Sunday, April 30, 2006

The Comic Hunt Continues or Two Post in a Row??? WTF?

Hi

Yesterday I posted about how I would begin searching for Wizard's "100 Best Single Issues Since You Were Born" list. What I failed to mention was that I already had 17 of them in either single or trade paperback form and that yesterday I picked up 14 more of the 100 at The Comic Shop, bringing the total to 31. Consider that a reconnaiscance mission. There were a few I wasn't sure of the volume, so today I brought the Wizard issue and checked off 3 more.

I wasn't about to stop there though, no siree. I then ventured downtown to Golden Age Collectables and scoured their back issue bins. There I discovered 10 gems, sure to give me minutes of entertainment. Then it was to my comic shop, Elfsar. I say "my" because it's where I regularly buy my monthly titles. I didn't expect to find much though as they focus on more current stuff and trade paperbacks. Be that as it may, I found 3 comics there from the list and got a bunch more goodies besides.

As I left for home I realized I had forgotten about another comic shop in the downtown area! Namely ABC Book & Comic Emporium. First off, gotta love the use of the ampersand in the store name and second, it's an emporium and that just sounds cool. As Doug would say, this is where you get "bargain basement" comics. It has a very flea-markety feel too it, but that's ok because they have a TON of comics in the basement and all the back issues are always 50% off. So in this instance, they truely are bargain basement comics. I should have went here first instead of last and saved myself a bit of bling, but c'est la vie. Here I found an even dozen comics and now have more than half of the 100.

Actually I now have 59 + - 7.7 for poisson statistics. There are a few on the list that I may have back in Prince Edward Island and had before I sold them to Mark (grumble grumble). So after getting 42 comics over 4 comic shops and dropping $200 + , I think I'll take a break from the hunt for a while to let my wallet recover. I don't plan to get all of them as single issues. The Sandman ones in particular I'll get in trade paperback form. Anyhoo here's the list and the ones I have so far:

Ranking Name of Comic Year Published Owned Prior to Article Owned After Article Date Purchased
1 Top 10 #8 2000 X 30-Apr-06
2 Sandman #8 1989
3 Batman: The Killing Joke 1998 X
4 Superman Annual #11 1985 X
5 Ultimate Spider-man #13 2001 X
6 Astro City #1/2 1998
7 Saga of the Swamp Thing #21 1984 X
8 Ultimate Spider-man #28 2002 X
9 Batman: Gotham by Gaslight 1989 X 30-Apr-06
10 Daredevil Vol. 1 #191 1983 X 30-Apr-06
11 100 Bullets #27 2001
12 Superman Vol. 2 #9 1987 X 30-Apr-06
13 Planetary #3 1999 X 30-Apr-06
14 Starman #11 1995 X 30-Apr-06
15 Uncanny X-men #159 1982 X 29-Apr-06
16 Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1 #239 1983
17 Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #245 1982 X 30-Apr-06
18 Justice League #1 1987
19 Spider-man Vs. Wolverine 1987 X
20 Planetary #13 2001
21 Action Comics #775 2001 X
22 The Flash Vol. 2 #182 2002
23 Ultimate Spider-man Annual #1 2005
24 Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #341 1988
25 Batman: Holy Terror 1991 X 30-Apr-06
26 Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #420 1994
27 Preacher #18 1996 X
28 Batman #424 1988
29 Green Lantern #188 1985 X
30 Avengers Vol. 1 #189 1979
31 Spider-man: Tangled Web #4 2001
32 Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #340 1988 X
33 Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography 1989
34 Birds of Prey #8 1999
35 Omega Men #26 1985 X 29-Apr-06
36 Amazing Spider-man Annual #15 1981
37 Fables: The Last Castle 2003 X
38 The Spectre #5 1993
39 Captain America Vol. 4 #7 2005 X 30-Apr-06
40 X-Factor #87 1993 X 29-Apr-06
41 Iron Man Vol. 1 #128 1979
42 New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #38 1984 X 30-Apr-06
43 Hero #11 2004 X 29-Apr-06
44 G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Vol. 1 #21 1984
45 Sandman #18 1990
46 Hitman #34 1999
47 Flinch #1 1999 X 29-Apr-06
48 What If…? Vol. 2 #4 1989
49 Ghost Rider Annual Vol. 2 #2 1994
50 Iron Man Vol. 1 #237 1988 29-Apr-06
51 Classic X-men #25 1988
52 100 Bullets #11 2000 X 29-Apr-06
53 Hellblazer #63 1993 X 30-Apr-06
54 Secret Origins Special #1 1989
55 Legion of Super Heroes Vol. 2 #13 1985 X 30-Apr-06
56 Animal Man #7 1989 X 30-Apr-06
57 Dark Horse Presents #1 1986 X 30-Apr-06
58 Doctor Strange Vol. 2 #56 1982 X 30-Apr-06
59 The Thing #2 1983 X 30-Apr-06
60 Sandman #50 1993
61 Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #393 1992 X 30-Apr-06
62 Batman Black & White #1 1996
63 Avengers Vol. 1 #217 1982 X 30-Apr-06
64 Sandman #40 1992
65 Avengers Annual #10 1981 X 30-Apr-06
66 Adventure Comics #466 1979
67 Nightwing #25 1998
68 Batman: Gotham Knights #8 2000
69 Sandman #17 1990
70 Planetary/Batman 2003
71 New Teen Titans Vol. 1 #20 1982 X 30-Apr-06
72 Preacher: Tall in the Saddle 2000 X
73 Justice League Annual #1 1987 X 29-Apr-06
74 Batman Black & White #4 1996
75 American Century #9 2002
76 Batman Adventures Annual #1 1994
77 Web of Spider-man #1 1985
78 Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #3 1998 X 30-Apr-06
79 Astro City #1 1995 X
80 Preacher #50 1999 X
81 Legion of Super Heroes Vol. 1 #296 1983 X 29-Apr-06
82 Adventures of Superman #474 1991 X 30-Apr-06
83 Conan #100 1979 X 30-Apr-06
84 Amazing Spider-man Vol. 1 #248 1984 X
85 Robin #46 1997 X 29-Apr-06
86 Tales of the New Teen Titans #1: Cyborg 1982 X 30-Apr-06
87 Fantastic Four Vol. 3 #60 2002 X 29-Apr-06
88 Semper Fi #1 1988
89 Preacher: Cassidy 1998 X
90 Batman: Devil's Asylum 1995 X 29-Apr-06
91 Exiles #16 2002 X 30-Apr-06
92 Legion of Super Heroes Vol. 2 Annual #1 1985 X 30-Apr-06
93 Hitman #22 1998 X 30-Apr-06
94 Demo #3 2004
95 Animal Man #15 1989 X
96 Legion of Super Heroes Vol. 5 #3 2005 X 30-Apr-06
97 Uncanny X-men #268 1990 X 29-Apr-06
98 Punisher #10 1988
99 Alias #10 2002
100 Ghost Rider #68 1982 X 29-Apr-06

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Holy $#%!, A New Post!!

Hello,

I apologize for my lack of posting in the last few months. But today marks my triumphant return to the Blogosphere! What was the catalyst for this momentous occasion you might ask, well I'll tell you.

As far as comics go, I find it difficult to know what is good or what I will like. Since I started collecting comics, Wizard: The Comics Magazine has been their for me, showing what is out there. Over the years though, Wizard has become just a conduit with which DC and Marvel can advertise (or so it seems anyway), and they show little in the way of small-press material. Despite this degradation of a once critical and objective magazine, I continue to buy it to stay current with big events and movie news. "Where is this going?" you might be asking. Well occasionally, Wizard has articles showcasing the top 100 of something. In issue #60 it was "The 100 Comics That Every Modern Day Collector Should Own." More recently, there was a "Top 100 Trade Paperbacks of All Time." I have used these articles to track down what Wizard thinks are high quality comics. Regardless of their publishing practices, they do a good job and the comics they pick are generally good.

So onto the purpose of this historic return to the Internet. In issue #175 a new article was published entitled "Wizard ranks the 100 Best Single Issues Since You Were Born." It has been a LONG time since I went on an old fashioned comic hunt and it felt good to walk into The Comic Shop today and spend over an hour scouring the bins for my goodies. I spent $80 which is a lot, but worth it for high quality comics. The only bad thing is an apparent error in Wizard or the Fantastic Four comic I got...The Volume and issue # I picked up matched the one Wizard listed, but the story is obviously wrong... Anyways, something else to track down.

I will make a spreadsheet listing all the comics and which ones I already had and continue to pick up so you can all watch my progress.