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BabaLament

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  1. @Crops068I did get the Target/eBay Exclusive Throg Pop! I’m almost set with the full Marvel Blacklight set; waiting for Hulk to arrive via UPS & trying to find a Ghost Rider in person because of all the knock-offs that have flooded the market recently. Looking forward to picking up a full set of Black Panther II at retail when they drop. After that, I’m going to reorganize the pop wall; starting with the MCU pop’s. Captain America at the far left & moving to the right as the film era’s move on. Going to get a little creative with my chronology, but I think it’ll look good.
  2. @ADAMANTIUM @Galen130 @KirbyTown Thanks guys! It wasn't a snap decision, or any kind of financial situation that forced us into selling; more like the time is right, the storage room was packed to the gills, and we've been in the hobby long enough to realize where we get the most joy out of it. We enjoy having custom commissions made, buying original art, and getting to know artists & writers who are starting out/breaking into the business. I have more fun trading snarky conversation with Gerry Conway than I do occasionally cracking a storage bin and dusting off the ASM 129, same with a number of other artists & authors. I'm eternally grateful that the hobby has allowed me to meet & befriend a lot of really awesome people. For now, that's enough. Oh, and the Marvel Funko Pop's. I'll still be collecting those.
  3. Hello all! Well, this has been an awesome journey, getting to know boardies, shop owners, other collectors, and random cool people at conventions. However, as of late the collection has become so large that its unwieldly, and I don't have the time or space to attend to it properly. So, to paraphrase Major League, "I sold the whole (Censored) thing." 5 boxes of slabs, 15 short boxes, 15 long boxes, an entire set of Star Wars LEGO, replica lightsabers, patridge, pear tree, eight tiny reindeer. The only things I am keeping are the Funko Pop's, original artwork, blank cover sketches, and the first set of books I bought with my dad that started the whole thing, Aliens/Predator: Deadliest of the Species. The buyer is a gentleman who is going to make sure the books find a good home, and I'm of the opinion that they're better off making someone happy out in the world than they are collecting dust in my storage room. I'm still here for the Pop's, and I love the art & stories of my favorite comics, but this is the end of the road when it comes to collecting.
  4. Hello All! Any Spider-Man fans here? No? Just me? So the Spider-Man/X-Men Dark Web crossover event is coming up, and we're getting some new/old goodness. It looks like Norman Osborn is getting a new suit as Gold Goblin; so aside from repping Notre Dame, he's going on another "I'm a hero now" bender. Spider-Man is also getting a new suit, an Oscorp provided getup that mixes his traditional Spider-Man abilities/tech with Goblin tech (bombs, spider-glider, etc.). Goblin Queen, a new Hobgoblin, maybe they'll finally figure out how to resolve the Shriek/Demogoblin kiddie cult thing...and some X-Men stuff. So, aside from the 1,000,000,000 variant covers, is anyone excited for this? I feel like the last couple years of material out of the Spider-Man office has been a game of Red Light/Green Light. "Ok, let's use Carnage! Ok, now switch to Green Goblin! Ok, now lets do Carnage-Goblin!" Wash, rinse, repeat. I guess they still have the Extremebiote (Note: ) running around, Iron Man armor possessed by the spirit of Cletus Kassidy, so they could always make Norman Dark Iron Patriot or something... My opinion, I could be wrong.
  5. @Upgrayedd2Agreed. I'm currently using covrprice online input, but it doesn't allow for a printable inventory. Best thing I've found so far, hoping a boardie has a printable solution.
  6. Hello all! I hope everybody is having a good evening, getting ready to enjoy a nice weekend. I'm coming off a two week vacation & heading back to work on a weekend shift. *shrug* Can't win 'em all. So its finally happened; my comic collection has become less-than manageable. I have 15 long boxes arranged alphabetically, and 15 short boxes that someone might charitably describe as "random" I had to speed-pack things when I moved a couple years ago and I never got around to reorganizing things. Funny thing...we might be moving again as my wife & I both have career advancement opportunities that have come up & I don't really want to pack everything up (again) and carry the books downstairs/moving van/final destination again. So, does anyone have an efficient Excel spreadsheet template for inventory management they'd be willing to share? I'll take my next couple of days off and power through an inventory so I have a solid handle of what books I've got, so that I can sort/pack/disposition as necessary. Any assistance would be appreciated!
  7. @ADAMANTIUM As promised, the Book of Baba's Vent. So after a very nice nap (highly endorsed) around lunchtime, we went back onto the show floor and went on Quest for Comics...and I came up bone dry. Its not for lack of selection or variety; some of my favorite shops & vendors were present. @MrBedrock represented Houston's finest shop as always, Rick's Comic Crypt (one of the nicest guys) had some excellent books out, and a variety of independent guys and collectors looking to cash out their collections were all moving very nice books. We were personally priced out; I have most of what I want, and the pick-ups I was interested in were more than I was willing to go. However, even considering convention pricing, things were not crazy. Some keys were downright reasonable. There's always the one guy who puts up a Hulk 181 or TMNT 1 3rd Print for "(Blank)-You" money, but even the key books that were present weren't pay-off-the-mortgage levels of overpriced. On the other hand, nobody that I saw had bank-breakers out on display; no Action Comics 1, no AF 15, etc. Now if the gentlemen who play in the Executive Game for Golden Age keys were making deals off in a hotel room somewhere, I can't say; to paraphrase John Wick's Winston, "You can't afford to dip so much as a pinky into that pool." I did commission a custom ASM sketch cover from Aaron Williamson. I asked for Kingpin, but staring out a circular window at the NYC skyline. Not a direct ASM 300 swipe, but it hopefully works out ok. Mostafa Moussa wants to put some finishing touches on the ASM 300 swipes, so he's going to mail them back to me. That's fine; I've waited this long, what's another couple of days? Jonathan Hallett *forgot* to bring the Stitch-as-Spider-Man ASM 300 swipe sketch cover commission. He has *forgotten* to finish and/or ship it for almost a year; despite repeated contacts where he would "remember", and "promise" to get it to me. He *did* remember to make prints based on my sketch cover, and bring those for sale. He has promised to mail it to me "soon." I have a pretty short tihs list. It has two names on it. I may be adding a third in short order. We shall see. The people were awesome. Lots of comic and anime fans who were just plain happy to *be* at a comic convention. Mask usage was probably around 50/50; some people were all about it, some people went the chin-diaper route, others were full-on YOLO. A lot of great cosplayers who, much to my surprise, asked for photos. I didn't think my outfit was all that impressive, but I think I took pictures with every Spider-Man in the greater Houston area. It ended up being quite a fun time. Even though we paid the early checkout penalty, we decided to pack it in and head for home early. After the first night food poisoning episode, we decided discretion was the better part of valor, and that we'd rather make dinner at the house. Additionally, even though the room at the Hilton was large, clean, recently renovated, and had blessedly impressive air conditioning...the bed didn't work for either of us. Too hard for my wife to be comfortable, too soft for me. So we're back, doing laundry and working on our post-show critiques. This is a picture with a group of Spider-Man/Gwen cosplayers, and a downright awesome Doctor Octopus. Also, I may have learned why Antony Starr decided to cancel his appearance at Comicpalooza. To be fair, for one of those MCU paychecks, I'd have probably done the same thing.
  8. …and my update edit didn’t take and was lost. Darn. Here are some photos. I’ll write a novel later. 😁
  9. Hello all! Its that time of year again; Comicpalooza (Houston)! So my wife and I have made our annual trip to spend the weekend geeking out downtown. This convention has a special place in my heart, as this is where I met my wife for the first time in 2018. She was attending with her brother’s family, he just happens to be my best friend; so we met, life happened, & here we are. I’m going to post updates and such throughout the show weekend. Anyone else in attendance, please add your thoughts, observations, and sweet convention pickups/finds in the comments! Anyone wants to say “hi,” I’ll be the guy rocking around in full Disney+ Kingpin Cosplay for as long as I can handle the heat. Hoping for a couple of “Hi Baba!” moments; be nice to meet some boardies. Day One: Disappointment is off to an early start. Checked in at the Hilton, ate dinner at Papasitos Cantina. We skipped the wresting event & briefly checked out then left the headache-inducing EDM Blacklight/glow stick nerd rave opening night party in favor of drinks at the Hilton bar. The Baby Yoda cocktail was incredible, convention-themed beer was ok. We went on to dinner at Papasitos Cantina, after which a couple of hours later the food poisoning had my wife and I competing over who gets to pray at the porcelain altar for the rest of the evening. This…is not off to a great start. On the flip side, it can only get better…right? Day Two: Ok. Much better. Stomach settled, sleep obtained. Starbucks coffee for me, Coca-Cola for Darth Wifey (while the love of my life, she is *not* a morning person). A couple of hours to get ourselves together before the fun starts. Two celebrity guests I wanted signatures from (Antony Starr & Aliqua Cox) have canceled. 😢 At least they’re being cool about it and getting the signature & photo-op refund e-mails out immediately. Bonus points to the promoter for not messing with people’s money. The bench of comic industry talent attending is distinguished, but very, very short. I have some Batman black label books I’d like to get signed by Jock, and I’m hoping Stephanie Phillips has some Harley Quinn books I can pick up and get signed for my niece. I brought The Boys #3 & Herogasm blank set that I was hoping to get signed by Antony Starr…but Karen Fukuhara is here, so one down, many more to go. On the blank sketch set, I was thinking of commissioning a three part connecting piece with Homelander, Superman, and Iron Patriot all squaring off. Thoughts? I have four custom ASM 300 cover swipes to pick up that were commissioned during last year’s show. Three are from Mostafa Moussa, whose work is amazing; a Venom Noir, Carnage Noir, and Spider-Gwen Noir. His steampunk Venom is on point! Another one is by Jonathan Hallett; the StitchToons guy. It’s Stitch as Spider-Man, because Stitch is my wife’s kryptonite. 🤣 Yeah, that Stitch Crashes Disney product line from last year? More like Stitch Zero’s Out Baba’s Bank Account Balance. Happy wife, happy life, right fellas? 😇 I brought a bunch of blank sketch books; hoping that I can find people in Artists Alley whose styles I like & they’re available to feed my custom ASM 300 swipe addiction. 😁 Final before-the-door thoughts; moving the convention dates from Memorial Day weekend to July between Fan Expo Chicago & San Diego Comic Con might be putting talent in a scheduling bind & Houston is on the losing end. If the promoters want to keep building this show, they need to up their game significantly in 2023. My opinion, I could be wrong. Regardless, we are determined to make the best & most of the weekend. Let’s go!
  10. Hello all! Back from the LCS, and with a nice collection of fresh Funko product. I lucked out completely, got the Jay & Silent Bob Soda’s, both of which are Chase! Yay! I also picked up the GITD Chase Tron, Build-a-Bear Furry n’ Fierce (but alas, they did not have the bear), Make a Wish Iron Man, and WonderCon Wall-E. Not bad for a Saturday. Not bad at all.
  11. @ADAMANTIUMIt’s a niche product; the packaging is the size of a soda can & it comes with a little hard plastic collectible. Kind of neat; I only bought them because I’m a Venom & Carnage guy.
  12. @ADAMANTIUM Well, no chase on the Funko Sodas, but that’s ok; I think the regular Carnage looks better anyhow. 😁 The guys who own my LCS are doing just fine; they’ve built a good shop with a loyal clientele. The only downside for me, being a guy who likes to sell books from time to time to finance new/old books and/or toys, is that they don’t like buying books over $50. They like having keys in the shop, but the neighborhood isn’t flush with high rollers, so high value books tend to sit, so they avoid them.
  13. My LCS was on point today with their books & Funko selection! The only What If pop’s I still need are the zombies (which I’m not all that excited about), and I managed to get the two Blacklight pop’s I wanted most: Spider-Man & Carnage! I’m no longer a D&D player, but R.A Salvatore’s Legend of Drizzt novel series has been my favorite fantasy series since I was a kid. I saw the two pack & had to get it. I just picked up the Funko Soda’s & haven’t opened them yet. Let’s see if I can find a chase…😁
  14. A couple of pickups from Cowabunga Comics. The Kyle Willis 2022 Sketchbook w/ ASM 300 style Miles Morales metal cover, and a Department of Truth #16 shop exclusive.