Comics: Dark Confessions of a Comic Book Collector

When you look at the numbers, it doesn't look good. I've got about 10,000 comic books, digests and magazines. Not a bad horde, actually, stuffed into about 22 long boxes and about a dozen short boxes. When you consider that some of these were purchased at the newsstand (okay, convenience store -- I grew up mostly in the suburbs and not down the street from Freddy Freeman's newsstand in Fawcett City) as far back as the mid 1970s, that's probably not all that many.

Or maybe it is.  It's all a matter of perspective. Let's see...
Persective from a Wife / Mom / NASCAR fan: "How much money did you waste on those things? Are they worth anything now?"
Perspective from a Fanboy over 40: "You've only got 10,000? That's not bad... I had that many back in 1992... To bad the market crashed on 'em."
Perspective from a Fanboy Under 30: "You've got 10,000? Cool! Do you have any of that old school stuff like New X-Men or before Spider-Man #300?"

I've got some cool stuff in there (yes, I've got the obligatory 1980s books like Frank Miller's Daredevil, some early New X-Men, Wolfman & Perez's tenure on Teen Titans, and so on). But I've also got some stuff that most people would puzzle the average fanboy and fangirl. No, I'm not talking about the embarrassment that was Team America, or Stan Lee's "New Universe" debacle. (And by the way, this team has NOTHING to do with the awesome film, Team America: World Police by the South Park dudes.) No, this isn't embarrassing stuff, it's just stuff I like that's a bit outside the norm for most collectors of my age.

Things like funny animals, Archie (I still subscribe to a few titles which I will discuss in future blogs), Ren & Stimpy, and ALF. Yes, the comic book devoted to the irascible Alien Life Form that starred in his own titular TV travesty. Okay, ALF wasn't that bad, it's just I can't resist a good alliteration when I get the chance.Over the years I've collected more than a long box full of odd titles like ALF, Ren & Stimpy, James Bond Jr. (no kidding, I found JBJ #1 neatly bagged in that aforementioned long box), and even Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book.

Yup. Got a whole box of this stuff... which leads me to my a confession of one of my darkest secrets. You see... the fact is, I've got a lot of these odd comics. So many so that it's cost-prohibitive to board and bag them all. Good bags ain't cheap. Oh, they're not overly expensive (even in today's economy). But the truth is, with thousands of comics, I just can't afford it. So, I do something dark and loathsome... I double-bag some of my comics.

I'll wait while your collective gasps travels the world via cyberspace. I know, some of you have just spewed your Super Big Gulp all over the screen. Others may have accidentally dropped a puppy or shrieked in horror. I only pray that no one was driving while reading this on their smart phone and crashed into a bus-load of nuns (I often wonder why so many nuns travel via bus... I always picture it as some sort of scene out of Where Angles Go, Trouble Follows).

Even though this particular clip has nothing to do with nuns in buses, you can watch the theme song clip from Where Angles Go... while you recover (think of this as a "Family Guy" cutaway gag).

We now return you to your regularly scheduled confession of a dark secret. Yes, I said the unthinkable: I double-bag some of my comics. That is to say, I take a perfection good bag and board and put two books in the same bag! Yes, that's right, I grab all that pulp goodness and I just stuff it in there. I said it and I don't care who knows it.

Go ahead, write to me and tell me how the back of the board isn't 100% acid free and that, over time the book will become damaged. Go ahead, and I will laugh in the face of your superior knowledge! Yes, laugh and scoff. Because, you see, I know the risks. I know that -- at some point in the distant future -- the cruel hands of time shall pass forward on the clock of eternity and these books might be less than perfect.  I know, and I don't care.


You see... it's an ALF comic. I seriously doubt it will ever be popular enough to sell for the big bucks it will take to save the family farm (okay, not my family's farm, but someone else's). I enjoyed it when I read it (and even reread an issue recently for the awesomely funny X-Men parody) and I want to reasonably protect it from moisture and marauding kitties (I'll tell you about that particular danger some other time), but I'm not going to pay 15 cents or more to protect each and every single copy. I'm just not going to do it. So, I got the larger Silver Age bags and fit 14 issues into three bags. They're snug, but they actually fit quite nicely. I could probably get two more issues into the set if I had do.

Yes, you heard me right. I got 14 comics into three bags. That means I'm not just a double-bagger, but a multi-bagger.  Bawah hah hah. Again, I know not the meaning of the word "contrition."

All kidding aside, I've had many of these comics in storage since the mid 1980s. In fact, the bulk of my horde has been in storage for 12+ years, and to be honest, they look fine. The bags have not significantly degraded. They are still firm and clear without any oil residue. Likewise, almost all the backing boards are crisp and clean with no image transfer on the backside. In short, multi-bagging these comics has not harmed them.

There are a few exceptions, though. I did find a few books where the bags were feeling weird and oily. These were from before 1982 and they have a soft, matte feel to them (if you know what I mean). These were very old bags, and in the past 30+years, even in storage in a dark box in a climate controlled storage facility, they obviously degraded some. The comic inside feels okay (no staining or discoloration of the cover or the interior pages where they touch the plastic on the outer edges).

Those are the bags I've replaced. I'm hoping the new-and improved plastics will last more than 30 years. After that, it may not be my problem any more. By that time, they'll probably be looking to preserve ME in a mylar bag!

Comic Talk returns on Wed. with a discussion of bags and boards
Check back on Friday for a rant about why I hate buying groceries at night!

Netflix Friday: The Last Lovecraft, Relic of Cthulhu

I caught a cool movie on Netflix the other night while I was browsing around in the various genre categories. I was in the mood to chill out and wanted to see something that I had not seen before. I definitely found it in The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu.

Here's the plot from :IMDB: Jeff is an ordinary guy that is stuck at a dead end job with a boring life, but when a strange old man gives him an Ancient relic and tells him that he is the last bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft, He and his friend Charlie embark on an adventure to protect the relic piece from falling into the hands of the Starspawn and his minions that wish to reunite the relic and release Cthulhu back into the world.  Or, to put it another way (in my own words), an ancient cult is trying to resurrect Cthulhu and a secret society is trying to stop them. It turns out that H.P. Lovecraft was an adventurer who discovered the truth about these evil creatures and he wrote his stories to get the info out there, but disguised it as fiction so only select people would be aware of it. Lovecraft, by the way, was immune to Cthulhu's psychic powers, and that immunity has been passed down through his bloodline. The Last Lovecraft: Relic of Cthulhu is available as a streaming download via Netflix, or you can buy it from amazon.com.

This is a very low-budget movie with a few really good things going for it. First and foremost, it's got Cthulhu. I mean, who doesn't love seeing the one of the Great Old Ones in a movie every now and then (and please, if you play Call of Cthulhu and want to correct me on some minor point about how he's technically part of the Great Old Ones, then you are possibly too geeky even for me to hang out with). Secondly, the title sequence is actually top-notch. It uses comic book style art and really does a great job of capturing the feel of the material, while looking pretty darn cool while doing it.

Okay, the acting isn't the best on the planet, and some of the make up is a bit... well, "Sci-Fi Channel" if you know what I mean. Oh, wait. I'm sorry... I meant "SyFy" (I still think that sounds more like a disease than a cable channel, but what the heck. They can mention my anger about that and the demotion of Pluto from planetary status on my tombstone.). Yup, the effects are a bit weak and the make up is a bit cheesy, but that really doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the film. In fact, a beer in hand on a Friday night will often find me seeking out the cheesiest movie I can find... and this definitely fits the bill.

I think, for me, one of the funniest things about this movie  is the absurdity of the plot, and how it would look if Gamers really had to save the world. In short, this is not about butch guys with mondo combat skills trying to save the day, it's basically about a guy who works in a crummy office and his jerk of a roommate finding out that Cthulhu and all that crazy stuff is real, so they hunt down the biggest geek they knew in high school so he can tell them how to defeat The Great Old Ones. With the bad guys on their trail, they wind up on a really bad road trip into the desert to find the only one who ever fought Cthulhu and lived... Captain Olaf. The good Cap'n lives in the desert, you see, because he wanted to get as far away from the Deep Ones and Cthulhu as possible.

This movie is definitely a gamer's delight because of the comic book references (flashback stories are told as animated comic book sequences), ridiculous geeky behavior (a guy wears a Cthulhu mask and he actually has a "Mastercraft Quality copy of the relic mentioned in the title of the movie). And combat skills? Forget it. These guys are in the physical condition of many standard gamers: too skinny or too fat. When geeky Paul runs from the cultists to draw them away from Charlie and Jeff (the latter being the titular "Last Lovecraft"), he actually calls for a time-out as he doubles over gasping for breath from his 100-yard dash. A bit cruel to gamer/fanboys? Possibly... but all too true.

Enjoy the OFFICIAL TRAILER here.

Out of five stars I it give ***1/2
SUMMARY: If you enjoy humorous sci-fi with a hint of horror (there is some gore and rough language, so don't show this to the kiddies until after you've watched it through yourself). If you don't come in expecting a brooding, dark movie, you will probably enjoy this. It's a fanboy fiesta of phantasmagorical proportions for those who like fun, frivolity, and aren't afraid that Cthulhu will devour their sanity.

Comics Talk is continued on Mon. & Wed. >>
Check in Friday for my Media Review or one of my Rants.

Comics: So, you've got 10,000 comic books... now what?

I guess these are the spoils of my youth. Boxes and boxes of four-color adventures ranging from the incredible to the sublime, from the ridiculous to the Pulitzer Prize winning (yup, a comic book has won the Pulitzer Prize... look it up -- that's what google is for, y'know!). All stuffed into about 22 long boxes and 10 short boxes.

If you're not sure what I mean by "long box or shot box," then your life is probably geek-free. Long boxes are about 28-inches long and hold a standard modern comic book: L 27.25 X W 7.5 X H 10.8. I get single boxes from my local comic book shop, Bedrock City Comics in NW Houston. And I buy my bulk boxes from Bags Unlimited. These are the standards for comic storage. The good ones are made of white, acid-free card board and they are have handles cut in them so you can lug them around. Some of the newer ones even have pull-out drawers built in so you don't have to stack/unstack them to get at your stash. These are cool, but I decided it was not worth the expense because I would need to replace older boxes to make them work because I would have to replace a lot of my old boxes that are still perfectly good, even though some of them were purchased before 1984.

Here's a picture of a short box from the Bags Unlimited Web site. What's really cool (to me, anyway) is that even though I didn't take this picture, I actually have all three of the comics they show here. Wonder Woman #300, Action Comics #500, and Marvel Tails #53). I wouldn't call it a nerdgasm, but it's still pretty darn cool to see them in this photo.

Comics Talk is continued on Mon.
Check in Friday for Netflix Friday!

Comics: I was a teen-age comic book collector... and still am (a collector, anyway)

When I got married 12+ years ago, I was renting a house and my wife owned one, so we moved into my her place. At the time it was too small for all of my furniture, books and other stuff, so it went into storage. About two years ago I got a letter from the storage place announcing a price hike... and that got me thinking.

My stuff had been in storage for 10 years. It started out at $40 a month and was now going to hit $65 a month. Even if you go with an average of $50 a month for 10 years, that comes out to more than $6,000!

Since we now live in a bigger house, I decided it was time to bring it all home. I hired two guys for about $120 and they brought it all home: dozens of boxes of books, some furniture, and of course... thousands of comic books.

I've been an avid comic book reader since I was a kid, and a collector since my teens. I've got comics dating all the way back to 1939 through the present (although I don't buy as many as I used to, and even then it's not the stuff you'd expect). Most of the collection ranges from the late 1970s through the 1990s, with the bulk of it falling in my collect years from the mid 1980s.

Now, when I say I've got a lot of comics, people always ask, "How many?" The honest answer is, "I don't know." That seems silly, and yes, I can guess, but I really can't say for sure. I can say, at last count, I had 22 long boxes and about 12 short boxes. Most of these are jam packed with comics, but not all. Some of them have old paperbacks in them to act as "spacers," others have miscellaneous stuff and even empty boxes to make room for future additions. About half of them are bagged properly.

So, how many do I have? Let's do the math:
Long boxes hold about 300 comics. Short boxes hold about 180.
(NOTE: These are very subjective numbers. There's a good discussion of it here at the Marvel Comics Web site)

22 x 300 = 6,600

12 x 180 = 2,160

Possible total: 8,760

This doesn't include about 500 comics digests and a few hundred magazine-size comics. So, all in all, I've probably got about 10,000 comics in the house. Now, of course, that leave me with the question of what to do with them.

I mean, I could just leave them in boxes, or try to sell them, or (heaven forbid) actually reread them... But I guess the first thing I need to do is figure out what I've got, how much of it I want to keep, and figure out a way to winnow down the collection into something manageable.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to talk about this journey. I'm going to talk about the specifics of my collection (how I'm sorting it, how I'm cataloging it, storing it, protecting it, possibly monetizing it) and I'm also going to talk about the general issues involved with any type of collecting. Along the way I'm going to hit some of the physical, practical, financial and emotional issues that come with having a lot of stuff.

Comic Talk continues on Mon & Wed..
Come back on Friday for Netflix Friday!

Movies: Left behind by the 3D movie craze...

I'm not normally this crabby, so please bear with me and I ask forgiveness in advance, but...

If you don't regularly go to movie theaters, please don't comment. I really don't give a *bleep* that you haven't been to a theater in x number of years because [insert incident] *bleep*ed you off back when [insert US President] was in office and [insert dinosaur name] ruled the earth. To be honest, I just don't care right now. So, you don't like movie theaters. Then don't go.

Now, don't go thinking that I don't have sympathy for you. I hate going to "normal" movie theaters, too. There are almost too damn many kids running around unsupervised or filled with idiots who mess with their cell phones or talk too loud. And I don't care for their high-fat popcorn, either.

However, I do enjoy going to a nice "movie pub" theater (Movie Tavern, Alamo Draft House and Studio Movie Grill). The big screen, good food, maybe a beer if I'm in the mood for one. I was planning to go today. My work load was light, I've got the time, the money, and THOR opened today. I've really been looking forward to this movie. All in all, a perfect situation to have a nice trip to the movies and kick off the weekend...

Except that, each and every movie pub within 30 miles (and there are SIX of 'em ) are only showing THOR in 3D.

There's just one problem: I can't see 3D.

My left eye has been legally blind since I was 5 years old.

I can see some light and color and it registers movement (so it does help with peripheral vision), but I cannot see 3D the way you do. I can't use a View Master, a Stereopticon, or any sort of 3D movie. I tried on the glasses once (over my real glasses) and looked at a screen. All I saw was a fuzzy picture through my double-stacked glasses.

So, what are my options? Go to a theater I don't like? Wait until it comes out on DVD? Ignore the movie forever? I did send an email to Movie Tavern about this (no reply, yet)... in the meantime, I sit here, working on a Friday night, listening to and old "Counting Crows" CD.  Yes... a CD (although I like MP3s, sometimes I still rock it "old school").

So here I sit... not watching a movie I was really looking forward to seeing. And now I'm also dreading the release of other movies that I had been anticipating: Captain America, Green Lantern, and the final Harry Potter movie. Will I be able to go to them? Or, as everyone embraces this new wave of technology, do I just sit here and let it pass me by?

Computers: Taming the octopus

There is a significant gap of space between my desk and the table that holds my four printers (yes, I actually use three of them on a regular basis, and keep the fourth for printing CD/DVD labels). Also, the cable TV connections are on that wall, so needless to say, i have a big mess of cables in the corner of the room.

Today I actually decided to at least tuck them along the baseboards (not tack them there, just shove them over). I was a little surprised to find that I had five unnecessary cables in all that mess: Network, phone, USB, an unused power cord, etc.

I'm amazed now that there's actually carpet under all that mess! It's still not clean, but at least it's tidy.

I feel empowered now to tackle the comic books and magazines that have exploded all through my guest room (I've been unpacking, sorting, and rearranging in there and ran out of steam about halfway through the project).

I'm also going to finally address my networking and printer sharing issues.

Huzzah!

D&D: I wonder... do I have any great adventures left before me?

The cat was raising a ruckus in the other room down the hall, so I went in to investigate. Miss Kitka was up to an unusual shenanigan (at least for her) and was knocking over a stack of DVDs, which had fallen on her water dish, which had splashed the side of a box full of magazines.

It was one of those white boxes you get at comic shops in which to store oversize comics and magazines. Naturally, I opened it to make sure it wasn't wet enough to seep through and damage anything inside the box. This particular box was a mishmash of things: Comics, gaming magazines, graphic novels, old MAD Magazines, Doctor Who Magazines, etc. And a few oddities, including some of my old game journals, nestled right up against my copy of Snarf Quest.

I'm a prolific note taker when it comes to gaming. Back in the day, I was lucky enough to play in campaigns that ran for years. Every Saturday, like clockwork, I'd be over at Murphy's house or at his barracks in the day room, slinging dice and slaying monsters.

Those were some of the heydays of my gaming life. I was working, married, then returned to school, and was having a blast. Then I looked at the date and realized that those adventures were from 1994!  That was 16 years ago!

Wow. The time has flown. Yes, I've gamed since those days... and had some great times (both with Gutshot and with other games). But I don't wax nostalgic for them. When I think of my other games, I remember the friends and a few exciting highlights (perhaps that's because I was GMing in those later games, not running a character).  Whatever the reason, when I look through these old notes and mementos, I feel like an old adventurer -- who has long since settled down -- and is going through one of his old trunks only to find a haversack with some of his old gear, tucked away... mostly forgotten.

Most of it came rushing back when I read the pages: The epic details of the haunted island, our role in the war to the south, but it was the little things that I recall best: (the cold camps, the bandits we fought on the road and executed,the widow whose solider son had come back from the war and we used our healing gifts to save his life in exchange for a warm barn to sleep in, and the nightmare when we washed up on the shore of that haunted island, only to realize that one of my bottles of whiskey didn't make it). It's all there, like a forgotten life. Parts of it were crystal clear (Lena, Airth and Rikus), but for the life of me, It took me a moment to remember who Dargon was. It came back to me, but it took longer than it should have.

Maybe it's the beer that's made me a little wistful tonight, but this journey down the pathless trail of my past heroic adventures in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons made me wonder, do I have any great adventures left before me? Will I ever again sit at a table, dice in hand, ready to go in search of the unknown? Are there any giants left to kill, or ghosts to quiet? Or have do my best days of gaming lie behind me now?

And what about you, fellow dice slingers? Are there any dragons left in your future, or are you like me, a tired ex-adventurer sitting on a backside that's broader than it used to be, sipping a brew and thinking of his gaming glory days?