Ken Aldred

Not sure who did this one, but the artist has an incredible ability to draw photorealistically, far surpassing anything ever done by top creators such as Alex Ross. It's dull, isn't it?

Or this lacklustre alternative...

Seems quite appropriate to represent him as a skull-like death figure. Powerful.

I really like that. Despite how much the situation at SD has changed over the last decade and a half, you're still managing to keep it all very civilised and relatively cost-effective.

That sounds great. More like the cultish feel collecting had back in the 70s. I'm very old (school). Replace a lanyard with a secret, convention handshake.

For a few years he took loads of DC Archive hardcovers, which, IIRC, he sold half cover price. The only time he had anything that sounded interesting. Easy to find them deep-discounted in the UK, though.

Yup. That concerns me, as well.

I have the same; hypervigilance and sensory overload. I can empathise. Even the London convention is too much for me. Doubt I'd cope with San Diego.

Yup. It does take quite a profound psychological and physical toll on you. That, to me, is more of an issue than the financial cost of doing a convention, although cumulatively those three factors create a perfect storm for avoidance.

Didn't happen. That's an episode of The Neal Addams Family.

In the late 80s I always looked forward to his new books. One of my favourites from that time, and a style which still holds up extremely well.

Part of the NM-graded section at the Mile High mail order warehouse.

Frightening. Almost a scene from a Final Destination film. Comic book geek crushed to a pulp by tons of wood pulp. Oh, they'd think that was clever. The trees got their revenge.

Drek or a potential, film-related goldmine? Lead or precious metal? Tough to say at present. We live in alchemic times.

First they'd give them a bit of a mauling by having Bat-Gwen, Super-Gwen and Wonder-Gwen comics, before going in that hard.

Old newsprint comics would more than likely be better suited to the task than moderns with their less absorbent, very glossy paper stock, although it's a trade-off there between functionality and comfortable smoothness. Never a perfect solution. Then, speaking as someone with OCD, there's also the concern about cleanliness and how far down in grade you would go? Would you trust anything less than a white-paged NM copy to make contact? I wouldn't.

Yup. Covers are often misleading and not necessarily indicative of the quality of the art or story inside. Experience has shown that they are often inessential.

That guy's such a narcissist. Always going on about his 9.8 run of What If? slabs.

Likely to be a bit of a Crisis if that happens.

I had it relatively easy, just aiming for the first 100 issues, with very large print runs and easier availability. I remember, as a kid, going to a Manchester comic mart in the late 70s and picking up NM pence copies of 25 to 45 quite effortlessly, apart from the Non - Distributed Adams issue. The last series I bought new was the 3-issue Conan the Barbarian mini-series from 1997. Is that quite tough now?

One of the absolute, all-time best Dr Who stories. A shame it was spoiled months in advance, and the disclosure took the edge off it quite a bit. Lots of variety, from the science of space-time to dark, creepy, intense, gothic environments, to the nature of identity and some dry, clever humour. Excellent writing and direction. Yes, I was impressed.

Shiny, glossy look of raws in Mylar for me.

Hawaii to England. Bought a couple of slabs, including an X-Men 94.

I have to say that makes me feel quite jealous. No wonder some of my relatives emigrated there.