The Changes in My Collecting Habit.

 As we rush toward the end of September, in this rather insane year, that it has been dominated and disrupted, by the Great Covid-19 Pandemic...or whatever history will record it as, I am amazed, by how relatively normal all of the changes, socially and economically, have become.

My particular pleasure, stretching back almost 50 years, has been a deep and abiding interest in comic books and how they are created.  With all the problems, that Covid-19 has thrown into our paths, it is fantastic, that the disruption, to the weekly "New Comic Book Day", was so short lived.

My interest, in the regular comic book titles of my youth, left me long ago and for the last few years, my collecting has been spotty, at best but somehow, incrementally, my library has continued to grow.

  These days, it is mainly books and magazines, that either concentrate on the history, of our great shared passion, or on the nuts and bolts of how comic books are created...with just the occasional, actual comic book, to keep the dream alive!

Here are a few of the things, that I have bought recently and in the case of the comic book "floppies", they are, by and large, from limited runs and series.

I can heartily recommend, any of the titles you see here and I hope that someone, somewhere will try one or two of them out and see if they like them, too.

These last covers, are for yet to arrive books but they fit the parameters and so, I include them here.  The Adam Hughes, Hellboy One-Shot, was announced at the end of 2019 and if we are lucky, it will actually appear at the end of 2020

and the Steve Parkhouse drawn, Peter Hogan written, Resident Alien series of limited series, of which this is the latest incarnation, has been a joy to read since the very first issue.

I am looking forward to seeing what the new series has in store.

Some New Acquisitions

 With the changes that the Covid-19 Hysteria has imposed upon us all, my regular schedule, of Wednesday/New Comic Book Day, trips into Toronto, came to an end.

After almost 45 years, of buying comic books on a weekly cycle, most of the time, this disease has managed to change everything.  My new regime, once the restrictions allowed it, has been to go into see Dobi, at Thunderstruck Books and the Bloor Street BMV, once a month.

On my last trip, two of the items I bought were:

Back in 2012, I looked through the signed and limited hardback edition of Naughty and Nice and in my stupidity, I passed on it!  It was $100 and I thought that I would think about it, for a week and see it the next week... but it flew off the shelf and I never saw it again.

Later on, I paid $95 to Dan, the then owner of the Toronto book store, The Labyrinth, for a paperback edition!

That is part of the reason why, when this new Bruce Timm book was scheduled to arrive, I made sure to ORDER a copy! LOL

On my last trip, a month ago, I bought the first two issues of the comic book series, of this title and I enjoyed them!

So, I asked Dobi about the "Prelude" graphic novel, that came out first and she still had a copy of it...and now I own it!  Chris Samnee is a new favourite and his work reminds me of the "old guys" who originated the form.  Oh, yeah! I also bought the third issue of the comic book, too.

One other thing, worth mentioning, is the new story arc of Black Magick.  It is a series that I have enjoyed, from the first issue and the fact that the creative team, have published it, in story arcs, whenever they have five issues in the can, has been an awkward but a workable solution.

As awkward as it has been, trying to stay aware of where and when, the next series of issues would be appearing...at least they are still appearing.  In this modern age, when comic books can just stop, in mid storyline, with no explanation and never come back, the fact that a quality book, like this one, is still chugging along, is nothing short of a miracle! LOL

An Old Richard Corben, Tribute to Conan, Tarzan and Prince Valiant

 Way back, when we were all a whole lot younger, the great Richard Corben, drew this great page for the Squa Tront fanzine:

It appeared in the fourth issue, in 1967 and it is still a joy to look at today.

I am a very weird guy, I know that, in as much as I absolutely love the earlier works, of most of the artists that I have admired, over the years and in most cases, those same artists, continued to evolve...until I was no longer interested in them!

The list is a long one and I won't bore you with it, but John Byrne, Neal Adams and Richard Corben, are on it! LOL

John Byrne & Neal Adams at Forbidden Planet, London, in 1979

 When I was rereading my collection, of John Byrne drawn issues, of Marvel's The X-Men, just yesterday...after a long, long time, hidden behind my copy of issue #125, I found these advertising flyers:

After all these years, my biggest question is, why on earth did I let such an opportunity, to meet John Byrne especially, slip through my fingers...not to mention the chance to buy his original artwork!

At that moment in time, John Byrne was about as HOT as a comic book artist ever gets to be and he was most definitely a favourite of mine.  So WHY didn't I make the effort?

H0lyhandgrenade and her Comic Book Making Advice

 H0lyhandgrenade, is a British artist and she has posted several pieces of advice, about her own feelings of what makes a good comic book page.

H0lyhandgrenade

Some of what she has to say, is her own personal preferences and as with all good advice, if it doesn't suit you, don't follow it but all information, especially from someone, who has drawn as many pages of sequential artwork as she has, has to be worth checking out.

Chipperwhale and Things I've Learned in Comics

 Chipperwhale, whoever you might be, I found this page of advice, about the practical aspects of drawing a comic book page, out there, on the Net and it seemed to be too good, not to repost.

In one page, this is one of the best, simplified approaches, to helping a budding cartoonist, to get a grip of what works and what doesn't.

It is only one cartoonists point of view and as with most things, there is always more than one way to reach your goal.

IDW Artifact Editions

 One of the best ideas, in the world of publishing, has been IDW's Artist Editions and their companion, Artifact Editions.

I have quite a number of them and I began with The Rocketeer by Dave Stevens.  At first, every new book was so amazing, that I bought them as they were published but as the price rose (as a Canadian, I pay more because of the strength of the American Dollar) with almost every new book, I became more selective.

Recently, with my pocket money piling up, because of the restrictions that the present Covid-19 situation has forced upon us, I decided to splurge and so, I bought the second printing of the Bernie Wrightson, Artifact Edition.

Like a fool, I passed on this, absolutely beautiful, collection of Wrightson artwork, when it was first published but that's okay because I was lucky enough to find a copy, of the 2nd printing, in a local store.

Dobi, the owner/operator of Toronto's own Thunderstruck Books, still had one and was happy to sell it to me.  I think I made her day a little bit brighter, in this Covid depressed economy, because I also bought this Artifact Edition:

Dave Cockrum and Chris Claremont's rebooting of Marvel Comics, The X-Men, was a major event and I well remember the excitement, of buying those issues as they appeared.  I missed out on a copy of the Giant Sized X-Men #1 (which I finally bought as a reprint, in the early Eighties) but starting with issue #94, I was a huge fan.

This Artifact Edition, is like time travelling and it is a total pleasure, to go back to being 18 years old, even if only in my mind!  Thank you, IDW for being the publisher, of some of the most amazing comic artwork books, that the world has ever seen.

I highly recommend both of these volumes, to any student of comic book art, like me, or to anyone, who was a comic book collector in the Seventies because they are well worth owning.