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Finishing Runs and ComicBase Lately I've been focusing on finishing off titles. I'm very close to finishing my Elfquest collection (I collect 16 of the titles), I'm 1 issue away from finishing Castle Waiting Vol. 1 and 2, and I finished Amazing Heroes (issues 1-204), Nexus (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, issues 1-80) and a few other titles. I keep track of my collection using ComicBase (https://comicbase.com/mycb/default.aspx). I've used this software for close to a decade. The software is very stable -- I've never had any loss of data, even when my computer abruptly rebooted with the program running (that's happened a few times). They have weekly updates to add new issues and covers. The database includes variants, so it's extremely useful if you're a completist. The database and updates include current pricing information. The software also has very strong import and export functions. So, it's easy to import from another program, or export to Excel, for example. ComicBase has multiple custom fields so you can organize your collection in ways that help you figure out what you have, and what you still need. This is key for me, as my collection is pretty big (over 25,000 comics; it used to be almost 50,000 before I pared it down about 2 years ago). ComicBase helps me identify what I need to focus on, so it makes collecting more fun. For example, here's a window for Amazing Spider-Man Vol 2. There are 4 check boxes along the bottom: Marked, Rare WL, Con WL and Complete. The Marked checkbox is predefined but you can use it any way you want. The other 3 are user defined -- you can name them and use them any way you want. For me, Complete means I have all the issues of the title that I want. Con WL means this is a title I want to shop for when I go to cons. ComicBase lets you search on these checkboxes (as well as pretty much any other information in the database), so before I go to a con I run a report on Con WL to easily generate my want list. (ComicBase has a mobile option, but I just drop my want list into OneDrive so it's on all my devices.) Rare WL means the issues I'm missing in this title are rare and I probably won't find them at cons. So every now and then, I'll run a report on Rare WL and go shopping on eBay. I use Marked to identify titles I'm currently trying hard to complete. At the moment, I'm trying to complete my runs of Atlas Seaboard, Continuity, Defiant, Valiant and ABC. The Marked checkbox makes it easy to keep track of the titles I still need. As I write this, there are 10 titles where I still need issues -- see below. All the title names are live, so I can click on them and go to the title listing to see the issues I have and the ones I still need. The Publisher is live too; if you click on that, you get a list of all the titles by that publisher. ComicBase is also linked to Atomic Avenue (http://atomicavenue.com/atomic/News.aspx), which is like a virtual con. You can right click on any issue in ComicBase and link to that issue on Atomic Avenue. Below, I've done this with Birth of the Defiant Universe #1 (Variant A). When you select this option, it links to that issue on Atomic Avenue. As shown below, at the moment there are no issues for sale. But, this feature is especially useful for hard to find comics and variants, and I've used it many times to find comics I need. Often, the cost is low, proving that one man's junk is another man's treasure.

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Collecting the Legion of Super-Heroes Probably next to Spider-man, the Legion of Super-Heroes is probably my favorite comic. When we were kids my older brother collected DC comics. I read his stack of Legion comics and got hooked. When I started collecting myself the Legion was one of my priorities along with Spider-man. Collecting the Legion requires some sleuthing, just to identify the early Legion appearances (although now it's easier with the internet). The first title with "Legion of Super-Heroes" in the name was a 4 issue run in 1973 that published reprints. The next one was Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes, starting with #231 (September 1977). Before that, the Legion appeared regularly in Adventure with #300 (September 1962). So, for titles with LSH in the name, and with issue 300 of Adventure, it was easy to identify Legion appearances. The really fun part of collecting the Legion (and many of the best stories) is tracking down their appearances in Adventure before #300, and their appearances in other titles before Superboy #231. Here they are: Adventure Comics 247, 267, 282, 290, 293 Superboy 86, 98, 100, 147, 173, 176, 183, 184, 188, 190, 191, 193, 195, 197, 198 and 200-230 – becomes Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes with #231 Action 276, 285, 287, 289, 290, 298, 309, 319, 331 and 377-392 Superman 147, 149, 152, 155, 156, 157, 172, 173, 221, 295 Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane 47, 50 Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen 72, 76, 85, 100, 106, 117 World’s Finest 142, 168 I don't have all these issues yet (I'm missing 11 comics). But now that I've completed Fantastic Four I can focus on finishing other parts of my collection like this one. Here are a few Legion comics from my collection. Also at the end is a cool Jim Lee cover of a more recent Legion comic. Thanks for reading.

Collecting By Publisher - America's Best Comics (ABC), Atlas/Seaboard, Continuity, Defiant, Overstreet and Valiant There are 6 companies for whom my goal is to get complete runs of every title published by that company. The companies are: America's Best Comics (ABC), Atlas/Seaboard, Continuity, Defiant, Overstreet and Valiant. I started collecting ABC because I liked the stories. Getting a complete run of all its titles was possible because they didn't have many, and all of them have been cancelled. The same is true of the others on the list. I started collecting Defiant when Jim Shooter started it after leaving Valiant. I collect Continuity because of Neal Adams. I collect all the Overstreet publications because I like the articles and market reports (even old ones). I kind of fell into collecting Atlas/Seaboard. I was collecting their books here and there, and eventually I realized I had most of them so I decided to get the rest (I have all of them except for Vicki and a few of the mags ... mags, always the mags). My Valiant collection is limited to the early-mid 90s books. Before Valiant I had pretty much stopped collecting. Shooter's Valiant line got me back into collecting. Unfortunately it didn't last when Shooter left. My collection is limited to the original titles, and doesn't include any with the Acclaim imprint on the cover. It also doesn't include the WWF books, or the Valiant Illustrated Action Books. My collection is not complete yet for any of the publishers, but it's close. Part of the challenge for small publishers like Defiant and Continuity is figuring out if advertised books were ever really published. Also, some of the books are rare and expensive. Like this one, the Birth of the Defiant Universe. It was a one-shot presented to retailers at the 6th annual Capital City sales conference, and it was signed and numbered by Jim Shooter. Who wants this? Probably nobody but me. There are 6 copies available on eBay, ranging from $86 to (egad!) $500. I know it's not worth anything, but it's the last comic I need to complete my Defiant collection. I keep staring at the eBay page, unable to pull the BIN trigger, because I know the freaking comic is not worth anything. But I know sooner or later I'll break down and buy a copy to complete my collection. I should just go ahead and do it so I can stop looking at that eBay page.

Matt Baker's Non-Romance Comics I recently bought this Matt Baker comic from Robotman. At the moment I have 111 comics towards my goal of getting a copy of every comic with a cover by Baker (by my list there are 296 such comics, but I'm continuously updating it). This comic made me think about other non-romance Baker comics, particularly westerns. Here are the ones in my collection. Baker also did a few jungle and historical covers, but at the moment I don't have enough to merit posting. Baker also did romance comics for publishers other than St. John. Here's one I just won on eBay. You may think it doesn't look like Baker art, and I would tend to agree (although if I look at the cover long enough I can convince myself it's Baker). The GCD doesn't list Baker as the cover artist (it doesn't list any credits at all for this comic). But, the Amash book credits Baker as the cover artist (as well as some interior art). How controversial is it, that Baker did the cover? I don't know. But if it's in the Amash book then it makes my list. Having said that, I wouldn't pay a lot for it. I picked this up for $41 on eBay. If you're a Baker collector, or just love beautiful comic art, then the Jim Amash book -- The Art of Glamour -- is highly recommended.

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Picture of Con Wall -> PMs -> Done! Here’s a fun story. A couple weeks ago I posted this picture of a dealer’s wall from a Northern VA con. Then recently I’ve been PMing back and forth with a boardie (Boardie 1) to chat about Matt Baker. The boardie mentioned he’s looking for a nice Patsy Walker #1. Well, I told him I just saw one (CGC 5.0) and there’s a wall picture in my journal. Turns out the dealer is on these boards (Boardie 2) and in fact I just bought a couple Bakers from him. Well, Boardie 1 PMed Boardie 2, and within 24 hours the deal was done. How’s that for networking? I was actually interested in the comic at that con but I'd already spent too much (so much so I didn't even ask the dealer to pull it down off the wall). Here's currently the jewel in my (small) Patsy Walker collection.

I think I've been to the Il Mulino in Vegas but not NYC. I'll definitely have to try it out.

Frank Frazetta and Untamed Love Recently I bought a copy of Untamed Love from a boardie. It reprints Personal Love 25, 27, 28 and 32. I love this book. It was published in 1973 from Russ Cochran. It's oversized and made with heavy, high quality paper. Because it's black&white you can really see the art, which is beautiful. The stories are fun to read, and combined with Frazetta's amazing art, the book is really something. Cochran's Untamed Love was itself reprinted by Fantagraphics in 1985 (there were other editions). This was regular comic size and in color. It's interesting to compare the b&w art to the color art. Here's a couple examples. Thanks for reading.

Yes, not too far from Central Park. (BTW, love your cat pics. I have a cat who frankly hates me, but I'm still trying to win her over.)

I have a scattering of those issues, but I'm not trying to complete the titles.

I posted this in my journal but I'm so excited about it I thought I'd post it here too. Thanks for reading. https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/312873-n2wdws-comic-book-room/?page=37 Fantastic Four #1 -- Completing My Original Marvels Collection! This past Sunday was a major milestone in my collecting life. I finally got a copy of Fantastic Four #1! To me, this is more than just getting the 1st appearance of the Fab 4. And it's more than completing my run of Fantastic Four. FF #1 completes what I call my Original Marvels collection, which is all the Marvel silver age titles I started collecting as a kid: Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. Here's what my Original Marvels collection includes: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 1-700 (includes ASM Vol. 2 representing 442-499 (1-58)) Avengers 1-402 Captain America 100-454 Daredevil 1-380 Fantastic Four (1961) 1-588 (includes FF Vol. 2 representing 417-429 (1-13) and FF Vol. 3 representing 430-499 (1-70)) Incredible Hulk 102-474 Iron Man 1-332 Thor 126-502 I started collecting ASM when I was in my early teens. I used to deliver newspapers, and I still remember falling off my bike when Gwen Stacy died in ASM 121 (I still haven't completely recovered from that). Like everyone I went through things in my teens and sold my Spider-man collection and stopped collecting. Eventually in college I started collecting again, starting from scratch. Since then I've never stopped, although there have been ups and downs. When I was in my early 30s I started collecting in earnest, and that's when I decided to collect full runs of all these SA Marvel titles. I bought most of my collection at local cons in the DC area, although I've been to a few SDCCs, Chicago, Philly, NYC, even Atlanta once. I bought all I could from the 50 cent and dollar boxes. Then as I pursued more pricey issues I went to the $5 and $10 boxes. I finished getting all the easy issues about 10 years ago. My Original Marvels collection slowed down then as the remaining 50 or so issues I still needed were the most expensive ones. When I went to major cons like SDCC my goal would be to try to get 1 or 2 issues, but I wasn't really committed as I focused and re-focused on other parts of my collection. Also during this time I was building my career and having 4 kids with my wife. About 3 years ago, I got re-energized to finish the Original Marvels Collection. It started with buying ASM #1 at the WW Chicago con and then others I needed started dropping. I upgraded a few issues along the way, big ones, like Avengers #1 and Hulk 181 (I still need to upgrade ASM 129 but I'm not counting that as a hole). I didn't intentionally leave FF #1 for the end, but I guess it's fitting I did. And like a lot of my experiences in this hobby, I got it by way of serendipity. I happened to be browsing Heritage's Sunday auction -- which I rarely do because I hate their 20% buyer's commission -- and I saw the FF #1 I wanted. It was perfect. The cover presented well, better than the CGC 3.0 grade. It was restored so it kept the price down (I don't mind restored, although I try to avoid trimmed comics). And it was signed by Stan. It wasn't my intention, but it seemed fitting that the last book I needed, and FF #1 to boot, would be signed by The Man. So here it is, my new FF #1. Also, below are all the first issues of the titles in my Original Marvels Collection. Thanks for reading.

Fantastic Four #1 -- Completing My Original Marvels Collection! This past Sunday was a major milestone in my collecting life. I finally got a copy of Fantastic Four #1! To me, this is more than just getting the 1st appearance of the Fab 4. And it's more than completing my run of Fantastic Four. FF #1 completes what I call my Original Marvels collection, which is all the Marvel silver age titles I started collecting as a kid: Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. Here's what my Original Marvels collection includes: Amazing Spider-Man (1963) 1-700 (includes ASM Vol. 2 representing 442-499 (1-58)) Avengers 1-402 Captain America 100-454 Daredevil 1-380 Fantastic Four (1961) 1-588 (includes FF Vol. 2 representing 417-429 (1-13) and FF Vol. 3 representing 430-499 (1-70)) Incredible Hulk 102-474 Iron Man 1-332 Thor 126-502 I started collecting ASM when I was in my early teens. I used to deliver newspapers, and I still remember falling off my bike when Gwen Stacy died in ASM 121 (I still haven't completely recovered from that). Like everyone I went through things in my teens and sold my Spider-man collection and stopped collecting. Eventually in college I started collecting again, starting from scratch. Since then I've never stopped, although there have been ups and downs. When I was in my early 30s I started collecting in earnest, and that's when I decided to collect full runs of all these SA Marvel titles. I bought most of my collection at local cons in the DC area, although I've been to a few SDCCs, Chicago, Philly, NYC, even Atlanta once. I bought all I could from the 50 cent and dollar boxes. Then as I pursued more pricey issues I went to the $5 and $10 boxes. I finished getting all the easy issues about 10 years ago. My Original Marvels collection slowed down then as the remaining 50 or so issues I still needed were the most expensive ones. When I went to major cons like SDCC my goal would be to try to get 1 or 2 issues, but I wasn't really committed as I focused and re-focused on other parts of my collection. Also during this time I was building my career and having 4 kids with my wife. About 3 years ago, I got re-energized to finish the Original Marvels Collection. It started with buying ASM #1 at the WW Chicago con and then others I needed started dropping. I upgraded a few issues along the way, big ones, like Avengers #1 and Hulk 181 (I still need to upgrade ASM 129 but I'm not counting that as a hole). I didn't intentionally leave FF #1 for the end, but I guess it's fitting I did. And like a lot of my experiences in this hobby, I got it by way of serendipity. I happened to be browsing Heritage's Sunday auction -- which I rarely do because I hate their 20% buyer's commission -- and I saw the FF #1 I wanted. It was perfect. The cover presented well, better than the CGC 3.0 grade. It was restored so it kept the price down (I don't mind restored, although I try to avoid trimmed comics). And it was signed by Stan. It wasn't my intention, but it seemed fitting that the last book I needed, and FF #1 to boot, would be signed by The Man. So here it is, my new FF #1. Also, below are all the first issues of the titles in my Original Marvels Collection. Thanks for reading.

I won the last one a couple weeks ago, so I was hoping for an even stronger price for yours. But congrats on your win! I'm having a fun time reading the comic. They weren't kidding when they titled it "Giant" it's got tons of pages. Based on the stories and ads, the intended buyers of the comic were girls, which kind of makes you wonder about the prostitute cover (and actually I don't think she's a prostitute based on the stories inside, although so far I've only had a chance to scan the stories).

What a sale you're having this month. Congrats to the lucky buyers.

Anyone here win this?

Yes, here's the description by Heritage All Picture Adventure Magazine #1 (St. John, 1952) CGC FN 6.0 Cream to off-white pages. Matt Baker cover. Contains two Canteen Kate stories. 100 pages. Overstreet 2016 FN 6.0 value = $120. CGC census 2/17: 1 in 6.0, 2 higher.

As we wait to see what GCE 12 is going to end up at tonight -- http://www.ebay.com/itm/232256338494?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT (1 hour 27 minutes, but who's counting) I wanted to share something I'm really excited about, that I won tonight on Heritage, this Baker cover. Obviously not romance so I hope everyone will indulge me.

Latest CGC Invoice - Schomburg's Fighting Yank 23 Has anyone else noticed CGC's turnaround has gotten a lot faster lately? My most recent Economy invoice took only a month. This is probably an outlier but I've noticed faster turnaround on my last 3 or so invoices. Thanks CGC! Here's one I got back, Fighting Yank 23. As I've written before, Alex Schomburg may have more classic GGA covers than any other golden age artist. The pendulum swings back and forth though so Schomburg isn't super hot now the way Matt Baker is (in my opinion). If I was smart I'd focus more on Schomburg than Baker right now. Here's another Schomburg classic cover that I bought a few years ago at the Baltimore Con. I think one of my goals this year will be to figure out how to take better pictures of my CGC books. I have 2 daughters who are really into photography, so I might see if they can show me how to use a good camera that I can trade in for the HP legal scanner I currently use.

It's gotten a lot faster. My most recent Economy invoice (with 2 books) -- one I got back this week -- only took about a month.

Quality Meats In NYC Last week I was in NYC for work. That evening I went to one of my favorite steakhouses, Quality Meats. I started with this Grey Goose martini. I usually start with bourbon but, well, I got one of those at the hotel bar before walking over to QM. I've tried almost everything on QM's menu but this is the first time I've gotten this, Grilled Bacon sitting on peanut butter and Jalapeno. I'm not a big fan of peanuts in food, but I love jalapenos so they canceled each other out. My entree was the 24 oz bone-in ribeye. I actually left some meat on the bone and, the next day, I put it on ice and brought it home to my dog. She was very happy. As sides with the steak, I got roasted bone marrow and creamed corn. This was a perfect dinner! Thanks for reading.

Local Northern Virginia Con Part 2 - Other GA GGA Here are pictures of wall books at the local Tyson's Corner con this past Sunday. The organizer, Shoff Promotions, also puts on the comic/card shows at the Annadale Firehouse I've posted about lately. This con though was focused on comics so had more comic dealers and better selection. These pictures are a collage of the walls books at the con. Unfortunately I'm not organized enough to show them sorted by dealer. As I've mentioned before, I'm finding it harder to dig through long boxes at cons as I've gotten older. It's so much easier to surf through the internet to find the comics I need (the boardie I bought the Bakers from said the same thing to me). I used to be all over the dollar boxes to fill runs. I think that's part of the problem for me. I'm not a title collector anymore. I've got the ones I want and I'm not keeping up with reboots. For example, I consider my Avengers title complete even though I stopped at issue 403. I'm also not collecting new titles. I used to collect every Black Canary title for example. I stopped a couple titles ago. (I mention BC because I saw copies of her latest title at the con for $1 each; I was tempted to buy but then decided not to. Being a title or character completist is a never ending game that I don't want to get back into.) At this point in my life, if an interesting arc comes out, I'll just get the trade. I have a few titles I'm still finishing off, and many are not expensive, but who brings stuff like Elfquest or Bone to cons? Even a title you'd think would be there -- Amazing Spider-man vol. 2 for example -- is hard to find. It's more expensive to buy on eBay (if only because of the shipping), but I think I'll just bite the bullet and finish these lingering titles in 2017. Anyway, I did go through the golden age boxes and found a few gems. First I found this Baker. It's low grade but was only $20, and actually presents pretty well. Here are some humor GGA I picked up for a reasonable price. The most expensive was Boots 8 for $40. And finally, from the same dealer, I picked up Frontier Romances 1 (a minor grail for me) for $100. Thanks for reading.