Bird

I have already started self-insuring. It seems like the way to go. Thanks from me as well for your insights.

Nice Hulk. I like it a lot.

Four slabs in post office limbo. They were supposed to be here yesterday but no update since 5 am Thursday! After that I was going to say only one more on the way but I did just get two more through comiclink,including a $6 slab. Oh comiclink, bottom feeder heaven!

yes

there used to be basic formulas for this type of thing but now it is more artist, character,story rather than strictly cover, panel, splash, double splash.

but yes, one big image is more money more often than not

 

 

Want to borrow my sweater?

 

I may have to dig out some shorts.

I went with Stormwatch on that.

5) Brandon Choi

I had that made into a shirt and wear it proudly. I am wearing a shirt with a Rudy Nebres commission on it right now as well..

I kept the bags for future use. The OA I have been buying for 20+ years; I still remember reading a CBG and seeing that creators appeared at conventions. I called that poor woman up and asked about a guest list. She replied, well just let me know who you are looking for - that was a mistake. I started going to shows and getting my books signed. I saw Paul Ryan doing free head sketches and went to OA then and there essentially. now I am selling and consolidating which allowed me to buy that Winsor McCay - it cost me a Cerebus page I owned for 22 years and 2 BWS Rune pages but it was worth it.

The guesses I made were wrong and the one I did not make was right! So here is another guess

 

5) Bill Willingham

 

+0

The thrill of victory and the agony of my feet.

Love the OA piece !! and trust us. bags may not be a big deal now but when you get enough slabs that you start rotating them "display wise" you will be glad you have them

well, it is my journal so here it is. I have 32 pieces of OA framed and on the walls.

Here is a link to my attempt at reducing my collection to 50 truly awesome pieces of OA.

The Fifty in bird's CAF

The guesses I made were wrong and the one I did not make was right! So here is another guess

5) Bill Willingham

okay, a baggy bunch of replies. 3/3 reveals the wisdom of the bag I guess. But I am displaying and not planning on boxing them. But I will see if the bags distract from the display value, better safe than sorry.

I moved them off the shelf, that wasn't going to work for long. I have a running ledge around the room I am now putting them on.

That is my signed Muhammed Ali glove (I met him myself and had him sign it. Late tiny Pakinson's-influenced sig,but still...ALI!) in the corner and a recent OA acquisition above, a Winsor McCay editorial cartoon with UNcle Sam from 1932/1933.

I WAS GONNA GUESS THAT! d'oh!

SOLAR 5 9.6 white pages

This is the first of the slabs I bought from high grade comics. Thanks Bob! I saw later how plentiful this issue is in this grade but that matters not to me; Bob gave me a price I am comfortable with even AFTER I did my post-buy research. Barry Windsor-Smith only entered my awareness with Valiant Comics. I guess I had heard of his Conan but that was about it. Well admitting a mistake or an omission bred of ignorance is not usually easy for me but this was friggin' obvious. Long story short, I will have some good BWS slabs on my shelf.

Okay, sorry, one more. I just got this email now...Julie Slick + Marco Machera w/ special guests: Pat Mastelotto & Tim Motzer & Out of the Beardspace

So that is some synchronicity, huh?

Okay, last post in my Ditch takeover. I was just listening to Thela Hun Jinjeet with my 11 year old daughter and doing the guy telling the story and also Adrian's guitar noodles. She knows how crazy I am and is now wagging her head along to The Sheltering Sky.

Purchased from a boardie. Thank you Nathan! I bring you The Defenders 26 8.5

I always loved The Defenders growing up in the 70s. I have a bunch of these as readers and they are my originals from buying them in the shelf, stuck in the slots and many crushed to the bottom at Clancy's Newstand on the corner of Beachwood Blvd. and Rt 9 in Beachwood NJ. this was before spinner racks, which is how Clancy's sold there comics for most of my later childhood. Later I would allow 7-11 to stock my collection when I worked there for a few years. That did not end well. Ah, the folly of youth.

So this is a great cover I think. Sal B and Vinnie Colletta, who'd a thunk it? nah, both of those guys were real artists and we should not judge them harshly just because Sal had a brother and Vinnie had an eraser.

More to come. Soon. I already told my wife where these will be going once this shelf gets full, which could be Sunday.

Spidervacc - I just caught that slippery slope joke. I think my journal thread has a theme! We just got new tires on the Camry,so I am still good to go this weekend!

The Hasbrouk Heights show is the one I was thinking about. I thought it was Saturday, glad you posted! I buy and trade art from Anthony Snyder, who is going to this show for the first time. He will likely bring so much art as to overwhelm you, but if you stop by tell him Sean sent you. I have seen boxes of slabs at his warehouse and I am wondering if he will bring them to this show or just his art. I figured I'd go to the show to say hey to him and maybe trade some art and who knows, maybe pick up a slab or two.

Okay, slab questions from the noob.

1) What is with the bag on the slab? Each slab is sent to me with the bag - is it just tradition from raw comics? For scratches and dust and the like? or is it an archival issue? And that leads me to.

2) How archival are these things? On the cgc site it tells me nothing of substance in the encapsulation description. Direct light still bad, obviously. Or no?

Now I'm on a Tony Levin jag...

 

 

It sounds like Primus listened to this song a lot.

I think Primus list their two main influences as Rush and King Crimson. On Discipline, Thela Hun Jinjeet in one of the best songs ever and Matte Kudeci can make you cry in its' beauty. Obviously I was not worried about spelling there, but I am not far off!

Tony Levin plays bass awesome, but he also plays this bass-like thing called a Chapman stick. From what I recall my musician friends telling me it is actually a fretless bass that operates on harmonics or something. I knew a guy in college who played beautiful music on the thing. Google it if you want real info and not my moss-covered memories! But it takes a very skilled musician to play the stick, as it requires more precise placements to get the notes sounding best. you can't just be in the area, you got to nail it. Apparently Levin plays it on the Close to the Edge live songs done by Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe. I just found that out myself and will go listen now. (I have also been listening to my japanese imported Steve Howe Album, the first one - used to have the album.)

But anyone pumping Tony Levin knows what he is talking about in my book! I am a Jaco guy myself (Paco Distortionist as my friend called him.)

Now I'm on a Tony Levin jag...

 

Adrian Belew played a 200-seater in my town about 2 weeks ago. Adrian Belew Power Trio. He did Elephant talk but started at D. They were smoking. I have been playing this album, Pretty Pink Rose, and Three of a Perfect Pair fairly regularly since then.

I should have a new slab (or more!) waiting when I get home from work tonight, so expect Griff's ex-X-Men on the shelf there to get some company.

I am also considering a comic book show this weekend for a slab or two. That may not happen but I am considering it! I have good shoes on but the slope is indeed slippery.

I will also guess 2) clive barker

wow, these are tough

1) alan davis excalibur 1

and a guess for 3) stephen segovia