n2wdw's Tales of the Comic Book Room 15 15

[n2wdw]

Regrading PGX Books

I just sent in 2 PGX books for regrading, Rangers 7 (5.5) and 8 (6.0).  I'll be happy if they come back from CGC with only losing a point each.  I'll post in a few months when I get them back.

 

Rangers is my favorite Fiction House title, and boy does it have some great interior GGA.  Here are some pages from the 2 comics.

[n2wdw]

On 11/4/2017 at 9:41 AM, n2wdw said:

Here's a magazine that fits the Lady In White collection.  It was advertised as 9.0.  I plan to submit and hope it gets 9.0 but I'm not certain it will.  For books like this, I think I'll ease the 9.0 requirement, with the understanding (in my head) that I will upgrade if I get the chance.  Sometimes I negotiate with myself like this.  Not that I'm crazy or anything.

 

I don't remember if I ever followed up on this, so here's the follow-up.  With pressing, this magazine squeaked in with a 9.0 grade.  So, I didn't have to ease the requirement that books have to be at least CGC 9.0 to qualify for my Lady in White collection. @miraclemet

[n2wdw]

Latest Addition to the Lady In White Collection

To recap, I am building a Lady in White collection.  @miraclemet  To be in the set, the cover has to have a gothic feel to it, with a damsel in distress wearing a flowing white dress or gown.  The books have to be silver or gold, perhaps bronze, but definitely not modern.  For bronze and silver my threshold is at least 9.0.  I haven't decided yet for gold.

Here's the newest addition, Monsters Unleashed #8.  I agonized over whether this qualifies.  First, does it have a gothic feel?  In the end I decided it did, with the dungeon and the monsters.

Second, is her dress white?  I decided that it is white, and it's only the darkness of the dungeon that's giving it a greyish hue.

Third, does the cover satisfy the "flowing white dress or gown" requirement?  I decided I did -- you'll note the bottom of her dress is ripped.  So I convinced myself that the dress started as "flowing" and then got ripped.

You might think I can talk myself into anything when it comes to this collection, but I've rejected some comics where the dress is clearly blue and where the girl is the aggressor rather than a damsel in distress.

[n2wdw]

GI Jane

GI Jane ran only 10 issues from 1953-1954.  I only have 1 issue at the moment.  Here it is:

 

Recently I've picked up some foreign editions.  The one from Mexico is called Muchas Gracias.  What I like about these comics is they have covers never before published.  Here are the 2 I have so far.

 

The cover for the one above is from an interior panel:

 

I also have this Australian edition.  Here, though, the cover is from #9 of the US edition.

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by n2wdw

[BitterOldMan]

2 hours ago, n2wdw said:

GI Jane

GI Jane ran only 10 issues from 1953-1954.  I only have 1 issue at the moment.  Here it is:

 

Recently I've picked up some foreign editions.  The one from Mexico is called Muchas Gracias.  What I like about these comics is they have covers never before published.  Here are the 2 I have so far.

 

The cover for the one above is from an interior panel:

 

I also have this Australian edition.  Here, though, the cover is from #9 of the US edition.

 

There were eleven issues of G.I.Jane.  Issues 1-10 were published by Stanhall and 11 was published by Merit and has the Comic Code Authority stamp.

[Microbia]

 Neat short run. I have most of the issues, here is 5,11.

[Robot Man]

1 hour ago, Microbia said:

 Neat short run. I have most of the issues, here is 5,11.

Yeah, great little run. #5 is my favorite but I love 'em all. I thought I had 'em all then you had to post those Muchos Gracias issues...

[Robot Man]

Here's annother obscure short 3 issue Stanhall run you might want to go after...

[n2wdw]

On 6/13/2018 at 12:00 AM, BitterOldMan said:

There were eleven issues of G.I.Jane.  Issues 1-10 were published by Stanhall and 11 was published by Merit and has the Comic Code Authority stamp.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that.

[n2wdw]

On 6/13/2018 at 11:40 AM, Robot Man said:

Yeah, great little run. #5 is my favorite but I love 'em all. I thought I had 'em all then you had to post those Muchos Gracias issues...

Beauties, thanks for showing!

BTW, did you see the recent auction of 5 gd/vg copies of GI Jane, that closed this past Sunday on Heritage?  Closed at $660 (including buyer's premium).  So your set (clearly much nicer than gd/vg) is worth a small fortune.

[n2wdw]

On 6/13/2018 at 10:32 AM, Microbia said:

 Neat short run. I have most of the issues, here is 5,11.

Very nice!

[n2wdw]

Adding Shelf Space to the Comic Room

My latest project in my comic room was to add shelf space for more large Star Wars and Star Trek action figures.  I bought a bunch at the Steel City con last month (pics below).  Since then, I've updated my want list and I've realized I'm close to completing the sets.  So hopefully I'll be buying more in the near future.  But that means I need more shelf space to store them.

 

At the moment, I store the large AFs on top of shelves, as a backdrop to part of my statue collection (see pic below).  But, I'm running out of space there.  On top of that, I'd like to re-position some of those action figures to make room for new statues in the future.

 

My comic room is small, but it does have a high ceiling.  So, I decided to build a shelf above my desk (that I use as a home office).  This is shown in the map of my comic room.  See below, where the new shelf I want to add is shown as a shaded box.  The shelf would be supported by Shelf 3, that already exists, and Shelf 10, that I had to build. 

 

Building new Shelf 10 was easy, as I just re-used Ikea shelving I had left over from my old comic room.  I like this shelving as it bolts together and is very sturdy.  Below is a picture of new Shelf 10.  I store 9 short boxes underneath the lowest shelf.  Those boxes were already there, so I essentially build Shelf 10 on top of the boxes.

 

So then I was able to install the new high shelf on top of Shelves 3 and 10.  See below, where I'm looking up at the underside of the new shelf while I'm sitting at my desk.

 

In this next picture, I show how I've re-positioned some of my action figure collection (in this case, Captain Actions) onto the new shelf.  Because the ceiling is vaulted, I'm able to use the vertical space to store stuff.  At this point in my life, I'm very selective on new purchases of action figures.  Because of that, I'm pretty sure I've solved my action figure storage problem for the rest of my life (knock on wood).

 

This last picture shows the shelf space I gained by moving the Captain Action boxes.  You see that empty shelf behind the Harleys?  It used to be completely packed with the Captain Actions.  Now I have a huge amount of room to buy and display more statues. 

Thanks for reading.

[Robot Man]

Man, that's one full comic room!  I just instituted a new rule. Many of my comic boxes are full or near full. Instead of just adding a new box, I have to sell books to put new ones in. Kind of liberating as many GA books, I can really live without anyway. I've had the same thing for toys for a while. At least 75% of my stuff is on display. Now if I want to put something in a case or shelf, something has got to go. Once you start parting with stuff, it's not really that hard...

[n2wdw]

11 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Man, that's one full comic room!  I just instituted a new rule. Many of my comic boxes are full or near full. Instead of just adding a new box, I have to sell books to put new ones in. Kind of liberating as many GA books, I can really live without anyway. I've had the same thing for toys for a while. At least 75% of my stuff is on display. Now if I want to put something in a case or shelf, something has got to go. Once you start parting with stuff, it's not really that hard...

I haven't gone that far, but I am more strict with what I buy.  I've stopped buying action figures, other than completing my existing sets.  I have a few comic titles I'm still working on, but I'm not adding anything big.  I've scaled way back on buying books and trades.  The other day I got an offer to buy the complete run of the Spirit magazine.  In years past I would have jumped for that.  Now I had to pass as I don't have the room to store all those mags.

Nowadays I mostly collect keys and GGA, so I'm collecting issues rather than titles. But I'm spending more on comics now than ever (Bakers, keys, GGA classic covers, etc., are expensive).  I don't get the visceral satisfaction of checking off want lists like when I was collecting big titles like ASM and FF, but overall my collecting now goes for quality over quantity, and I'm having more fun now than ever (being in my "peak earning years" and having more money to spend is a big part of that).  And anyway, I've completed the titles I really want (like ASM and FF), so I feel like I've got a good foundation of a collection and now I can go for individual issues rather than titles.

Edited June 20, 2018 by n2wdw

[n2wdw]

Part 2 of Adding Shelf Space to the Comic Room

When I built Shelf 10 (see arrow 1 in the map below), I left space in the front to build another shelf, called Shelf 11 (arrow 2). 

 

Here's Shelf 10 before I built Shelf 11:

 

And now, here's Shelf 11:

 

I sized Shelf 11 for comics in Mylar.  They are not tall enough to hold CGC slabs.  By doing this, I was able to add an additional shelf.

I left space underneath the shelves to store books on the floor.  For anyone who is space-challenged like me, storing books on the floor is an extremely good use of space.  Of course you can't store anything high grade there.  But these books are ones that I read so I'm not worried about grade.

 

So why did I build Shelf 11?  You see this shelf as soon as you walk into my comic room, and I wanted a prominent place to display key comics that I've decided not to slab.  For example, here's a comic I recently bought from @skypinkblu, Wilbur 5.  This comic has the first appearance of Katy Keene.  Because of the chunk out of the cover, I bought the comic knowing I wasn't going to grade it.  Also, I didn't want to slab it so I can read it from time to time.  So this key comic is one that I plan to display on my new Shelf 11.

 

 

Edited June 21, 2018 by n2wdw

[skypinkblu]

WOW, what a wonderful room...I'm beginning to rethink my closets method of storage;) Love that Wilbur and Katy have a shelf:)

[jr81784]

I think this thread is my favorite on the boards-love the amazing glimpse you have given us into your collecting, travel, etc. Always look forward to your updates. 

[n2wdw]

24 Hours At the SDCC 2018 - Part 1

This is my journal of the San Diego comic-con.  In the lottery, I only won Thursday and Sunday tickets.  I thought about trying to get Friday and Saturday tickets through various means (of which I will not discuss in public, if you know what I mean), and then I thought about just being a tourist in SD on Fri and Sat between my Thur and Sun forays at the con.  Finally I decided to just go Thursday.  I'll fly into San Diego on Wednesday, spend all day Thursday at the con, and then Thursday night I'll take the red-eye home to the east coast. 

Whew!  Just writing that makes me exhausted!  But I've already done this West Coast-One Day con madness with Terry's con in Anaheim this year.  So what the heck, I decided to go for it. 

Since this is my first SDCC since 2014, I'll post this journal of pre-con and post-con thoughts, as well as providing a report of my Thursday at the con.

Today I got my Thursday and Sunday tickets.  They came in a cool collectible box:

 

This is what you see when you open the box;

 

The tickets come in 2 parts.  First, a badge.  I'm happy to get the Walking Dead badge, but I wonder what the other variations are.  Second, the actual tickets with your name (in my case, Thursday and Sunday).

 

Then underneath the badge and tickets, they give you a very cool pin.

 

Under the pin is an information booklet:

 

Finally, here's what the inside of the box looks like once you take everything out of it:

 

My immediate thought was, now that they give people their badges and tickets ahead of time (rather than making you prove your ID via the in-person registration of the past), how can they prevent people from selling their tickets?  There's at least one website that's selling SDCC tickets (https://www.viagogo.com/Theater-Tickets/Exhibitions/Comic-Con-Tickets/E-2325452). But, let me just say I have no idea if this website is legit or if the tickets will work.  Also, I have no plans to sell my Sunday ticket, even though I won't be using it.  Because, I want to keep the badge as a souvenir.

Edited June 21, 2018 by n2wdw

[Robot Man]

Whaaa? I thought I missed it...

Seriously, how can you do much of anything in one day? It used to take me at least two days to box dive that show. Times have changed I guess.

[n2wdw]

10 hours ago, jr81784 said:

I think this thread is my favorite on the boards-love the amazing glimpse you have given us into your collecting, travel, etc. Always look forward to your updates. 

Thanks!

 

10 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

WOW, what a wonderful room...I'm beginning to rethink my closets method of storage;) Love that Wilbur and Katy have a shelf:)

Part of the fun of my comic room is organizing and reorganizing things, and always looking for how to store and display more stuff.  I remember a comic store I used to go to, Barbarian Books and Comics in Wheaton MD.  The store was packed with bookshelves that went up to the ceiling and were bursting with stuff.  There were piles of comics and magazines everywhere.  Soundtracks of musicals were always playing in the background.  At the front of the store was a long counter and it was also packed with shelves in the back and stuff on the counter.  There was barely any space behind the counter, for the owner Carl to ring people up at the cash register.

I loved the feel of the old Barbarian Comics.  I say "old" because the last time I was there (years ago), the store had been converted to be more like a typical comic store, and Carl told me he had sold the store and was now working as an employer.  But the old Barbarian is one of the inspirations of the organized chaos of my comic book room, along with the hideouts of my childhood like the one in the Three Investigator books.