Hibou

And now here we are... Where Rob kind of started it. Where I began it, where I sold it... and where I now begin anew. So... ... ... ... 2013 - 2023 Rusty Staples and Sunken Treasure... Or how an owl found his way underwater ... underground. I think I've figured out this journal thing finally and hopefully the 2 other attempts can be deleted in time. Anyways... A few weeks back I met a good friend of mine for lunch and for some strange reason, he had just out of the blue purchased a really cool book for me. Why? He's just like that and an overall good guy. Anyways, that generous act sort of gave me an idea to write about how my collecting focus has evolved from the time I got back into collecting and buying key books to where I am now after finding these boards. Maybe along the way I'll discover why I'm attracted to these types of books so much. And with that, perhaps it will prove to be therapeutic! To start this off I'll post the very book that my friend Rob purchased for me. We couldn't figure out why Pizza Hut found this book to be so important to reprint it and use it as a giveaway...

Say... Does anyone want to see some 90's 'Super-Models' ...? Like Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbel, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford? Oh, just say YES!

What a night! I ended up taking that long trip out to Russia to see Rob again at his (partially owned) bar... I believe it's called the Broken Gull, if memory serves me right. I met more new friendly faces and had a few delicious beers along with the amazing pizza that I had the last time I was down here, although I had to share it this time around... I just wasn't feeling like I could finish the whole thing tonight. I was able to check on the Blue Coal Time Damper in the basement and was happy to see that it was working perfectly. I made a slight adjustment though based on the events of the night. Somehow, someway, a member of the TVA was able to slip in and was able to conduct a full conversation with me and pulled some vital childhood information before I was able to figure out exactly what was going on. I was able to determine that this was just a chance encounter as this person's cloaking device was working flawlessly without a single glitch. If he only knew that he was mere feet away from the only two patrons who had possession of The Book! I have a feeling that this individual (I'll call him Kevin) was on a separate reconnaissance mission and Rob and I were not (or could not be) on his target list for the evening! Needless to say, we made it out without a hitch and upon inspection, the Blue Coal Time Damper was humming right along... cloaking our time and local coordinates! *** BREAKING *** ***ATTENTION*** The aforementioned TVA has been identified without the use of a cloaking device. If such a being is witnessed, initiate evasive maneuvers! Yes, this was a harrowing experience for the both of us but we made it out with stealth and wit. Definitely a learning experience! So... Speaking of experience, my theme song came up once again tonight in our discussions and I thought it would only be appropriate to link it here, once again. I'll call this 'Intermission' for some strange reason ... And so with that, and as a nod to my dear friend, Rob, who had a profound effect on me writing this journal... I'll end it here. THE END. ... ... ... The End to this chapter that set to document 2020, TheEndOfTheWorld along with the insanity that followed in this post-pandemic market where we saw copies of Marvel Two-in-One #62 reach two point five million dollars (sarcastically) due to this infamous spanking panel!

There was one last thing I neglected to add to this Scarlet Witch addition - the finale, of which I found a little late. Yes, I posted this video before but it's an appropriate bookend to this post. As I was browsing through various sites, in search of Elizabeth Olsen / Scarlet Witch memorabilia, I found this trading card. So, to be honest, up to this point, I hadn't even considered that trading cards were a still a thing in the realm of non-sports cards. So this was kind of a shock but it led me to another quest. That resulted in my discovering that Upper Deck had actually released a WandaVision card set earlier this year! Now of course, once I discovered this, I immediately reverted back to the early to mid 90's and bought a box and two booster boxes. I told my wife that I had just set up a retro 'date night' for us... Well. I bought a box from SteelCityCollectibles... Along with a couple of booster boxes from another site... I set aside a Saturday night for my wife and I to open up a bunch of packs - I know, crazy fun, right?! ... but it wasn't long, before we both realized that we really weren't in the 90's any longer. The quality of these cards were sub-par (in my opinion) and the fact that the best chase cards we pulled out of a box and two boosters was Jimmy Woo, only left me with more disappointment. Lesson learned. So that is (now) officially the end of the Scarlet Witch thread within this journal... it was fun, enlightening and certainly, memorable! And so from here, I can continue on with my time travel... I have so many stories! Tomorrow, I'll finally get to meet up with Rob for his birthday and then it's full speed ahead. ... ... "There's no such thing as the unknown—only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” “Beam me up, Scotty!”

So to close out the Scarlet Witch books, I have these last two to add but they're very recent acquisitions... in part because one of them was just released and is just such a great cover! The new Scarlet Witch series, released this year (2023), is written by Steve Orlando, with cover art by Russell Dauterman and interior art by Sara Pichelli. Sara Pichelli and interior art... It's a really good series although I do have to admit that I'm a few issues behind now. The first issues marked the debut of Darcy Lewis... https://comicbook.com/comics/news/marvel-comics-darcy-lewis-first-appearance-scarlet-witch-2/ Anyways, the first issue featured a bunch of variant cover including this really nice piece by David Nakayama. But the book I had to get was the amazing variant done by Adam Hughes and the reasoning behind that is pretty obvious... after-all, it's an homage cover to John Byrne's West Coast Avengers #56 and the beginning of 'Dark Scarlet Witch'. Of course I had to pair this Adam Hughes book to the original. At the end of the WandaVision series, West Coast Avengers 56 spiked a little in demand and value but it has since cooled off quite a bit and is just another book at this point. Adam Hughes did a phenomenal job on this one (when doesn't he?) but this copy, with the complimentary signature, just sealed the deal for me. Such a great cover! John Byrne : West Coast Avengers 56 from 1990... So that's the end of the story on the arrival of the Hot Toys Scarlet Witch along with a majority of the key books I acquired since the end of the WandaVision series two years ago. It's been fun finding these and adding them to my personal collection and I'm sure there will be more to add in time... especially with the upcoming MCU series featuring Agatha and another with Vision.

When I was looking for more Scarlet Witch key issues to buy along with the signed copy, I kept going back to this House of M #1, Joe Quesada 1:20 variant. I thought it was a cool book to have signed by Elizabeth Olsen and it may actually prove to be THE book, if the MCU does what it should and taps into that story-line in some way. Although unrelated to the WandaVision series, the cover nicely complimented the 'unraveling' Wanda experienced in it. I ended up getting a raw copy for my personal collection but not a graded or signed one for that matter. Now I had a few other books that I was targeting as well but I was also findIng a lot of other books that wasn't initially on my radar. This one for example, I thought was a really nice runner up to the House of M, Quesada variant in itself but with the added signature, it was an absolute 'no-brainer' that this one had to be acquired as well. It was also priced very reasonably so that greatly added to the appeal! Now, of course, what did I do to myself with the acquisition of the Scarlet Witch #1 Hip-Hop variant? Well obviously I had to pair that up with the Vision #1 Hip-Hop variant too, right? Of course! That proved to be too troublesome though as there would be no way to secure a Bill Sieniewicz signed copy of that one at a CGC 9.0. Regardless, I found this Vanesa Del Rey Hip-Hop variant copy and decided to add this one to the collection. Now if Viv Vision becomes a thing... BTW... my scanner absolutely HATED this book! I think I mentioned in my Silver Surfer #3 / Mephisto post that this was one of my favorite childhood Halloween decorations... Anyways, so those two books were not ones that I had initially sought out but they were certainly ones that I had to have... and so it went. What else did I need relating to the Scarlet Witch? Ah, yes... the Darkhold. I did explain how I thought it was a nice touch to actually make a miniature mock up of the Darkhold for the Elizabeth Olsen / Scarlet Witch figure, right? Well, prior to that, I needed the Darkhold as well and this book features the first appearance of it, but not its first mention. And of course, this issue features a sweet date stamp as well! The first mention of the Darkhold appeared in the issue before this one, in Marvel Spotlight #3. There's a really weird twist in that book though that I haven't seen written about anywhere. Before I get to that though, yes, I'm working on getting a paired match to this one but I think it's going to be slightly off. No surprise, right? So here's the weird twist or mix-up in Marvel Spotlight #3 referencing the first mention of the Darkhold. In a few panels, this character is referred to as Andrea but then, in others, as Agatha... which makes sense relating to her likeness of Agatha Harkness, but in later comic lore. Maybe it's a Matrix-y thing... Apologies for the blurry pic. It's just very odd how this character shifts between Andrea and Agatha in this issue! And so, with this, I'm nearing the end of my Scarlet Witch thread and I'm sure some are hoping it would be done already. Well, I do have one more recent acquisition to talk about and then I'll be able to go forward. But seriously, is there any 'moving on' from this? I'll say... No. BTW, Elizabeth Olsen is ready to lead the MCU... https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a35278472/elizabeth-olsen-wandavision-interview/ To be continued...

Now of course I wasn't done with this new obses fascination of mine... oh-no, not at all! There were certainly more issues to seek and buy. I guess I had a sort of destination in mind but it kind of took a life of its own, at this point. I also needed the Scarlet Witch's origin too, right? I mean before retcon was a thing, of course. So once again, I turned to my comic book artist 'spiritual advisor', John Byrne and sought to acquire those issues as well, but of course, you know, they had to match! And so I eventually found the Scarlet Witch origin trilogy after weeks of searching. This was back in 2021, two years ago now. Many collectors seek the 9.8's which of course is admirable but for me, a 9.2 can be just about as good based off of how I was raised as a collector. I'm not sure if that makes any sense but it's my sense (or non-sense ) ... Now these, I was very particular about! They all had to be 9.2's with WHITE Pages but they also had to be direct editions too... which based on my information, were more rare than newsstand copies at this point in time (1979). 1979. This is what happens to me... So yes, I was very pleased to have been able to secure the Scarlet Witch origin trilogy but no... I was certainly not done! I think there was something else going on... To Be Continued.

I was thinking that it was kind of risky to obtain a signed item that may or may not have been 'authenticated' by PSA or some other company... I mean, stickers are stickers, right? But when I dug a little deeper and saw that CGC had held a signing event, which I missed and didn't know about, that (to me) was the most logical choice in terms of seeking out what I was (desperately?) looking for! I did a little more research and found this... the fee schedule for this particular CGC signing event... So this gave me an idea of what to expect in terms of looking at items for sale on eBay and other sites. After a couple of weeks or searching and research, I finally settled on my book. This one was going to be more pricey in terms of what I was originally seeking but it made too much sense. I couldn't pass this item up, seeing how well it was priced. Basically, I purchased this for one dollar LESS than just the CGC advertised price of just two autographs. That was the first selling point... the second, third and forth selling points were that this item had excellent signature placements, it marked my favorite artists first issue on this run and it was a grade match to a book that I had submitted to CGC at the height of the WandaVision series. Here's John Byrne's first issue on West Coast Avengers which marked the start of the Vision Quest story line (which might prove to be an important issue going forward!), signed by both Elizabeth Olsen ("Lizzie Olsen") and Paul Bettany. I really like how the two placed their signatures on the corresponding figures on this issue. And even though it's only a 9.4, it's the only 9.4 signature series issue on the CGC census (2nd highest) and a nice compliment to my West Coast Avengers 45.

Just needed to hear this tonight...

I set out to find just the right signed item. So I saw a bunch of supposedly signed Funko Pop figures but I figured that many of those were forgeries... I found 8X10 photos which were kind of cool but I also had a suspicion that many of those were forgeries as well. Was my instinct right? Perhaps... Perhaps not. I definitely had to find just the right item and that's when I found this gem of information! This was posted on the CGC website in 2021...

Ok, back to business... I'm finally about to get this journal on track. Promise! Let's go back to the end of the WandaVision series. I've written thoroughly on that and it's certainly not new news, but just to recap, that one series grabbed me like no other miniseries before that nor afterwards as well. I had accumulated a bunch of 'spec books' relating to the series as well as possible tie-in books that appealed to me. Some of those spec books never panned out and some did... and it's my belief that still some others, may still indeed become very relevant in time. The series concluded in March of 2021 and right after the final episode aired, I saw this online advertisement for a 1/6 scale Elizabeth Olsen / Scarlet Witch figure that was soon to be available from Hot Toys through Sideshow Toys. We're all very familiar with Hot Toys as well as Sideshow Toys but surprisingly, the only two figures I owned (in March of 2021) was the WWI French Infantryman from the Bayonets and Barbed Wire collection along with the Silver Screen Edition of Max Shrek as The Vampyre (Nosferatu). ... ... (Last year I added this unlicensed figure to my small collection - it's the same one I got for Rob) So needless to say, when I saw the ad for the pre-sale of the WandaVision Scarlet Witch figure, I don't think I could order it fast enough. I decided to do the 4 payment option as it seemed like a good idea at the time and I believe it was originally slated to be available in June or July of 2021. Well... The first 3 payments all were taken out accordingly but when it was time for the 4th and last payment, that's when I got the news that the figure would be delayed until November or December. Well... December rolled around and then January of 2022 came and went... as did March and April of 2022... November and December of 2022. So after a long wait, over two years from the time I placed the order, she finally arrived and yes, it's a wonderful piece! The luminous eyes effect (by use of Black Light) is pretty cool but I love that they fabricated a miniature version the The Darkhold! They're actually printed, individual pages which was a really nice touch in my opinion. Looking at these pictures on the monitor, I can see that they're quite blurry - sorry about that. (Better pictures here: https://www.sideshow.com/collectibles/marvel-the-scarlet-witch-hot-toys-907935 ) Now after I ordered this figure in 2021, I needed more of Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch... I was obses... hooked. I was accumulating a lot of books but there was something else I needed to obtain... ... ... Her autograph.

Interesting... thanks for posting that Shadow issue with the same inner holder!

Yes it is

Now before I get into this next post, I do have to conduct another House Cleaning to kind of explain these past few weeks! So. House Cleaning... (I have no freakin' idea what number I'm at so to Hell with it... ) Here's a cool video. I traded in my old vehicle for something I've dubbed the Shadow-Mobile. It just kind of fits... I haven't been able to post in a few weeks because I've dropped my hardwired internet service to a 5G service and there were a few bugs that I needed to iron out but it's looking good now. There are many more stories to tell but I'll hold off on those for now. "All they wanted was a sound that could kill someone from a distance, so we go ahead..." I recently sent in three books to be graded by CGC and the results were pretty nice. The 1948 comic, I was hoping for a 3.5 but expected a 3.0 ... I got a 4.5 The 1949 comic, I was hoping for a 8.0 but expected a 7.5 ... I got a 7.0 The 1966 comic, I was hoping for a 5.0 but expected a 4.0 ... I got a 6.0

I initially started this post by posing a rhetorical question but just decided to change it. Originally I started out with, "what have I done?" ... It's not that easy and I'll try to explain. This picture, I believe, is where it begins. It's 1989 and most likely I'm in the store at this very moment. I'm all into Batman because of the insane hype surrounding the movie and I'm probably looking for Golden Age Batman books because it was right here, when I first felt that pull to the 1940's. At this point The Shadow was simply a name and nothing else. So If I'm in this shop at this very moment, but in order for me to go back in time to see this, based off of my research on the Shadow in 2023, did I just initiate a Bootstrap Paradox?! I'm wondering... this is certainly beyond The Doctor... beyond the TVA. Something else has been manipulating me - driving me to a singular point in time... But for what reason? Of course. All this time - it took so long that I couldn't see it coming, but here it is. It wasn't the TVA after-all. Well, at least not in terms of where this journey has led me. The TVA was after The Book which served as a gateway to this alternate reality but there was something else lying, waiting, beyond that threshold on the other side. It's almost not fair... ...

Sorry- just scanned them now and yes, that's exactly it. The other issue has the same type of inner holder.

Apologies if I missed this subject covered elsewhere, but has CGC altered the way they're encapsulating GA books? I just got back 3 books from CGC (2 GA books and 1 SA book) and the 2 GA issues are lined up flush to the right edge of the slab, with what looks like a new type of inner well ...

Is this 1934? I couldn't make out the date except April 15.

This certainly isn't the TVA... Rob can help me here and as it was just his birthday, so I'll have to consult with him. We're both 'TVA cloaked' so I'm sure he can aide in this mystery! 😂

So.... What's going on?!

And finally here...

Ultimately here as well...

And here and here...

Ok, so I'm here...

It's now Independence Day (2023) and something is seriously wrong. The last picture I posted showed a portion of Washington Street from the mid 1950's to early 1960's and yet, here is the opposite side of that picture, the east end, from the early to mid 1930's. Additionally, we are (seemingly) in late December... Hmm...🤔