Nothing like a back issue release party!

My local LCS Bosco's up here in Anchorage Alaska recently picked up a sweet vintage Marvel collection.  To celebrate they held an event to show off the key issues.  I ended up getting to the fun just as the auctions were ending, but I was able to snag 3 big issues for  my Iron Man collection. 

All three issues are mid-grade, but look great in hand and have nice tight spines.  They also had a copy of Iron Man #1 one of my holy grails behind #55, both of which will be the biggest cost to me completing the Vol 1 run.  They #1 was a nice mid-grade for $300, but I promised my wife I wouldn't break the bank and I had a Visa gift card that my in-laws had sent me to for my recent birthday, so these all come home with minimal pocket damage.  I'm closing in on have almost all the single digits.  Also finding the first King-Size Special was awesome as I've been looking for one for a while now and that puts me one step closer to completing my Annuals.

Iron Man #6 or How my mother guilted me out of buying Iron Man #1 30+ years ago.

To be honest growing up I was a DC guy.  I loved the JLA, and all the individual heroes.  That probably had to do with really liking the Super Friends.  But the one Marvel character I always loved was Iron Man.  I was never into Spider-man and even though I got into reading Spidey, I still don't consider myself a fan (gasp).  I managed to get into X-men only because the owner of the comic shop I went too gave me some sage advise,  "Buy X-men they always go up in value."  He was right at least for the bronze and silver age stuff.  I dug Fantastic Four and the Avengers, but I was never a big collector early on.  

But this post is about the featured comic.  Iron Man #6.  She's a real looker.  That spine is almost defect free.  Sure there are few minor issues, but overall it's one of my favorite books that I own.  I can remember saving my money up.  Mostly birthday and Christmas, but I also had a newspaper route and I would pocket my lunch money.  I had been eyeing a copy of Iron Man #1 at the Comic Book Shop, which I talked about last post.  It wasn't in the best shape, but still a decent copy, but Brad had it priced around $50 bucks.  That's big money to a 12 year old in the 80's.  

Let me back up to recent times first on how I ended up not walking out of that shop with one of my holy grails.  Last April I went down to Wisconsin to visit my folks.  I still have a large pile of comics boxed up in their basement and I've been devising a plan to get them up to me in Alaska.  Anyways over a couple drinks my mother recalls when I ended up buying issue #6 here.  If I remember I paid $15 for it back in the mid-80's.  This is why you don't take your mother to the comic shop, but a rides a ride.  Anyway time warp back to 1986 or 87 and I'm ready to buy issue #1.  I've saved for this.  My mother doesn't understand why I would want to pay so much for a comic book when there are plenty of good comics in the quarter boxes and new comics only cost 75 cents.  In the end her guilt made me pull back and I still ended up walking out of the shop with a silver age Iron Man just not #1.  And she still gave me crap for spending $15 bucks on that #6.

Another new blog ung! Or how I got my first silver age Spectre comic

When I started my first blog, Collector's Crack over 8 year's ago I had intended for it to be an all encompassing collector's blog.  But over time it has evolved into more or less a trading card blog.  And then I branched out with my different collections.  From my player collections I created two new blogs, for me team collections I created 3 new blogs, for my obsession with Lego Minifigures I created yet another blog, and then I also have had blogs for my gardening and art.  And this year I've pretty much managed to ignore them all.  I've moved, had my gallblader removed, worked my butt off, and done a bit of traveling.  So blogging has really taken a back seat.  But never have I considered shuttering any of my blogs.  There was a time I was worried and fretted about putting out content on the blogs. Now not so much, but to be honest I haven't lost any followers, not like I go about unfollowing any blogs, even ones that have long since been retired.

So that being said I've decided to create yet another blog, focused solely on my comic collection and collecting.  I've been collecting comics as a hobby since I was 12 or so right around 1985. But that is another story.  I'm going to being this blog with some recent pick-ups.  And by recent I mean this afternoon. 

There was a small collectibles show in Anchorage this weekend.  And by small I mean less than 10 tables.  The show is really put on by the coin collectors society here, but they let in other guys to help pay for the space.  And as luck would have it there were a couple sports card guys and one lone comic book seller.  Steve who owns his own small collectibles business that he runs out of his home was there and from past shows I know he always has some killer vintage stuff.  I have a great story about when I first met him and he was showing off his Jackie Robinson bats, yes plural.  Anyways Steve had his vintage baseball stuff and a couple short boxes comics.  He also had some really nice stuff under glass that was way out of my price range.  I had only brought about $30 with me to make sure I didn't over spend.  I perused the boxes and we started talking comics and cards.  Eventually two comics caught my eye.  For different reasons.  The silver age Spectre comic just stood out.  It was the only one he had in the box and for $14 list price I couldn't pass it up.  Other than the yellowing of the white the book is really solid and complete.  The second book I saw was Spider-woman #1.  I recently decided to try and put a run together and I was looking for a #1.  Not only that it also was had a $14 sticker price and after looking at the book the spine was perfect and there only couple little dings in the corners and one small corner fold.  Sold.  After we stopped jawing I hand Steve my two comics and he offered both for $20.  The show's running one more day I really want to stop back by and look through the boxes one more time.  As I was getting ready to leave he mentioned he had a box under the table and anything in it was a buck a book.  And that's where I snagged the copy of Tomb of Darkness #22.  It's a little beat up, but I think it's a solid 5-6 and I can't pass up bronze age horror, even if it's just full of reprinted stories.

So welcome to my newest time suck.  Cheers
CB out.