|
Post by The Captain on Jul 6, 2020 20:42:47 GMT -5
Halfway home for the year, let's take a look at the progress: Comics Buying Goals:Honestly, probably very little this year. There are a handful of Fantastic Four issues between #100 and #107, a few Frankenstein issues, a dozen Hulk issues between #150 and #179, and three What If? issues that I might try to get if I can find them relatively cheap. No Fantastic Four, no Frankenstein, no Hulk, just one What If? issue, although I have grabbed some Captain Marvel (the Marvel one) and Sub-Mariner books really cheap. Probably right around where I wanted to be, although not in the series I had planned.Otherwise, I am probably looking at grabbing some more Showcase Presents from used bookstores, maybe some Marvel Epic Collections (would like to get some early Captain America issues, only so I don't have to read the actual floppies, and possibly some Fantastic Four as well). Got the second Jonah Hex Showcase Presents book, and I have purchased 6 Amazing Spider-Man Epics, 2 Fantastic Four Epics (with a third on order at my LCS), and will be buying the Conan the Barbarian Epic that collects the first 13 issues. Definitely meeting this goal.Going to try to limit the number of $1 books I bring home. They are starting to take on a life of their own, because they don't seem like much, but next thing I know, there is a pile of 30 of them and I have no real place to put them. I have bought about 30 $1 books this year, so I am definitely slowing down on these.Comics Reading Goals:1,000 books minimum, with 75% or more being classics. Currently just a hair under 600 for the year, with nearly 94% of them being classics. This is going to be a win.The big goals this year, and they are sizable, are to get through two of the following series from start to finish: Avengers, Daredevil, and Iron Man. I started Daredevil a few years back and got to issue #64 until I had a gap in the series, so I stopped, and I have read Iron Man from the Tales of Suspense stories up through #20 or so. I was at issue #300 of the original Iron Man series at the end of June. Will wrap that series up this week, then start on the Heroes Return run next. Will work on Daredevil once I am through with Iron Man.Some other things I want to read this year are From Hell and Maus, both of which I bought in 2019 and did not get to. I may take From Hell on vacation with me as something to read when I wake up early in the morning before the rest of my family gets out of bed.Comics Reviewing Goals:OK, another year, another set of revised goals. I would like to get 12 Captain America reviews, minimum, posted. One is in the can already (#113), and the others simply require me going back through the issues again and taking notes. Still plan on doing this, but time is slipping away, yet again.Comic-Related Goals:I am addicted to Funko POP figures, so I need to slow down my buying of them. In 2020, I would like to only acquire some of the classic-style Spider-Man villains (Lizard, Kraven, Sandman), maybe Silver Surfer (I have the other 3 original members of The Defenders) and Doctor Doom, but other than these, I need to really carefully consider which ones I buy. All told, I have over 50 of them (not all Marvel-related, just mostly; I own 14 Doctor Who figures, Ash from Army of Darkness, and Tyrion Lannister from GoT, but everything else is Marvel). I've only bought six of these this year. Other than the ones I listed above, the only other one I got was the classic Nick Fury. I am probably going to order the original Ms. Marvel and possibly get Gambit & Rogue, but I haven't seen a whole lot of upcoming Marvel ones that I am interested in.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jul 5, 2020 6:18:37 GMT -5
Took me a little while to sort through years of Cap stories to pick my list, which is: Tales of Suspense #66-68This storyline reintroduces the Red Skull and firmly re-inserts him as Cap's first and greatest foe. This has the impact of FF #5, ASM #14, or Batman #1 on the Captain America universe. Tales of Suspense #94-95A very strong story featuring A.I.M. and the debut of M.O.D.O.K. He's such a weird and kind of lame character, to the point that he is presumed dead at the end of the second issue, but dang it if I don't have an affinity for him. Captain America #110-111, 113It's almost cliche to have these issues on the list, but there is no denying the skillful mastery of Jim Steranko and the incredible work he did in these pages. These books not only looked different than Kirby's work, but they "felt" different, like we were witnessing the birth a new era for Cap free from the Kirby/Lee issues. Of course, major downside to these issues is the introduction of Rick Jones into Captain America, but it was thankfully short-lived. I'm a fan of the first part of the Secret Empire storyline, but once the X-Men show up, it goes downhill a little. Cap's time as "Nomad" immediately following the SE arc is a better, if all too brief, storyline. Captain America #231-235This story involves the Grand Director, later revealed to be the return of the 1950s Cap, and Doctor Faustus. Captain America #253-254Agree with beccabear67 on this one. A nice little Invaders reunion and the return of Baron Blood makes for a good story. For me, after that point, there aren't many good storylines in the original series, but some good individual issues. I like #272 (introducing Vermin, who then moves to being a Spidey villain predominantly), #280 (Cap versus Scarecrow), and #305-306 (I'm a sucker for Modred the Mystic, and this story teams Captain America with Captain Britain). The Waid/Garney run is pretty solid, although I may not like it as much as others here. Lastly, Brubaker's run up to the "death" of Captain America is top-notch.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jul 4, 2020 18:15:22 GMT -5
My 2020 Batman collecting continues apace, despite my resolution to slow it down. We (me, wife, and daughter) took an hour drive out for something non-comics related today, which turned out to be a bust. We passed a comic shop I've seen before but never visited, so to try to save the day (at least for me), I went inside and found this: Sorry to hear your plans for the day didn't pan out. Lot of that going around right now, and probably for the foreseeable future. On the plus side, don't you just love stopping in a comic shop you've never been in before and finding something you want at a price you are willing to pay? I used to travel a lot when I worked in the natural gas industry, all over the states of PA, WV, KY, and VA, and I would come across comic shops, antique malls, indoor flea markets, etc., in all of these little towns. After a day on the road out in the field, I would stop in and poke around, and occasionally I would find some real gems tucked away along these back roads. Got a Marvel Two-In-One #1 for $15 in Wellsboro, PA, almost a complete run of Thunderbolts from #1-60 for $1 apiece in Wise, VA, a handful of Captain America issues in the early 200s really cheap in Pikeville, KY, and a bunch of $1 books in Huntington and Morgantown, WV.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jul 4, 2020 12:09:50 GMT -5
On Friday, I made a quick trip to another LCS (part of the same chain as the one where I bought the ASM Epic Collection), and I got these from the $1 boxes: Two more Suicide Squad books that I don't own, and two Iron Man replacement copies for books that are in garbage condition: Next-to-last Sub-Mariner, and a Spring Special with Moon Knight, Hercules, AND Brother Voodoo stories? Yes, please! Some Marvel Fanfare issues, including the last two parts of a four-part Warriors Three story that I needed, another Moon Knight story, and a Cap story I don't own. Still more Marvel Fanfare, with Shanna the She-Devil in them (and gorgeous covers to boot). And while I almost never buy a book solely for the cover, I did for this one: It's The Spectre riding a flaming dinosaur elemental thing. Who wouldn't part with $1 for that?
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jul 4, 2020 12:02:51 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 30, 2020 16:20:05 GMT -5
I'm putting a pin in June right now, as I will not likely be reading anything else tonight. My wife and younger daughter are going out this evening to a church youth event this evening (limited people, outdoors, masks mandatory, social distancing enforced), so my older daughter and I are going to watch The Empire Strikes Back.
Made it to 103 books this month, with the vast majority of them (around 75 or so) being Iron Man. Puts me into the 575 range for books read for the year, which is within striking distance of my stretch goal of 1,200 (I always put down 1,000 as my goal, as it is something I am almost assuredly able to meet).
Best Thing I Read in June Most of what I read was pretty solid, although nothing stood out as exemplary. Got through the second half of John Carter, Warlord of Mars, and I made it up to issue #300 of the original Iron Man series.
Worst Thing I Read in June Nothing terrible, although some of the early 90's Iron Man issues were plagued by the usual early 90's comics problems of exaggerated artwork, crossover crap (the book got derailed by Operation: Galactic Storm and Infinity Crusade in this period, although the second was less-obtrusive than the first), and trying to be "cutting edge" with lots of techno-babble (even worse than "transistors can do anything" from the 60's).
July Look-Ahead Would like to wrap up the original Iron Man run, then maybe dive into the Heroes Return series. As a change of pace, I might read some Amazing Spider-Man from the beginning, and there is a niggling urge in the back of my brain to pick up my Captain America review thread again, meaning I will need to reread those books in order to write them. We shall see.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 29, 2020 19:38:51 GMT -5
I kept this to myself until the whole situation played out. I recently applied for a job at a company near my house, one that was a good fit for my skillset and my future aspirations, and I would be working with an old friend of mine from a previous job. Did the first interview (through WebEx) and got selected as one of the two finalists for it (out of 15 candidates), then had to do a battery of aptitude tests to check my professional and intellectual skills. Everything went smoothly and I waited to hear back from them...
...and got the rejection e-mail this morning. Typical HR boilerplate, thanking me for my time and although I had an impressive resume, set of experiences, and high skill level, they elected to go with the other candidate who was a "better fit" for their plans for the role.
I was disappointed at first, but after talking with my friend, I actually felt better. The role would have almost zero flexibility for remote work (which I did not know from the interview process) and would require fairly frequent travel (which I did know), and while I could live with the second, the first would have made things tough for me with how chaotic my life has been lately. Also, and I know this is petty, but there was another candidate, a guy we had both worked with at the same company before, and she said he didn't make it past the first round for even the slightest consideration, which made me feel pretty good about myself since he has a MBA and professional certifications, neither of which I have.
I think I'm going to take a break from job-chasing for now, because it is starting to weigh on me a little with the consistent failures. I have a job that pays well and is currently letting me work remotely 100%, which has freed up a ton of time for me as well as cut down on my gasoline usage and wear-and-tear on my car. My daughters and wife see me more, I can take naps so that I have energy to do things with them in the evenings, I can take care of my parents in their new separated state, and I can contribute around my house more. I need to just chill for a little while and enjoy this time with things as they are, because God has a plan and even though I don't know what it is, I trust Him and know that this rejection, as with the others, happened for a reason.
Just needed to share, because it helps me to process things if I can write them out.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 29, 2020 16:25:24 GMT -5
Well, after a tentative and partial reopening, my office has slammed the doors shut again until further notice. Is it really a second wave if we never really left the first one? I'm in much the same situation. My company was supposed to move our power plants to the lowest restriction level on July 6, but with the upswing in cases here in PA (not as drastic as many others, but still a slight uptick), we are probably looking at Labor Day at the earliest to relax things. I'm not complaining, mind you, as it means two more months of me working remotely 100%, but it also means that society as a whole isn't taking this thing as seriously as it should, and that is not a good thing. And no, this is not a "second wave". This is still the first one, just extended because people suck. I need to sign up for a coffee subscription at some point. I am tired of my grocery store varieties. I haven't bought grocery store coffee in two decades. My wife and I found this little local place in an area of Pittsburgh called "The Strip District", which is where the wholesale fruit and vegetable markets used to be and which is now a collection of ethnic markets, specialty food stores, funky little shops, and some really good restaurants. This place roasts their own beans and has become the only place in the city that I will buy coffee from. When I needed to get another batch of beans at the end of May, I placed my order online and swung by two days later to pick it up, and they had just ground them that morning for me. Love them!
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 27, 2020 18:35:23 GMT -5
Hint: rare is the most overused word in eBay listings. It has become entirely meaningless. I don't really sell things, but as a buyer, I can tell you what makes me happy in a listing - - Stay away from nonsense like 'KEY ISSUE!!!' 'HOT!!!' We all know what it is. -Keep it simple: Avengers #4, CGC x.x, 1st Silver Age Captain America - Don't list other characters in the listing, it annoys me greatly when I'm searching for, say, Avengers 223, it drives me nuts when Iron Man 223 and Thor 223 pop up too because people threw it in their listing to get it to pop up more. - Make sure the shipping is actually just shipping, and you're not using it to ensure your margin.I have definitely not bid on listings because the seller was trying to hard to trick me. IRT the bolded, I agree with you for the most part. I don't do auctions on eBay, as all of my listings are Buy It Now (some with "Make an Offer"), and I factor rough shipping costs and eBay/Paypal fees into the cost of the item. Sometimes I take a hit on the shipping, sometimes I make out, so I feel like it all balances out in the end. I like your "Keep it simple" suggestion. I sell a lot of Magic cards on eBay, and my listings are "MTG, Card Name xNumber of Copies, Set Card is From". That's it, unless I add the format the card is typically played in (Standard, Modern, Commander). Otherwise, I just let the listing sell itself.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 27, 2020 7:52:23 GMT -5
Well, you're going to put that Avengers #4 in a box and mail it to me. Problem solved!
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 24, 2020 16:14:47 GMT -5
I've watched the first two episodes for free on Hulu. It isn't horrible, as it has some interesting points, and I will probably finish it in the next week or two.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 21, 2020 9:35:23 GMT -5
We visited the facility this morning. They will have a one-bedroom apartment available in early July, so we just need to get our mom down there to sign the paperwork and then start the process of getting her belongings out of the house. My sister ran into some folks from our parents' church who are residents there, so our mom would know some people going in. What a blessing! Update on this: My sister and I moved our mom out of her house and into this residential care facility yesterday. They had an apartment come open early, as the person who was slated for it kept delaying their move-in, so finally they told that person they would have to wait until July because they had an immediate tenant in my mother. This was a true blessing. Apparently, my father had pushed my mom up against a wall Friday night because, according to her, she said something that he didn't like. Not sure what it was, don't really care, but once it went from threats and verbal abuse to physical abuse, that was going to be the end of it immediately, so the timing of the move couldn't have worked out better (God always has a plan, and His timing is perfect). We rolled into their house, told him she was moving out, and got down to packing her things. He did this fake attempt at crying, begging us to give him another chance, but we just ignored him and did what we needed to do. After a few minutes of us going about our business, he just sat in a chair, resigned to what was going on. We got in and out in 75 minutes, then got all of her belongings moved into her new place in 45 minutes (unpacking is going to take a while, but she has time). I had to stop back in the afternoon, and he kept asking me where she was, if she would call him, if he would ever see him again. He's broken, because for the first time in his life, at the age of 73, he is on his own, without a mother or wife to take care of him. I feel for him to an extent, but to be honest, this is entirely of his doing, and it was a long time coming. The saddest thing about it is that yesterday was the exact final day of their 51st year of marriage. Their wedding anniversary is today, and while my mom and sister will be coming to my house for dinner (to celebrate my sister's birthday, Father's Day, and my anniversary from last Monday), he will be alone, in the home they shared for 48 years, probably drunk and railing against a world that he feels has wronged him, unable to see his part in this. I told him that I will continue to manage his finances, to ensure that his bills get paid and that he has money for groceries and other things he needs, and he is open to that, primarily because he has no idea how to do it. I don't expect him to be long for this world, because he will likely stop eating, or at least eating even somewhat healthily, and probably consume far more alcohol than is humanly reasonable, and while I should be sad about that, I'm really not. He has been a monster for my entire life, to me and my sister and our mother, and the world is probably better off without him in it. I don't have a lot of real-life friends, and fewer still that I would feel remotely comfortable sharing any this with, so I appreciate this community and the friends I have here. You guys and girls are a comfort, a joy, and a blessing to me, so thanks for being here.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 19, 2020 9:25:49 GMT -5
The Essentials are a great buy, but by the time I'm done with one of those, I'm dying for some color! That's why I'm kind of glad that the Epic Collections are around, but damn if they don't go out of print fast I hear you on this. I just overspent on the Amazing Spider-Man Epic that collects issues #105 - 123, but it was still the cheapest I'd seen for it in a long while. Now I just need Volume 3, which collects #39-52 and Annuals #3 & 4, which is going for around $100; if I could find it on Amazon, I would buy it, as I have some gift card money left over from a few years ago, but I'm not paying that kind of cash for it. The next Fantastic Four Epic comes out next week, collecting issues #68 - 87 and Annual #6. My LCS will be pulling one for me, as I've started requesting the ones I want to ensure I don't miss them. I will also be getting the Conan the Barbarian Epic in July, which collects the first 13 issues.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 19, 2020 8:13:05 GMT -5
It is being reported that Sir Ian Holm has passed away at age 88. Ian Holm Has PassedI'll be honest, the only things I knew him from were Alien, Fifth Element, and LotR/Hobbit. I had ZERO idea that he was such a prolific actor and so well-regarded in the field.
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Jun 18, 2020 19:09:30 GMT -5
Well got back from the doctor for an annual check up and found out my heart is back in Afib. I had a cardioversion done last year, and the cardiologist was hoping that would solve the problem. But 9 months later here I am back at square one. It was my regular physician that found it. So she did an EKG on me and sent the results to the cardiologist that did my cardioversion so he could make a plan on what he wants to do next. When he did the cardioversion he said then that if it didn't work permanently that he more than likely would move to a catheter ablation. Not really looking forward to surgery if that ends up being the case. The one bright side, if you even want to call it that, is that at least this go around I have health insurance. So I at least don't have the financial stress I did the first time this happened. But of course it not happening at all again would be an even brighter side. So sorry to read this, my friend. Hope it all works out for you, preferably with no surgery, but if that is what it takes to fix the issue entirely, then I pray it goes well and you recover quickly.
|
|