DCBS

Well, today I received notification that DCBS has printed a label for a shipment to me via DHL. This is exciting news to me, since I haven't been reading most of my books this month. And to this point, I've been very happy with DCBS... but it all comes up to the point where goods haven't yet changed hands.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not afraid that it's a scam, or that something will go horribly, horribly wrong. But I have a deeply held belief that full judgement needs to be withheld until all parties have what they want. They've got my money... I'm just waiting to see my comics. Nothing's late or anything. I went with once a month shipping (more on that in a moment) and I did so knowing what I was going into. Once I've gotten my July comics, they'll get a full endorsement to anybody who reads my blog.

In the break in which I haven't been getting many new comics, however, I've been starting to hit the stack of unread books that's needed putting-away for months or longer. I've also been dipping into my own back-issues. As much as I like Dini's run on Detective, it's nice to slip into Greg Rucka's run on the title. I don't think there's any aspect of Detective Comics coming out of No Man's Land that I didn't like... the cop-story ambience, the expanded Gotham City PD, and the gorgeous two-toned artwork. It's great stuff, and I'm glad I have time to re-enjoy it.

Duplicate Issues

It happens to just about everybody who acquires enough comics to be considered a collection. Maybe you get a wire crossed in your head between what you want and what you already have. Or maybe you just buy a big box of comics off eBay that was part of an estate sale, and wind up with four copies of the first issue of James Robinson's The Golden Age.

Over time, you're almost destined to wind up with duplicate books... they take up space, and they don't really add anything to your collection. I've been wondering how to handle them for about a month now. Tonight I started giving it more thought. Most of these issues are not anything I paid any princely sum for, and I'm not looking for a lot in return. Really, I'd just want enough to cover postage and send the books on their way. Sadly, most of the sales options that leap to mind have fees bundled in, that make giving the books away problematic at best.

I mean, I've considered giving them away, and in some cases I've gone and done so. But I don't know if I have three friends who would want a copy of the first issue of The Golden Age. Anybody have any suggestions?

Best. News. Ever. (Today)

According to Newsarama, both Casanova and Last of the Independents are the targets of Hollywood movie deals. A big congratulations to Matt Fraction on his success! Here's hoping it won't make him too cool to attend HeroesCon in 2009!

The Bronze Age

As I've mentioned here or there, I don't have a large history with comics. I've only really been into comics for about seven years. As such, despite being old enough to have read some of the tail of the bronze age when I was little... I didn't.

That's not entirely true... I remember having comics, primarily Superboy comics when I was younger... but I never really read them.

But this year at HeroesCon, most of what I purchased came from a stand advertising bronze-age Marvel books for $1 apiece, or 11 for $10. I was a little unsure of what to get, not having much experience with that period, but I'd listened to Marv Wolfman's interview on Word Balloon a couple months ago, and decided to buy a big bunch of Tomb of Dracula. I'd looked into picking up some of it locally awhile ago, but found it to be a little more than I was willing to pay for single issues. (Of course the Omnibus' release is imminent.) I also picked up a smattering of the Fantastic Four, Captain Marvel about 11 issues of Thor and a couple spare Dr. Strange... and I haven't had a bad read yet!

I can see why these comics inspired Jim and Pierre to create Flashback Universe. And I can understand why Marvel wants to try to replicate that energy in Amazing Spider-Man. It's seriously some great stuff, and I'm going to have to see if I can't keep my eyes open for more.

In Honor of Independence Day

Here in the US, we just celebrated our Independence Day. (I celebrated mine by showing my dependence on my job, and working some overtime.)

As I was perusing some of the comics I've read in the past couple of weeks, I came across the page to the left. Comics fans familiar with the bronze age stuff from the 70's and early 80's will remember those wonderful Hostess cake full-page comic ads that populated both DC and Marvel featuring the likes of Green Arrow, Red Tornado, Spider-Man and The Hulk.

I don't recall seeing this particular page before, but I nearly burst a gut laughing. Hopefully clicking on the page should bring you to a full-size (readable) scan of the page.

Anybody reading the current Captain America series by Ed Brubaker should also get a particular laugh out of how his first story arc might have ended, had Cap been creative enough to employ cream-filled sponge cake!

Heroes Con 2008 - Post Con Report - Sketches - The Hulk!

I got one other sketch as HeroesCon drew to a close. As we left Ron Wilson's table, very happy with my new sketch of the Thing, the Official Comic Shelf Photographer observed a sign advertising "Lousy Full Color Sketches" by Jim Salicrup.

That's right, Jim Salicrup, writer of Spidey Super Stories.

Of course, I wasn't aware of that at the time. Like many, I'd heard about the Spidey Super Stories series courtesy of Chris Sims' Invincible Super-Blog. So while I wasn't entirely aware of the rare opportunity in front of me, I'm fortunate enough that Salicrup's name did stick in my head. So I stopped, and watched him sketch. He was even working in the rare medium of fruit-scented magic marker! Say what you want about most of the artists at the convention, I didn't smell fruit around any of them.

When he was done, I handed over my sketchbook, and the requested modest fee and was gifted with the masterpiece on this post. It still smells fruity.

I'll have more pictures from the convention in future posts!