I've been fascinated by comics since the first time I picked one up, sometime in the mid 70's. Though my collection has expanded and contracted over the years, and I don't think I own a single comic from when I was a kid (or at least not the exact same copy of that issue). I sold almost all of them off over the years. At one point, I think I had a loose pile of about 35 comics, down from about 2500 five years before that. Well, that was the low point. Then I discovered Ebay....
I started off selling completely different things like board games and books, but after selling a few of my paltry bundle of comics online for more than I expected, I quickly realized that there was so much I didn't know about comics that I thought I knew. Thanks to a lot of research (Ebay, Wikipedia) and a lot of discussions with a certain friend (who shall remain nameless at this point), I learned as much as humanly possible about comics in as little time as possible. You could say I re-discovered the romance... Armed with knowledge, determination and an undying fascination with, and need to buy more comics, my pile grew to a stack. Then a boxfull. Then a crate. Then an official long box. Then two, then three, four.....and so on. I have a TON of Bronze Age (70's & 80's) stuff, and a sizeable collection of Silver Age (60's) comics as well. Now that my collection has fully recovered from its near-death experience, it's stronger than ever! And I'm going to share it with the world!!! Or at least Winnipeg, this Halloween weekend. Look for our table at C4. We are, of course, Rebel Alliance Canada.
Here's a few of the many Siver Age gems that'll be up for grabs at the con this year:
Justice League of America # 53
D.C. comics have never been my favorite - I've always been more of a Marvel Comics guy - but I've always had some interest in JLA. This series started in the 60's (note the 12c cover price), bringing together Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and a bunch of other superheroes, most of which each had their own comic book titles. I don't think anyone could ever possibly collect all of the DC superhero books, so it's cool that one can get a little mini dose of all these different do-gooders in one comic. Personally, I prefer the Avengers, but every once in a while it's nice to peek over the fence at what the other guys were doing at the time... Justice League is a one of the better DC comics from the 60's.
This particular copy is in SA-WEET condition; around a VF+ (8.5) if you go by the official grading scale. Not bad at all for something that's over 40 years old.
Fantastic Four # 72
This is a prime example of why I prefer Marvel Comics over DC. Look at the JLA cover above and compare it to the cover of this one.....g'wan....take a good look. Now, I'm a big fan of cheesy stuff (huge Godzilla fan BTW), but come on.... the Silver Surfer soaring through the cosmos totally blows away Batman fumbling and stumbling over his own utility belt. The art is by the legendary Jack "King" Kirby, with another unforgettable storyline by none other than Stan "the Man" Lee. This issue of FF (Fantastic Four, for the layman) is worth more than a few bucks, and I'm almost hoping I don't sell it, because it's so awesome...
It's not in as nice condition as the JLA issue above, but it's a beautiful, solid mid-grade comic, a FN/VF (7.0) in my opinion. Like I said, it's going to be tough to part with this baby.
Journey into Mystery # 114For those of you that don't know, the Mighty Thor got his start in a comic called Journey into Mystery (#83), which was mostly full of horror and sci-fi stories before he came along. The comic later became simply The Mighty Thor in issue #126, long after he became a success and it was pretty clear they weren't going to do any other kind of story again. I won't bore you with the details of his career, but he's now at over 600 issues and still going strong. There's a Thor movie coming out in 2011, so his popularity is gaining even more momentum as we speak. I have a lot of Thor comics for sale, ranging from Silver to Modern Age, and although most of them are in better condition, I thought it'd be good to feature this one since it's one of the earliest that I own and also happens to be a key issue, containing the first appearance and origin of the Absorbing Man, one of Thor's coolest enemies. The condition of this comic is about VG- (3.5), so it's pretty much a good reading copy. Still, it's a great old comic that's not going to cost you like a bjillion dollars (although it would if it were NM).
Okay, I guess that's enough of a sample of the goods for now. I was looking to blab about comics for awhile, and there it is. I'll also be selling action figures and other toys, games and collectibles, as well as a selection of my own photographs, mounted and ready to hang.
Once again, hope to see you at the convention! I'll be reminding you periodically......
May the Force be with you...
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