Do you have any series, artist, writers etc. you're trying to collect. This day in age with all the reprints available it seems that there may not be a need to collect back issues unless it's something rare.

 

However, while I enjoy reprint tpbs I still like the look and feel of the single issues. I've spent the past few years acquiring a run of Amazing Spider-man. He's my favorite character and since I travel a lot for work it gives me something fun to do in my free time in a new place. I've been to a lot of great and not so great comic shops since I started this journey. It also gives me a focus when I'm in a shop instead of purchasing random comics I may or may not read or hold no sentimental value. In the past when browsing I'd purchase something that looked cool and also to not feel guilty for spending hours and not purchasing anything (that may just be me)

 

I'm down to about 30 issues needed for my ASM run. The plan is to get #1- current and all the Annuals. If you're wondering if I have any really early issues, the answer is yes! I have 2, 4, 6 & 10! I also have the first four volumes of essentials so I can fill in the gaps when I start reading the series.

 

Since I'm down to the rarer and more expensive issues I'm deciding what my next project should be. I don't think I particularly want to start another series. Though I have been picking up appearances of Deadman. My next project is to buy issues I'd like to frame. I've always liked the way a comic looks framed, it's art after all. I haven't narrowed it down yet but I'm leaning towards the silver age and 12 cent covers. I'd probably have a wall of super heroes and a wall of genre like war, western, sci-fi etc. Though there are some cool covers since the Silver Age that would be cool too so I'm still figuring that out.

 

So any cool collecting projects or goals that you're working on in terms of comics?

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  • As for framing, I picked (so far) about a dozen comic covers and/or poster-type depictions that would fit in a standard 8x10 frame. I either scanned them or downloaded cover images, editing with my photo editing software.

  • There are a few I am working on, but I don't go too out of the way to look for them. They are:

    1. Legion of Super-heroes appearances. There are just so many, over so many titles. It is always fun to find one though.

    2. Weird War Tales, early issues are more fun, and they usually have terrific Joe Kubert covers.

    3. Marvel Team-Up. One of my favorite series growing up, so there is a lot of nostalgia attached to it.

    To and even lesser degree I will pick-up Spectre appearances as well.

    Now I don't have any comics framed, there sure are some I would like to get framed. I do have a few pieces of original art framed. I have a Golden Age Green Lantern done in marker, by his creator, Mart Nodell.A sketch of the Flash by George Perez which was a "thank you" gift from the Hero Initiative for my volunteer work for them. Then I have a Moon Knight sketch by David Finch that my brother had done, and made the frame for. His wife liked it so much that she wouldn't let my brother give it to me until they had another one done by Mr. Finch. So it was 5 years before I got it.

  • I have a huge want list of back issues.  As much as there has a ton of reprints, there's still tons and tons of uncollected stuff.  Most of the stuff I want can be found cheaply, either in shops, ebay, other online venues, and good old flea markets.  I tend to collect writers more than artists, but I will try just about anything with John Byrne or George Perez art.  Writers I try to collect include Roger Stern, Peter David, Kurt Busiek, Roy Thomas, Gail Simone, John Ostrander and more.

    One thing I am collecting that hasn't had a lot of reprints is Doug Moench's run on Batman from 1983-1986, Batman 360-400 and Detective 527-566.  Earlier this year, I had about half the issues, which I had accumulated over 3-4 years.  I'm not terribly fussy about condition, as long as the comics weren't beat up, no rips or tears, etc.  I kept myself to a budget of not paying $10 or more for any one Batman issue and $5 limit for the Detective issues.  A lot of shops and especially people on Ebay are often looking for $20 or more for some issues.  The only issues I was willing to go over $10 were Batman # 368 (1st Jason Todd as Robin), #386 (1st Black Mask) and #400 (double sized issue with tons of guest artists, last pre-Crisis issue).

    I've tracked down about 15-20 of the issues I wanted since January at various comic shops and through Ebay.  I managed to get #400 for $12 back in the spring when a shop was having a 40% off sale on back issues.  Last month, a shop in New Brunswick acquired a 2500 issue Batman collection and had every issue I was looking for.  I got 17 issues, filling almost all of the holes.  I passed on Batman 368 (they wanted $30 for it) and 386 ($50 for that one), as well as 373 (they only wanted $2 for it, but said it had "some water damage").  I've since picked up #368 and #386 on Ebay for $15 and $30, respectively.  $30 is the most I've ever spent on a back issue, but based on looking for it the last few years, getting it any cheaper seemed unlikely. So now I'm down to one issue out of Moench's 81 issues, Batman #373.

    I've also completed Len Wein's run (Batman 307-327) and Marv Wolfman's (Batman 328-335), which also are mostly uncollected.  I generally like both writers and they did some of their best work on Batman imo.  I'm now debating getting Gerry Conway's run (Batman 337-359 and Detective 501-526).  Conway was the first writer to start as story in Batman and continue it in Detective throughout his run, which Moench also did.  I'm not a fan of Conway in general, but I have heard some good things about his Batman work and if I get the issues I'll have a nice long uninterrupted run on both Batman titles.

  • Conway's Batman issues have good points and bad points. He portrayed Batman as driven, but to such an extent that he could be unlikeable. There were some good ongoing storylines. I don't know that he handled Batman's major foes particularly well. He bought back some forgotten old ones, and created new versions of a couple of Golden Age ones (Doctor Death and the Monk), and a couple of wholly new ones (Colonel Blimp, the Squid, Killer Croc). I can't recall how well he handled the strip's detection element. For much of the back-and-forth period the pencillers were Gene Colan and Don Newton. Newton was at the top of his game. Robin was bought back into the title during the run (Jason was introduced to replace him towards its end). The Monk story was a vampire tale that arguably wasn't appropriate for the series (it was partly written by Paul Levitz).

  • ...How did Conway use the term " Colonel Blimp " given British cartoonist David Low's character of the same name ?

      Did Conway have a Major Hoople or Casper Milquetoast or Winnie Winkle too ???
     
    Luke Blanchard said:

    Conway's Batman issues have good points and bad points. He portrayed Batman as driven, but to such an extent that he could be unlikeable. There were some good ongoing storylines. I don't know that he handled Batman's major foes particularly well. He bought back some forgotten old ones, and created new versions of a couple of Golden Age ones (Doctor Death and the Monk), and a couple of wholly new ones (Colonel Blimp, the Squid, Killer Croc). I can't recall how well he handled the strip's detection element. For much of the back-and-forth period the pencillers were Gene Colan and Don Newton. Newton was at the top of his game. Robin was bought back into the title during the run (Jason was introduced to replace him towards its end). The Monk story was a vampire tale that arguably wasn't appropriate for the series (it was partly written by Paul Levitz).

  • I have no doubt the name of the character was drawn from Low's, perhaps via the film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). The Batman villain committed robberies using a dirigible.

  • I collected lots of monthly issues when I first got back into comics. I was reading Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and The Flash mainly, and there were a limited number of collections. I got most of the issues cheaply from bargain bins, and started buying TPBs as soon as they became more available.

    Then when I started reading Vertigo I made a point of collecting all of the miniseries I could find, again mainly relying on bargain bins. This turned out to be a good idea, because many of the minis have still not been collected, despite Vertigo's aggressive TPB program. There were many Hellblazer issues uncollected (Vertigo and pre-Vertigo), and I finally decided to start collecting the back issues. I paid as much as $11 for a few of those issues, which of course is nothing compared to many Silver Age prices. I enjoyed the hunt at the time, although I wouldn't have the patience for it now (or the knee and back strength for rooting around in longboxes on the floor). I would cheerfully buy the collections that are finally coming out, but I tend to avoid buying things twice, and I've still got those monthly issues I hunted for.

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