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Three Years

It's been a little over three years since I really wrote stuff on here on a regular basis. I got busy, tired, unmotivated - pick one. Mostly, I blame you. The audience. The reader. The theoretical mass of broad, open faces focused on the the free "content" that I would occasionally fling across this page, like 10,000 drunken Jackson Pollack-inspired monkeys.

Why do I blame the collective you, other than it's simply easier than taking personal responsibility? Here's why. When I would spend days crafting a blog entry with a solid, escalating, logical argument full of insight about something, I would get a couple of reads and likes, and the attention would die down quickly, like an X-rated metaphor. When I would rant silly, like a bolt of driven rage pushing across pixels and filled with invective, my readers would reward me like a banana dispenser in a chimp piloted spacecraft.

Pavlov. You rewarded me for paying less attention and half-assedly throwing my shit at a wall until it stuck interestingly, and discouraged me from craft. To the point that I ceased to craft at all. Your fault.

Not really, though. In the meantime, we've seen the ascension of Twitter, which is a much more efficient way of ranting - so much so that our Least Executive, Resident Chump, uses this as his secondary form of communication, just after his primary form, assaulting people. I can't tell you how disappointed I am - I see the Chump election as my fault, in a way: I was vigilant during the President Monkeyface administration, and we got the Obama years. I take a break from blogging for a scant trio of annums and people from Appalachia team up with the Mercers and elect a reality show dickbag to the fucking White House.

This is why we can't have nice things, America.

So, I'm back. I have probably stuff to talk about. My kids are older, I'm trying to change some stuff, and the new job I posted about is now three years old. America is in the midst of a great Crappening, lots of comic book-related stuff is part of our country's mainstream conversations, and people are still doing that religion thing, so I should have some stuff to address, yeah?

Everything Must Go!

Well, not everything. But a lot of the really good stuff ABSOLUTELY MUST GO!!

Here's the situation: my current comic book collection, which I have been curating for lo, these last 30-odd years, is now 32 boxes strong and taking up too much space in my house. This is no longer bringing me joy. I have passed along to my kids what they've shown an interest in, and I have purchased as trades the arcs to which I want quick access.  I have cherry-picked some stuff that has emotional value to me, and now... well, it's time for someone else to enjoy the rest. Lying within the boxes, there's a raft of good stuff, some of which is listed below.

I am meticulous. Most everything is alpha-numeric, and it's all cataloged at this link. Everything is bagged and acid-free boarded, and has been taped shut and away from smoke virtually its whole life. There are many complete series and lots of unique stuff. Everything's in decent shape - most stuff is Near Mint.

The Big Two - Marvel & DC are heavily represented, but there's lots of random indie stuff in here, too, and while the late 80s to early 2000s is the focus, there's quite a bit of the older stuff here, too.

I need your help: Spread the word far and wide to those who will appreciate this. eBay's not for me; it's a bloodless community of people who want me to ship like Amazon: free and within 2 days. I'm not going to break it up and do that. Craigslist is super-local, and the inquiries I'm getting all sound like someone wants to kill me and take my essence. I don't want to turn my kitchen into a UPS center or invite a pack of inquisitive strangers to my house. I will, on the other hand, drive the whole collection to someone who wants the whole thing. I will load 32 longboxes into a van and bring them to someone who can get something out of them. We'll have a beer and talk comics. Please take a look, spread the word, find me a buyer. Contact me for prices not listed, or for a lump sum price.

Some of the rare stuff:

first appearance of X-23 (female Wolverine) - NYX #3 - $430 (NYX #4 is $55)
first appearance of Venom - Amazing Spider-Man #300 - $375 (#298 is $60)
first appearance of Deadpool - New Mutants #98 - $330
first appearance of Bullseye - Daredevil #131 - $220
Captain Marvel #34 (Nitro) - $100
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 #1 - $50
Marvel Spotlight #32 (first Spider-Woman) - $60
Truth: Red, White & Black: $15
Alias #1 (first Jessica Jones) - $80 (get whole series for $225)
Batman Vol. 2 #1 - $100
Batman: The Killing Joke (1st print) - $80
Flash #197 (Professor Zoom) - $80
Omega Men #3 (first Lobo) - $60
run of Uncanny X-Men (crucial stuff) from 123 to 140: $880 total!

Some of the Runs (in the 32 longboxes):

Watchmen complete 1-12
V for Vendetta complete 1-10
Lots of Midnight Sons-era Ghost Rider, Morbius, Blade
tons of Wolverine (many limiteds and signed stuff)
lots of DC/Vertigo stuff
Many things from CrossGen (defunct company)
Green Arrow from just after Kevin Smith
Daredevil reboot from 2000s
lots of Captain America & Fantastic Four: years long runs of each
plenty of Avengers (and lots of their limited series)
Marvel's Annihilation & Annihilation: Conquest events in TOTAL (Thanos, Guardians, Nova, Annihilus): w/o these, there's no GotG movies...
lots of Hellblazer, focused on Ennis, Ellis, and anybody else worth a damn
Spawn (1st 25 issues)
random issues of Preacher and Transmetropolitan
Sam & Twitch (all of it - Spawn spin-off)
Planetary - first 18 issues
The Authority - first 24 issues
lots of Spidey; Death of Jean DeWolff, all of Kraven's Last Hunt, Web of Spider-Man, etc.
lots of X-titles; Morrison's whole run, Whedon's run, all of the Claremont/Byrne, Jim Lee, etc.
Superman: All of the Death of Superman, the pretenders, Doomsday limited, Birthright limited, Red Son, Man of Steel
Sporadic Kyle Rayner Green Lantern (but a couple of complete limited series)
Terry Moore's Echo - the first 20 or so
DC's Zero Hour: Crisis in Time
DC's weekly series "52" - all of it