felt a connection to it. 

This sad, decrepit book.

This is me in a nutshell.

And perhaps more of you too... it's ok, though.

We're still here, even at a point five.

I forgot to mention something else about that specific copy of Batman #251...

While I was feeling nostalgic for Neal Adams' work, I kept thinking about getting his re-imagined Joker covers from the James Tynion series that came out last year. As a set, they're a pretty nice collection but one thing that I paid attention to was how the books were all made to look distressed.

It's very apparent on the homage cover to Batman 251.

And this is the set of 4 books...

I got to thinking and I felt that these books would not have featured the 'faux distressing' if it wasn't something endorsed by Neal Adams himself... I mean it's part of the artwork on these 4 issues. So in relation to that sad Batman 251 at a CGC .5, I just couldn't help but to think that Neal would've actually liked that book as well.  He probably would've said that it added 'character' to it.

Well, at least I can imagine that he would've said that.

Now how could I forget to not add a 'music video'... sure, here's one from the early 80's from MTV. 

A group right out of WW1 called the Red Hood Regiment.

Ok, now I have to jump back to WandaVision and Doctor Strange : Multiverse of Madness.  I just have to add that a few posts above, I mentioned that I had bought a lot of 'speculative' books in relation to WandaVision.  Well, there were a few that I forgot to mention... all of which I still have.  Those were never flipped.

Those books consist of the Vision and Scarlet Witch mini series from both 1982 and 1985 respectfully.

Of those 16 issues, it was issue #12 of the 1985 series that popped up in price.  We'll see if that one continues to have legs or not as the future of the MCU unfolds but I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that issue #4 of the 1982 series.

Another mini series set that I bought and had a lot of fun putting together was the James Robinson set from 2015 with amazing covers from David Aja.  These were a little challenging to come by but certainly books that I'll be hanging on to. Some of these covers are just incredible to me.  In particular, issues  4, 5, 10 and 13.

And finally, there was the John Byrne run of West Coast Avengers from issue number 42 to 61.  I've discussed that issue 45 before but there's another exciting purchase within those issues that I'll get around to talking about a little bit later.

...

As for Doctor Strange : Multiverse of Madness, I mentioned that I was going back to see it for a second time but this time it was the '4DX' experience.  That's basically 3-D with 'environmental effects' such as moving seats, wind, mist, snow and 'other things'.  It was great... especially the opening scene.  Anyways, I really enjoyed the movie more the second time around and I think it was because I've had weeks of listening to reactions and theories online and it certainly helped with the 'filling in' part. Also, there were some subtle things that I missed the first time around. I'm still not posting any spoilers yet but at this point I feel that if you really wanted to know about the movie, you would've seen it by now.

Wow.

I certainly didn't see this coming... RIP Andrew.

Another one gone. 😕

Damn.

Another favorite.

... so yes, I could go on posting endless Depeche Mode videos.

They've been a favorite band of mine since my high school years, 38 years ago. It's kind of funny looking back at how their song, "Blasphemous Rumors" (1984) was banned on the local radio stations here and the only way to hear them over the air was through college radio.

Back to comics.

As I've written (repeatedly now), the 3 books that I sent in following the conclusion of WandaVision seemed to have entered a black hole and the chance of seeing them any time soon and also capitalizing on the show's success was quickly fading away as I was hearing horror stories of the backlog. That being said, there was another special book that I really wanted to send in that I had mentioned here before and that was that old copy of X-Men 4 that I had reacquired.  I was nervous to start the project on that book that I had set up for myself but I was more motivated to do so now as I was now 100 percent in on the character of Wanda, The Scarlet Witch.

Based on the condition of the book, in the state that it was, I knew I was risking disaster with it but I felt that I had practiced, researched and thought it about enough. I remember cutting it out of the inner well and wondering to myself what I had gotten myself into as this was the first time I actually got to handle the book in a raw state.  Again, this was a book that I had originally purchased slabbed back in 2010... now 12 years ago.  As I examined the book closer, it reveled that the spine was very weak and that it was going to be tricky to get that spine roll out.  The method I was first going to try, which I saw recommended from a board member here, seemed like it would work but after one attempt, the spine roll memory proved to be too much and there was very little improvement.  Disappointed by this method, I felt like the only way to accomplish what I wanted, would be to go ahead and try to reform the spine, which meant pressing the book flat and then realigning it. I was certainly nervous to do this because I was afraid I would pop the staples or damage the spine even more. I was extra careful to 'support' the staples which was another tip I picked up online. 

So this was the book after taking it out of the slab but before removing it from the inner well...

And then here are the reference pictures I took once I got the book completely out...

Pressing the book flat was a success after only one attempt which pleased me because I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to subject the book to a lot of handling before disaster would strike. After aligning the spine in such a way to enhance the cover appeal, I put it through the press once. The results looked very good but I felt that maybe one more, this time flipping the book, would improve the chance that the 'new' spine formation would hold. When I took it out from a day under the cold press, I was very pleased.  I opened the book to make sure everything held but then saw what I was certainly trying to avoid... the bottom staple of the centerfold popped but the top was still secure.  I was a bit upset by that and figured that the book wouldn't garner a higher grade now but at least it looked a bit better. 

So these were the results of this project of mine on this book...

Obviously, the book was printed and cut a certain way in 1964, but my main objective was to get the front cover to display better than it had.  I think I achieved that as an amateur first attempt at something like this.  This book holds some special meaning to me now, for a multitude of reasons and I was surprised at the results once the book arrived back from CGC. I paid the extra money for 'Express' on this one because I didn't want to wait several months to get the book back and I believe it took about 3 weeks from start to end on this submission at that tier.

And so finally, here is the book now with a small grade bump and page quality bump as well...

Here's the isolated before and after on that book...