Hibou

Fun post Harry!

I'm not sure if you have seen this site before but it provides a virtual (US) newsstand that will show you what was on sale at any given time.

I'll be using it myself for a future post...

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/newsstand.php

So I was very interested in reading the next issue of The Fantastic Four, after finishing that issue #5, but like I said, I would have to wait a week and hope that Mike didn't sell that #6 before I would get a chance to buy it.

Now originally, he was going to give me the #5 and the #6 for those books that I brought in but I had decided to take the issue 5 and the cash instead. Well, the next day that I had off from work (which was a week later), I stopped into his shop and sure enough, it was still there.

He gave it to me at a reduced price, consistent with our last deal and I was happy to get the book home to once again sit back and dive into this 'latest' issue of The Fantastic Four! And here's where I knew that something was different- I didn't care about the condition too much. This book has some interior tape and a detached cover... hey, it's a 'reader' and that's exactly the purpose I would use it as.

...

As soon as I opened that first page and started reading, it occurred to me once again... I never read this and I had no idea where it was going! From the smell of the pages to the fluidity of Jack Kirby's figures... the pacing of Stan's writing (perhaps with Kirby too), I just felt this amazing sense of renewal and discovery with this book and in connection with that FF5.

For the first time in a very long time, I was truly enjoying this!

The panel depicting the cut away of the Baxter Building and the interior reminded me of those comics I read as a youth and the wonder of just staring at the schematics of the Batcave or the Fortress of Solitude... Spider-Man's web shooters and belt... Iron Man's armor...

I found myself looking at this panel and just letting my mind wander with that for a moment.

I had to laugh at part 2 of this book though.

Right as the Sub-Mariner meets Doctor Doom for the first time, I see this and for some reason I had say...

"Now that's a really nice 3/4 page panel!"

The story progressed and despite the (at times) ridiculous science of the story, I just purely enjoyed it for what it was.

Doctor Doom is able to skate away with the ENTIRE Baxter Building because the Sub-Mariner placed a magnetic grabber in a "dark corner of the basement".

Now come on, do any of you really know what's in that dark corner of your basement?!

There might be a magnetic grabber there too!

The climax of the story has the Sub-Mariner, now realizing that he's been played by Doctor Doom, end his fight with the Thing within the building (as they're wearing 'space helmets' nonetheless) and asks where the water storage tank is. Now of course there is one in the building and once the Sub-Mariner dives in and energizes himself, he crashes through the wall of the building... into space... and leaps from one asteroid to another until he reaches Doom's ship.

Pure genius!

...

So reading this story and enjoying it as much as I did, definitely provided me with a certain thirst for more. But in the back of my mind, I still had this image in my head of this funny green character and these pages of Dan Dare that I was seeing on line.

I wanted to look more into that too...

And this was pretty much where things converged.

Somehow, someway... in that "dark corner of the basement" within the recesses of my mind, I found Dan Dare and The Fantastic Four.

It all felt brand new again and then finally, after wondering whether this was all still something that I enjoyed, I felt some relief.

And I felt...

To have a shop like that would be very cool indeed, Brandon!

Very nice additions and I don't consider that a rant at all... it's so true!

Those are some great Baker books you have.

That would be correct but the reason why I'm in debt isn't because I bought comics it's because I've been scammed 3 times. ASM 129 will be a quick seller so I'm not worried and already have two people interested.

 

Man, I think it is way past time for you give this up. You need to stop buying comics and sell everything you have. Give up this foolish dream and focus on your life and getting it straightened out. This is more advice you won't listen to like the other that has come before it but it is time to grow up.

 

I'm working on selling what I have but I'm learning from my mistakes but it takes longer then most people don't worry you'll soon see.

Gabe,I do admire your determination but do be careful as many on here have advised!

I forgot to mention one part of this story that occurred just this past May... so as Harry Lime put it, let's use Doctor Doom's Time Machine...

That, or we could use...

Well, either way... let's go back to May for a moment.

There was a local convention taking place this one week back in the spring and I wasn't planning on going. I didn't have any motivation or real incentive to go so I figured I would sit this one out.

Well, the night before the convention, my daughter was having a friend sleep over and they told me that they wanted to go to the convention as they thought there would be some Anime stuff there... my daughter has been into Anime for quite a while now.

So I agreed to take them and we waited in line on what seemed to be an abnormally cold Sunday morning in May. Once inside, I let them look around and I just wandered about. The comics weren't really doing anything for me. Actually, there was one book that I really wanted to get... a copy of Dr. Who and the Daleks.

Unfortunately, the person who had it displayed at their Doctor Who table wasn't selling it.

Fine.

So I wandered some more and figured I would take a look at what was going on at Ray McCarthy's table who was one of the guests there. There was someone else at the table looking at his original pages that he brought to sell but no one was talking to him as he sat there with his wonderful (I'm assuming) wife.

I asked him all sorts of questions from techniques to what artists he liked to work with... I asked him about time constraints and some other questions on different aspects of inking. But then the conversation started to shift to what comics and the companies were doing today and that's where we had a great discussion. Ray and his wife shared my concern with where the industry was heading but I did tell him that I really liked what Amanda Conner was trying to do with the books she wrote. They both agreed...

As we were having this long conversation (which may have lasted a good 20+ minutes), I was browsing through his pages of inked material and I kept getting pulled into these pages for a Batman story from some years ago. He noticed that I kept pausing at these pages and told me what the book was... the pages were from the 1999 2 part series called: Batman - The Book of the Dead.

From what I was looking at, it seemed like a really interesting story and he filled me in a little on it. Afterwards, I told him that I'd really like to go and find these now so I could read the entire story.

Sadly, I didn't find anything at this convention.

I ended up getting one page from him though because there was something about it that reached me... I wasn't quite sure what it was but now maybe I have a better idea.

It was this page here and I apologize for the quality of the picture. It looks very sharp in hand.

What was also interesting is that on the back of this page, Barry Kitson (Penciller), left a note and some instructions for Ray regarding one specific panel....

Maybe this was the first spark that drew me elsewhere... :shrug:

Afterwards, I thanked Ray for the conversation and left the table, I met up with my daughter and thanked her for getting me to go to this convention as I really enjoyed that meeting!

For a couple of weeks after, I searched all the local comics stores around here, as well as the bookstores, for a copy of that Batman- The Book of the Dead set.

No luck... and then slowly, I forgot about it.

...

As much as I enjoyed meeting Ray and talking about this particular story, it still didn't do much to sway me in any particular direction.

Shortly after this weekend in May, I was going through some of my things when I came across my small collection of stamps that I've accumulated over the years. All sorts of different topics that appeal to me... including these two sheets:

As I looked at the sheets, there was one book that really stood out to me and it brought me back to a time I remembered fondly!

And that was just another step that I had unknowingly taken.

...

As for the Batman - TBOTD... when I thought of writing this entry, I remembered that I still wanted to find a copy of that set and as I was looking through mycomicshop.com for some other books, I thought to see if they had this set.

Sure enough, they did and so I finally ordered the set today!

As I was not alive in the '60s, it appears the early '60s had a cool vibe with the first few James Bond films and JFK's Camelot. And I cannot put my finger on it, but I feel the early Fantastic Four cover have this cool vibe. Maybe it's the font of the logo, or Kirby's art.

It’s not a typeface ('font' has become a common term, but it’s inaccurate, as it addresses a specific weight or variation of a type family) – rather it’s skillful handlettering, and it’s due to Sol Brodsky (most of the early Marvel logos were his work), which was part of the original "Marvel bullpen", as Stan would have later put it.

 

I'm just now seeing this. Thanks for the drop of knowledge!

You’re welcome. Actually I believe that Sol Brodsky here was able to convey the "sense of wonder" which belongs to early american science fiction and the like. The 1960s aesthetics is more "industrial", and the FF and early Marvel covers had that "magic" that was generally lost in the following decade.

Yes, thanks for that bit of information too. It certainly got me thinking.

And I really like the format of your journal, Harry. The brief synopsis of these books gives me some additional insight to them... and I've even started to look closer at the pence copies.

Your signature is pretty funny!

So Mike was offering a fair cash price for my books that I had brought in but I decided to look around a bit... my eyes kept going to this one raw book that was behind the counter.

I could see that it was in rough shape but it still interested me a bit.

The book was The Fantastic Four #5... the first appearance of Doctor Doom.

I asked Mike if I could take a look at the book and he encouraged me to take it out of the bag. I hesitated because once I saw the tape on the spine, I didn't think I wanted anything like that. Besides, with a sizeable piece missing off the top- it went against the grain of what I look for in a book.

Inside, the book had a couple of pieces of tape that was holding the cover on and it was all old tape both inside and out. But once I saw the interior splash page, something became very apparent to me...

"I don't ever remember reading this book".

Could that be true?

I thought that maybe I wasn't remembering the story but as I carefully flipped through the pages, NOTHING looked familiar to me. Still, the book was in too rough condition and I put the comic back in the bag and gave the book back to Mike.

I figured I would just go on my way and take the cash.

But then Mike shared something with me that's a tale that many comic book collectors and comic book shop owners would dream of... he told me the story of the older woman who walked into his store just a few days earlier.

Apparently, this woman in her 70's walked in carrying a small portfolio. Sadly her husband had passed away a year ago or so and she had these old drawings that he collected and didn't know what to do with them. She lived with her husband just outside of Syracuse... not even 15 miles away. Her husband was an artist himself and over many years, had accumulated a small collection of original artwork.

So Mike tells me that his jaw dropped when he saw what she had and told her that it was all very valuable and he could only offer her so much for a small handful of the drawings... he told her that an auction site would be best for many of the other pieces.

Mike hands me a small stack of these drawings... all 9 of them now in standard comic bags with backing boards. When I looked at each of these drawings, in hand... MY jaw dropped as well.

He posted them on his Facebook page under the post:

SOME ORIGINAL ART SKETCHES BY

Jack Kirby - John Romita Sr. - Jerry Siegel - Joe Shuster

Curt Swan - Al Plastino

For those of you on Facebook, they can be viewed here...

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1181383945247357&id=780357822016640

I told him that these certainly looked authentic and asked him what he was going to do with them. He said that he was going to send them out somewhere to be authenticated.

"Yes, you should definitely do that!"

But it was when I held this one piece in my hand and just stared at the line work... well, let's just say that's when all these little pieces that were being laid down finally assembled into one powerful moment.

It was Doctor Doom.

And it was Jack Kirby.

This was what I was looking at...

(Image taken from the above linked Facebook page)

It was such an awesome piece!

I gave the drawings back to Mike simply shaking my head... an original Siegel and Shuster?! Plasino?! Kirby?! Simply amazing.

I looked back at the raggedy Fantastic Four 5 and did the deal. Mike also had a copy of FF 6 that was in better condition and offered both books to me in exchange for what I brought him. I declined the 6 and just took part cash and the FF5.

And for the first time in quite a while, I felt very excited just to get home, sit down and actually read a comic. The condition of the book mattered little, I just wanted to get into this first appearance and origin issue of Doctor Doom!

Once I got home I realized that the book would have to wait as there were some other things we all needed to do around the house and had to get to the groceries too. I would have to wait until later in the evening but the first moment I got, I sat back in the recliner (took out my reading glasses ) and in a matter of moments, I felt like I was 10 again... wondering what each page had in store and where Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would bring me.

The pages of the book smelled just how I would want them to... I think 60's books have a distinct smell from 40's books but I'm not sold on that yet. Anyways, I loved the first few opening pages and thought it was a brilliant touch to have Johnny Storm reading a copy of Hulk #1... and then later I had no idea that there would be a full page ad for Hulk 1 in there as well. Great marketing!

So as the story progressed, I had to laugh... was this a bootstrap paradox? Right here in FF5?! I think it just might be... I loved it!

I got to the end of the story and I was somewhat depressed... I NEEDED to read issue 6 now! Unfortunately I had to work the next day and realized that I wouldn't be able to get back to the comic shop for another week. Wow... just like it used to be- waiting for that next issue to come out!

And that was how the small spark was ignited back into a fire. I didn't have a definitive direction I wanted to go in yet, but I was just happy to have found something new and exciting to me.

...

And just as a postscript... I went to see Mike this past weekend (jumping ahead here in this timeline)... he showed me the drawings again, all now certified by the authenticating company. They had a seal of approval as being the real deal! There were 2 missing though. Apparently, they never made it back to Mike... someone who handled them called him to ask how much he wanted. Mike said he would listen to an offer... an offer was made, accepted and the rest was made into comic book store owner history!

I was very happy for him!

As for the artist who lived nearby that had passed away, apparently he was friends with Jack Kirby... they would vacation together.

And he was friends with Bob Kane too...

For the first time in a while- I'm taking an entire week off from work and it feels great!

I could definitely get used to this!

...

So just about a month ago, I got together with Rob... we found a new place as Tim Horton's was gone and the dead mall was just too depressing. So we met at World of Beer, located within the Destiny USA mall here in Syracuse.

I had been there before on a few occasions but this was on a Sunday afternoon and it wasn't busy at all which was nice. They have a selection of over 550 beers and they also have a loyalty club that you can join and by the end of the afternoon- Rob and I did just that.

"Hey, we get T-shirts too!"

They have their own membership card which ties in with this downloadable app that tracks the beers you've tried and lets you add in your own notes if you choose. In addition to that you can earn 'badges' and points which lets you build towards other promotions.

I thought that was all pretty cool.

So Rob and I had 4 beers each... these were the 4 that I tried.

We talked about work a lot but then of course the discussion turned to comics and I told him that I was really in a rut and just didn't feel like I had a direction to go in. I told him the story of the Steve Rogers: Captain America...

As a matter of fact, I gave that issue to him along with some other stuff.

"Here, now this can ruin comics for you too!"

I talked to him about all the changes to both DC and Marvel characters and he got it. He wasn't buying much lately either. I told him that I was thinking of collecting some titles...

"Doctor Strange, Spider-Man... not really into that. Fantastic Four..."

He then interjected, "That would be cool."

"Yeah... I dunno..."

We got back to talking about all the current stuff out there and he was telling me a lot about the Marvel titles and the changes. Among those changes at Marvel, one actually stood out to me...

"Yeah, Doctor Doom is now an Iron Man..."

"Really?!"

"Yeah..."

"That's actually kinda cool."

"Right, I know how much you like that Iron Man / Doctor Doom time travel stuff..."

And there it was! A link had been formed to something in the past that I perhaps overlooked... either that or it was the beer!

Doctor Doom?

One of the last things I talked to Rob about was the amount of books that I had sold. I showed him on my phone the few books I had left and my last words to him about that was that it was all 'subject to change'.

After a few hours at World of Beer, we closed out the tab and walked through the mall a little. We stopped at this shop that sold over priced imported candy... I bought my daughter some odd Japanese candy and then we made our way to the comic shop located within the mall.

So that was pretty much the end of a fun afternoon...

A couple of hours after I got home, I went through my comics again and started pulling books... both raw and slabbed.

I decided I would go to see Mike the next day and sell some more stuff.

...

I woke up Monday morning, asked my wife what we had to do that day and then told her that I wanted to run up to the comic store...

Maybe it's time for a reevaluation.

Yes, that's it...

Time to go to my favorite LCS.

"Hey Mike, here's a bunch of these underwater cover and moon cover books that seem distant to me now. Cash? Sure, but let me take a look at what you have in the store..."

...

It's the tonic that can cure most ails, AJD!

...

So once I jumped across the pond and found out more about this Mekon and Dan Dare... the more I felt I was getting sucked in and it was certainly a welcomed feeling... but something else was building as well.

Dan Dare was introduced to the population of England in April of 1950 as a counter to what was being produced over here around that time with the horror comics and such that would lead to Wertham's crusade.

That intrigued me.

I had never heard of this Dan Dare outside of a song and I never knew that it was such an integral piece of British culture... just as the same could be said of Doctor Who.

Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future.

I'll get much more into that later but I want to tie this into my state of mind at this moment when I was trying to find my passion for comics again.

The Dan Dare comic (or strip), as published weekly under Eagle was illustrated by Frank Hampson... and the little bit that I was seeing online was getting me quite interested but I didn't know at the time if this was serious or just a curiosity.

"John Byrne was born in England in 1950, same year as this debuted."

Just as I felt that Grant Morrison had taken me on a journey, I had to wonder...

"Mr. Byrne, where are you taking me (again)?"

There was something very familiar about Frank Hampson's work and vision but I couldn't connect it at the time so I sort of just ignored it... but still, look for yourself...

That was the first 'issue' (1st page) of Dan Dare and Eagle... a supplement to the national newspaper.

This was going to be something big... I just knew it.

Despite all of this, there would be something else on the horizon that would pull me back over stateside... speaking figuratively of course.

And that was my friends birthday.

Rob's birthday is in July and I couldn't let the month slip away without contacting him and getting together... and so, that's precisely what I did!

I really enjoy seeing these books and covers from other countries... thank you!

So just who or what was this Mekon...

That question would lead me across the pond as I sought to find the answers!

Thinking about Jack Kirby and those heads on the T-Shirt...

The Hulk

Captain America

The Silver Surfer

The Fantastic Four

The Inhumans

Thor

The X-Men

... all from the minds and talents of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I mean we all know this but I guess there comes that point where it really hits you. How these two individuals created basically an entire fictional, pop culture universe! Of course there were many others involved in fleshing out this Marvel universe... Steve Ditko with Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, Bill Everett and Daredevil, Don Heck (w/ Kirby) and Iron Man... the list goes on.

But just look at that list with Lee and Kirby.

I suppose on the DC side, it would be like Siegel and Shuster creating not only Superman, but Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and the rest of the JSA.

But they didn't.

I just started thinking about what would comics be like if it weren't for that spark that came from Lee and Kirby. And then, the more I read... the more I saw Jack Kirby as being the absolute force behind that movement,

For these few days, those thoughts sort of consumed me but it still didn't provide any absolute catalyst.

...

In the next few weeks, I met a character that started the process of galvanizing where it was exactly that I wanted to go.

So, it was probably on a Saturday night... after a 60 hour week was in my pocket, the time came to sit down and go through some topics on the boards here, pour a drink... punch up a video or playlist on YouTube and start to detach from the mundane.

Robert Plant is a favorite of mine... of course Led Zeppelin too.

So on a whim, I felt like I wanted to hear something from my favorite album of his, "Principle of Moments". "Big Log" is my absolute favorite, but it wasn't time for that... I wanted to hear "Messin' with the Mekon".

A pretty cool tune, in my opinion...

So onto Google I go and I type in "Messing Mekon" and as soon as the results pop up, I instinctively hit 'Videos'... but I ended up clicking on images instead.

And there before my eyes was this... thing. This creature. What in the world?!

"The Mekon?"

"Looks... absolutely... AMAZING!"

I was captivated by this imagery. Who or what was this?

"Looks like a combination of The Leader... a little green martian... a Skrull?"

"A Skrull?"

"A Super-Skrull?"

No, this was something very new to me and I liked what I saw!

Midnight approaches...

And those midnight blues seem to be washed away.

Taking a moment to sit back and start this short story of how a spark can come from the strangest of things. All those feelings of not knowing if I wanted to continue on with comics and sorts would start to change from this point forward.

...

...the bottom of the dresser drawer!

I had just mentioned that I pulled this old T-Shirt out and somehow it spoke to me...

What was it?

Well, it was this old thing here and I believe I got it around 7 years ago.

So what was it that I saw in this old shirt?

Kirby and Byrne.

I thought about that and as a life long fan of John Byrne, it got me thinking about how influential he was to me in regards to comics.

But then there was Jack Kirby.

I looked at those portraits featured on the T-Shirt.

"Wait, are those all..."

Yes, 9 heads are from this issue alone...

And yes, I just bought this issue, complete with date stamp!

...

It appears that this T-Shirt features 2 Byrne heads (Wolverine and I think Spider-Man too) , 1 Buscema head (Sliver Surfer) and then the rest are Kirby.

Jack Kirby... go figure.

And from there, I simply went about my business.

But it certainly got me thinking...

Thank you kindly, Brandon!

Much more to come...

And thanks for the comment Surfer! The Falcon is / was an awesome character by himself... I still have my Mego figure of him. Was it that important to create this Sam Wilson, Cap?! And I agree, the shield is ridiculous... I don't even see it as a homage to the original Timely shield but maybe others do.

Part V

"What a FANTASTIC death abyss..."

"Tell the others."

So it was shortly after this reading of Steve Rogers: Captain America #1 that I made a decision to sell off a lot these underwater and moon books.

I had a plan though...

I was going to target some of my sales to those around me that I've had a good relationship with and to those that had let me know that they were interested in a few of my books in the past.

I started out at a small local convention here in town, where I sold a book to a local collector who happened to have a small table set up. I gave him a good price and he was thrilled. Next, I went to my LCS once again and talked to Mike, the owner. I had a handful of books but there were a few in there that I wanted to go to a specific person. I hadn't seen him in about a year but he collected GA Sub-Mariner and he specifically asked me to keep him in mind if I was ever going to sell a couple of the issues that I had.

I brought the books into the store and asked Mike if this guy had come in lately (I knew that he had been a customer there for some time)... I told him the deal of how he wanted to buy a few of the books that I was bringing in. He told me that he had come in the week before and that he would be coming back within the following week. So he bought the books off of me and then he would turn them around to this customer.

Well, the next weekend I went back there and sure enough, Mike did just what I was hoping he would do as the Sub-Mariner collector was in the shop as I walked in and he was very happy! We caught up and talked for a little, all the while I felt really good knowing that some of my books were going to someone who really wanted them.

I then followed that up with PM sales here on the boards to a couple of boardies who expressed an earlier interest in a few other books of mine.

And it had started... I was breaking away and it started to get easier and easier to let go.

I wasn't having regrets but I was wondering to myself just how far I would go.

I would set some parameters but then found myself even breaking through those.

"I think I've lost my way... it's the heart's filthy lesson."

I mean it was only about 5 to 6 months ago when I proclaimed on here that I was somewhat proud of the collection I assembled and the motions I went through to obtain those.

But here I was...

At times I would think back to the story I started with when I began to write Rusty Staples and Sunken Treasure. The story started as I was a child. I remembered back to the day when I stayed home from school... sick in bed, my father came home from work for lunch and came into my room with two comics he picked up on the way.

Captain America 206 and Iron Man 94

This would've been 1977 and everything seemed so magical... so special.

And didn't Kirby pretty much run everything!

I remembered back further to some of the first comics I either picked out on my own or purchased on my own. Why were these memories so firmly planted?

Then I jumped forward to the time where I put together my first serious collection... the Ditko run of Spider-Man. THAT was fun! That was exciting to piece together those issues to the best of my abilities.

I actually had issue number one... and two and a lot more!

So with that, I thought that maybe what was missing was that feeling of accomplishment tied together with youthful excitement and wonderment. "What if I tried to put together that Spider-Man collection again?", I thought to myself.

I started looking at a few issues...

But then, almost as quickly as that idea came about... it was gone again. I had done that already so what was really the point? Besides, it felt very contrived.

I was back to feeling like it was over.

...

...

And then one afternoon, on a weekend, I pulled out a T-shirt from the bottom of the dresser drawer and looked at it for some time. It was just an older 'lounge-around-the-house' shirt but something began to speak to me from within... rather, more accurately... there was a spark!

And from that, the connections started to fire away in succession.

I just hadn't put it all together yet!

Through the months of spring and at the start of summer, I found myself doing a lot of selling. A book here, a book there... a stack of raw books now and then. But in the process, I wasn't replacing those books with anything else. Primarily, I was just using the funds to pay bills and repairs... there wasn't anything that was appealing to me. I even sold a whole short box of all of my DC52 comics... I had no idea that there was some value in that box.

At times I would catch a thread or two on here about the new CGC cases and the changes to their membership. Those changes are what's currently holding me back but in the next month or so, I think I'll have a better idea as to what's transpired here and hopefully make sense of the CGC credit for submissions on their membership.

What I couldn't seem to do was catch on to anything... I think there was a week where I was playing around with the idea of getting into Doctor Strange books but it didn't hold. I love the character but I felt like the exposure was getting over-saturated, if that makes any sense. Maybe I did that to myself by dipping into the 'speculative' side of collecting a little. I sort of felt like maybe it was just 'that time again'... as had happened to me before, throughout the years, as I would get into collecting- then I would get out and then something would pull me back in... I thought about it and I had been actively involved in comics and collecting for the past 7-8 years since getting back in.

This time however, what was starting to affect me was the ceaseless changes that both Marvel and DC seemed to announce on a weekly basis. This character was going to be different, that character is now someone else... these titles were being cancelled... this universe is now that universe.

It was too much to keep track of and it was contributing to this feeling of mine of being driven away. I can't even tell you what the new titles are now or what's what and who's who.

I just didn't care and frankly, still don't.

I tried to adapt to those changes but in the end, perhaps I was the one that had changed too much.

One afternoon, I went to my LCS with a few more books to sell. I ended up getting a couple of 60's JLA reader books (nothing important, just something I wanted to read to see if it would spark anything) and as I was leaving I walked past the week's new books that were spread out over the counter.

"Hey Mike, what's this?"

He explained to me that it was the new Steve Rogers, Captain America series. He said I could take a copy for free so I thanked him and as I walked out the door, his parting words to me were...

"You won't like it."

Well what did he mean by that?

I actually read the comic in the car... something I can't remember doing in years!

After I was done reading it, I shook my head, placed the comic back in the bag and then placed that bag in the back seat. I started the car and drove home...

That was it.

I was done with comics and this would be the book that killed comics for me.

So just how far did I retreat as winter lumbered on and finally, thankfully gave way to spring?

A couple of examples...

It was probably early March when my wife and daughter went with me to a small antique shop about 30 miles outside of here. I looked around and found some comics but didn't get anything. We were about to leave when my wife asked me if I saw this Superman newspaper. I told her that I did but didn't need it.

She reminded me that it was $3.00.

"Yeah, but still... I don't know."

She told me to just get it and now I'm glad I did.

I can't believe I would've let this sit for $3.00.

And then about a month later, my wife was going through some of her old magazines when I spotted this particular one.

I asked her where this one came from but she didn't remember. I asked her if she knew what was inside... she thought it was very cool when I showed her but even this find wasn't enough to get me motivated to post about it.

Well, that is until now.

Look Magazine : February 27, 1940

In January, I was shocked as most were, on the passing of David Bowie... I had heard about the new album, Blackstar and was looking forward to buying and listening to it. I was captivated... really captivated by the title track and especially the hypntoic video that went with it.

I put off buying the CD on that first week of its release but after the news hit, I bought the CD, downloaded it digitally and purchased the vinyl as well. To this day, I have a hard time listening to the CD as it has such a profound effect on me. I never experienced or witnessed something like this before as it was a masterful yet somber acknowledgement of facing mortality wrapped in something so amazingly artistic.

But perhaps there was something else in there too... a story yet to be told.

I'm not sure about that but his passing affected me quite a bit.

It pretty much laid the foundation for what would be a dark, long and cold winter...

And with that, I withdrew further and further away from comics. I thought about what other 'themes' I might be interested in - what I might want to collect.

And those questions that I posed to myself were answered with deafening silence.

Nothing.

...

Major Tom, this is Ziggy Stardust, the Starman. Is there life on Mars... is space the final frontier? Which galaxy is far, far away, what is time and what's a pink monkey bird?

...

...

I forgot to mention that a week before meeting up for the holiday, I stopped at a used bookstore nearby as I try to go there a few times a year. They carry a small selection of comics and graphic novels... sometimes I'll find a pretty good deal on something there.

Well this visit paid off for me in a big way.

I was browsing through their graphic novels and comic related books when I pulled this book out.

I mean, no big deal right?

I've seen this book often and I think at one point I had a copy.

But in this case, everything changed when I saw the spine...

"Signed?"

"I wonder who put the book together? It's probably signed by the author."

I opened up the book and saw on the interior that it was priced at $50.00 ... "Pricey!" I said to myself.

But then when I turned the page and saw this inside leaf, that $50.00 wasn't going to be an obstacle at all! I think I closed the book right up and ran to the register.

I had found a personal treasure!

And I would bet a whole lot of money that there isn't another one out there like it.

...

...

I have to go back to January for a moment to point out some of the very cool things that my friend Rob got for me for Christmas. Our favorite meeting place, Tim Horton's, had closed and so we met at a nearby mall which also looks like they're on their last legs. It seems like this area is so depressed...

Anyways, what was pretty cool was that the gifts were all themed and that theme revolved around another favorite of mine...

Monsters!

It was a really nice assortment of absolute fun and here's some of them.

A Bionic Bigfoot pillow, Baron Blood, Creature from the Black Lagoon goodness...

Also a very cool D. Briefer Frankenstein T-Shirt and even a full set of reproduced Monsters Old Maid cards! There were also a few other goodies included as well. It was really nice especially since I didn't take part in the Secret Santa event here on the boards. It was the first year that I hadn't.

I think that was my first hint that I was slowly pulling away from all of this.

Thanks Harry!

So back in December of this past year, I was sort of at a crossroads... I told the stories that I needed to tell, got to the point in my life that I felt I needed to get to... accumulated the books that I wanted to get... and that was that.

The End.

But there was definately something missing...

A desire. A passion... a purpose.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

And this was in December...

The next few months would be increasingly pivotal in terms of what it would mean for me and this thing that I've loved for all my life which are called, 'comics'.

Was it simply time for a break... or was this the end?

Part IV

"I'm outta here. DC & Marvel - very disappointed."

"CGC... ???"

"Waitaminute."

Maybe it's time for a reevaluation.

Yes, that's it...

Time to go to my favorite LCS.

"Hey Mike, here's a bunch of these underwater cover and moon cover books that seem distant to me now. Cash? Sure, but let me take a look at what you have in the store..."

And this one small decision actually saved comic collecting for me!

To be continued on that later...

"... I don't wanna go".