n2wdw's comic book room

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Wow, That's quite an impressive and diverse collection. Nice to see Terry Moore's SIP featured on your Spinner rack.

James

Hi James - Thanks for posting. Yeah, SIP is one of my all time favorite series. I have all the issues of the 3 series in the spinner rack. I also probably have more original art of SIP than anything else. I went to SDCC back in the early 2000s and saw Terry every year. Each time I bought a page (sometimes 2). I also bought some pages of Terry's sketch book (he was going to throw them away but someone suggested he sell them at the con -- he priced the pages around $20 - $30 each and quickly sold out). Someday I'll post pictures of my SIP art.

Terry Moore Strangers in Paradise Art - Part 1

Original art is a small but important part of my collection. It's important because -- since I have a small collection -- every piece is important to me.

One of my favorite all-time series is Strangers in Paradise. In the early 2000s, I went to the San Diego comicon pretty regularly. My first stop was always Terry's booth. Early on he was pretty easy with getting sketches (and they were free). He never said no, but I tried to limit myself to 1 sketch per con (although I have to admit sometimes I might wait in line a second time to get a 2nd sketch). As time went on, Terry stopped doing sketches. At the last SDCC I went to, in 2014, Terry wasn't doing sketches (from what I could tell).

In addition to sketches, I always looked through his portfolio of original art. I always budgeted to get 1 or 2 pages. As a result, I have probably more SIP original art than anything else (other than Cerebus). comix4sale (who is #2 on the SIP registry) asked me to show a few pictures. So here they are.

I'll start with calendars. Here's the art from February of the 2000 SIP calendar (called Francine's Yard Sale).

Here's January from the 1999 calendar. This is called Winter Wonderland. I actually like this one better because it's the unfinished art.

By the way, here's how I display my SIP OA in my new comic room.

Terry Moore Strangers in Paradise Art - Part 2

These 2 are probably my favorite original SIP art pages, because they show the relationship between Katchoo, Francine and David.

And I really like this one too. The interaction between Katchoo and Freddie is hilarious.

New CGC Books -- Matt Baker and Neal Adams

I didn't buy many comics this summer but I did receive back a couple CGC invoices. Here are a few from my Value submission. The first couple are Matt Baker covers. The second is one of my all time favorites. Given the noticeable bite out of the lower left corner, I was very happy when it came back 4.5.

Here are a couple Neal Adams covers. I got these when I bought my brother's collection from him probably around 3 decades ago (he mostly collected DCs while I focused on Marvels, so it was a good merger). These comics were well read so I'm happy with the condition.

On other news that probably doesn't matter to anyone but me, I won't be able to go to the Baltimore con next week. My 2nd oldest daughter is going to college next year so this weekend we have a school visit. So bummer about the con, but it'll be fun touring the school and it's in NYC so that's a bonus.

I'm not sure when my next major con will be. In reality, with the internet I don't need cons to buy comics like I used to. In fact I probably can get most things cheaper via the internet (where there's unlimited supply) versus cons (where you're a captive audience). But it's fun to fully immerse in comics culture, so that's why I still enjoy going. Perhaps next year I'll go to my first ECCC. In fact I think tickets go on sale later this month. But Seattle is a long way from the east coast so I'll have to see. Thanks for reading.

Love em' all, but especially the 'Crime Reporter'. The esteemed 'Robot-Man' just posted some Baker crime books as a sub-set on his thread in the gold forum. Would be nice if you posted this one there too .

Keep up the good work. Your Journal is always a good read.

Thanks Sagii I'll do that. And thanks for letting me know about Robot-Man, I'm enjoying looking at his amazing collection.

The Joy of Cheap Comics and Checking Off Want Lists

You know, on these boards we spend a lot of time talking about condition and submitting books to CGC. I know I certainly do.

But before CGC came along (and before I got into CGC and the Registry), my main collecting goals revolved around completing sets. I didn't care about condition. I strove for NM for modern and bronze, FN for silver, and decent for gold, but I didn't stress about 9.6 versus 9.8 the way I do when I'm talking CGC.

Back then I was more interesting in finding those last issues needed to complete a title. Sometimes the title had hundreds of issues (like Amazing Spider-Man), other times it had 2 or 4 or 12 (for mini-series and short run titles). I got a lot of joy over checking off the issues on my want list and knowing I had every issue of a series (irrespective of condition).

So I've talked about how I'm thinning my collection from around 50,000 comics to about half that. I simply can't fit 50k comics in the beach cottage we will eventually be retiring to. I've got the thinning mostly done. Now I'm updating my database to make sure it reflects the comics I'm keeping (I use ComicBase, the best comic database in existence; it's not perfect, but there's nothing better out there).

This process has forced me to take a detailed look at my collection. And I've found there are a bunch of titles I am so close to completing. Mostly short run or mini-series. So the other day I went onto the Lone Star comics website. I think this is the best site for buying every day comics as it has a big inventory for reasonable prices. Mile High also has a large inventory, but it is so expensive I always wonder how they stay in business.

For 66 bucks (about the price of 1 modern CGC book on eBay) I bought 25 comics. With those comics I completed all these titles:

FantaCo Chronicles

Meridian

New DNAgents

Hero Alliance

Breaking into Comics the Marvel Way

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Crossfire and Rainbow

Daredevil Redemption

Daredevil Battlin' Jack Murdock

Awesome Adventures

Elementals Vampires Revenge

Elementals How the War was Won

James Bond Goldeneye

James Bond Quasimodo Gambit

Indiana Jones Arms of Gold

Indiana Jones Sargasso Pirates

Indiana Jones Tomb of the Gods

Hard Boiled

That's what's fun about collecting comics! Now, as a bonus, with the titles completed, I get to read them (because for short run titles and mini-series, I usually wait to get all the issues before reading them). Thanks for reading, and have fun to all those going to Baltimore this weekend. I hope to read lots of con reports.

Awesome room and art

No Baltimore Con Buys

As I mentioned, I couldn't go to Baltimore con this year as we took our daughter for a college visit. (It was no hardship going to NYC. We saw Les Mis again and ate at Bar Americain.) (By the way, I'm disappointed by the lack of con reports, other than inside jokes. How was it?) Since I was being a good dad and husband, I thought I deserved a few comics. So I went shopping on eBay this weekend (and last week) and picked up these books. Up first is one of my favorite Matt Baker covers. Baker's Cinderella Loves are amazing. This is definitely going in my next Value submission.

The second is this Schomberg jewel (I got it cheap ... the Baker, not so much):

And finally, these other golden age good girl art books. All in pretty good shape and for good prices.

Cool acquisitions

I remember the year before last when I couldn't attend NYCC I also went on an eBay buying spree for consolation . I am attending this year, but I have been buying ( off sites, eBay, big three auctions) so much this year, my Con budget has shrunk, but intend to make the most of it.

The Cinderella Love cover is a knock out! Good eye (thumbs u

Jenevieve Broomall Commission -- Gwen Stacy

 

I have a double cover Jenevieve Broomall commission of Gwen Stacy in progress. Today I got the layout from Jen. It looks great!

 

Jen has an interesting facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/JenBroomall. I find it fascinating to see the development of many of her pieces.

 

 

 

Here's the finished commission after grading:

A bit pricey due to the double cover but not too bad (way less than many I see offered in the Signature Room, and Broomall is one of the best modern GGA artists IMHO). Broomall uses Bob Shaw as her facilitator and that process went smoothly (www.comicarthouse.com). Jen threw in the splash of color gratis. For those who care (probably only me), Gwen's wearing the same outfit as this earlier commission by Neil Vokes:

Sagii - Love that Manhunt in your signature, it's one of my grails.

Thanks!

Was on my want list for awhile too. There are some other great covers in the run too. Was fortunate. Put in my top bid as the day it was ending I wasnt able to bid 'live'. My bid held and I won. Will spotlight the series in a future journal entry.

I've lost a couple bids on Manhunt lately. But I agree, definitely has a few nice covers, especially your #14. Here's my only Manhunt. Hope to pick up more in the future.

I've lost a couple bids on Manhunt lately. But I agree, definitely has a few nice covers, especially your #14. Here's my only Manhunt. Hope to pick up more in the future.

 

 

More Matt Baker

I've been on a Baker cover binge lately. He's probably my favorite golden age GGA artist. His books are hard to find in any kind of decent condition. And yes, with books like these, I use a different grading scale where "Decent" is good enough to pull the trigger. This is because you see them so rarely that you can't hold out for 9.0 or 6.5 or 4.0 (or whatever). Either you jump on them when you get the chance (assuming you haven't spent all your budget for that month) or you wait another few years.

I showed the Cinderella Love #27 I got last week. Here it is again:

Here's the new big time Baker I just picked up, Going Steady 12:

Like all artists, there are covers and there are covers. These are 2 of the greatest, classic Matt Baker covers. I'd take Baker over Norman Rockwell any day of the week.

I plan to submit both to CGC, although on the Cinderella Love the cover is completely detached. People tell me the best I can hope for is Blue 3.0. Actually if it got that grade I'd be ecstatic.

I also picked up this Diary Secrets. It's not one of my favorite Baker covers. The shading around the eyes is distracting and not attractive. But I bought all 3 comics from the same person so he gave me a little discount.

I guess in my dreams I'd like to someday own every comic with a Matt Baker comic. I know that's a fantasy though because just trying to identify every such comic is an impossible task. Anyway, thanks for reading.

Those are some great Baker covers you have there. I have been wanting to branch out into the romance genre of the hobby for some time, your posts are encouraging! Good luck with the submissions.

Brandon

Those are some great Baker covers you have there. I have been wanting to branch out into the romance genre of the hobby for some time, your posts are encouraging! Good luck with the submissions.

 

Brandon

Brandon - Yeah, the last few years I always look through dealers' romance boxes. Never know when you''ll find treasures.

Sagii - Thanks, I took your suggestion and posted a few. Typically I avoid straying out of my journal (to avoid the crazies on these boards), but I've been told the GA area is more civilized and tolerant (and less likely to flame people because, you know, they actually have lives.)