Vagabond142

That is an awesome team action shot by Bradshaw! Love it!

I love it! I'm not sure if I should frame and wallhang it, or keep it in the art book o_O

I also wish I had a bigger budget, as there was a kickass Warbirds + Prince Kubark splash page he was selling at $600.... but I couldn't affort it

Maybe not "vintage," but it is original art from Wolverine and the X-Men issue 42, page 28, by Nick Bradshaw. Picked it up this past weekend at the Calgary Comic Con

Also don't know if I posted this before, Sara Pezzini by Cory Smith of Aspen done at Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2013:

Alex Konat commission at a store signing of Aspen from Fathom. Yes, that is Dave Wohl sitting beside him (he signed ALL my Witchblade comics, including my #1 (squee!!))

He also did a sketch on the back of my Fathom #1B retailer variant (which wasn't supposed to have a blank back cover!)

Arrived today I'm surprised the X-Men 135 scored as high as it did, as it does have very minor cover roll... not that I'm complaining, of course Super happy with the AA #10 scoring 9.2

Just picked em up from the store itself, getting ready for the signing event on August 10 Alex Konat is going to be here so I need to go and find ALL my major Konat pieces

Peter Steigerwald and JT Krul from Aspen at Calgary Comic Con 2013

3 months after Calgary Comic Con 2013 annnnnd...

:cloud9:

That's awesome

When the Canada Post lady came to my door, I literally went:

It's finally here! Nearly three weeks later, but it's here!

And the scan from the original sales thread:

:cloud9::cloud9::cloud9:

You know your LCS owner loves your business when you go in to organize a pull box to hold the comics that pile up while job hunting, and he says "wait a minute, I have something for you," then gives you THIS for free, for being a loyal customer:

I damned near hugged the guy. That's a 1:50 variant, and the store only had the one...

The amount of good will and flat out shared nerdiness in our hobby sometimes makes me want to with happiness. I was honestly touched that my LCS owner would sacrifice $40 (the price he was selling the variant at), just to give me a little "pick me up"

Hooray for cool stuff:

Top Row:

-Fathom Volume 1 Issue 12 holofoil variant edition, signed by Peter Steigerwald

-X-Men Vol 4 Iss 1 Blank

-X-Men Vol 4 Iss 1 Skottie Young X-Babies variant

-X-Men Vol 4 Iss 1 Joe Madureira variant

Bottom row:

Regular pulls

Good thing I have a tab at the LCS that I top up each month... otherwise I would be comicless this week as I got laid off today

Ellen Page ...

No complaints about Kitty showing up here

These all arrived this week:

From Gaz in the UK (and a little extra he threw in, a Witchblade VS The Darkness 1/2! ). I now have a FULL set of X-Treme X-Men, 1-46, with #1 being expedited down to Philly for a SS with Salvador Larroca (through the services of another boardy )

From AmazingComics in the US (and a little extra he threw in, the Heroes for Hope edition of X-Men ). I have one of my "do want!" comics with this with Kitty's joining the X-Men in issue 139. I have always loved that cover

My first (and so far only) sketch cover, and is currently on it's way through snail mail to me Bought it off a fellow board member, literally screaming for it because I didn't want anyone else to get there first I love me some well drawn Rogue

My collection as it stands at just a sneeze under 1000 books is in 5 long boxes and 3 short boxes. I haven't had an issue at all with books warping in the long boxes, however, the short boxes are where anything older than 1998 goes (except Witchblade/Fathom/Soulfire, which has two dedicated long boxes for that collection)

This was a brand new box... and it doesn't have all the rares in it...

*snip*

 

 

Actually, it does.

 

The rare hairy toe collection.

 

I wonder what my rare toe is worth... it does come with all natural, organic hair, original condition... seeing as it's still attached to me

Today, two parcels arrived.

The first held these:

The second... well, here's a wall of pictures for ya

This was a brand new box... and it doesn't have all the rares in it...

My email just went nuts with delivery notifications... I have ~165 books waiting for me to pick up at the post office on the way home 44 lbs of comics

I will definitely post pictures tonight, in this space, just happy that two of my four packages arrived on the same day, and ironically, are of the SAME SERIES

I just broke through 800 comics....

I feel so... small... around here. I don't even need a storage unit yet!

EPIC variant win today! Did some good trades with a couple of the books I got yesterday a buddy of mine was needing + a lil cash

The New Avengers 7 TRON: Legacy variant = I love Ms Marvel, and I love TRON, so the two together are

A+X 3 variant is just a cool cover

UXM 522 = probably the rarest of the three covers, and I paid a really great price for it ($15)

All said, $25 + trades for those three = :cloud9:

As a relative "newbie," a great way to start a collection full of enjoyables is to stay within the modern/copper age for the first little bit unless you absolutely MUST have an older book.

Why, do you ask? Apart from a few noted examples, most collectible books in this range are under $200 slabbed 9.0+ (X-men 135, 136 pop to mind). As well, books should be easier to find as this is the age when comic book sales shot through the roof and supply is out there. Again, however, there are noted examples of rarity (misprints, valuable variant covers, 1-in-1000 variants, etc).

While I am not new to collecting books, I am new to the hobby of COLLECTING books. I have found that staying newer than 1980 has made my hobby eminently affordable (where else can you trade 6 1980's books and get 160 modern age books that you REALLY want back? )

Also, and this is important: bargain bins are your friend. $1 bins are definitely your friend. And, if you're in good rapport with your LCS, never be afraid to haggle if you're buying lots of back issues. I bought $70 worth of X-Men comics for $50 because my LCS owner knew me and gave me cover price on all the books, instead of guide price.

And even more important (and a good part of being on these boards): Network network network!!!! Get out there, visit LCSs, buy some books, get on their radar. Talk to people on these forums (I already have one contact on these boards that is potentially going to get me a full Dark Phoenix run ), talk to dealers and exhibitors at cons, meet the artists/writers/studio directors (like I did with Aspen MLT at Calgary Con) and get their twitter/facebook/contact information (I am on first name basis with at least 3 comic book artists, and am networking with about 5 more and getting known to them as a valid source of interest for commissions). Nothing saves your butt in this hobby more than friends that can tell you: "That book you want for $150? I have a better copy for $40, he's out to make a buck, I'm here to build your collection."

A few nice additions to my collections over the past few days:

I got the art prints from Mark Brooks at the Calgary Comic Con 2013. Was browsing the back issues at a LCS, and lo and behold, in NM....

I love tongue in cheek fun stuff, and they were thrown in to a trade without me knowing beforehand, so:

I actually only bought 217 and 280, but I got all these other X-Men titles for free on top of it :

Full AvX in tpb form... I can keep my individual issues in their bags n boards

That's a 1.0 with great eye appeal! I actually had to look twice to see the defects!

I recently won an eBay auction for issues 1-3 of Witchblade German variants (the "Splitter" variants), with the foil title bar ("Euro Chromium"). Not too expensive, and they should all come in 9.0 or better for grade

(yes, it's "modern" but that's the era I collect, copper/modern )