Comics: Updating my collection

I've been using Comic Collector for a while now, and I thought you might be interested in the progress of my collection. Now that I'm done with the titles that are outside the mainstream of fanboy collecting (mainly, I mean the older Archie Comics, particularly the digests), I'm finding that entering comics is much faster. In other words, now that the info and covers are already there, I'm able to breeze through the data entry process.

Some of the comics I entered today.

In about two hours I entered almost 350 comics. Here's the highlights:


127 Defenders (vol. 1)
61 Fantastic Four (vol. 1)
50 Detective Comics (vol. 1)
30 E-Man (Modern Comics & First Comics)
25 Doctor Strange (vol. 2)
16 Batman (vol. 1)
15  Birds of Prey
11 Catwoman (vol 2)
335   TOTAL

One of the main reasons it took me so long was that I spent time rebagging some of the comics. I have a few bags that have gotten a weird texture over the past 20-30 years, so I'm replacing them. I suspect they were cheap bags. I'm also having to sort some of the comics in the newer boxes. The older ones were packed before I went to college, so they were done right. That is to say, everything is in ordered and already bagged.

Currently, Defenders is my largest
collection of a single title.

Today's cataloging efforts come from one of my older longboxes (The D-F Box) and about half a shortbox (mostly Batman titles from around the year 2000). The stuff I entered this day was a mixed bag. Obviously, most of what I entered were Defenders comics. I think this is probably all of them, although I thought I had a few Giant-Size Defenders lurking around. Unless I put them in the G box, though, I'm not sure where they are. I've got 127 out of the series that ran for 152 issues. Not bad. Now that I can pinpoint exactly what I need, I may go back and fill in those missing issues or upgrade a few that are missing covers.

The same is true for the Doctor Strange and E-Man comics. I would be very surprised if more of those turned up elsewhere in my collection. At least not from these particular series. For example, I know I've got more Doctor Strange comics from the "Midnight Sons" from around 2000. But those are in a different box right now, so I've not yet consolidated all of Stephen Strange's titles into a single location.

Doctor Strange #63, 1984

Speaking of the good sorcerer supreme, for some reason this cover by Carl Potts is one of my all-time favorite Doctor Strange. I can't really say why, other than I like the simple cleanliness of the design and the relatively understated coloring. I remember enjoying this particular series of comics and I have almost every issue from #48 - 72. It looks like I'm missing #67, but I find that unlikely. I suspect it will turn up in another box.

As for the other stuff I entered today, I can say that the Batman comics are definitely not exhaustive. I know I've got more lurking in other boxes, particularly my older Batmans from the 1970s and 1980s.

And that's just Batman proper -- I've yet to enter the various "Family" titles like Robin, Azrael, Shadow the Bat, Legend, etc. There's still half a short box behind me just waiting to be put into the system.


Collectorz.com Reports

Click on picture to see full-size.

I talked about the cool reports built into the Comic Collector software, and I'm still enjoying them. They satisfy my need for trivial information, like what is my largest series? Okay, I can probably guess that it will be Defenders (and I would be right), but what's in the number two and three spots? As you can see from this, two Archie titles hold those slots, with Knights of the Dinner Table coming in fourth.

This is, of course, just the way things shake down today. I still have thousands of comics to enter and I have no idea how things will shake down in the future.

If I had to guess, though, my money would be on Knights of the Dinner Table to be my largest single series. They've already published more than 180 issues and I'm still buying that title. Plus, I'm only missing about 10 (I think -- I'll know for sure when I get to that box).

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit back and read one of the "treasures" I found in today's box: Destroyer Duck #1. 

If you're interested in seeing my collection, you can see it here:

http://connect.collectorz.com/users/mmitchell/view

See you back here on Wednesday!