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About this journal

One man's journey to turn his lifelong collection hoard of comics into a streamlined, Superman-centric collection.

Entries in this journal

Superman #149 upgrade

So I'm back from vacation with a new post!  Actually, I got back from vacation a while ago, but work has been busy and it's been creeping into my off time.  It'll probably be that way for the remainder of the year, so no weekday posting with any sort of regularity until the new year. The busier work schedule did come with one silver lining, as it took me to a side of the state that I don't normally get to, and that means new and exciting comic book stores to check out!  And find one I did..
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Off on vacation

This will be the only post this week, as I am officially on vacation.  Woo hoo! My family and I will be joining up with my brother and his girlfriend to drive into the path of the solar eclipse this week.  We've been planning the trip for over a year, so fingers crossed that the weather holds.   Even scheduling this trip so far out, we still didn't manage to snag a camp site that lies in the path of the totality of the eclipse, but we'll be pretty darn close in Kentucky on the ban
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The Superbooks in December 1978

So why December of 1978? Well, there was a movie released that month called Superman The Movie, that's why! A favorite complaint these days is that neither Marvel or DC has appropriate books on the shelves to take advantage of the heat that is generated by comic book movies.  So how did DC do back in 1978 at the golden age of superhero movies? Not too shabby! All-New Collectors' Edition: Superman The Movie #C-62 was right there to take advantage of the hype, with an issu
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The Superbooks in November 1970

Yesterday we took a look at the dawn of the Bronze Age with the Superbooks.  It would be about another year, however, for the Superbooks to start hitting their stride with some classic Bronze Age goodness.  For me, the quintessential Superman Bronze Age book is Superman #233, so let's see what else was on the newsstands that month as well. Aside from having the most iconic of Neal Adams' Superman covers, this issue starts a year-long story of a de-powered Superman by Denny O'Neil.  Whi
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The Superbooks in April 1969

Continuing on for the theme of the week, let's set the time machine forward a few years to April of 1969 to see both the end of one era, and the dawn of another. The end of the Silver Age is a hard one to pin down, and there's a ton of debate to be had.  I, myself, like to keep things simple and generally assume that the end of the 12¢ books also ends the Silver Age, and this is the month that it happened. I sorted the books by release date, so you'll see that it starts with 10¢ b
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The Superbooks in June 1967

Yesterday I was a little surprised that I was able to go all the way back to November of 1959, with having a complete set of all the Superbooks on sale for a particular month.  I thought for sure that my oldest set would've been in the early 12¢ era.  I ended up being wrong twice, as not only could I go farther back than I thought, but the next instance of this happening is way into the second half of the Silver Age.  It takes another 7 ½ years for my collection to once again have all of the Sup
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The Superbooks in November 1959

So I was ruminating on the state of my Superman collection the other day, as I am getting close to checking off all of the 12¢ books from Superman and Action Comics.  That made me curious as to how far back I could get in my collection, and have the entire month of Superman books represented.  I figured it would be early in the 12¢ run somewhere, but to my surprise it was late in the 10¢ era instead. Step out of the time machine, and welcome to the world of November 1959! No key i
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Low Content Mode Week, Anagram Style with Jonah Hex!

Lastly for this week of low content anagram fun, let's see what we can do with this latest round of purchases from the wilds of eBay. A nice little run of high-grade Weird Western Tales featuring Jonah Hex!  Such good stuff.  I especially like this cover Weird Western Tales #25 from December 1974. Jonah Hex riding out on horseback from a pit of quicksand!  How badass is that?! Anyways, anagrams...      Jonah Hex = ? I got nothing here.  Hex is an enigma even in
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Low Content Mode Week, Anagram Style with Superman and Superboy!

Yesterday I mentioned that I'll pick up lower grade 12¢ books to help fill out the run if the price is right, well on these the price was right! The focus of my collection is completing Action Comics and Superman, but I've slowly been filling out the secondary and tertiary titles as the opportunities present themselves.  After enjoying the heck out of @Silver's Superboy Complete thread over in the Silver Age Forum, I decided to bump the Superboy collecting up a notch as there are
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Low Content Mode Week, Anagram Style with Action Comics!

I picked up a couple of early 12¢ Action Comics off of eBay recently to help fill out the run. Action Comics #290 from July 1962 and Action Comics #306 from November 1963. I realized long ago that trying to fill out a run of both Action Comics and Superman was going to be a herculean task at best.  With that in mind, I settled on a minimum grade for the 12¢ books to be at least a nice presenting F/VF.  I'll obviously make exceptions, however, if I come across some beaters at a pri
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Low Content Mode Week, Anagram Style with Supergirl and Wonder Woman!

Low content mode week continues, as we delve deeper into the latest purchases for my collection, through the skewed lens of anagrams. This next book I picked up off of eBay after a fellow boardie tipped me off that this is, in fact, the first use of the Supergirl masthead. From what I could turn up, it does appear that The Brave And The Bold #63 from January 1965 is in fact the first usage.  It predates Action Comics #334 from March 1966 by over a year, which I would have guessed
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Low Content Mode Week, Anagram Style with The Legion!

It's looking like a low content week for the journal, as I have a busy work week ahead of me, so I'll probably be spending it posting some pics of my newest acquisitions. First up, I got this beauty off of eBay for a great price... Adventure Comics #267 from December 1959, featuring the second appearance of The Legion of Super-Heroes.  This particular issue only cost me $42 bucks, and it's a killer looking copy, although I'm sure some would balk at the ½" tear that goes through th
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Behold...Maxima and a bunch of other folks

Almost everything I've highlighted in my journal to date has been silver and bronze age books.  Granted, that's where my collecting focus is these days, but I do have my fair share of copper and modern books...especially when it comes to Superman.  My collection of the main Superman titles is 100% complete from this week, all the way back to 1966.  With that said, let's round out this week's theme with a book from 1997! Action Comics #730 from February 1997 features an appearance from
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Disregard...Bizarro!

Continuing along with our week-long theme of odd character inclusions, we come to 80 Pg. Giant #6 from January 1965. At first glance, it looks like I might have overthought this, as this whole cover is filled with nobodies.  But then if you look over up in the upper right, you'll see the decidely a-list villain, Bizarro!  In the end it makes sense, as of course Bizarro would be featured in a collection of nobodies.  As Bizarro would so horribly state it... "Me am nobody." Whi
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Behold..Nemesis Kid!

While I was thumbing through the collection, looking for more odd cover appearances by D-List characters, it turns out there was another one in the wall display that I highlighted a few days ago that started me down this path. In Adventure Comics #346 from July 1966, we are introduced to four new recruits for Legion membership.  But alas, one of them is a traitor! Who could it be? Karate Kid?  Princess Projectra?  Ferro Lad?  Or err...ummm...Nemesis Kid?! Spoilers f
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Behold...The Thing From 40,000 A.D.

Yesterday we looked at a rather curious cover appearance by a super-villain wannabe.  Let's keep the theme going and take a look at another, this time from Superman Annual #2 from 1960/1961. This collection of reprints celebrates some the greatest super-villains ever featured!  Naturally, we see Brainiac, Bizarro, and Titano.  All three of these villains had been in about a half-dozen stories each, up until this book came out.  They've also gone on to more than stake their claim as ico
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Behold...Electro!?

When it comes to comic book storage, I don't really have a man-cave full of items on display.  I did build custom shelves fit to hold long-boxes that currently take up one wall in my office. I work out of my home, so my office is shared between my work and my hobby.  It's not the greatest of solutions, but I'll do the whole comic book room when I retire and move out to the country! In the meantime, however, I did pick up a couple of picture frame shelves from Ikea that I use to di
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Non-Superman Diversion...Justice Society of America!

Finally, for this week, we're delving into the Justice Society of America! I've always had a fondness for time travel and alternative universe storylines, so naturally the JLA/JSA stories from the 60's and 70's caught my attention when I started to collect DC back-issues.  I started out big, right out of the gate, with this one... ...Justice League of America #21 from August 1963. Aside from having one of the best covers from the Silver Age, this issue is the proper introduct
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Non-Superman Diversion...Jonah Hex!

Continuing our look at the non-Superman titles that I still actively collect, we have the newest title that I've decided to fill out a run on...and that is Jonah Hex! As far back as I can remember I've always been a fan of westerns, much to the chagrin of my wife and son who sigh and roll their eyes when I come across one while flipping through the t.v. listings.  Although I do the same to my wife when Grease is on, so I suppose it's all good. Anyways, with as much as I like a good wes
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Non-Superman Diversion...The Doom Patrol!

For the first two days of this week, we've had a look at the two Marvel titles that I still maintain a collection on, so let's take a look at a DC one now. I've mentioned previously how I was a big fan of The Sandman back in the early-to-mid 90's as it was coming out.  Naturally, I sampled some of the other titles and quickly fell in love with the Grant Morrison and Richard Case run of Doom Patrol.  It's a helluva 40+ issue run, and definitely rewards repeat reading.  When I started reading
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Non-Superman Diversion...Dr. Strange!

Aside from The Avengers, there is one Marvel title that I still collect, and that is Dr. Strange! I'm an old school D&D player from back in the day (started playing in 1982), and among my friends, no one ever wanted to play the Magic-User character.  That usually left me to play that character class by default as I was the only one who didn't mind the inherent weakness at the beginning.  So naturally, when I started reading comics I found myself gravitating to the magic side of the univ
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Non-Superman diversion...The Avengers!

Since we spent the last month pretty much firmly entrenched in the world of Superman, I thought it might be fun to look at some of the other non-Superman titles that I collect.  This will almost always be a Superman-centric journal, as that is where my main interest lies these days, but I'll allow myself the occasional diversion as I see fit. As I mentioned way back in my first journal post, the first title I started collecting back in 1985 was The Avengers.  So the very first back issue I
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A DCCP miscellany

Let's wrap up this week by looking at a few other highlights of the DCCP run. DC Comics Presents #1 from August 1978.  If I were to rank my all time favorite Superman artists, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez would absolutely be in the top three, and I got the chance to meet him last year at the Motor City Comic Con.  My wife is a photographer (that's her alien pic that is my avatar) and she usually does a festival in East Lansing that same weekend.  Last year, however they were a week apart so
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By the power of...wait a minute, what?

This next book I just don't get.  I mean, I guess I understand it, I just don't get it. DC Comics Presents #47 from July 1982, featuring the first comic book appearance of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe!  I understand how this being the first comic book appearance could be a big thing, I just don't get it.  It's not like the toy line had a successful or fondly remembered comic book run like G.I. Joe or Transformers did. As a kid growing up in the 1970's, this toy line was
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The DCCP big dog

Continuing our look at the DCCP title, without a doubt DC Comics Presents #26 is the big dog of this run, featuring the first appearance of The Teen Titans. As it turns out, I don't think I've ever read it.  Call me a blasphemer, but I don't think I've read any of the Wolfman/Perez run.  It's not that I have anything against it, as I'm a big fan of George Perez in general (by way of The Avengers).  It's one of those runs that will one day fall into my lap, or not.  It's just that up un
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