I have been a collector of comic books and art books for over forty years and while I am not a "pack rat", at least I don't think I am, my collection is fairly large.
Today, I finally had to do something about the books that would not fit on the, already extensive, shelves and that had made navigating the floor space an issue. I hasten to add, that this is a room set aside for the books and not all over the house!
So, using the age old method of boards laid across milk-crates, I created a centre island, two shelves tall, plus the floor beneath and set about tidying up. The end result is very satisfying but there are still a couple of areas of the floor that wouldn't fit.
Ah, well. Baby steps.
I would impress upon anyone reading this, that I also have a second room that houses the Girlie Magazines that I collected in my younger days, comic book and Science Fiction related fanzines and all of my Art Instruction books. The same room also has piles of reference material, often called an Artist's Morgue, my cartoons, the original art that I have bought over the years, my poster collection, a filing cabinet, a drawing table and boxes of old video tapes.
I need to tidy that mess up too but as I said above, baby steps.
I must sound like a buying machine but seriously, it has taken me 40 years to get into this state, it did not happen over night.
In the last couple of years, since I turned 55, I find that I buy fewer items but the ones I do buy are usually expensive. For example, the IDW Artist's Editions, which are lovely but at $120 to $175 Canadian, they knock a hole in my old wallet. I have most of the volumes that they have published so far but some of the newer offerings have not tempted me.
I still think that the one dedicated to Will Eisner's The Spirit is the best of the bunch, mainly because it is comics 101 for we students of the medium to pore over. It is a revelation to see whole panels cut out and patched over with a different image. Not to mention all the other repairs and corrections.
It is not very interesting or exciting to buy a book where the original art is as "clean" as the printed page. As an amateur cartoonist, I understand the personal drive toward a pristine original but it won't teach anyone looking at it a thing; it is the repairs, the overworking with a better idea, that are ultimately more informative and interesting.
One last thing, Stuart Immonen.
This Image is from his own web page
and I do hope he will not object to it's use here.
I was not an immediate fan of his work when he began
but over the last few years, probably since he worked on the Ultimate Fantastic Four, he has impressed the HECK out of me.
His recent run on the All New X-Men is stunning and looking at his pages is a lesson in how to draw comics that flow. Panel to panel, tier to tier and page to page. The only other people, in my mind anyway, who made comics that worked so well, were Alex Toth and Joe Kubert. I mean it.
On top of being a marvellous technician, he is also a work horse. Of the 29 issues of the title released so far, he has turned in 21 and done all that work in only 20 months!
Mister Immonen, as little as it is, I salute you.
The fact that he is a fellow Canadian is just icing on the cake!
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