The Bat-Utopia Completed

This is the main wall, this gives you an idea of how everything kind of all fits together nicely. I've had a few people look at this wall and be totally intimidated by the size and scope of the collection. I'll admit it, that was a great feeling.

 Shelf Porn! As you would expect that I have more than a few trades and graphic novels. I'll admit to being a man that dips in and out of most characters as long as I know that the story is going to be worth my time to read it. On the bottom shelf are mostly collected Judge Dredd books. And next to the Asterix and Obelix hardback is the start of all my 2000ads. This 'shelf' goes right around the room.

Next to the Trades sits the DC books. Top two shelves sit, in alphabet order (because I'm sad), DC runs such as Animal Man, Hitman, Doom Patrol. Superman gets his own space. And then... the Batbooks start to take over...

Each upturned board either signifies a 'hundred' in the run or a break in the characters title. This is mainly because I needed a way to find something when I needed to. Yes, it looks a bit tacky, but I'll have to wait a while to improve this system.

The bookshelf on the right side of the wall is Marvel. And, like the bat-books, the big runs of Hulk, Daredevil and Punisher are free of magazine files.

And then we get to the Bat-Books

This free-standing bookshelf section starts as independent character runs like Spawn and Hellboy and the turns into 'Creator' boxes. That means all Grant Morrison three-part Vertigo things, or all of the dozens of projects for different publishers Frank Miller has done can all live together. All together, I reckon I have potential for expansion of about a few more hundred books, and there is another shelf in the room that carries proper books should the collection outgrow its designated area.

As for the inevitable questions... These are bookshelves from IKEA and are the 2m tall Billy ones. If there is one issue I had when I set this thing up (and is crucial to know should you try and do the same) is that the middle shelf in the bookcase is fixed and that this may scupper your plans of setting up a shelf plan.

The Magazine Files were also bought from IKEA and are known as 'Flyts'. And they can hold anything between 30 to 40 books comfortably.

I conservatively estimate the number of comics I have in this collection is between four and five thousand. And yes I'm sure that number will grow!

As for those that are wondering whether the light will destroy, bleach, yellow and fade my stuff, the room usually has it's blinds down therefore living in mainly darkness. While all of my precious books still live well away from this area.

So this is the end of a comic collecting ambition: to pull together my collection into an ordered, aesthetically pleasing state. And have not a single white long box anywhere near it!!!

Style and Comic Collections

No I haven;t dropped off the earth. No, I haven't given up. I've moved. And that has been a serious ball-ache. As you can see from the scars on my walls.

And now for the first time in nearly ten years my comic book collection is now in one place. True, they are scattered throughout my new house (like three rooms and I do mean scattered). I piled up all the longboxes together and something occurred to me...

Something that I'm sure all comic collectors have when the amass a stupid number of comics, must also realise:

That the white cardboard comic box is a contender for the most ugliest thing in the world.

True they are functional, and are wonderful for storing my precious books in a way that is archival safe (or so they tell me). And that they stack okay. So I can get a large number into an economically efficient area.

But... after a few years. They deform due to weight and movement. They also appear to change colour, becoming more yellow. Also, different suppliers have slightly different measurements, so its really difficult to get them all to be exactly the same, thus spoiling the overall presentation.

Rant conclusion, look at them. They are simply not a sexy way to show off a collection that I have spent a small fortune on and a lot of time pulling together. Something better must be done. And quickly.

A utopia must be created!!!

Watch this space.

Coming up smiling in 2012

So what? This is late. Blame the alcohol or the dodgy Chinese takeaway.

2011 was a vintage comic collecting year.

Regardless of the ridiculous amount of Batman I've picked up this year, and the new focus on a specific character title and which started in earnest with me picking up Batman #181 in January, there were other hobbyist collecting highlights.

So what were my other 2011 Hits?

-Finished collecting the 'Miracleman' books. And that hurt the wallet.
-Picked up a number of Bronze Age Marvel key books. You can have the Silver Age, zombies, The Bronze Age is MY Golden Age!!!
-Reduced my overall wishlist by a load of cool titles. Scratching off titles like the 2006 'Blade' run, 'Godland', 'Sandman Mystery Theatre', 'DV8', Ed Brubakers' early Wildstorm work . And got that impossible to find seventh issue of 'Automatic Kafka'.
-I gleefully read the hundred plus run of Peter David 'Incredible Hulk'.
-I fell in love with Marvel Hardbacks. Did you know that the Human Torch died? I only noticed last night! What about when Captain America was kicked out of the USA by President Clinton? Paul Pope's Lockjaw story in 'Strange Tales' actually exists? All good stuff.
-Actually was stunned that Mignola killed Hellboy. I'm sure he'll get better.

As for the Batman Quest, I finished 2011 by completing the first volume of Azrael (and for anyone who plans on doing something similar: remember: #47 is a special double-sized 'flip-book' with Shadow of the Bat #80. That will be the reason you can't find that book...) My Christmas present to myself this year was Detective Comics #400, Man-Bats début.

However, two moments really sprung out.

I got me a bespoke John McCrea drawn 'Hitman' at the Manchester Comic Con, which looks awesome.

And I shook Alan Moores hand, which considering he did Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day' (and may have even referenced Batman Villain Scarface) on New Years Morning, as well as being Alan Moore, was kind of cool!

So what plotting am I hoping for 2012? Of course I should tell you....

Should the world survive the apocalypse that awaits us in 2012, these resolutions are enacted!

1.Try to pick up all the 300s in Batman (1940)
2.Finish the Detective Comics run between 500 and the titles conclusion.
3.Complete the Nightwing run
4.Complete the second volume of Azrael.
5.Complete Catwoman volume 2 books
6.Complete Gotham Knights
7.Compete Batman Confidential
8.Start picking up Batbooks from the Silver Age.
9.Buy at least one piece of original Batman comic art.
10.Try to pull my entire comic collection under one roof, and organise them in a sexy way.

The EVIL of Pence Variants

So as promised, here is my Ebay story.

I received this in the post and I was a tad upset. Like furiously upset.

Advertised as a 'Fine' condition comic book and had a picture that was nothing like what you see here. Thing was I paid £20 for what was photographed as a Fine condition Daredevil #168 Cent Variant. I eagerly waited for over two weeks for this thing to arrive in a diabolically shoddy, second hand 'Play.com' envelope. Upon opening the envelope it slowly dawned on me that I had been screwed over... Condition wasn't that great, and something worse...

You see, I suffered the biggest problem us British American comic book collectors have to deal with: the Accursed Pence/Cent Variant Switcheroo.

I had decided pretty early on in collecting comics, that if I was going to collect comic books, and especially the proper Key books, then these comic books must be Cent variants. The reason, I justified, is that these are American comic books, and to feel truly genuine they need to have American currency values on the cover. Sad I know, but that's my rule and I have to stick to it. And I am not alone in the UK in upholding this rule.

I have discovered over the years that the Pence Variant is a dominant feature of the UK direct market certainly around 1981, I'm pretty sure that there are others eras earlier than this, but this is the one that is proving extremely problematic for me. And for those wondering, from what I can tell the ONLY difference between a Cent edition and a Pence edition is the actual price denomination (there are no British adverts to take the place of 'X-Rey Spex' adverts!). For me, it just looks wrong.

There's also a monetary value at play here also. Take Iron Man #129 'Demon In The Bottle' issue, you can pick up a high grade, pence variant copy of this book for a couple of quid (and it looks great in frame near your wine rack), but to buy this as a Cent variant in the same condition is treble that. And this is the apex of my rage at Daredevil 168, and the reason I think I got shafted by the seller, who (and this doesn't feel too harsh) either MISLED me into thinking what I was buying was what I was buying. Or upon discovering that his REAL DD#168 didn't make the price he thought it ought too, switched it to the lesser valued variant. And hoped I wouldn't notice.

How this relates to the Batman Quest is this: I'm going to have to bite the bullet and go directly Stateside to pick up a lot of early 1980's Batman. As this is the time where the problematic pence variants appear in the local, UK market. In short, I think it will be really hard to get hold of a cent copy of Detective Comics 505 in the UK than I thought it would originally be. Which kind of sucks in one way.

Or it means that a holiday is called for.

I properly threw my toys of the pram over my Daredevil #168. The seller had the gall to claim that as he was a 'comic dealer' (which his eBay feedback didn't support, although he has sold some Mint copies of 'Pirate' and 'Private' to a bloke in Germany) he would regularly use 'stock photo's', and that this was simply a mish-take, rather than a misdirection. Of course he disputed the condition, which is, as always, totally subjective but after nearly a month and daily emails, I got my money back.

Truthfully, I had to get my money back, by being a totally belligerent and gratuitous pain in the arse.

So beware people. If you have think something is too good to be true, it probably is.

Beware of the Evils of the Pence Variant.

The Quest Starts Stalking The Huntress

And so this Batman Quest is bigger again.

When you are collecting a family of comics, you have to put in a bit of research. Well, I thought I had done enough and then I noticed that there was one character that kept popping in and out of the main comic books, and I had been blatantly ignoring her. It appears that I'm not the only reader either, this is a character that has never achieved any measure of love from the main readership of Batman. This is something I'm having to get to the bottom of when I get this character's books.

Yes, Huntress...

You and I, we are going to get acquainted over the next few months... And I have a feeling that you might be the most retconned character in the history of Batman comics. However, it is safe to say you are an important character to the Gotham City world, which is why you have to be added.

The following books are, therefore, to be added to the The Batman Quest:

Huntress volume 1 (1989)- 19 issues
Huntress volume 2 (1994)- 4 issues
Nightwing and Huntress (1988)- 4 issues
Batman: Spoiler/Huntress: Blunt Trauma (1998) 'Cataclysm' pt.13- 1 issue
Huntress: Cry for Blood (2000)- 6 issues
Huntress: Year One (2008), 6 issues

And I know that there will be more spin-off titles to follow this addition.

The Batman Quest gets Bigger

When I started this collection. I knew that it was inevitable that in all of the energy that I was expending looking for certain titles, I would forget that certain Bat-Books existed, and could not be ignored.

Typically, it dawned on me yesterday that The Batman Quest may not be considered finished until I collect the following titles...

Battle for the Cowl: 3 part miniseries
Also including: 3 part Oracle, 3-part Azrael, 2 Gotham City Gazette and 5 character one shots. Total= 16 issues.

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home:
9 Issues

These books are already being found in bargain bins throughout the UK. So, I don't expect to face any trouble picking them up.