Site Updates and Marvel Collecting Milestones

The Hulk from the cover of Tales To Astonish #81

Long overdue site updates! I've made a TON of changes to the site. Most of the changes are underneath the hood and not visible to visitors. The site has been entirely re-coded to make it easier for me to keep it updated and add new sections as desired. With that said, I've also made some changes that ARE visible to visitors. One of those changes is to the top main section of the home page. That section used to contain static text that had not changed since this site saw the light of day. Well, now I'm using it as a blog-like/news feature that I can use to ramble about this web site, comic book characters, titles, and specific issues that I like, and comic collecting in general. Beware! This may not be interesting to the random visitor to this site. In fact, it may even bore the socks of those who actually visit the site regularly. But, it's certainly more interesting then what was here before. And, it's not really intended to interest anyone but me anyway.

Henry Pym shrinking as seen in Tales To Astonish #27

Marvel Comics Collecting Milestones: I've recently completed the Hulk/Sub-Mariner Tales To Astonish run (issues #59-101). However, I seem to have misplaced issue #88. I'm sure it's somewhere in the depths of my comic book archive, but I just can't seem to locate it. So, I may need to get another copy. Anyway, I'm also very close to completing the Ant-Man/Giant-Man Tales To Astonish run (issues #27 and #35-69). I recently purchased copies of the key Ant-Man issues on eBay: #27 (first Henry Pym), #35 (first costumed Ant-Man, #36 (second costumed appearance), and #49 (Ant-Man becomes Giant-Man). I'll admit that #27 is not in the best of shape. The cover is complete with no missing chunks, but it has been re-stapled to the book. Also, one page is missing from one of the backup stories. Still, the guts of the book are in decent shape and the Ant-Man story is complete. Plus, I only paid a little over $100 for it - Not bad for a book that regularly sells for $700+ in Good (2.0) condition.

While I'm on the subject of Ant-Man, I gotta say that I can't wait to see the upcoming Avengers movie and I'm very curious to see if the Ant-Man movie pans out . The Ant-Man movie will supposedly contain a comedic element which may or may not work. The Iron Man movies are pretty damn good and they contain a comedic element that does seem to work. We shall see.

Strange Worlds #1

Back to Tales To Astonish, I've picked up a few of the early sci-fi/horror issues of Tales To Astonish this year and I'm finding that these are really cool books. The art is great and the stories are pretty fun too. The early sci-fi horror issues of Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery are also just as cool. So, for me, this is a very old genre that I'm just now discovering. In fact, I recently came across a Marvel title that I was not aware of. Marvel published a short lived series named Strange Worlds. The cover of Strange Worlds #1 really did it for me. On it is a huge flying saucer with windows that look like eyes facing an approaching crowd of people. It's now one of my favorite covers of all time. Looks like I'll be attempting to acquire lots of Marvel Silver Age sci-fi/horror material next year, especially Tales To Astonish.

Spidey from the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #112

Spidey!!!. My Amazing Spider-Man #1-200 run is 80% complete. I've only 27 issues to go and most of those are readily available and affordable. The only keys I still need are #5, #11, #14, #122, and #129. I haven't made any big Amazing Spider-Man purchases this year due to my fanatical interest in filling in my Tales To Astonish collection (and a few other key books from other titles). Spider-Man is, and always has been, one of my favorite superheroes, so, I'm definitely going to re-focus on this title when 2011 rolls around.

I'm still working on my Iron Man (1968 Series) #1-100 run. Only 14 issues to go! The Iron Man (1968 Series) is very affordable so completing this run will be EZ. I really want to focus on the Tales of Suspense Iron Man issues in 2011. I picked up a copy of Tales of Suspense #48 (first red iron man suite) a few months ago and remembered just how cool these early Iron Man stories are.

Avengers #1

I got it! Several years ago I saw a copy of Avengers #1 at a local comic shop. Of course, I saw it after I spent a few hundred bucks on other comics. I looked at it for a few minutes and then I asked the price. It was only $110. Of course, at that time, there was no talk of an Avengers movie, so, $110 was slightly less than the going rate for a Good+ Avengers #1. Anyway, I couldn't rationalize spending more money on comics that day and decided to hold off. Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about that comic and convinced my wife to allow me to buy it. So, not more than 3 days later, I called the shop to see if was still available and, of course, it wasn't. Since that day, I've been looking for an affordable copy of Avengers #1. I just wasn't finding it. And, then, the Avengers movie was announced which pushed the price up dramatically. Well, I finally bought a decent copy of Avengers #1, but it really was not what I consider affordable. And, to celebrate, I purchased a decent copy of the key Avengers #4 (1st Silver Age appearance of Captain America) a few weeks later - Also, not what I consider affordable, but what can I say.

What all of this means? I'm itching to visit a comic shop - $$$ KA-CHING, KA-CHING $$$

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