Suggestion Unboxed - My Comic Book Life's Education

Doug: Back in October we ran a post requesting ideas from our readers. We promised to run all of those suggestions at some point. While we've covered many of them, it's been a while since some of those thoughts graced our blog. Here's another one:

Martinex1: Discuss examples when comics taught you something that school and life didn't...

A Simple Question About Your Comic Book Collection

Doug: At the height of your comics possessing, how large was your collection? You can estimate the number of books you had in gross numbers, number of longboxes, etc. And if you want to talk about periphery goods, that would be nice as well.

True or False: I Am a Completist

Doug: You may consider just about anything that afflicts you in your obsession... or maybe you're not smitten that way.

True or False: I Am a Completist

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Guest Strip - Let's Jump Into a Good Book!

Doug: He's back! Telling a tale as only he can, your host du jour is PF Gavigan!

Time in a Bottle -- a Comic Covers Genre

Doug: Last Monday's reviews of the JLA/JSA/All-Star Squadron crossover comics has me thinking about covers with hourglasses on them! Commenter Frank drew a direct comparison between the covers of All-Star Squadron #14 and Avengers #79 -- bravo, Frank! I dug up another few covers for you to chew on, and because I'm guessing this won't be a huge list, let's expand it to covers with timepieces in general -- calendars, watches, stopwatches, grandfather clocks, et al. Don't be late with your suggestions...

 

The Spinner Rack - a Variation on a Theme

Doug: No month and year for you today, kids. Nope -- I have something else in mind. Today's a tell-all from you to the rest of the BAB community. Our fun this time around is going to be in telling of those books that you recall obtaining at a specific time and place. I'm sure many of us know that we used to get a stack of comics in a cardboard box shipped from a place like Westfield Comics and brought to us by the UPS man. Others among us (looking at you, HB) used to subscribe to a few titles and eagerly awaited the mailman's arrival after a certain amount of time had passed. And that's cool - we've all been there. Let me show you what I'm after --

Purchased for me by my Aunt Mary while at the Old Chicago indoor amusement park.

Purchased by my summer sitter, my mom's cousin, at Southside Drugs in Kankakee, IL

Purchased by me after my mom drove me all over town looking for it. Bought it at Mickey's Books and Novelties (yup - those kinds of "books and novelties". Hey, I was 11; I didn't see anything other than the spinner rack! I swear...)

Comic Book Cliches and Annoying Phrases

Doug: I took a few hours to myself Tuesday as school is set to resume Monday -- actually, I've been in meetings off and on since Wednesday a week ago. I just felt like I needed to recharge with a little comics reading. I started off with Amazing Spider-Man #s 116-118 for no other reason that I'd never read them before. Pretty random selection. I was actually surprised to see that those three issues were a re-working of The Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (1968), the black and white magazine that is perhaps better known for its second and final issue. In ASM #116 Spidey is attacked by a ten-foot monster of a man who calls himself the Smasher. In the course of the brouhaha, Spidey uttered a phrase that sent a chill down my spine. And not because it made me nervous. It was due to the cliched nature of the line that I about couldn't stand it. It was... "No one that big can be so fast!" Of course, that reminded me of it's close cousin, uttered by the lovely Janet Pym, "I've never seen anyone move that fast!"

Doug: In both cases our speakers had spent a fair amount of time around Quicksilver, not to mention other characters who could bring it pretty good. So in each of these situations, I'm not buying it. So today your charge is to come up with more examples of the sort of hyperbole of which I write, but also to mention those annoying catchphrases uttered by our favorite heroes, heroines, and super-baddies. Merciful Minerva, let's get this rolling!

Would You Rather...? Fill-ins

Doug: So I lied. I think in our inaugural post last Tuesday, I made a comment that we'd be doing this again next week. And we will... But darned if I didn't get into a lengthy exchange on Twitter last night that was just too good not to bring over here for further discussion.

If you follow us on Twitter (@bronzeagebabies), you know I regularly tweet not only publicity for the day's post but also art samples from the classic art teams we often discuss. Well, in readying a Spinner Rack post for upcoming publication I came across the comic you see pictured below. I thought it would make for a fun tweet, so I copy/pasted the cover into a tweet that said, "Raise your hand if your enjoyment of the "Serpent Crown" series was crushed by this 2-parter of Dreaded Deadline Doom". One of our regular readers, Horace Austin, replied shortly with the tweet, "Raises hand". And off we went, into a conversation among five comics fans. As those things do, we twisted and turned through several topics. But the gem of the conversation was a link provided by @CubReporterK (K31th Callbeck) that jumped us over to the message boards hosted by Tales of Wonder.com's Marvel Masterworks Resource Page (linked at the top of this page). I'd encourage you at some point this weekend to check out that thread, because it's a lot of fun.

But, you recall that you have obligations here, right? Of course you do. Here's our discussion prompt --

Would you rather have waited for a delayed comic, or been given a fill-in issue?

Inaugural Post - Would You Rather...?

Doug: As we do around here from time to time, we'll throw something up against the wall and see if it sticks. The conversation prompt we're going to test drive is a play on that wonderful teenage game "Would you rather...?" For example, as I was searching for some images to use in the logo to the right, I came across one meme that queried, "Would you rather lick the pole on the subway or would you rather let five people on the subway kiss you?" Man... talk about a choiceless choice!

Doug: We'll take it just a bit easier on you here on the BAB. Today I'm going to ask you about two of the most famous, most valuable, and most significant comics of the Bronze Age. Now some of you may have had (or have) both of them, so you'll have to find your way into the conversation through your own experiences and perceptions. But considering the hobby of collecting, of monetary value, and of cultural significance, today we want to know --

Would you rather own Incredible Hulk #181 or Giant-Size X-Men #1?

Now How In the World Did That Happen?

Doug: Today we're talking about those head-scratchers in the condition of your comic books. Defects, accidents, mishaps, even odd marks that you have no idea how they occurred. These can be books you have owned or seen. The troubles in question may even have been caused by you.

Doug: So why this topic? As has been well-documented, I've been selling my comic collection for the past 11 months via eBay. I've made a serious dent in it, having emptied five longboxes with a sixth knocking on the door. I've told our readers that there have been some victories along the way, but for most of my books I'm seeing revenues in the area of 30% to 33% of the prices in the latest Overstreet Guide. Many of the books I'm selling were purchased at retail by me, but several hundred were bought as back issues. What I've found is that in many cases those books are still in the bags in which I brought them home -- price stickers, dealer grades and all.

Doug: Which brings us to today's exhibit. Pictured below is my copy of Marvel Feature #11, which ended last night (and is no longer my copy). Here's the description I included with the listing, and I'll stop writing now -- once you read it and inspect the book's cover, I think you'll be able to fully discuss the question at the top of this post: Now how in the world did that (hole in the cover) happen?

Up for bid is a good looking copy of Marvel Feature #11, the first try-out issue for what eventually become Marvel Two-In-One.. I am no professional grader, so please consult the scans when choosing to bid. 

11  I am not going to put a grade on this one. I so wanted to say "high grade" in the listing, because when you first look at this comic's front and back covers, you'll say "wow..." However, if you check the front cover scan you'll see my reservation (and it's a big one if you're a serious collector). Notice the white call-out arrow near the Hulk corner box -- you can see a hole (yup - an actual hole) in the cover at the top of the arrow. And at the bottom of the arrow is a mark that looks like it wanted to become a hole, too! It's not pushed through, but is a noticeable blemish nonetheless. So that being said, I think you'd agree that the rest of the book would grade VF. But I can't get past the obvious defects on the front cover. Interior pages look great with sharp corners and off-white brightness.