BitterOldMan

Cover is drawn by Michael Cho as a homage to Sheldon Moldoff. I still shop from my local comic store every week.

Attended SDCC for 25 straight years starting in the late eighties. Last attended in 2019. As previous posters stated, SDCC is more than a comic book convention. Sadly, the smaller comic book vendors are not longer attending or were priced out. The selection of rare comics is okay, but one can find most everything on one of the larger auction houses. SDCC comic book prices are sky high. In 2019, since I had a vendor pass, I was buying comic books before any regular attendees go in the front door. Saw a bunch of forum members buying up all the good stuff before the doors opened. If I wanted to attend this year, one of my vendor friends would let me crash in his hotel room (the vast majority of the expense), but I wasn't interested. Honestly, the costs are prohibitively high. Costs will include flight or lottery parking, expensive lottery hotel room (jacked up prices for SDCC week), and the elusive SDCC pass. Most regular attendees get a pass via lottery, though some vendors can get a very limited number of passes. My buddies can get me a vendor pass, so I can bypass the two to three hour wait. Entry with a vendor pass will not allow purchase of some of the the exclusives, but I get in early. Have attended conventions since the early seventies and decided if I was no longer enjoying myself, I would just quit attending. Attended many small conventions, but also WonderCon, Terry O's Cal Comic Con, Wizard Chicago, NYCC, London Super Comic Con, and OAF Con. I regularly attend the Berkeley Comic Show run by our own House of Comics. These days, I go to the conventions to renew old friendships.

Michael, Set up a FedEx account and have them hold your package, so you can pick up at your convenience. Missed you in Berkeley today. 🥲

Love the cigarette smoke. Note Bonnett’s stamp.

These are books that I sought especially for the cover. Not my copies. Wally Wood Joe Maneely Fred Ray Bernard Bailey, co-creator of Spectre and Hourman Russ Heath

Previously posted. I purchased this pulp magazine at 2017 OAFCON from a woman who was selling her father’s collection. Original cover was painted by Allen Anderson and auctioned on Heritage.

Reminded me of this pickup at my local Target. The original Hasbro Bumblebee was half the price of this little guy.

Dropped my Mont Blanc and cracked the egg white top. Your post reminded me to take out my Uncle Scrooge pen to ensure the ink still flows smoothly. Bought at SDCC many years ago.

John Fleske of Flesk Publications produced a great biography of James Bama. My favorite James Bama cover. James Bama also painted our favorite Aurora model art.

Not me, but somebody once said, “if God wanted man to go from zero to sixty in less than four seconds, he would have given him a 427 Cobra.” I consider this car, one of the greatest of all time. Found this on top of a metal cabinet.

I have a soft spot for trashy rust buckets.

Here is my commission from Mark. Hope he finishes Xenozoic Tales in my lifetime.

Plastic badge given away in the nineties. There was a replica of the metal version several years later. Pictures were taken off the web.

The high grade copies have pink pages as seen in the Promise Collection pedigree.

Should have bought a couple of unopened boxes of 1986 Fleer Basketball cards. The packs in the boxes were sorted in the same order so that some sneaky person would pull out all the Michael Jordan rookie cards.

Here is the last page with Big Bad Wolf getting chased. By the time I was thirteen, I had been in dozens of fist fights. I have only been stabbed twice and hit in the head with a baseball bat once.

IDW tried to create new Scrooge material, but sales were low. I found the material to be lackluster and mediocre, lacking the humor and charm of stories and art by Carl Barks or Don Rosa. I do enjoy the Disney Masters series from Fantagraphics, translating older material from European artists.

From Free Comic Book Day, Saturday May 9, 2022. Here’s an early copy.

PS Arts will be issuing copies in their facsimile edition. I find all this fun information from my LCS, where I am the old coot.

I call this the Metropolis road rash Phantom Lady 17.

My lower grade set.

Don’t miss Mister Miracle #6 with Kirby’s parody of Stan Lee as Funky Flashman and his sidekick Houseroy (Roy Thomas).

Reminds me of Chop Poker from Tales of the Crypt. Come to think of it everything reminds of some comic book that I read or will read.