I've written a little about being a Los Angeles Rams fan and that started in 1974 when my uncle bought me a Rams t-shirt.  He said he liked the colors and the logo and I suppose that had an impact on me as well.  He was always artistic minded and along with both of my parents, they helped to encourage me in my artwork at a young age.  Now interestingly, the Rams were the first team in football to put a logo on the helmet so I find the attraction kind of interesting from a historical perspective.

Fred Gehrke was an art major and athlete who played football for the Rams in the 1940's in Cleveland and then when the team moved out west to Los Angeles.

The old leather helmets never had any identifying markings or logos on them reflecting the teams identity...

In 1945 the Cleveland Rams won the Championship game against the Washington Redskins but moved out to Los Angeles the following year in 1946.

It was around 1947 that Fred Gehrke had an idea that would utilize his art training background and approached the owner of the Rams, Dan Reeves (not related to player and coach Dan Reeves).  He proposed painting a Ram horn on both sides of the leather helmet.  Since this was something that hadn't been done before, the owner contacted the league's office and basically the response was that as the owner of the team, he could do whatever he wanted. Given the approval to paint the helmets, Fred Gehrke was paid $1 per helmet and began painting all of them early in 1948.  Apparently when the Rams debuted their new helmets later that year, the fans at the stadium cheered and gave a 5 minute long standing ovation!

So yes, it took an artist to come up with the first logo on a helmet for a professional team.  Years later, nearly every team had come up with logos for their helmets as well...

Being a Rams fan for almost 50 years has been really fun for me.  There have been some really good years and some really bad years but this last year was my favorite as the Rams, the LOS ANGELES RAMS, won the Superbowl in their own stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals. The first Superbowl I watched the Rams in was in the 1979/1980 season as they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, The first half of that game went really well for LA but the heartbreak came in the 2nd half as Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers just dominated and took the game.  My favorite player then was Vince Ferragamo, the quarterback who wore #15. It was that Christmas that my parents bought me a Rams mirror, that I still have, but the gift tag said it was from Vince Ferragamo.  Well, it wasn't really but it made me think it was really something special! 

Last year, I finally purchased a signed 8X10 photo of his... something I had been putting off for years.

When the Rams moved out to St. Louis in 1995, it was kind of weird because I had always known them as the Los Angeles Rams.  So now they would be the St. Louis Rams and I quickly got used to it as the team colors and helmet didn't change. When they made it to the Superbowl in 1999/2000 season against the Tennessee Titans, I was thrilled.  That team was awesome to watch with the stars they had on Offense with Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Issac Bruce and Torry Holt... they were dubbed "The Greatest Show on Turf".  They made it back to the Superbowl in 2001 but lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.  In 2015 the team announced that they were moving from St. Louis and going back to Los Angeles for the start of the 2016 season... 2 years later they made it to another Superbowl but lost yet again, 17 years later, to Tom Brady and the Patriots. 

But this past year was really, really special to me because it was the first time that the team I had picked to follow all of those years ago, the Los Angeles Rams won the Superbowl.

I think I had 3 or 4 heart attacks between the divisional game against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFC Championship game against the arch rival, San Francisco 49ers and ultimately the Superbowl.

Even today, 6 months later, I can't stop watching this no look pass that Matthew Stafford threw to Cooper Kupp in their final drive to take the lead at the end...

I took this game a little too seriously this year.  For the Superbowl, I picked out what I thought would be just the right outfit and I even set up a Rams Tarot card spread for good luck... I guess it worked.

Now before I tie all of this football stuff back to comics, I have to show this one card card that I found on eBay.  It just felt like the best way to cap off this incredible season.  I found Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch's rookie card.  He wore #40 and in the middle of this past football season, the Rams were able to sign Von Miller from the Denver Broncos... unfortunately it was only for this past year as they weren't able to keep him.  Anyways, he proved to be very beneficial to the Rams defense and without his contributions, I'm not sure they would've got there and won.  Anyways, when he came over, he wanted to wear #40 but that number had been retired with Hirsch.  Von Miller contacted the family of Elroy Hirsch and they gladly gave him their blessing.  I just thought that was such a nice story and it just adds more to the story of this one card for me!

To be continued...

I need to post this quick because I think CGC Mike is on the verge of banning me because of the latest news. Ok, not really.

Just some quick thoughts to end the night...

• CBC* is done as an independent grading service and apparently a notorious sports card grading company will take over.
• CGC has come to the realization that their labeling system is effective AND it works well!
• The marketplace is in the position of correcting itself.

So...

Let's go to intermission.  This reminder is thanks to my friend, Rob!

I think it's appropriate here. 

We'll get together, have a 2 person grading contest and Save it for Later!

... this grading contest thing that I just posted about is in regards to two books that I just sent in to CGC last week.  I sent them in under the EXPRESS tier and they're already Scheduled for Grading!

More on that later.

Or perhaps, I'll save it for later...

I'll finish off the last couple of posts regarding this connection of comics and football that I have and then move back into the continuity of my collection.

What I've realized about myself (and it kind of became more apparent to me this year than last) is that my collecting habits have almost mirrored my approach to fantasy football.  I wonder if others do the same as well?  For instance, my fantasy football draft was last weekend and I as I was thinking about what players I wanted to try to get, at times I would find myself thinking something along the lines of "wanting a piece of that offense".  This relates directly to players (or 'pieces') of certain teams.  I'll leave the Rams out of the discussion since obviously I'm biased but let's take the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills as examples.  Both teams have excellent offenses and both are certain to have numerous players contributing and excelling in their positions, thus generating fantasy points and therefore very valuable. I went into my draft this year wanting to get something out of those teams.  Well, since we construct our league around a fictional salary cap or a set budget, players from those two teams were acquired at very high salary numbers among the 10 people that were drafting in this league.  I was able to draft a player I really like in Stefon Diggs, the Wide Receiver for the Buffalo Bills.  But that was it.  From the positions of Quarterback, Running Back and Wide Receiver...  Diggs at WR from Buffalo was the only piece I was able to get but I felt satisfied with that. I wasn't able to get anyone from Cincinnati.

Kind of like that Hulk 180. 

Knowing that Wolverine is certainly going to make his appearance in the MCU soon and knowing that a number of Wolverine books would subsequently increase in value and demand, I sought to 'get a piece' of that character.  Although it wasn't perfect, having to go down the line from Hulk 181 to Giant Size X-Men 1, X-Men 94 and Hulk 180... I had to find a book that was within my means to obtain and ultimately, I was happy to have that piece in place with Hulk 180 even at a Qualified grade. But it wasn't just with that character, it was a similar approach I alluded to taking regarding the Black Knight where I sought out Avengers 47 and Avengers 48 and then a copy from the 5 issue Atlas run.

Sure, some of it is driven by speculation but some of it is also just a desire to have a piece of history in my collection. Lately, I've become fond of the story line involving Spider-Man's symbiote costume which would become Venom. And so I've accumulated a set of books reflective of that which I'll share a bit later as those were all acquired this year.  It started with wanting a piece of Venom, which I had with that purchase of Amazing Spider-Man 300, but gradually developed into something else. So that's kind of my relation between comics and football.  I'm not sure if it makes any sense, but for me, it's a familiar feeling I get when participating in fantasy football or collecting comics. Maybe kind of weird.

So what other offenses are out there that I would want a piece of? 

The Minnesota Vikings? 

Sure...

But also, the Fantastic Four.

And back in 2021, that feeling set in with me and that would run me right back to where I started my 2016 Rusty Skrulls and Sunken Treens journal from... back when I had put together a nice collection of FF books including #1, #2, #3, #5 and many more. As I wrote some pages back, I dissolved that collection right before it was announced that Marvel would be reacquiring their first family.  Obviously deep regret there but near the summer of last year, I started thinking that I needed to get a piece of the FF as many of the books that I had owned, were sky rocketing out of reach for me. I'm sure many others were thinking the same thing as I was as it would only be a matter of time before the Fantastic Four are introduced into the MCU and then nothing will be affordable!

It's kind of ironic where I start this as it coincides with something I just saw in the 'Spare a grade' section here...

So, near the summer months of 2021, I started thinking heavily on the Fantastic Four and not just with the Agatha Harkness book (FF 94).  Perhaps I was feeling a ton of regret at selling my collection 4-5 years earlier, but there was also that term that's been passed around called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) which had me tangled up as well.

I think the first time I heard that term used was on this You Tube channel that I really enjoy from  Swagglehaus ( https://www.youtube.com/c/Swagglehaus ) .  I have around a half dozen YT channels that I frequent and subscribe to and his is probably my favorite.  I'm not sure if he's a board member here but if so, I'd tell him that I thoroughly enjoy his content.  Just a quick mention here but this is one video in particular where he talks to other comic vendors about what they're seeing and doing as the market has changed considerably from 2021.  The part I like the best here is where he finds someone (Christain from Elveen's Comics) who is just as amped up on the Scarlet Witch as I am!

That interview is at 13:17...

Okay, back to business.

So, with these thoughts about the Fantastic Four and of potentially not being able to afford or get any of those key early issues (there is a bit of a twist here that I'll discuss later), I thought to try a different tactic or strategy.  What if I were to find a hidden key or a hidden gem that might be able to 'transport' me to those key FF books should this hidden gem 'pop' as many books were doing in 2021?  And so I started to try and find issues to buy  of this one particular book that I was targeting but was finding the availability to be very sparse.  Ultimately, I was able to pick up a total of 3 copies... one had already gone to Rob. In this process, as I was now using the Key Collector app more than ever, I noticed something strange.  This issue was not listed on the app.  I thought that to be very odd because (to me) this was a very important book! Now maybe many of you have guessed the book by now but for others, this book sits prominently in the first few issues of the DC title : Challengers of the Unknown.  In particular, issue #3 is the key, or the hidden gem as I like to call it. 

There's an interesting story (on numerous levels) surrounding this book and some of it revolves around... you guessed it, CGC

So here is how this issue of Challengers of the Unknown #3 was labeled by CGC before July of 2003:

(None of these images are from books that I own... they were all taken from various sites)

From July 2003 until April 2016, this is how it appeared:

And finally here it is after July of 2016:

So you can clearly see what is going on here and how this simple notation has drastically altered the trajectory this book could have in the minds of collectors!  Could this really be Jack "King" Kirby's (Happy Birthday ) vision of the Fantastic Four while he was working at what would be Marvel's main competitor, DC Comics?! 

Remember, there wasn't a "Marvel Comics" in 1958! 

I apologize for these breaks but my PC is 'doing that thing' and I need to get this set.

After doing this quick research, it occurred to me that perhaps Key Collector didn't even know about this issue. 

I thought to myself, "Could that be?!"... and so what do you think I did?

...

...

I contacted Key Collector via email. 

"Bro, did you know that..."

Yes, I'm channeling my inner Tracksuit Mafia.

No, I really didn't start my email like that!

When I sent my email, I stated the points that I just posted about with the CGC labeling.  I then went ahead and attached supporting images as I had taken pictures of certain panels after I read the book.  There was certainly a case to be made and here are some of those images that I sent along with a description...

A short time later, I received a reply to my email thanking me for bringing this to their attention...

I think it was only a matter of days and Key Collector had added this wonderful 3rd issue of Challengers of the Unknown to their app.  True diehard collectors have known about this issue for a while and as many have speculated, as CGC noted, could this really be Marvel's first family, their flagship book, being developed at DC?

I'd say yes.

I know that there's a controversy with Key Collector but I'd like to go on the record as saying that I think their app is wonderful and no, I'm not being paid!   Just simply by digging around, I've discovered things about this hobby that I love (as a 50+ year old) that I hadn't known before.  Based on my sole experience, it appears to be some what open source and transparent... case in point, this story that I've just written about. Some say that they're only here to 'juice the market'.  I would disagree... I think their main interest is in educating the market and as a regular user, I feel like they have!

So...

What is this? 

I still have two copies and one will hopefully be sent in soon for grading.  I'm hoping it comes back as a VG (4.0).  From all that I've seen, this book is kind of rare in higher grades and although my main drive was speculative, this is a book that is now near and dear to my heart.  Why?  Because it illuminates what is the creative process and it's a phrase I regularly share with Rob when we meet up for drinks.

"What would Stan and Jack do?"

Well, they'd have some drinks.

Stan would mention the Justice League of America and Jack would say (lighting a cigar) ... you know...

What If...

Obviously, Jack confused the Hulk with the Thing.

Hey... it happens.

(I can't believe this sketch is that old already... )

And finally, here is my lower grade / reader copy even though my other one isn't that much better... that one doesn't have all the creasing near the spine.

Here is that 'Spare a Grade' post I mentioned earlier...

https://boards.cgccomics.com/forum/42-hey-buddy-can-you-spare-a-grade/

What a weird day...

I took the day off from work as my wife and I had plans to go to the State Fair here. Well, the weather changed all of those plans and we decided to stay home.  I was able to get some errands done and take my stepson to his doctor appointment.  Throughout the afternoon I was getting texts from Rob and based on many of those texts, it appears that Artificial Intelligence has impressively advanced in its ability to construct or interpret our thoughts.  I'll get to that later. He must've sent me a dozen images and to say that I'm thoroughly impressed and scared, would be an understatement!  AI has learned much from us and the more we keep playing with it, the stronger it becomes... 

(Note to future self).

So...

Instead of going to our Fair, we stayed in and started to watch Sandman on Netflix. 

H O L Y S H ! #... why did I wait so long on this series?!

I have to wait a bit to get to talking about this but, wow... after the first 3 episodes, I'm definitely all in.

Not 'Scarlet Witch all in', but close.

I'm dying to get into talking about that and how I'm now frantically searching for a book that I've owned a couple of times in House of Mystery #175, but instead I'll just tie up this past weekend. 

This weekend was 'move in' day for my daughter at college and we took that 75 mile trek down the thruway with the vehicle packed.  This year is going to be tough (very tough) for me and I'm sure I'll get into that with more detail a bit later.  It was kind of hot but not too bad... that is until we entered her dorm room. 

No AC, no air circulation... it was pretty bad.

Anyways, before we arrived at her dorm, we stopped in at a local grocery store to get her stocked up.  Well, as I found my way into the beer section (of course), what would I find there but something that shouldn't be allowed to exist... only because I should have thought of it first!

As a matter of fact, I'm sure Rob and I discussed such a project in many of our meet ups.

So here is the most awesome idea in terms of beer marketing, design and packaging...

I'm not sure how they can get away with this but after my experience with the TVA harassing me over that amazing Gotham 19 **REDACTED** ...

I'm not surprised.

...

...

"Oh, come on!"

TVA: **REDACTED**

"Look, I'm talking about my life here and influences."

"See..."

TVA: **REDACTED**

...

...

Sorry about that.

So yeah... how awesome is that? And not just that amazing Elvis Presley song either!

Golden Age Beer!

Yes, please.

So this weekend didn't have any fun comics to talk about or cool antique finds but on the way back home, I decided to take a brief stop in Canandaigua, NY. 

My favorite comic store here was closed (Pulp Nouveau Comix) https://www.facebook.com/PulpNouveau , but I stopped at the lake to get a nice picture, went to the smoke shop to grab an (overpriced) cigar and then stopped at the nearby liquor store.  I found something there that I hadn't seen before and of course I had to buy it as it harkened back to my Victorian years.

A small bottle of Absinthe Verte by Glenrose Spirits.

https://spiritsreview.com/reviews/glenrose-spirits-absinthe-verte/

The scenery was fabulous, the cigar was perfect... the Absinthe?

Well, I'm not sure when I'll be trying that but the label was certainly one that I could relate to!

I was very pleased to see this week that my 2 'important' submissions have moved to the Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging stage...

Before I get back to continuity, I just thought this was kind of funny.  I went to a LCS this evening and picked up only these three books.  You would think that I live in the past or something and really like Batman. 

Yeesh!

Sorry about the crappy pictures. 

To be honest, I went searching in my area and could not find a copy of the Ales Ross Fantastic Four Graphic Novel.  I'll take that as a good sign even though it's very frustrating!

So, that being said, at my LCS, I actually 'held' on a few titles that I had been targeting even thought they were having a 20% off day.  I felt that even with that sale, they were meeting above eBay prices.  So... no Thor books and no Avengers books.  In a way, I kind of feel bad for the brick and mortor stores.  They were slow to the spike and now they're slow to the correction.  And maybe that's a good point to try and segue from the past to the present here.  In this journal, I tried to identify what might have been responsible for the high increase in price and demand following the End of the... no... I will, from here on out, call it for what it was, The Blip.

Was it the sudden influx of collectors having 'play money'? 

Perhaps.

Was it the uncertainty of the markets, driving those with 'Big Money' out of stocks and into a proven commodity such as comics, cards and collectibles?

Might be getting closer, right?

Whatever it was, the market hasn't crashed... no sir! Rather, I see that the market has learned and has adapted... some would call that 'correcting'.

Sure.

I think we now know the formula here...

Big News.

Big Reveal.

Big cinematic first appearance.

Big demand for comic first appearance.

Big Movie.

Big reaction from fandom.

Big plus or minus.

Big spike or Big letdown

Big Correction.

So...

That being said, can we follow that arc through Eternals and Morbious?  I would say certainly so even though I do believe that Jack Kirby's Eternals will eventually win the day!

In the Autumn of 2021, I was deep into the comic specualtion market and worried that there would would be many titles and issues that I have wanted, that wouldn't be easily obtainable anymore.

So many books...

This one in particular still sits in my collection and is one that I picked up here from the boards.  Yes, it's restored but to me, It looks so good!

I picked up a few other special books like these two here that I'll discuss in time...

Now I do have some restorative plans in line for that FF Annual 2 but we'll see how that works out. 

In the mean time, the attention paid to these comic conditions and grades could not be simply identified, hence this music intermission.

What is the 80's?

Hell... what is the 30's?

Yes.

...

I'm stuck in the past.

Not that being stuck in the past is a bad thing of course.

I forgot to add this new addition to my card collection. 

I like the single crossbar face-mask with the connecting horns at top.

... and still no luck finding that Fantastic Four : Full Circle book.  

I was determined to find that damn Alex Ross FF book today and went to another 3 local comics stores - nothing!

I did pick up that new Lee Bermejo book, Batman: Dear Detective... it's absolutely stunning.

Woo-boy...

I certainly  had a lot to add tonight but this seemed to take precedence.

...

We'll start here.

I had to admit in this post that this journal was primarily why I wasn't anywhere else.

Hopefully I'll continue tomorrow night but for tonight, I'll just end it with a raw copy of a key issue I found at my LCS.

This will be my 3rd copy of ASM Annual 16 that I grabbed today for $25...

So that kind of derailed my thoughts a little but then again, it doesn't take much.  I guess I just wanted to speak a little on how it's okay to have differences and it's ok to listen to those and agree or disagree.  It just seems like almost everything these days is on this hyper drive.

A few posts back, I tried to identify the process a book takes as it goes from something found in the dollar bin to $100 or more.  That was over simplified of course but it was a rough layout I suppose.  I've noticed recently that there are some books that seem to have a lot of 'legs' or staying power but last Summer and going into Autumn, it felt like these record prices on all sorts of books were here to stay.  It was that feeling last Fall (2021) that kind of pushed me over the edge where I went on a bit of a buying spree looking for affordable copies of books that I've either been wanting or fearful that it would only be a matter of time before those prices went too far up where they wouldn't be affordable as well. I played a little bit of the speculation game too and this one book was one of those books where I thought that maybe there would be something that would make this character 'pop', as I like to say but it was also a character that I've liked.  The book was priced just right because it was a Restored copy but to me, it just looked really nice in that purple label.

The Creeper never did 'pop' in 2021 but this Steve Ditko created character and this cover has been a favorite.  I think he would make for a very interesting translation to screen as he shares time in Gotham City with Batman!

This next book is one that is definitely on my top 10 covers list. 

I've talked about it in detail within the Rusty Staples / Sunken Treasure journal but last Fall, I was worried that something would make this book spike again and I felt that I needed to get this book back in my collection soon.  I've watched the Daredevil series on Netflix and absolutely loved all three seasons.  Could Daredevil come back to the MCU was my questioning thought last year.  Well... that question was answered resoundingly this year. I love everything about this cover and the entire Frank Miller run on Daredevil. 

It stands right up there at the top for me.

When I found this old label goodness copy, it didn't matter that it wasn't that high grade.  I owned a 9.4 during the Rusty Staples / Sunken Treasure time and ultimately sold it, but for me, this copy was a suitable replacement.  The only thing that bothers me is that there are some white spots of some sort that show right in the middle of Deathstalker's chest. I was able to slip a black piece of paper between the seem of the plastic case and those spots are on the inside of the case... not on the book itself.  One day, I'll find a way to clean that up without cracking it open.

To be continued...

This next book I purchased last Fall wasn't one that I had on any list of books to speculate on or books that I had been wanting to get.  Actually, it was a departure for me as I can't remember buying a modern graded book before.  I had just started reading Donny Cates' Venom series and when I saw this variant cover for issue #26, I had to get it.  Not only was it a great homage to Tales of Suspense 39 by Skan Srisuwan, but the CGC notation just complemented the featured character on the cover, Virus... created by Cates. 

I just felt like it was a book I wanted to have to keep as a dark reminder (as if I really needed one) of that what was 2020.  I guess for me it was 2020 encased in a slab and I found some irony and humor in that.

That Venom Beyond story arc concluded in issue #30 with a nice twist and was a really good read.

As prices seemed to be spinning out of control late last year and as I was thinking of books that I would like to grab before it was too late, this next one was just one of those purchases I had to make because it checked so many boxes for me.  Awesome character (who was in limbo as it related to the MCU), favorite artist (John Byrne) and an iconic cover.  I say that because it's just such a great cover and in my opinion, rivals X-Men 133 as maybe the best Wolverine cover.  I still have a post card that I bought at Strands Bookstore in NYC almost 30 years ago of this cover.  It was popular enough to market back then so that must amount to something, right?

I still feel like this is a book that can grow a bit.  It's not really talked about much but that red cover just looks so good as a beautifully rendered Wolverine by Byrne pops off of the page!

My mind was racing thinking of all the possibilities and potential.  Of course with limited resources and funds, I wasn't going after 'blue chip' keys as that boat had come and sailed.  Those were so far out of reach, the strategy I was employing was to try and target those other books and other characters that hadn't made a splash on screen yet but were possibly waiting in the wings. 

Now it is no surprise to read that I just love the swamp creatures.  Not counting the Creature form the Black Lagoon (Gill-man), I consider Swamp Thing  my #1 followed by the Man-Thing.  Maybe it was this book and record set that I had when I was 6 or 7 years old in 1975 / 1976 that I listened to more than any of the others with the exception of maybe the Captain America one. 

This one always hit me hard and made me feel sad whenever I would listen to it... now that I just listened to again, it still somewhat gets to me.

Why I picked the Swamp Thing over the Man-Thing didn't have anything to do with Adrienne Barbeau and Wes Craven's 1982 Swamp Thing movie...

... rather it was everything from the amazing title logo, to Bernie Wrightson and ultimately to Alan Moore and John Totleben.  At this point in the Fall of 2021, I already had a copy of Swamp Thing #1 that I had picked up here on the boards along with a nice copy of Swamp Thing #9 signed by Wrightson that I also picked up here.  I didn't have any Man-Thing though (that looks really weird to read ) but I had picked up a complete raw set of the 1979 to 1981 series. 

There were still a lot of other books out there to consider ranging from the first appearance in Savage Tales #1... that's a magazine though and I really didn't want to get into that, besides, the price of that one was up there. There was Astonishing Tales and Adventures into Fear that I could focus on with cover art by Gray Morrow on #10 and Neal Adams on #11, but it was the 1st solo titled Man-Thing book with the amazing cover by Frank Brunner that I really wanted to secure. When I found a nice presenting copy, but not that high of a grade, I thought it would look nice next to my Swamp-Thing #1 and so I went ahead and decided to get that copy.  Little did I know then that I was setting myself up with a strange collecting habit that I'll get to later.

In my opinion, this isn't just a comic cover, it's a poster... it could be a framed piece of art as it's that good!

So at this point, I felt that I had a nice swampy representation but of course there was sadly one big book missing and I had no idea what to do about it as, like I stated earlier, the sales of blue chip keys were now through the roof.  I was pretty happy with this set though and I think they sure do look nice together!

Finally, I forgot to mention that us swamp fans will finally see the MCU version of Man-Thing on the big screen (TV screen?) as it was revealed at D23 this past weekened!

This is from the trailer to Werewolf by Night... 

Now I can't finish that last entry without showing this fantastic signed 8X10 I just got... it's signed by Ricou Browning who portrayed Gill-man while filming underwater.

Here's a great interview with Ricou from 3 years ago. The Brandy story is pretty funny...

This might be of some interest too. 

Just a great You Tube channel with a ton of content dealing with the cinematic horror genre.

Okay, that's good enough for this week.

Now for some reason this song is running through my head ...

As I was writing that last entry about Swamp Thing, Man-Thing and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, one thing was bothering me and that was the difficulty I had in identifying when I bought one of my most interesting purchases from my LCS.  I posted a picture back at the beginning of this journal, but it seems as if the original photos disappeared from my phone.  Well, I was able to retrieve two of them, thereby getting the associated date and it was way back in March of 2019.  I suppose it's no wonder why I kind of lost track of that as just a year later, a lot of our thoughts were forever altered.

Anyways, it was on a sunny Sunday afternoon when I stopped in to see what was new at this comic and collectibles  store.  I can't remember if I bought any comic related material, but I do remember that as I was leaving, the owner went into this back room to pull out something he had just purchased.  When he showed it to me, well of course I had to have it!  I asked if it was for sale and after he told me that it was, my next question was how much? 

Well... one hundred and twenty five dollars later, it was in the back seat of my vehicle.

I did some initial research on it because it did seem to be a bit of an older piece but with no identifying marks to it.  It could be a resin cast from Jim Henson Studios that was made from the original cast for Universal in the 90's but that was something I pulled from Worthpoint and I have no idea if that's what this is or not. 

The one thing I do know is that it is a full size replica and something that I find to be pretty unique. 

What a day yesterday turned out to be and I'm going to have to split it into 2 parts as both the morning and afternoon were each amazing experiences.

The morning started off as my wife and I decided to go to our local flea market.  I think it had been a month or more since we last went.  Before we even got inside, I saw someone who was about my age (he turned out to be older), wearing an old school Rams jersey of Lawrence McCutheon.

I saw that as a good sign as this was game day and Los Angeles had a game scheduled later against the Atlanta Falcons.  I walked up and told this guy that I liked his jersey... he saw that I also had an old school Rams T-Shirt on and so we began a 15 minute discussion of the Rams of old, last year's Superbowl and the awful game against the Buffalo Bills from last week.  It was a nice talk (my wife had long gone ahead on her browsing) and so I went over and saw a box of comics at this one dealer's table.

Well, right next to this box of books were 4 pretty beat Mego figures.  I asked how much he wanted and after he told me $35 for the group, I quickly picked them up and went back to sifting through this box of books.  I found some pretty good reading material at $2 each and then went on to find another table with some more comics to go through.  I picked up a few but before I left this table the dealer asked me if I was going to the comic convention at a nearby hotel.  She told me that she wanted to go but had to stay at the market tending her table.  I didn't know anything about this show as I didn't see anything advertised anywhere.  She said it was going on from 11 to 5... well I had plans to meet up with Rob at 1pm so I thought I could swing it.  I found my wife, who had found this great poster for a dollar and told her about the show.  We agreed that after the market, I would drop her off at the house and then I would go to the show before meeting with Rob.  In all, I was very happy with our visit to the flea market on this Sunday morning!

After the flea market, I dropped off my wife and grabbed the material that I needed to bring for my meetup.  I wasn't sure what to expect at this comic show after I found an ad for it on Facebook describing it as a Geek Garage Sale (?) but I stopped at a nearby ATM before going.  When I arrived there, I saw a fellow collector that I've known for a number of years and told him that I just found out about the show.  He said that it was horribly advertised and wasn't sure why.  I quickly saw that it was a regular comic show with numerous dealers and tables.  I did my normal perimeter run taking a quick look at the wall book before going down the center aisle or "artist alley".  Right before, I saw Joe Sinnott's son, Mark, walking around with a #10 Cooper Kupp, Rams jersey on... second good sign!  Again, as in the morning, I approached Mark and said that I liked his jersey.  In return he said that he liked my T-shirt.  I saw that Mark had set up a table selling some of his late father's prints and such that were signed.  He wasn't at the table yet but I saw that someone had left a note at the table which said something to the effect of "Poor Rams... beat by Buffalo 31-10".

When I saw that, I turned to Mark who hadn't approached his table yet and told him that it appeared that someone had left him a very rude note...

He told me that he had seen it and it was following him since he arrived at the show, whether it was at breakfast or in the convention hall.  Bills Mafia

Now kind of in the middle of this row of artists and such, was a guy sitting alone at a table, sketching a picture on a pad of paper with art pages set aside for sale.  On the table was a hand written sign that said Luke McDonnell - sketches $25 / $15.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_McDonnell I stopped and just starred for a moment.  I thought to myself, "Seriously, Luke McDonnell is just sitting right there and no one is at this table?!"  I asked if he had time to do a sketch or if he was backed up by requests... he said he wasn't and could do whatever I wanted. I asked about the prices and he told me that $25 was for a sketch on premium paper and $15 would be on something like copy paper.  Of course I took the $25 choice and then asked if it would be just a portrait for $25 or what the drawing would be.  Again, he said whatever I wanted and so I in return I asked for (obviously) a sketch of Iron Man.  He started drawing and so I said that I would be back after going to a few more tables. 

I was really excited that I just happened to stumble onto this. 

At this one table, the dealer had a stack of raw X-Men comics in a magazine type of rack and so I picked those up and went through them.  There were some great Byrne issues in there and the prices seemed really good. I found there was the issue that I had wanted to get after trading away my copy that I had purchased a few years before.  That was X-Men #109 and the first appearance of Guardian / Vindicator of Alpha Flight.  I just really like this book a lot and I was kind of regretting that I had traded away that old copy that I had.  This one though was a terrific replacement and I felt that I got a really good deal as the dealer accepted my offer of $60 for the book... he had it marked for $65.

After this, I didn't have much money left on me and so I went around the show one more time to see if there was anything that I really needed.  I didn't find any copies of the few books that I'm looking for, so I proceeded to head back to where Luke McDonnell was.  As he was finishing up the sketch, I was going through his art pages.  I asked him how much the pages were and he answered anywhere from $15 to $50.  I couldn't decide on which of 3 different pages I wanted and so I regrettably didn't get any. 

I'm not sure why I didn't get any of them but if given the chance again, I certainly will next time.

As I paid him for the sketch, I told him that I loved it and was a big fan of his Iron Man work... I told him that I was collecting and reading Iron Man through the John Romita Jr. run, but really liked his worked when he took over the pencils.  I told him that I thought it was around 1982/1983.  I was close... he told me that he took over with issue #151, which followed the amazing Doomquest, two issue story arc in Iron Man 149 and 150, then had another issue before started his amazing two year stint on the book with issue #163. 

This was definitely the best $25 I spent on this day!

It was great to meet a childhood favorite of mine and to think that it was only because I happened to decide to go to our flea market a few hours earlier, that I got to experience this.

After leaving the show, I stopped at McDonald's and then it was time to take that 20 minute drive to meet up with Rob to start the second half of this awesome day... after all, we had some serious business to get to as well as enjoying the Oktoberfest activities at this brewery that I was on route to!

To be continued...

Now before I get to this next part, I'm going to have to fire up the TARDIS for a bit to go back.

Ah, perfect.  That's where I left it...

Yes, I had to go back 6 years in order to start this next entry.  It was here that I was looking for a spark to renew my interest in collecting comics following my dissolved collection of Underwater and Moon themed books.  During a beer meetup with Rob one day, he suggested something about the Fantastic Four and shortly after that, I had purchased a rather beat, but complete copy of Fantastic Four #5.  After reading that issue, featuring the first appearance of Doctor Doom, I felt a strong appeal which ultimately grew.  I purchased a lower grade copy of Fantastic Four #6 to complete the Doctor Doom / Sub Mariner story arc and after that, I was kind of hooked on these early FF issues. I was able to secure the first 3 issues, all CGC graded and felt that I was on my way to putting together a nice 12 to 20 issue run just as I had done with the Amazing Spider-Man books all those years ago in the mid to late 1980's.

That Christmas, feeling as if I would soon be looking for a graded copy of FF 6, I gave that initial low grade copy to him along with some other gifts.  On the back of the Mylar that the book was in, I placed a sticker with a note saying something like, "Merry Christmas, it's all your fault!"  What I was referring to was the fact that it was our discussion that we had some months back, that started me on my new quest of Fantastic Four books along with Dan Dare material.  Well, unfortunately my interest eventually dissipated and I sold that collection shortly before Marvel announced that they were reacquiring the rights to the Fantastic Four. 

I just let it go and moved on. 

Or so I thought...

...

...

It was earlier this year (2022) during another beer meetup that our discussion once again turned to the Fantastic Four and I was telling him about some of the chatter I was reading and hearing regarding Doctor Doom.  I told him that he might want to send in that copy of #6 that I had given him 6 years ago as I was noticing that all of the early FF issues where jumping up in value... especially issue #5 with the first appearance of Doctor Doom!  I told him that I was desperately looking for an affordable copy of that issue #6 for myself as I was quickly feeling like that would be my best and last shot at acquiring a semi key to key issue relating to Doom as issue #5 was now seeing stratospheric numbers in terms of value on sold books.  It was very tough, as I couldn't find just the right one in terms of cost meeting eye appeal.  I was frustrated.

This was an example of what I was looking at and considering, at that time.

So now we fast forward a bit and it's the middle of July and Rob and I are meeting up again for beers and his birthday.  When I get to the brewery, I see that he's already seated with a beer already at his side.  He had something he brought with him to show me as we do from time to time.  I went to order my beer and sat down.  After some small discussions and a few sips of a delicious beer, I gave him the gifts that I brought along for his birthday.  Shortly after, Rob slides this item across the table, simply saying, "Here..."

I respond with, "What's this?"

As soon as I saw the sticker on the backside of this thing, I knew what it was as he simultaneously said, "It's back in your hands now".

I was stuck in thought for a moment, believe it or not! 

What was happening?!  Did Rob just give me back this copy of Fantastic Four #6? 

He can't do that!  That was a gift.

Wait...   Is this like my stepson's X-Men #4 all over again? 

Like I said, I was somewhat speechless but I think I may have responded with something to the effect of, "Well, we'll see about that".  I stared at the book and noted to him that for some reason I remembered there being a lot of tape but all I could see from the front cover was an old tape stain at the top. I remember getting home that night and just looking at the book for the longest time.  I still wasn't sure what to make of what had just happened but I knew that there would have to be some clarification made soon.  I opened the book and a huge smile came across my face as I remembered the feeling of first opening this same book to read, those 6 years ago.  It was then that I remembered all of the physical issues relating to this book.  There was tape indeed... on the inside top of the front cover, along the spine as well as covering two areas where the staples would've attached the cover to the book.  The cover was entirely detached.

Still... it was such a good story and I loved seeing that early Jack Kirby (FF) art again!

The very first thing that I thought of while inspecting this book was that the tape had to go.  Yes, the damage had already been done, but I didn't want there to be any tape.  I came up with a game plan on what to do with the book.  I would remove the tape, clean up the cover a little, press it and then submit it to CGC. 

I needed to clarify something with Rob though and so I made preparations on that end too.

To be continued...