Still Only 35c

...or how I learned to miss Emerald City Comicon 2014. As a comic collector living in Australia we already have a face a number of challenges especially when it comes to our favourite hobby as well as grading/signings. Increased shipping costs, insurance, extended shipping times, fluctuating currencies and... comic conventions. You see, in Australia, whilst we have Comic Conventions, we don't have CGC presence, so even in the extremely rare event we manage to see a celebrated writer or artist, it means that they will always be the dreaded Green Label and not Signature Series. So with this in mind everytime I get a chance to visit the US I try to attend a ComicCon. Last year, as some of you know, I managed to tie in a work trip with Big WOW show in San Hose. A couple of months back, another work trip seemed on the cards and luckily enough Emerald City Comicon was on one weekend I was planning to be there. It wasn't until this week I was able to confirm the trip flights and hotels and so visited the emeraldcitycomicon.com site to dutifully buy my tickets for the event. To my horror, with 42 days to go, I found not only ALL the 3 day passes SOLD OUT both the individual Saturday and Sunday tickets as well. Gutted. So, I'm here to use this journal entry to put out a plea; if anyone has a spare 3 day pass for sale or even just a ticket for the Saturday event I could really use your help... ...and I'd be forever grateful. P.S. As I didn't have a suitable image to share with this post I thought I'd share a great scan of a 1979 Star Wars Palitoy ad illustrated by Brian Bolland (as well as letters column) that I recently came across in UK Hulk Comic that I've recently started to collect again (more on that in a journal post soon). Enjoy. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Following the recent news item on CGC and other comic news sites about the "lost" Denys Cowan artwork (and how it was subsequently "found"), I thought I'd share my own recent tale of "loss" in the vain hope someone can help me "find" my item again. I recently decided to sell one of my two 9.4 copies of Captain Britain #8 on ebay from my newly graded Captain Britain collection (see my previous journal "The [Other] Good Captain"). CB8 is key issue as it features the first appearance of Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, who would later become known as Psylocke, now Marvel mainstay and fan favourite from the X-Men. The ebay sale went through without a hitch (although the purchaser took a little over a week to pay) and when they did I duly dispatched, but foolishly sent the item via airmail, not registered mail. Lo and behold, a little over a two weeks later, the purchaser queried where the item was (after they'd asked a week before if I had a tracking number for the item) and this continued for a couple more weeks until he raised an issue with PayPal for none delivery. As I had no way to dispute this, I refunded the purchaser the full amount. So, somewhere between the Post Office and the purchasers home this lovely slab had been "lost". To say, I'm gutted is an understatement. Luckily I'd registered the slab prior with CGC against my collection, so if it pops up again and someone tries to register it I'll be alerted. That said, if anyone here should come across this item on your travels or are offered it for sale, please let me know. I've pictured the item below. The lesson for me in all of this is you should always make sure your items are sent registered and insured. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

A Beginners Guide to Captain Britain. It's been a fantastic couple of weeks for me collecting and grading wise. For those who have been following me on the boards, you'll already know about the rare treat I had with my (now beloved) Incredible Hulk 181. However before this beauty dropped through my door, I was on a high already when, only a few days previously, my collection of Captain Britain comics submitted for grading were delivered. I've been a fan of Captain Britain as long as I've been aware of comics (it was one of the first comics I owned as a child) and as such, I've always had a soft spot for the character. Captain Britain debuted in the Marvel UK weekly comic, Captain Britain Weekly #1, back in 13th October 1976 and was created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe. It was unique among Marvel Comics printed for the British market at the time: the Captain Britain stories were printed in colour and perhaps more importantly, it featured all-new material (albeit with reprints of Nick Fury and Fantastic Four strips as backup - previously all of Marvel's British output had been black and white reprints of American comics). Indeed, Stan Lee's himself came up with the idea and ordered a new series set in Britain, featuring a British cast and to be released solely to a British audience in an attempt to create a little bit of the old Marvel magic for English readers. Bizarrely though, it was written and drawn in America, by Americans; so to all intents and purposes this was an American comic book, reminiscent of the 1970s-era Marvel stateside black and white magazines. Initially a success, the title ran for 39 issues before it was combined with another Marvel UK title, Super Spiderman (becoming Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain - starting with issue #231), a weekly reprint series. The first 23 Captain Britain stories were in colour, drawn by Herb Trimpe and inked by Golden Age artist Fred Kida (of Airboy fame) before the entire comic switched to black and white with issue #24 for the remainder of its run featuring other greats such as John Buscema with inks by Tom Palmer. Chris Claremont wrote the first ten issues alongside Trimpe and Kida before he left the series (he has since stated this was due to differences of view regards the character and series to that of then Marvel UK editor, Neil Tennant, later of Pet Shop Boys fame). These issues introduced us to this uniquely British superhero who was initially intended to be a British equivalent of Captain America, endowed with extraordinary powers by the Merlyn and his daughter Roma to uphold the laws of Britain, introducing a number of characters and concepts that have since become Marvel universe mainstays. Perhaps the most well known was the introduction in Issue 8 of Captain Britain's twin sister, a certain Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, who would later join the X-Men and become Psylocke. The initial issues of these UK comics also had paper covers, thus were damaged and marked easily making them relatively scare in high grade; both raw and graded copies. The first two issues were also promoted with free gifts, including a cardboard Captain Britain mask and a Captain Britain boomerang respectively and generally receive Qualified Grades as CGC policy is not to include loose inserts (I've queried this on the boards previously http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=30&Number=6791662&Searchpage=3&Main=303470&Words=everydayastory&topic=0&Search=true#Post6791662). These are the issues and grades I was fortunate to receive. Captain Britain Issue 3 - CGC Graded 9.8 White Pages (Highest graded, one of only 7 - 8 graded in total) Captain Britain Issue 4 - CGC Graded 9.8 White Pages (Highest graded, one of only 9 - 17 graded in total) Captain Britain Issue 5 - CGC Graded 9.6 Off-White To White Pages (Highest graded, one of only 3 - 6 graded in total) Captain Britain Issue 6 - CGC Graded 9.4 White Pages (One of only 3 - 5 graded in total inc 1x9.8) Captain Britain Issue 7 - CGC Graded 9.6 Off-White To White Pages (One of 2 - 8 graded in total inc 5x9.8's) Captain Britain Issue 8 - CGC Graded 9.4 White Pages - 1st appearance of Elisabeth ""Betsy"" Braddock (Later becomes Psylocke) (One of 13 inc 3 SS - 49 graded in total inc 9 x 9.8's & 14 x 9.6's) Captain Britain Issue 9 - CGC Graded 9.8 Off-White To White Pages (Highest graded, one of 12 - 17 graded in total) Captain Britain Issue 10 - CGC Graded 9.2 Off-White To White Pages (One of only 2 - 8 graded in total inc 4 x 9.8's & 2 x 9.6's) Captain Britain Issue 11 - CGC Graded 9.6 Off-White To White Pages (One of 13 - 19 graded in total inc 4 x 9.8's) The good news, with these grades I immediately jumped up the leader board to number 2 (http://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=2938). I'm now working on obtaining the complete run and hopefully grabbing the top spot. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Finally... I really hope they start getting into a regular rhythm now; I'd hate to see this book disappear, one of my favourite reads.

The (happy) conclusion of a tale of Big WOW, meeting Bill Sienkiewicz and a seemingly elusive (now amazing) sketch of one of his creations; Warlock. A few days ago, Bill Sienkiewicz called me. I'd been put in touch with him by members on this forum following my previous journal entry and we'd chatted by email. We talked for a little while about the original sketch commission, a colour sketch of Warlock from New Mutants, before ending the call saying that he was going to get working on it right away and promised to send a scan of the final artwork in the next few days. As he promised, last night I got an email back from Bill with the sketch attached. To say I'm absolutely thrilled with the result is a massive understatement, I never expected to get such a great piece of work. I'll let it speak for itself. As you can imagine, I'm totally stoked and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the following people (in no particular order) for their invaluable help and assistance in putting me in touch with Bill; John at London Super Comic Con, Galactus, Bird, Speedy-D and Tnerb. Most importantly, despite the initial difficulties, I also wanted to thank Bill for a such an amazing sketch and who during our conversations came across as a gracious and genuine guy. As we say in Australia... ...love your work. D To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

My latest key Marvel submissions for grading and what I learned from the last batch. Finally got around this weekend to preparing my next round of submissions to CGC for grading. In total, I've prepped 3 submissions; the batch detailed below, one Modern (mostly X-Men key issues) and one Magazine size (all early Captain Britain UK issues), I'll post more on both the latter soon. This first batch is probably the one I'm most excited about as it includes some awesome classic key Marvel comic books; early Star Wars (including #1), forthcoming Guardians Of Galaxy movie related issues (Strange Tales 180, Ms. Marvel and Hulk Annual 5) and finally some classic Nick Fury: Agent Of Shield (including Steranko keys). My previous submissions, I was new to the subsmission process and as such used it as a experiment to get a better feel for grading. Although I didn't get as good ratings as I expecting for some issues (mostly due to my inexperience grading) I was happy with most grades and I got some valuable insights on what to look for, submit and the grades expect. Also this time around, I'm going to post more info and images on the journals and forums. First off, I'll be posting some of the issues in <A HREF="http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&amp;Board=50&page=1">Hey buddy, can you spare a grade?</A> for some valuable opinions. Keep an eye out and feel free to contribute. Anyway, back to it. D To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

A tale of Big WOW, meeting Bill Sienkiewicz and a seemingly elusive sketch of one his creations, Warlock. I recently attended Big WOW in San Jose which I was able tag on at the end of very gruelling two week business trip in Europe and the US. I only had a few hours at the event before I had to leave to catch my flight home to Australia via New Zealand. It was also the first comic convention I've attended and a rare opportunity for me to meet my favourite artists, get some comics signed and perhaps a sketch. I made sure I was as prepared as possible to make sure I made the most of meeting some of my favourite artists. So it was with this in mind that I made a beeline straight to Bill Sienkiewicz's table (I'm a huge fan of his work and his run on New Mutants, which got me into collecting comics when I was younger) to get some books signed and also see if I could secure a sketch. At his table I introduced myself and enquired whether he was sketching today and if so, I would love a colour character sketch of one of his creations, Warlock. As l was leaving for my flight back to Australia via New Zealand that afternoon, I explained that I would be unable to pick up the sketch at the end of the day. He said that wouldn't be a problem and agreed to ship the sketch to me in Australia and I would cover any additional costs - both from artwork and shipping perspective if required. That agreed, I paid him $400 cash and he gave me a card with his email. We talked for a little while about Australia and New Zealand (he had visited both and reminisced about how much he enjoyed it) whilst he very kindly signed 3 copies of New Mutants (27, 30 and 31, submitted for Signature Series with CGC - see photo). Upon arriving home and unpacking I couldn't seem to locate the card with Bill's contact details on it, so I reached out via his website http://www.billsienkiewiczart.com/. I asked how the sketch was progressing or if the sketch is done as well as arrange shipping to Australia and any additional payment. Unfortunately I got a response from his representative, Sal Abbinanti, who advised he couldn't give any advice or info on Bill's private commissions, but that he had passed on the email directly to Bill. Since then I've had no response from Bill at all (despite following up with Sal) and sadly I have no way of reaching out to Bill directly. I'm sure Bill is very busy and this is simply an oversight on his part, but if anyone could help me by either putting me in touch with him or letting him know on my behalf I would be most grateful. Any assistance in helping me secure my amazing sketch from Bill would be very much appreciated. Every Day A Story David Powell To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.