A little more figure talk

The last round of auctions ended, but another new round is going on right now through Friday. This one has several more figures; in fact, it is mostly figures this time around. You can get to the auctions and check them out here.

Anyway, since I have another round of figure auctions running, I thought I would give a little more information about them this week. I started out buying the 6-inch line of figures that DC Direct started putting out in the 1990s, buying almost every figure as it came out. There were a few others from other lines — especially once Mattel started up its DC Universe Classics line of 6-inch figures — but most of my figures were DC characters with an occasional favorite from another toy line or company.

They were everywhere in my home office, on shelves on the wall, on book cases, on comic storage boxes, etc., anywhere I could find a place to stand them up. Then I started running out of room to put them, and I decided to sell off the vast majority of my figure collection and specialize.

I kept a few random figures of villains or heroes I liked, but from that point forward, I decided to mostly only buy and display figures based on my three top favorite characters — Aquaman, Green Arrow and Dick Grayson, the former including his incarnations as Robin, Nightwing and beyond.

That decision was made several years ago and in the interim, I have bought all shapes and sizes of figures and toys based on these three characters. Many of them are 6-inch figure lines, but some have come in other sizes ranging from figures to statues, from 1-inch figurines to 13-inch and above, from the detailed and serious to the silly and cartoony.

And now I am once again running out of room, and I've once again decided to sell off some of that collection. I plan to keep a couple hundred statues and figures, Pops and smaller toys that I really love for one reason or another. But that leaves more than 100 figures going up for sale to help sustain us while my wife and I continue to look for work. There are, of course, exceptions, but the vast majority of what I am selling are representations of those same three characters as that has long been the bulk of my collection.

Pictured here are a few more of the figures that are currently listed for sale on eBay. Give them a look, if you're so inclined. I appreciate it. And next time, I'm going to try to have some talk about "The woman who just wouldn't quit."

Maybe we can help each other out

Kind of a different post today, focusing a little more on the real world than usual, but I promise there is a comics related tie-in coming.

My wife and I are both out of work right now. We each got a decent severance package, so we are not in dire straits at this point, but we are both looking for new jobs after more than 20 years working for the same industry. I'm hoping to use some of my new-found "free time" to get a few more regular posts up here, but I also need to focus a good portion of my time looking for a new job. So time will tell how that all shakes out, I guess.

One other area I'm focusing on right now is culling a portion of my action figure collection and listing them for sale. My efforts at getting portions of my comic collection listed are also ongoing; but today, I want to focus on the figures.

I have a current round of auctions running right now on eBay which includes the figures pictured here and a few more along with a few dozen comics sets. Those auctions will end Thursday, in just two days. I hope to get another round of auctions listed with more figures by the end of the week. You can find me on eBay, and thus find my auctions, here.

I also have regular listings on StorEnvy and my own Steve's Comics For Sale websites. Simply follow the links to see all the items currently listed, and I will have the figures added to those sites soon.

I try to list my items for sale at reasonable prices. I don't intend to simply give my stuff away, but I'm also not looking to gouge or cheat anyone who shares my enjoyment for the hobbies I love.

I will tell you that the best prices for the items tend to be on my own site because I don't have to give a portion of the sale price to another site host like eBay or StorEnvy on my own site. Listings through those sites cost me more, so the prices need to reflect that, but I'm happy to sell any of my items for sale through any of the various options. Links to all the sites are also listed to the left, and they all include ways to contact me if you have questions.

Take a look if you have an interest in comics or figures, maybe find something for your own collection and know that your purchase is helping keep our little family afloat during this time of transition.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by here and read this. Hopefully I'll see you back here next week with a more traditional comics post. Happy collecting!

What Do You Think You're Doing?

In case the absence of a comic title, issue number and list of creators didn't already clue you in, we aren't talking about a specific book today. I am hopeful that my "new normal" at work becomes just a little more normal soon because I haven't just had trouble finding time to write posts for the ol' Comics Blog, I haven't had a lot of time to READ either! I have some comics and trades than were released and delivered back in July that I haven't read yet.

Of course, just because I haven't had a lot of time to actually read any of my comics, doesn't mean I don't still have some time to think about comics. I mean, c'mon, I can't be expected to think about work ALL the time I'm at work, can I? (None of my bosses from work read this, right?)

Anyway, in the absence of being able to actually read my comics, I've still been doing some thinking about my comics habit, and I've come to a bit of a realization coinciding with my efforts to winnow down what I buy each month, which also coincides with my efforts to drastically reduce the size of my comics collection by selling off a bunch of what I have amassed.

If you had asked me any time over, let's say the past 25 to 30 years, I would have readily told you that I collected comics. That was my mentality at the time, and I stand by that statement on the surface of it. I was buying what I was reading, and for the most part, I was reading what I was enjoying. I was a comics reader and collector.

And I still see myself as a collector, even though I am trying to sell off a bunch of my comics. I've just refined my focus a bit. I have three main characters — Aquaman, Nightwing and Green Arrow — I have followed for a long time, continue to follow now, and plan to continue to follow into the future. Then there are characters from other media I like whose occasional forays into comics I will likely continue to have an interest in — the original Star Trek crew, the Lone Ranger, Zorro, to name just a few. And there are more titles that I like to read and enjoy, holding onto certain issues, runs and titles that for whatever reason seem to resonate just a little bit more with me.

But thinking about the differences in my buying habits between then and now, I've noticed that the main difference is in that refined focus now. Then, I was mostly focused on amassing a huge collection of a variety of titles and genres of comics. I was much less discriminating in what I bought, following a larger number of characters and titles and creators, amassing a huge collection of books that made me feel good in the immediate moment. And they did make me feel good, because again, I was buying what I was reading and reading what I was enjoying. But it was more about a goal of having the books as there were so many of them, there wasn't a lot of time to go back and re-read favorites. In fact, there were several titles I bought that I certainly planned to read as soon as possible, but set aside in favor of reading more immediate story lines. That pile of things to read "sometime" just kept getting bigger and bigger.

It was mostly about amassing the collection, although I don't think I ever thought of it in those terms then. Trying to decide what to keep and what to sell hasn't been about getting rid of comics I don't like; I always did that along the way. If I tried a book and didn't care for it, I stopped buying it and got rid of what I had, hopefully to someone who could better appreciate it. This culling process I've been going through — and continue to go through — is more about winnowing down the collection to the most prized books and stories, keeping the size managable and allowing myself time to re-read and re-enjoy favorite arcs and stories.

I'm not trying to belittle or denigrate anyone else's buying or collecting habits. Even amassing lots of comics is a type of collecting. For me personally, I feel that I am better appreciating what I am keeping by narrowing the focus of my collection so I am amassing a smaller number of specific things. It's certainly a more practical collection.

Let's hear from some of you: What is comic collecting to you and what do you collect — characters, titles, creators or anything and everything?

**********

Switching gears for a moment, I have some auctions running on eBay this week for anyone interested in the stuff I'm selling off. Depending on what you enjoy, you might find some good deals among the auctions. And of course, the most complete, up-to-date list of what I have available for sale or trade can be found at the main Steve's Comics For Sale site.

Today's Post Is More Of An Update Than A Post

Work outside of the funnybooks has been even worse this past week than my new normal, so there's really not a new post today about comics exactly. But this seemed like a good time to call your attention to a new link to the left: the new Steve's Comics For Sale on Facebook. Like the page on Facebook and you can see posts related to this blog as well as the various sites through which I sell my comics: my own personal site, my StorEnvy shop or my monthly auctions on eBay.

Thanks for your support!

Who Says They're All Bad

Villains United 1-6 (2005)
DC Comics
Gail Simone, writer
Dale Eaglesham, Wade Von Grawbadger, Val Semeiks and Prentis Rollins, artists

I was reading a comic recently when my wife asked me what I was reading. Her interest in my collection is usually not very high, so I was trying to keep my answer brief for her benefit. I simply replied, "Just reading a miniseries before I list it to sell."

"I'm sorry your book's not very good," was her immediate, genuine reply.

I was a bit surprised by that assumption and quickly asked, "You know I'm not selling things because I think they weren't good, right?"

Sure, every now and then I'll come across a comic that just isn't to my liking for one reason or another. That's bound to happen from time to time. But the biggest reason for this sell-off is one of space. I'm selling a lot of comics that I very much enjoyed the first time around, and often even through subsequent readings. But some of the good stuff has to go in order to get my collection down to the space we can spare for it now that we have a child.

This limited series is one of those good ones I would definitely keep if space wasn't limited because it is beautifully illustrated and wonderfully written. It is rich in characterization and tells a gripping narrative. It also happens to be the series I was reading when the above exchange between my wife and I occurred.

Villains United was one of four six-issue limited series in 2005 exploring various aspects of the larger DC Universe leading up to Infinite Crisis in 2006. Villains United focuses on the creation of a version of the Secret Society, but rather than being a finite group of a dozen or so villains banded together in a common cause as in the past, this Secret Society is Lex Luthor, Black Adam, Talia al Ghul, Deathstroke, the Calculator and Doctor Psycho uniting all villains under their control.

All that is except for six — Deadshot, Catman, Chesire, the second Rag Doll, Scandal Savage and a displaced Parademon from Apokolips — who decline to "get with the program." These six — dubbed the Secret Six — are still villains, but they choose not to pledge fealty to Luthor and the others. The name Secret Six seems odd for them in this first outing as their identities as the holdouts from the Society are hardly a secret. And these six chose not to follow the orders of the Society, but begrudgingly follow orders from someone they know only by the pseudonym "Mockingbird." Despite those basic contradictions, this story works as heroes and villains alike pursue the Secret Six. Readers quickly found themselves rooting for this motley collection of rogues as they fight to stay alive, stay free and continue to quarrel and fight amongst themselves.

In fact, the team proved so popular, they got a second six-issue series, The Secret Six, in 2006 and ultimately an ongoing, also named The Secret Six, which ran for 36 issues beginning in 2008. There were a few changes in membership for the Secret Six during this time with a few members leaving due to betrayal or death. Along the way, the Mad Hatter, Knockout, Harley Quinn and Bane were some of the various replacements, some staying for a while and others departing rather quickly after showing up. The ongoing series was still quite popular at the time of its cancellation in 2011 to make way for the restructuring that resulted in the New 52.

For those of you interested in comics history, just as there have been several incarnations of the Secret Society in DCU continuity, this 2005 series was not the first for a Secret Six led by a mysterious figure known only as Mockingbird. The name and concept were first used in 1968 with the debut of The Secret Six No. 1. Creators E. Nelson Bridwell and Frank Springer told stories of six covert operatives, each with a different special talent, operating under the command of an unidentified figure they knew only by his codename — Mockingbird. The title lasted for seven issues stretched out across one year and has two characteristics which are rare among comics then and now. The cover of the May 1968 The Secret Six No. 1 is also the first panel of the story continuing on inside the comic, and the series ended without revealing to the characters or the readers the real identity of Mockingbird.

The Secret Six concept was updated in the 1980s as one of the rotating features in the anthology title Action Comics Weekly. Martin Pasko, the writer, and Springer and Dan Spiegle, the artists, brought back the same six operatives, once again assembled by Mockingbird, who is early on revealed to be one of the six. Early on in this new mission, the original six members all die and are replaced by six new operatives and a new Mockingbird. This incarnation of The Secret Six logged two story arcs in Action Comics Weekly Nos. 601-612 and 619-630, all in 1988.

When I first learned of the original Secret Six comic at the height of the 2005 and 2006 series' popularity, I sought out those issues to see how different they were from the modern incarnation. I haven't taken time to read those seven issues yet, but I did read at least portions of the Action Comics Weekly version when they were new. I don't remember being much impressed with that segment of Action Comics Weekly at the time, but I didn't know the past or future history of the title then, either. I'm just as curious to revisit the 1988 stories as I am to finally read the 1968 ones at some point.

No matter what I ultimately end up thinking of those two earlier incarnations of the Secret Six concept, I was a big fan of the modern villains version of the team. And I'm a little sad to part with these issues. They aren't going up on my site to sell because they are poorly done comics or because I didn't like them. Like a great many other titles I'm selling, these were fun at the time, and I'm glad I got to read and enjoy them. I just don't have room to keep all of the comics I've read and enjoyed over nearly 40 years of reading them.

If Nothing Ever Changed, There'd Be No Butterflies

I enjoy writing this blog, and I don't plan to quit posting as long as I'm enjoying it. That having been said, I am planning to make some changes going into the new year.

There is part of me that hates to pull back at this time because my audience seems to be growing right now. The growth isn't huge, but it is significant. I don't get a lot of comments posted, but the number of you silently reading out there has multiplied by quite a bit in the last six months or so. Anyone is free to join in the conversation, as always, and I can't complain about a lack of comments as there are many blogs and sites which I frequent without leaving comments of my own. But getting back to that growth, I don't want to lose whatever momentum I might have built up by posting multiple times a week.

Still, I have other demands upon my time that I need to focus more energy on going forward. For instance, I've mentioned here in the past that I am trying to go through my sizable comics collection and figure out what space will allow me to keep and what must be gotten rid of -- not because I didn't or don't like it, but simply because there isn't enough room in our house now that we've added another person. Based on the number of views different posts get, some of the more popular posts are my looks at older books, particularly complete runs of short-lived series or a specific creator's run on a longer-lived title. Most of those stem from my time spent going back through some of the comics in my collection. But when I decide to sell something, I have to price the books, make scans of the covers, and list them in various places so potential buyers can see them. All of that takes time away from blogging and even reading.

That project has been put on the back burner a lot of late, but I need to concentrate on getting through this stuff. I don't have an exact count, but my collection at its largest probably ran somewhere around 12,000 comics, not counting trades, hardcovers and other collections. I'm trying to cut that down to 30 Drawer Boxes storage boxes I bought and placed along one wall in my new office. Maybe I'll post a picture of that sometime in the future, but the image accompanying today's post is 39 boxes and other loose comics that still need to be sifted through and even that represents just a portion of the total that needs to be gone through. These no longer fit in my office, so they are stacked in a corner of my wife's and my bedroom, a fact she is less than pleased by. She tolerates them there because she knows I'm trying to cut the collection down, but she hasn't seen much progress in the last few months. That project needs to get moving again.

I've also mentioned recently that I have cut back considerably on what I have been buying, both for financial and space reasons. The less I buy means less variety in the new comics I'm reading and discussing on the blog. That's probably fine for those readers whose tastes line up with mine and enjoy reading what I think about the comics they also enjoy. But some blog readers might be put off if every fifth post is about an issue of Aquaman or Nightwing or Lone Ranger because I am buying and reading fewer new titles right now. Maybe by posting a little less often, I can be a little more choosy about topics and not cover the same book as often.

Probably like most of you, the biggest demands on my time remain my paying job and my family, and that's as it should be. My wife and I used to have the house to ourselves and work at the same place on the same schedule. Since shortly after our daughter was born, that has all changed. We both still work at the same place, but on different schedules now. That helps cut down on the cost of day care, but I don't get to see my wife except in passing most days that way. I do see my daughter quite a bit, which is very nice, but also time consuming. When she was smaller, she took frequent naps, which made ideal times to get little projects done. She's 28 months old now, however, much more mobile and commands much more of my attention. Don't get me wrong; I love spending time with her, reading to her, playing with her, potty-training her, etc., but that leaves little time for anything else right now.

So bottom line is this: I am going to continue to post new blog entries here every Tuesday that I have something ready to go. There might be a week or two here and there where a Tuesday goes by without a new post, but I hope those will be very few and far between. And hey, things could go the other way; posting only once a week might result in a backlog of stuff waiting to be posted, thus resulting in some extra posts from time to time.

I hope everyone keeps stopping by and reading despite there being new content a tad less often in 2014 than you were used to in 2013. And as always, happy collecting!!

eBay Rant

There are two kinds of comics I'm selling when I'm on eBay or iOffer or even through my own Steve's Comics For Sale site: Books I bought recently, read and for whatever reason, didn't care for or older books I've decided to weed out of my collection, either for the above reason or just for space reasons. In either of these cases, I'm not looking to gouge anyone or get rich off of another comics enthusiast; I'm just looking to get rid of some books I no longer care to own, hopefully giving them to a good home where someone WILL appreciate them, and maybe get a buck or two for my trouble with which to turn around and buy more comics for myself.
Pretty simple concept, right?

Now there are three kinds of people who annoy the crap out of me when I'm trying to accomplish the above goals. I've encountered the first type of person in all three of the above online marketplaces. This is the person who bids on an item or even outright expresses an intent to buy it, then never delivers the payment. What is the point of this? Do these faux buyers really think a seller is going to ship the merchandise without receiving payment first? That seems rather naive. But if that's not their goal, what is?

The next two types of infuriating people are actually other sellers, and so far, I've only encountered them on eBay, likely because that site is much more popular and well known than iOffer or my personal site. These are the people who I guess think they're being sneaky. And maybe they are, because I suppose it is possible someone is buying their wares. But whenever I see these two practices, I immediately seek the item I was looking at somewhere else.

These people lure you with a "false" deal, either by "padding" the shipping costs or setting a reserve price below which they will not sell an item.

Now the reserve price option on eBay can be a good thing. I try to never list an item for a starting amount unless I'd be comfortable selling it for that amount. Of course, I hope multiple bidders will drive the price higher, but if only one person bids and the item goes for the starting price, I'm OK with letting the item go for that. For something like original art, however, I person might not want to let a piece go for less than his or her original purchase price. What I dislike with a passion are people who will create an auction with a reserve price of something like $500 or more, but start the bidding out at 99 cents. I realize a lot of people like to start auctions out under $1 to draw attention, but if you WON'T sell something for less than $500, why start so low? It seems mildly dishonest to me.

Far worse are the shipping padders. People who will list an item to start at a bid of 99 cents, often even calling attention to that fact, but the shipping costs, not always immediately visible, are clearly exaggerated. For instance, someone starts the bidding on a single loose action figure at 99 cents, but if you look closely, the shipping charge is $20 to $30. I've sold some figures, both MOC (mint on card) and loose and there is absolutely no way the shipping cost is that high unless the item is traveling overseas. These people are being dishonest in offering the item for such a low cost when they know they will more than make up for the cost of the item in the shipping overage. I don't know why anyone would bid on such an item with such an obviously dishonest gimmick employed. Yet I see these items listed all the time, sometimes with bids having been made.

I just don't get it. Anyone out there have any insights?

Real Life Interlude

Been kind of a busy few days filled with real-life concerns and little leftover time for comic book concerns. My most recent batch of new comics arrived over the weekend, but I still haven’t had time to add them to my inventory list. I also received two packages of older comics. One was a recent trade of books from the Web site for all 33 issues of the original DC Checkmate series. I’ve always been curious about that series; now I can try it out and parted with some of my excess to boot. The other package was a bunch of back issues I’ve been looking for recently. Purchased them during a sale at Mile High Comics. That gets me several series I have been recently looking for except for one. In the mid 1990s, Mike Grell did a spin-off series from Jon Sable, Freelance about Maggie the Cat, a cat burglar. I have the first two issues and thought the series ended there unexpectedly. I recently learned issues 3 and 4 do exist. If anybody knows where I can find copies of those last two issues, I’m searching. Anyway, I just mailed out another package today of comics from the site, so it’s just been updated too. And that’s about all of the comics stuff I have time for now, except ...

I did manage to read through Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-3. The story still holds up although there’s a lot of exposition in these first few issues. Next time.

Thing Has Changed

Hello, again. We’ve been talking about the ongoing series I am currently reading or re-reading as I work my way through the back issues of my own comic book collection. So, far, we’ve discussed The New Teen Titans, The Warlord and Jon Sable, Freelance. The fourth book that fits into that time frame is the first Marvel Comics title devoted to the solo adventures of the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing.

Now, Ben Grimm has always been my favorite member of the Fantastic Four. I tend to gravitate toward some of the more monstrous-in-appearance heroes from the Marvel Universe. I like Thing, I like Hulk, I like Beast, I like Nightcrawler and I like werewolves, so, since we’re talking about Marvel, I like Werewolf By Night.

Currently, Ben has his own solo title again. It’s already been canceled, but Dan Slott’s take on the character was spot-on. And during the Silver Age of comics, Thing starred as the recurring character in Marvel team-up title Two-In-One. But, today we are discussing the early ’80s series The Thing by John Byrne (writer) and Ron Wilson (drawing). A few of the issues in early 1984 were written by Mike Carlin, too.

This series started out pretty good. Ben battled a collection of strange villains and had some unusual adventures in his first several issues. It was the Thing we all know and love - a grounded everyman who just happens to be incredibly strong, has a big heart and muddles his way through whatever life throws at him.

And that’s why this series is only so-so for me. Those first issues were great. But then the Marvel Powers-That-Were came along and screwed things up. 1984 was when Marvel Comics produced its first Secret Wars miniseries (certainly not the last to bear that name) in which a god-like being called the Beyonder whisked several heroes and villains off to an artificial planetoid and pitted them against each other. At the conclusion of the 12-issue extravaganza, Ben decided to stay on the artificial world, a place where he could inexplicably transform back and forth from human to the Thing, and sort out some of the relationships in his life.

So, naturally, in his own title, Ben ceases to be Ben. It doesn’t so much bother me that for the next 10 to 12 issues, he can transform; that doesn’t change the core character. But many of the storylines during this “Rocky Grimm (where the hell did that name come from), Space Ranger” arc were just too fantastical for my tastes. Sure Thing has been put into some fantastic situations as a member of the FF, but again, what makes the character great is his everyman groundedness. Take that away from him, as in these stories, and I just don’t care much for this “new guy.”

OK, so I’m bashing several of these issues. You guessed it; you will find a number of them that I didn’t care for on my Web site for sale. See, that’s one of the beautiful things about comics. These stories weren’t my personal cup o’ tea. That doesn’t mean noone will want them. Somebody out there might think I’m crazy for my “narrow” opinion, love these issues, and snatch them right up. The stories aren’t bad, they just aren’t Ben Grimm to me.

Next time, we’ll move on to something else. In the week it’s taken me to post about these titles from 1984, I’ve almost worked my way on in to 1985.

1984 Was More Than Just Big Brother

Ain’t technology wonderful? I’m not going to lie and blame the length of my most recent absence entirely on the computer not being available, but that is a valid excuse for a least a portion of the time. But I believe we are back in business now. Keep your fingers crossed.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about how I file my comic books as opposed to the more typical alpha-numeric system. I’ve also mentioned my Web site previously, which lists a number of comic books I’ve cut from my personal collection because of taste and/or duplication. Both of those topics came up in a recent discussion with a friend about what I do with my spare time.

A large portion of my spare time is devoted to my comic book collection. Currently I purchase the bulk of my new comics from a mail-order company which ships me my stash once a month. But, because of money and interest limitations, the new comics I get each month only take me a couple weeks to read and file away. Once that’s done each month, I move back to the beginnings of my collection.

I am currently using that time to go back through my collection from the beginning for a number of reasons. It’s a good way to doublecheck that there are no errors in the way I have the books ordered. I’m also pulling some additional books out for placement on the Web site. And over the last several months, I have purchased a number of back issues which complete runs of some titles or give me a chance to sample series I missed the first time around. So far, I’ve made it to fall 1984. At this point, not counting miscellaneous issues of titles I collected sporadically, there are four main titles I own complete runs of from that time. We’ve already covered my enjoyment of Marv Wolfman’s and George Perez’s revival of the New Teen Titans. Another of those titles is DC’s The Warlord.

The Warlord was created, written and illustrated by Mike Grell beginning with First Issue Special #8 in November 1975. The story centers on Air Force pilot Travis Morgan and the hidden world of Skartaris he accidentally finds inside Earth. The one-shot was popular enough that The Warlord was given his own book almost immediately -- February 1976. Grell stayed with the book until the early 1980s. Cary Burkett took over the writing and the art chores were handled by Dan Jurgens and Rich Buckler.

The title is basically a sword and sorcery tale with elements from science fiction and fantasy thrown in. I first heard of Mike Grell during his work in the 1990s on DC’s revival of Green Arrow. From there, I also followed his work in the late 90s for Image Comics with his creator-owned titles Shaman’s Tears and Bar Sinister, both short-lived but popular series, from my understanding.

The gritty-realism in these later titles -- stories that could almost happen in the real-world, not just ultra-violent as that term has come to mean today -- impressed me enough to seek out other Grell titles. While The Warlord is conciderably more fantastical than realistic, I still enjoyed the story presented in a trade paperback I picked up which collected the first year’s worth of Warlord tales. Other commentators I have read online dismiss Grell as doing work, especially on The Warlord, that others did first and better, most notably Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Martian tales. I will agree that the title isn’t exactly ground-breaking in its use of a man taken out of his usual environment and forced to excell in alien surroundings, but Grell does weave a riveting tale as Morgan explores the hidden world, battles wizrds and monsters, uncovers lost secrets and more.

When Grell left the title and new creators came onboard, the tone of the series changed, emphasizing the science fiction aspects more than others, but the stories were still quite good. The Warlord is a series I highly recommend, at least through 1984. Next time, we’ll look at another title I am discovering from that timeframe.

Staying connected

Nothing much to say today, but it's the last day of my weekend (yes, my weekend from work is now Sunday and Monday), I'm online, and figured I'd drop by, post some quick thoughts before continuing on and logging off.

One thing I'll be doing after leaving here is updating the comic book Web site. If anyone has found their way here and might be looking for some cheap comics to buy, pop on over to my site at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/tsgnightwing It's full of hundreds of comics which are extras for me and which I hope to sell to someone cheaply, but making enough to continue buying new comics for myself. Check it out. You know you want to.

Another place I am thinking about going posting today is classmates.com. My wife recently reunited with an old high school friend that way and the two have gotten reacquainted quite nicely through the site. It got me wondering about some kids I went to school with -- or, I guess they probably aren't kids anymore, but you know what I mean. But anyway, I'm thinking about checking out a trial membership and seeing how many fellow students from Grand Valley Community School I might find there to catch up with.

Until next time, let's all be careful out there.

Checking In

Nothing really much to say today, but wanted to check in before too much time had passed. Just got done updating the comics Web site a few minutes ago. Nothing added this week, but managed to sell a couple comics and removed them. Dunno how much I'll post this week. Thursday is my wife's and my anniversary. Going out of town for a few days. Likely will be Internet free most of the time. So, if I don't talk to you again, have a good weekend.

What the hell are 'kiddie cops'?

OK, while it's not officially a comment, my wife did ask that question (or one along those lines) after reading my most recent post. So, you get the answer, too.

"Kiddie cops" is one of those terms or phrases I use occasionally in my speech which comes from something I read, in this case a comic book. Specifically, The New Teen Titans annual 2 (1983), the comic which is directly responsible for my adult interest in comics.

Both my brother and I had read comics when we were much younger, but we didn't "collect" them. We'd get random issues of Spider-Man or Justice League of America or World's Finest Comics when Mom let us buy them from the grocery store, but they'd never last long enough to be collected. But in 1983, while on a youth group trip with friends, I spotted this comic book in the spinner rack convenience stores all used to have. To be honest, I didn't recognize most of the characters on the cover, but I was pretty sure the "floating head" on the lower right was Robin, the Boy Wonder. I picked up the issue and fell in love with the storytelling and intrigue, not to mention those stunning George Perez illustrations.

The story in the comic picks up in the middle of an investigation by the New Teen Titans (Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Changeling, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Terra) and Manhattan district attorney Adrian Chase. The Titans believe that Chase and his family have just been killed by the organized crime family they are pursuing. In an audiotape left by Chase for the Titans, he refers to them as "kiddie cops." I thought it was clever at the time, and the phrase became part of my vocabulary.

This issue has much more to offer those interested in comics. Chase is, in fact, not dead and goes on to become the costuned vigilante ... Vigilante. Many others would use this moniker afterwards, but Adrian Chase was the first. This issue also features an appearance by a mysterious power broker for heroes and villains named the Monitor, a shadowy figure seen in various DC titles throughout the year. He would soon be revealed as an extra-terrestrial "monitoring" and testing various meta-humans for the upcoming blockbuster Crisis on Infinite Earths series. And at one point in the story, the Monitor is called upon to provide several assassins-for-hire to slay the Titans on behalf of that nasty organized crime family. Most of the villains make their one and only appearance in this issue, but one in particular, the Asian-American assassin Cheshire, would go on to be a major presence in the DC Universe.

Probably, I won't talk about comics every time I post, but this time I did, so it makes a nice transition into another quick topic. In a previous post, I had mentioned comics to sell which I had listed on a site called iOffer. That worked pretty well for a while, but I have so many comics to sell, I ended up creating my own site listing all of them. If you happened to find your way here and are interested, check out the site at http://www.angelfire.com/comics/tsgnightwing

And so long for now, kiddie cops.

Hey, kiddie-cops, I'm finally back.
I found a site called iOffer back in February where I'm trying to sell off some of my extra comic books. Not doing too poorly, but I absolutely hate it when someone makes an offer on something, you accept it, and then never hear from them again - they never pay, respond to inquiry e-mails, nothing, no further contact. If you don't want it, don't make an offer. If you change your mind, simply say so. I don't know you. I'm not gonna come hunt you down.
Same thing with an old water bed I'm trying to sell off. My wife and I work at a newspaper, so we ran a Classified ad, got several calls from people desperate to find a waterbed (so they said) and very interested after all their questions were answered over the phone (so they seemed) and some even asked us to stay home so they could come by and look (damn liars), but did anybody show up to buy the thing? NO.