Shadow

If picking live, you'll need to spell out what you picked.

I'm planning on picking live though I do have my list in. May change at last moment... I'm insured either way...

I'm happy you enjoyed them! I usually try and personalize the cards, some better than others... Merry Christmas!

My tradition has been to open these on Christmas Eve after family has left and we're winding down to start again tomorrow. Wow, did Thoth Amon send me some great books! Merry Christmas indeed! Giant-Size, 100 Pagers, Dollar Comics, Treasury Edition... straight back to when I was just starting collecting. Thanks again Thoth Amon! Merry Christmas to everyone here.

The power of positive thinking!

#7 it appears!

Didn't see this until I got home. Get better soon!

One of my early purchases at the drugstore. Loved it and brings back fond memories. (Had to buy an upgraded copy later as my 13 year old self/collector read it too many times...)

One week until Christmas Eve. 8 days until all the reveals! Then let the Raffle Experience begin!

2015 - Me! And the magical, mystical Greggy Mystery Box! Step right this way...

Plenty of social media distractions, maybe the "novelty" wore off? I've been on for 19 years and agree with the observation it's different. People have come and gone, moving on through life. I've never been a super-user and have tended to read up on some things, learn more about the hobby and occasionally met some of the members at a show. I still enjoy it but it is different. I guess that's to be expected over time.

Very sad. I won one of his Raffle prizes a few years back. We communicated a bit about that. RIP

OK, this year my raffle prize is heavy JLA. 5 Bronze Age Justice League books (#109 8.5ish, #119 and #120 VG 4.0, 121 and 122 8.0ish), all 7 issues of JLA Incarnations, JLA Our Worlds at War #1, all 12 issues of JLA Year One, and all 6 issues of Secret Six (2006). The more modern books should be 9.2 or better.

I think I stopped buying X-Men in the 170's when I was younger. When I started collecting again in 1994, X-Men seemed to daunting to collect as they were all over the place with multiple titles, etc. I ended up buying up to the 300's for the heck of it. I got hooked on X-Men before the hype started. I think it was issue #107 that a friend of mine had. Followed by the Claremont/Byrne run. (I liked Wolverine before Wolverine was cool. - sound like the old guy...)

I've done that at times with small batches. Case in point: DC Superstars, Superteam Family, Champions, etc. Just decided to get the rest. Usually it's Bronze Age for me.

I was fortunate to get a GS X-Men #1 from October before the COVID lift off in prices. Funny I used to think the reprints before #94 wouldn't be worth anything... Haven't put them on my list because they don't really register with me. I have about 15 of the Silver Age (prior to #65) still on my list. Grade is what holds me back. I remember Bob Storms telling me to only get the ones from the 20's on up in at least 9.2.

I'm in. I'll have to see what I have.

Only a handful are graded. Vast majority are just bagged and boarded. Most are 9.2 or better in my estimation. I culled any less than 9.0 on the journey. (I learned how to grade better in my 19 years here... ) The journey is the best part. May seem frustrating at times but once it's done, you're kind of like "what next?" Maybe when I get old and it will be time to sell someone may value having the complete sets?

It’s funny how the time goes by. I never thought it was 25 years. As a kid, I loved the Spider-Man treasury that reprinted some of those MTU issues. Loved the Band on the Run homage cover and X-Men in it. And that started the inspiration roots I guess.

Found the last two issues of Marvel Team Up I needed this weekend. Now I have the entire 150 book set plus Annuals. Three weeks ago I finally found #15 with Ghost Rider and this weekend I finished up with #24 and #27. Looking in my Excel I realized I started this journey back in 1998 with #53 because the X-Men were in it. Hit some large issue hauls over time. (Thanks Greggy and his Raffle prize in 2015! He also put me on the path to wrap up Marvel Two-In-One...) The Completionist Curse is strong in this one... oy. So, MTU joins my full sets of Justice League of America (and the 3 B&B's), Conan the Barbarian, original 1970's Swamp Things and other smaller runs. (Not sure X-Men 94 - 300 counts...) Thanks for letting me share as their aren't many people who "get it" as we do here! Original What If series is in sight along with Invaders, Champions, Batman Family, etc. Unless I win the lottery, series that won't make it are adding all the X-Men Silver Age as #1 is out of my price range, World's Finest, FF... I have a number of runs in each so building on those will have to keep me content.

Where's that Time Machine when you need it...

I'm in! A great tradition here where we can share our enjoyment of the hobby!

I think this is pretty interesting. There are no 8.2's etc. Some of the differences between the .2's is very hard to find IMO. But what do I know...

I traveled to the Baltimore Comic Con for the first time this year. Basically I had heard it was more pure comics and artists vs celebrities. I was impressed though the layout threw me a bit so it slowed me down plus I missed some dealers as we had a 7+ hour drive home. (Sorry no pictures as I never think about it. But thanks to 1Cool, you don't need any as he did a fantastic job!) First off, I took my daughter and two of my closest friends who live in DC now. We all started collecting back in 1978. We all quit in the mid-80's with college. (I relapsed into my comic addiction in 1994...) Bob Storms is always one of my stops and brought some great books I was looking for. He let me take my friends back in the booth so I could show them what some stuff from our youth was worth now. Bob is the best grader in the business that I've encountered. Trust his grading. I also stopped by Bedrock City and bought some nice FF's. Always nice and sometimes run into them at C2E2. Got a lot of signed prints (Starlin, Hughes, Staton, Jose Garcia Lopez, Frank Cho) plus a signed Hildebrant book focused on LOTR. Last, but not least, I met Greggy in person. I introduced myself, talked a little shop, he pointed out Murph's booth so I bought a few books there. Thanked him again for winning his Raffle circa 2016. Since Motor City is a shell of it's past self, it's nice to go to a show like this. Probably needed to be by myself and more time (and cash) to really dive into it.

Life well lived. I always found his art work solid, reliable, good with drawing people. I can’t think of any of his work that was less than very good to great, no “mail in’s” I can recall. His character designs quietly set the future table at Marvel.