Ken Aldred

The second issue is drawn by another artist. More appealing art style for me, and a surprisingly large number of feet appear. (Those two observations aren’t directly interconnected.) Already a hot comic because of the reveal about Major X’s identity.

As long as they’re not Benson and Hedges Gold, he’ll be perfectly fine. I’ll be honest, I don’t smoke, and I had to Google for a brand name that worked.

He’s the one from the Home Counties, calling himself ‘Disgusted about the New Doctor’.

And everyone would be constantly angry and shouting at each other at full volume all the time. It would get very tiresome, very quickly.

Also, unlike the crystal clear black-and-white artwork in a Marvel UK comic, the detail in an imported American issue was most usually partially obscured by being coloured over.

Yup. Transatlantic cent variant to the Brits. Sadly lacking the wonderful 'All-Colour Comics' banner.

Fantastic Four 6, 20 Daredevil 7 Showcase 55 Marvel Super-Heroes 18

Savage Tales 1 is one of my favourite black-and-white magazines, quality artwork throughout; BWS, Gray Morrow, John Buscema and John Romita.

Hardly. Always good to see someone genuinely enthusiastic about the comic book creators rather than more secondary market speculation. Happy that Aaron's being replaced by another very talented writer, concluding a long and excellent run.

Also Spidey Super Stories 39. A Thanos mega-key issue.

Yup. It deserved better. Very poor timing.

It never occurred to me to watch comic-related videos on YouTube as I’m too preoccupied with listening to metal there.

My Giant-Size X-Men 1

Invincible had an ending that brought the series to a very satisfactory close. I was happy with it.

I've found the opposite to be true for me. I've been much happier just reading comics digitally rather than obsessing about market values, the transient thrill of the hunt, or getting nostalgic about very imprecisely-recalled younger days. As previously stated, the end of the secondary market has been widely obsessed about, year after year after year, and it's become quite a frustrating topic, so much so for me that I'm relieved to have a means to comfortably distance myself.

It was a great series. I preferred it to The Walking Dead.

An excellent super-hero film, the best that DC has produced since the Nolan Batman Trilogy. Great pacing, despite its length it didn't become tedious, with nice alternations between humorous and dark scenes. As I said in a previous post, I've read Geoff Johns' version of the origin story in new 52's Justice League , and yet it was so well-translated into live action that the familiarity wasn't really an issue at all. Great to see. Nice to have one villain present as an Easter egg at the start, and then have that developed more at the end in an unexpected credits scene, and also the Miracleman / Marvelman reference, which I had to think about for a while to get. Much more enjoyable than the comparatively dull Captain Marvel.

It’s an all-time great key comic and Kirby classic fallen on hard times, so that’s understandable.

Yup. It's a sad story about a helpless, vulnerable FF 1 that has known nothing but trauma and abuse its entire life, and it would be nice if, despite its bedraggled appearance, some collector would go to the shelter, adopt it, and show it some human kindness at last in its twilight years.

I never leave Manchester. There’s no need to.

Sounds to me as though it would be better making a comic book or film ---script from that story. The harsh realities of life gradually wearing down a key comic, from its minty-fresh, vibrant youth, the scars and physical damage inflicted by one harsh experience after another, ending with callous violation in old age by a selfish dog with impulse control issues, and, ultimately, worn-out and hopeless, barely clinging onto existence as a broken, wizened CGC 0.5. It's a classic, heart-rending literary trope.

Yup. A 90s masterpiece.

I never had any problems with transatlantic surface mail when I used it from the late 70s to early 90s, and the comics were always well-packed. USPS airmail, used in recent years, has always been more of a concern for damage. What doesn’t help is the inferior packaging from some dealers, such as slabs taped between two pieces of cardboard, the same size as the slabs, offering minimal impact protection, and then tossed into a single box with a bit of scrunched newspaper. Hardly up to the standard seen here, with Mike clearly being someone who actually cares about getting these expensive items to the purchaser in an intact state after a transaction. Thoughtful and exceptional presentation from him.

I suspect Mechagodzilla was the culprit here. The damage looks incredibly vindictive, but, in the end, Gojira always wins.

I found that using pressure from a few oversized hardcover collections would solve waviness or bends.