PokerKid

Wow, that looks like it is more than a swipe. So much of it is line-for-line that it appears the artist took the original and modified parts of it instead of a typical swipe.

It's about time Zatanna gets some cards on her covers. I love the character, but as far as I know this is the first time cards have shown up. Beachbum should be pulling one for me to have slabbed. He has done a great job of staying on top of my new releases.

This is one of the stranger covers in my collection, but I like it. I let a nice copy from Metropolis slip through my fingers - took a couple days to think over a purchase and missed out. After a couple years, I broke down and overpaid for a copy at Terry's con. Then I picked up a second copy at a better price hoping for an upgrade, but alas it was about the same. Finally, this guy came up and I can stop looking. The other two bad boys (The second one is lighter because I suck at scanning)

Thanks to Jeannine (nocutename) tipping me off to card covers not on my list, I was able to pick up these books. The cover says there is a Danny Bonaduce poster inside. I have no poster and could find no ad for order one. I assume that means this book is missing the poster. Does anyone know for sure?

Seconded! This is the nastiest crime story I've ever seen. Completely brutal. Does anyone have "The Giggling Killer" story handy? I have posted it before, but this true story from Underworld #3 is the one that got to me more than any other, but I never read Exposed.

Cashed in my 3 for membership in San Diego and got them back today. They aren't the most expensive, but these are three of my favorites - and I am quite happy with the grading, especially since all three looked like they would benefit from pressing. Wings 118 - purchased from Metropolis as an 8.5, which I agreed with and so did CGC. I purchased this a while back but have not come across another one in any grade before or since. (I am guessing the lack of a damsel in distress has something to do with that.) Western Thrillers 4 - Called a F/VF by Heritage as part of a lot, but looked more like an 8.5/9.0 to me. Sparkler 72 - purchased as a NM from WorldWide. I was not a fan of the miswrap and the cover is crooked on the book making it look like a bad trim in the back. A 9.0 seemed about right to me, but it was still a nice book so I was happy with it. Apparently I was wrong and WorldWide was spot on.

Absolutely stunning!

What an incredible way to start. Both beautiful, but that HT12 is epic!

I expect to keep finding non-mainstream moderns but it is surprising when I find a cluster of others. Since Westerns don't get shown as much, that is where I expect to find most of the "unknown" titles. Cheyenne Kid and Kid Montana were the two that showed up here. Keep safe.

Thanks to WorldWide Comics, I have added three books to my collection today that I didn't know I needed. A good question that was asked of me at the CGC dinner was how many books did I think were out there that I didn't know had card covers. I still don't know, but clearly quite a few. Any help on identifying them is always appreciated. Luckily, WorldWide labels all their incoming books for me so I can find the card covers. The three raw books are labeled "Seattle copy," a collection I know nothing about. The Wyatt Earp is an upgrade, but I had never seen the other two Westerns (which oddly have a similar cover concepts) and never noticed the MOKF.

I also picked up some poker card art that was literally for poker cards. FX Show Celebrity Poker Challenge put on a tournament and created a deck with cards drawn by various artist. The Linser Dawn was way out of my range and I didn't bid enough on the nice Mike Golden piece, but did grab these three. (The actual cards are at the top of the drawings.) Franco Rich Woodall Brian Hurtt (easily my favorite of the three) This features Eddie, his main character from Three Days Dead - a comic I will need to pick up to check out.

Have been on a bit of a binge lately. Here are some of the non-moderns I added. This Young Allies looks like it took a 1.0 to 1.5 grade hit for page quality. Looks very nice. (Glad I grabbed it as I think I would have lost the fight for the 9.0 on Heritage today.) Rube 11 helped me finally upgrade this one. (I won one on ComicLink that got lost in their warehouse). While watching TAFKADixie (Sam) open his awesome blind eBay purchase box on video, I spotted this book. I hated my low grade issue and he was kind enough to sell me this solid copy.

Stunning colors on that copy.

This one gets my want list down to five comics. It is one of only two Timelys in my collection. This one comes from Jerry Weist, who stated that he got it from an OO collection. The book is very nice in hand and appears to have taken about a hit due page quality as the book looks like a strong 8.5. With the price I paid for this, I assume the 9.0 I planned on going after on Heritage next week would have busted my budget.

Really great looking copy.

And had this one waiting for me upon coming home thanks to Heritage.

Well, back from San Diego and I seem to have started a small original art collection. It was not on the radar when I left. When I was at the Hero Initiative booth to meet Bob Overstreet, I saw that Dave Gibbons would be there at the same time, so I asked them to have him do a card with Judge Dredd, which he drew back in his 2000 A.D. days. When picking it up, Cully Hamner was at the booth and they talked me into having a sketch done. Got to talk with him for a short while. Nice guy and this is the Question he drew. Wandering around, I was lucky enough to see Dan Leister's pages. Grimm's Wonderland stuff is rich with the possibility for playing cards. I really like Leister's work and was surprised how affordable his pages were. I was thrilled I could add this one and wish he had more similar pages. This is page 3 from Return to Wonderland 4. But of course, the big one for me was pulling the trigger on a Neal Adams sketch. It cost me more than any comic in my collection and I am sure well more than it is worth if I try to resell it, but to get a sketch done by my favorite artist and reminiscent of my favorite of his Batman covers #251 was something I decided I would regret, so...

I went to San Diego with eight books on my want list and left still needing six. Interestingly, both purchases came from Terry, the closest of any of the dealers to my home. Gunsmoke Western 32 Mary Marvel 21 This book I swore I would never buy from Terry. Not because I have any problems with Terry, but my dad can be an . My dad had a complete run of Mary Marvel and I needed only this issue. He told me he was selling his books to Terry, so I asked him to sell the #21 to me. He said OK, but then sold it with the others to Terry. (Can I put my dad on the probation list?) So I knew Terry had this book, but had not bothered looking for it. Right after getting my sketch from Neal Adams my head was clearly not where it should be. I picked up the Gunsmoke Western but left my iPod sitting at Terry's booth. Luckily the good men working the booth spotted in and held on to it for me until I realized what I had done. I told them if they had any book on my wantlist I would buy it. Blammo, I pay full asking price for the darned book I swore to never buy!

I have all mine in one place now, so if you send me a list, I'll go through and see if I have any you don't know about. I never tried to get them all but I do have most of them. Ian, I was surprised you never tried to get them all. Is it because of the printer?

Great mix of stuff. That Panic #1 has one of the funniest stories I ever read. Really good start to the series that seemed to decline a bit in future issues.

OK, upon Ian's return in 2008, the snarky comments declined and he shared a lot of good information and photos. (I was constantly terrified there would be a playing card on one of them.) I spliced together a couple of posts that give some insight into the collection and his thoughts. As a side note, when I was collecting as a kid in the '80s, completing the Justice League run was my first big achievement and made me feel I could really get into this comic collecting thing. I wish that I had been able to keep chasing - although completing every DC run was never a consideration. Throughout 2003 and 2004, I spent ten hours a day seven days a week on e-Bay. Plus bought extensively off Harley and Metropolis and Rich Muchin and Gary Dolgoff. Plus spent endless Sundays at UK comic cons till my feet ached, looking through every single dealer's boxes. Plus did endless research to track down everything I was missing once I decided to take my forty year quest and finally comp;lete it once and for all. I remortgaged my house to do it. I sold all my Doctor Who film prints, my extensive and unique collection of Doctor Who props, and every valuable Northern Soul and Motown record that I possessed, after collecting them avidly for also a forty year period. I sacrificed everything I had and everything I possessed to complete my comic collection, deciding it was better to have one definitive collection of something, rather than four collections that would always remain somewhat incomplete. You cannot put a value on that amount of man hours other than as a quest to achieve a person's lifetime goal. Well the Big Book Of Fun Comics came from Dave The Dentist. Action 1-4 and 6-10 came from Harley Yee. Detective 1 came from Metropolis Detectives 3 and 4 came from Harold Hill Double Action 2 caused a huge amount of grief and eventually came from Metropolis after a very public argument about it. Action 5 and 15 came from Robert Rogovin Buzzy 70 was a wonderful gift from Shield. etc etc In 1973 when I was a kid, I visited a comic shop in London called "Dark They Were And Golden Eyed" and met another teenager working there who helped me fill in gaps in my collection. His name was Mike Lake. He took me down to the basement full of second hand comics, and he sold me Brave and the Bold 28, 29, 30, and Justice League, 1 through 22 apart from the ones I already had, which were 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20. I was HOOKED. I had a complete run from 23 onwards so this was the fulfillment of my dream, to complete my Justcie League run. He then started supplying me with every new DC every week. He then formed a new company called Titan, selling wholesale out of an old mini-warehouse in Askew Lane in Acton. Titan grew and grew in size until Mike became the first proper comics distributor in the UK. He then opened up a shop in Denmark Street called Forbidden Planet, and every time anyone brought in a Golden Age DC, I had first dibs on it. This was now around 1976, I think. I got New Adventure 13, Green Lantern 16 in near mint, Action 28 and 31, Detective 37, and several All Star Comics, Flash, and Wonder Womans. In the end he sold out his shares in Titan and Forbidden Planet to his partner and retired, But lets say I probably wouldn't have my collection now at all if it weren't for Mike Lake. One of 21 cool covers put together by fans for these CCC: And the very public trade of New Adventure #14 and More Fun #58 for:

I got up the energy to go through about half of this thread. Nice reward half way through (posted below). Ian, great stuff and I have appreciated the information you have been sharing.

After a bit of debate, I added this beauty. (I didn't realize it was a card cover until this week, so I was glad I could get a nice looking copy right away.) and this one

Poor Steve. Ever since the last name change, he just can't figure out why people walk away laughing after introducing himself. No, no, no. That you are mistaken. I was referring to the lesser known Eugene Borcok who sells popcorn out of a stall in the lobby of the convention center. Yeah, that's the ticket.