tomo

Thanks for stopping by Brando! I used to do a Superman blog back in the heyday of blogs, and it turns out I miss having a little soapbox!

So yesterday was the first comic I ever read, and coincidentally enough, it was a Superman book. What was the first Superman comic book I bought once I decided to start reading and collecting? That honor goes to Superman (Vol. 2) #13 from 1988. As I said in my first journal entry, I was pretty much a Marvel zombie for the first 7 or 8 years of my reading and collecting. I remember getting the Crisis mini-series as it was fresh on the stands right when I started reading. I was enjoying the heck out Secret Wars which had just wrapped up, and was expecting another tale in that vein. Needless to say, I was a tad overwhelmed with all the characters I was unfamiliar with. I think I was confused, yet fascinated, at the same time reading this series. It didn't hook me like Secret Wars did, but I would eventually come around and that title remains one of my most common re-reads to this day. So back on track to this issue. It's funny, as I read the Crisis mini-series but never bought any of the tie-ins. Here, I don't own the Millennium series, yet a have several of the tie-ins. I guess my OCD with collecting hadn't hit full bloom yet in late 1987. For those keeping score at home, so far we've hit Garcia-Lopez, Adams, Perez, and Byrne...all in their heydays. Anyway, I bought this issue...read it...and then filed it away, quickly going back to the X-Men and Avengers.

Let's take the first few journal entries and talk about some firsts. So what was the first comic book that I ever read? I can't be 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure it was this one... I vividly remember the Christmas I got this, although the year is fuzzy. I'm guessing it was 1977, and I was 7 years old based on the copyright date. I also got the Batman treasury with the dead Robin on the cover, and an agonized Batman and Ra's Al Ghul laughing in the background. Both of these covers are burned into my brain, even though it would be another 8 years before I bought another comic book. I always enjoyed reading growing up, but never had been exposed to comic book before this. Maybe a Mad magazine or two might predate this? I remember getting a couple of Mad magazines when I got my tonsils out, and that would have been right around this time. That's not too bad for the first two examples of comic book art to be Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and Neal Adams! This copy is not my original owner, as those were long gone and I'm sure were eventually purged in a room cleaning years later. This one I got in a killer estate sale a few years ago that I'll probably dedicate a week or two of journal entries on, as it was pretty epic. In the interim, it was all Super Friends, Spider-Man, and Batman reruns on t.v. Oh yeah, and some movie came out of nowhere that year that completely derailed everything else I was into at the time...

Do you have a DS#4, by any chance? I just realized this week that my copy is missing the value stamp.

How about a spare My Greatest Adventure #85 laying around? I recently picked up a #80, so the 85 is the last of the DP ones that I need.

Or above it, if your on a mobile platform.

One of my favorite things about the CGC Boards, is when people take that time to go through parts of their collections. In the process, they are revealing tales about their acquisitions and motivations that I always find fascinating. I figure if I get a kick out of others stories, maybe someone will get a kick out of mine. For me, it all started back in the spring/summer of 1985 when my best friend at the time came back from a trip to somewhere in Pennsylvania. He was gone for a couple of weeks, and when he came back he brought with him two new obsessions...a cassette tape of music from The Hooters, and a stack of Iron Man comic books. As can be surmised by my posting here, and not on a Hooters fan-site, the comics books made a lasting impression on me as well. I was 14 at the time, so bicycle trips to the comic book stores in the area became the norm. In reality, they have never stopped to this day, although the mode of transportation has. I wasn't allowed to collect Iron Man, as that was his title, so I gravitated to the Avengers and the X-Men. That led to Secret Wars, as it had recently wrapped up. I remember issue #12 was still on the rack, but the others I had to buy from the back-issue bins. From there, the whole of the Marvel universe opened up. Fast forward a few more years and all of the "hot" artists left Marvel for Image. So now I read Image titles too, and Valiant, and Milestone, and Defiant, and Impact...I tried 'em all. The only thing I wasn't reading was DC. I'm a sucker for time travel stories, so I noticed that the Superman books were doing a crossover of sorts called "Time and Time Again." Shortly thereafter the death of Superman hit, and I was now a full-fledged Superman reader. I made it through all of the 90's, continuing my hoarding of any comic book I ever came across. Sometime in the early 2000's, I started to get a little bored. I still read the new stuff every week, but it just seemed like it wasn't fun anymore. I don't know where the harebrained idea came from to start collecting every single Superman comic book came from, but come it did. Over the next 10 years I slowly started to read less and less new stuff, and filled out my collection of Action Comics and Superman into the pre-Crisis era and beyond! One day, it occurred to me that I was quickly overfilling my custom built shelves in my office. What was originally built to hold 36 longboxes, was now filled to capacity with two rows of additional longboxes stacked on top of those. Around 2006 or so, I started to eBay off the flotsam and jetsam, turning those new-found funds into additional purchasing power to go further back in the Bronze Age. Then a little movie came out called "Iron Man", and suddenly my collection of books started to look a little more lucrative. I'm lucky that I started selling the dregs first, as I didn't really get rid of any new-found keys when the movie speculation craze hit. Once GOTG was announced, I went into full on flipping mode and bought every copy I could find of IH271, MP7, RR1-4, ST180, WMD6, MP4, etc... Selling these let me turn a healthy profit indeed, as I was finding most of these issues in dollar/discount bins. Those funds turned me into a Silver Age collector of the Superman titles at last! That's all well and good, right? Until I realized that my collection wouldn't really be complete without also trying to get the Lois Lane issues, the Jimmy Olsen ones, Adventure Comics, World's Finest, DC Comics Presents, etc... Yikes, what did I get myself into. Fast forward to current day, and where am I now? Well I don't flip as much anymore, as hard-core flipping is a young man's game. I've gone from my collection at its height of 55 jam-packed longboxes, to 36 longboxes that are roughly ⅔ full. Yes, I finally have tamed my collection to fit within my shelves! I'm still selling semi-regularly, as my paypal funds dwindle. I've gone through the D-titles, the C-titles, and have recently started selling the B-titles with some of the good stuff that I never thought I'd part with. You know what though? I haven't missed anything I've parted with. Yeah, there has been the title or two that I probably sold a couple of month's too early, but overall the new movie spec market has been good to me. So if you are still with me, that's a lot of words about what I no longer have in my collection. What about what I still have and actively collect? Stay tuned...

I'll take it at 20% off if I'm still in that window!

I'll take the World's Finest #111 and 121 at 20% off. looking forward to tonight's offerings live, as I was sound asleep after a hard day spent working outside yesterday.

I agree 100%, as both introduced iconic villains. I think a case could be made that Bizarro is more iconic than Brainiac, or at least more well known to the uninitiated general populace. Both came out within 3 months of each other, but boy-oh-boy are the guide prices worlds apart on these. Maybe it's because this isn't the real "Bizarro #1" Bizarro, or that he's more of a comic figure and not as "serious" as Brainiac? I wasn't around back then to know first hand, but I'm guessing he was popular enough as the Tales of the Bizarro World backups ran in Adventure Comics for a dozen-odd issues or so in the early 60's.

Hmmm...My copy of #67 also has what appears to be a see-through cover, although my scan makes it look less pronounced than it is in hand.

Superboy also had the 1st appearance of Mon-El. Kryptonite Kid (Man), and the Superboy (Superman) Revenge Squad also first appeared in Superboy, if you wanted to start digging a little deeper. Also, wasn't the Phantom Zone first introduced in Adventure Comics #283, so technically that's another Superboy generated idea. Unless there's a Phantom Zone reference I'm unaware of. That issues also boasts a first appearance of General Zod that rivals Darkseid's 1st appearance for "ho-hum" scale. So throw Phantom Zone criminals to Superboy too?

Sounds good. You have a willing customer waiting in your back pocket. We're closing in on some classic issues...can't wait to see what you got in store for us for 68, 80, 86, 89.

X-Factor #1 (5 copies) I just recently ebayed the last one off last year. Funny thing was, I bought 2 of every issue right up until #6 when I stopped buying any. Oops.

That's funny, as I looked at the listing and said to myself that that price wasn't bad for 10 NM copies...and then I read further in the description how that is a price for just one of the books! Yikes!

Yeah, I've noticed a fair amount of strong results of the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali issue lately.

I'm in awe of your run so far. Such great looking books all around. My collection of Superboy doesn't start in ernest until around issue #57, and then takes a big old vacation around issue #150. I've also been settling on beater copies of filler issues (unless I see a deal), so looking at the high quality of your run has been really fun.

Here's another lurker sounding off...keep going, I love this thread. I especially enjoy the little behind the scenes stories you remember about their acquisition!

I just go to Costco and grab the flat sheets that the manufacturers use when shipping pallets of cartoned goods. There are usually flat sheets (3' or 4' square) between the layers on the pallets. I can often grab 2 or 3 when ever I go. I fold them in thirds and put them in my cart. I then cut them up when I get home. A little bit more labor, but a free source of cardboard is always good. Depending on what the product is, sometimes you can get a really nice double corrugated piece. I've talked with the manager at my location, and was told as long as I don't go too crazy taking cardboard out by the cartloads, then they usually don't mind. They do recycle the cardboard and sell it to China, so they probably wouldn't appreciate someone cleaning out the store one afternoon.

Fantastic book! I've also been collecting the Super family titles, but only for two decades... and seriously for probably only one. I have about a dozen more 12 centers to go, and I'll have all of Superman and Action done from #150 and #283 on up, respectively. I keep getting distracted by deals on some 10 centers, however. That's the blessing and the curse with the Superman titles...There is always more books out there, but then there are a hell of a lot of books to collect. Congrats again on the accomplishment.

Yeah, but selling those allowed me to buy some of these REAL books, so I guess that makes it all right?

Not necessarily Bronze Age, but I recently sold two runs of titles that were roughly similar. Deadpool (the Casey/McGuinness run) #1-26 and Harley Quinn (the Kesel/Dodson run) #1-26. Both were in NM/M condition, original owner copies. I sold the Deadpools as a lot, and broke up the HQ individually. When all was said and done, I think I cleared about $50 on the HQ's, but it was also a lot more work. The HQ's however, did sell quicker than the DP's. Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but pretty comparable. In hindsight, I'd probably sell the HQ's as a lot if I had to do it over again.

I'd take a raggedy cover, barely clinging by a thread than a popped staple any day.

I'll take this one too. EDIT: Nevermind...