I remember when I decided to start this blog about comics, I was told by a friend that there would come a time that you will get stuck, you will run out of ideas and you just don't know what to include in your blog. Others have told me that there might come a time when you think of this as work, as something you have to do or else! I told myself to be ready for when that happens but Thank God I have not come to that point. I'm hoping I won't ever hit that wall.
When I decided to finally get this blog started after many many many years of I'll do it when this happens and that happens, I decided it would be a blog for me to share my hobby with you and also what I have spent years collecting. True I started out quite late. I don't have the first editions and first issues like some of my friends. I remember I once laid eyes on a mint condition Sub Mariner issue # 1.
I can still remember the day I saw this issue. Mint condition, bagged and boarded. That is a beauty isn't it. By the way, this is a picture I found of Sub Mariner # 1. I don't have a copy of this comic. After I saw it many years ago, I still don't have this issue in my collection. Okay back to that faithful day. I was in a house attending a Mathematics Tuition Class (I sucked at Maths and I still do to this day) and in came this new kid to the class. What I remembered was he wanted to be friends and showed us the comics he had in his collection. I guess I must have been drooling when I saw this, yes, it was THAT obvious. At the time I had been collecting for a while. Collecting, that's one way to describe what I was doing. I was reading a lot of comics, not taking care of them and using tape to fix all the comics in my "collection".
After I saw this kid's collection, I knew I wanted to continue collecting and collect comics like this one. Oh he had so many other comic books with him that day but this one was the one that caught my eye. I also knew I wanted to, I had to take care of my comics. I tried over the years to keep my collection in good condition, I tried but I wasn't always successful. So after I could afford to get more comics, I decided to take care of them. Again. Again I wasn't always successful. Looking back I have my regrets, who doesn't. I regretted mishandling my comics and using tape on them in my foolish endeavor to save my comics. One of the things I wrote about when I started this blog is how badly I handled my comics, my biggest regrets and so on and so forth.
Through this blog, this broadcast, I was going to share my regrets, what I did wrong and also to share with you what I managed to collect over the years. I wasn't going to try and sell you anything, nope. I was going to share. So what do I have for you this time around. I mentioned that a few months ago, I went on a rescue mission to save my comics, well, months have passed and there's been a lot of moving comics back and forth and bagging and boarding. I have saved what I could, some are now just beyond repair. In that time, I have come across forgotten comics, comics I didn't even knew I had. I've even come across some really nice variants and special editions. Incredible finds. So that's what I have for you this time around, let's start with this:
Does anyone remember when it was announced that Wildcats and The Uncanny X Men would have an intercompany crossover? I sure did and I went nuts and when I found out that Jim Lee would be one of the artists involved, yeah I went nuts. This was part of a huge crossover, Wildcats X Men: The Silver Age was part 2 in a four part special. I loved this issue in particular. I've always been a big Jim Lee fan and I loved his artwork here.
This
story takes place in the early days of the original X-Men and before the
formation of the WildC.A.T.s. The story was written by Scott Lobdell. Jim Lee, Scott Williams and Sal Regla supplied the artwork.
What makes this one special? Look at the lower left hand corner, it says the Chicago Comic Con Edition. This was the first time ever for me to own some thing that was a special edition, in this case a Chicago Comic Con Edition. It took a while to realize that it was a different edition of Wildcats/X Men: The Silver Age. I never actually found out what makes this edition special. I think it's worth keeping, what do you think?
What we have here is Fantastic Four # 527. What you see here is the Variant Edition of this issue. Also available at the time was a Wizard World Philadelphia Edition and a Director's Cut Edition. And of course there's the regular news stand edition and the Direct Edition. When this comic arrived I was so shocked and happy to see that I got this version. Back in the day, it was almost impossible to get the variant editions to anything. Being that I had to have them mailed to me meant that i couldn't ask the specialty comic store owner to save a copy for me. First come, first served was always the reason but I finally had a real life variant edition.
This issue was written by
J. Michael Straczynski with cover and interior art by Mike McKone and Andy Lanning. In this issue, with the FF broke and facing an audit, Ben
discovers that he is actually very wealthy; Nick Fury sends Reed to a
secret government project where they are trying to duplicate the cosmic
ray bombardment that created the Fantastic Four so that super powered
agents can be created at will. This was if memory serves, the first issue from J. Michael Straczynski. I felt really lucky to get this issue. Still have it today and it's now bagged and boarded.
When I read that there was going to be another Darkness comic by Paul Jenkins and Dale Keown, I immediately contacted my Specialty Comic Book Store and placed an order. I saw the article in Wizard magazine and just loved the 3 or 4 page preview they had. I was always a big fan of Dale Keown and this was a return of sorts for Keown to regular comics. I followed the Darkness when it was first released and I was happy to see this comic again. When I got this issue, it hit me, this has got to be a variant, I checked and checked but I never found out the significance of this variant issue. I just know that I love it. It is definitely a keeper. I mean just look at it.
Here's another keeper, Avengers (1998) # 2, this is the Heroes Return Avengers. Boy was i happy when finally the Avengers came back from the Heroes Reborn story line. What you see here is the variant edition of issue # 2, here's what the regular cover looks like.
Both covers are equally as impressive. Wish I had both. The painted cover is the variant to the one featuring the George Perez/ Al Vey cover. I have looked all over to find out who did the cover for the variant edition but to no avail. All the same, the painted cover is beautiful as is the one drawn by George Perez. If you know who that painter is, let me know.
Here's a comic I have been wanting to get for a while now. I finally saw one up for sale on ebay and decided to get it. Batman # 500, the Special edition which has a die-cut cover and two Batman postcards.
Bane and Robin appear on the inner part of the die-cut cover. I remember when it was originally released, I was a little late in placing the order and by the time I did, all the special editions were sold out. I missed that train but I always kept this on my holy grail list, hoping one day I'll be able to find it and I did. This was the issue when Jean-Paul first uses the new Batman costume. The cover is beautifully drawn by Joe Quesada and Kevin Nowlan.
Now this is one of my all time favorite Fantastic Four Issues. Fantastic Four # 500. This is the Double-Sized issue with different cover art and extra pages plus a special cardboard metallic-foil enhanced cover.The cover by Mike Weiringo , Karl Kesel and Richard Isanove was way better than the edition with art by
Paolo Rivera. Now dont get me wrong, he's a great artist too but I love this special edition.
When this edition was announced, it was one of those" take my wallet, I want it!!" situations. Definitely a keeper for me. Still on the subject of Fantastic Four, here's another variant, take a look at these covers. First the direct edition.
This is Heroes Return: Fantastic Four # 2, cover by Alan Davies and Mark Farmer. Now have a look at the Variant cover.
Yep, this is the variant cover of Fantastic Four # 2, this cover is by Carlos Pacheco and Scott Hanna. In this issue, since Four Freedoms Plaza has been destroyed,
the FF move in to their warehouse on Pier Four; Johnny searches for
Lyja in vain; as the FF get settled in their new home, they are attacked
by Iconoclast, a villain only Sue can see. This issue also features the first appearance of the Fantastic Four's new headquarters on Manhattan's Pier Four. I love finding variant covers.
Especially Variant covers like this one. You remember Marvel's House of M right?
Remember when the Scarlet Witch has killed a number of her
fellow Avengers and continues to become more and more unstable despite
the best efforts of Professor X and her father, Magneto; The X-Men meet
with the old and new Avengers to discuss what is to be done about the
problem she presents; Arriving in Genosha, our heroes cannot find Wanda
and before they can track her down, the Scarlet Witch recreates the
world according to her own design. Issue # 1 of House Of M had 4 different variants. This one by Joe Madureira and Art Thibert was available exclusively at the Wizard World Chicago Con in 2005. I thanked my lucky stars when I got this Variant.
And if you notice on the upper left hand corner, there's a signature on this cover. Joe Madureira was one of the artists invited to an event called The Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention. When I was told Joe Mad would be there, I dug this comic out and I asked Joe Mad to sign it (that story will be told in a future edition of the broadcast). This comic is now part of my small collection of variants, one that I'll treasure.
I hope you liked this edition of the broadcast, I hope you liked what I shared with you. Hey, if you have comics in your collection you want to share, then leave me a comment or follow me, get in touch. I would love to hear from collectors out there.
So that's it for now, see you again next time. Drop by anytime, you're always welcomed here. See ya.
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