I also received a Korgi package from Christian Slade. I purchased hard cover first editions of the three books with a sketch in each and a soft cover of the 3rd book, also sketched, to go with 1 and 2 already in my collection. If you haven't read these they are done with no words. I remember a few years ago Marvel tried this for a few months, but it didn't really work and I found the stories confusing. With Korgi it is extremely clear what is happening throughout the books. Great for young kids and family friendly stuff. Similar to Owly, but for an older reader.

I also received this piece of original art from the 3rd book. Great details and obviously a lot of work to complete.

Comic reading so far this week includes Korgi #3, FF 51 with the kids and 7 Spirit stories from Spirit Archives #1. I'm going to call every two 8-page Spirit stories a comic for purposes of my annual count.

Comics Read in 2012 = 28

In the introduction Eisner mentions that he was happy to start the Spirit series because he was finally writing for adults. The stories aren't overly sophisticated, but the are more mature than the average fair in mid-1940. I can't help but make a parallel with Batman where Denny Colt = Batman, Ebony White = Robin and the two police commisioners. I'm sure that this has been discussed over and over in the past, but I'm just starting with this series. Here is an extract from Wikipedia:


In "late '39, just before Christmas time," Eisner recalled in 1979, Quality Comics publisher Everett M. 'Busy' Arnold "came to me and said that the Sunday newspapers were looking for a way of getting into this comic book boom." In a 2004 interview he elaborated on that meeting:

"Busy invited me up for lunch one day and introduced me to Henry Martin [sales manager of The Des Moines Register and Tribune Syndicate, who] said, 'The newspapers in this country, particularly the Sunday papers, are looking to compete with comics books, and they would like to get a comic-book insert into the newspapers.' ... Martin asked if I could do it. ... It meant that I'd have to leave Eisner & Iger [which] was making money; we were very profitable at that time and things were going very well. A hard decision. Anyway, I agreed to do the Sunday comic book and we started discussing the deal [which] was that we'd be partners in the 'Comic Book Section,' as they called it at that time. And also, I would produce two other magazines in partnership with Arnold."

Eisner negotiated an agreement with the syndicate in which Arnold would copyright The Spirit, but, "Written down in the contract I had with 'Busy' Arnold - and this contract exists today as the basis for my copyright ownership - Arnold agreed that it was my property. They agreed that if we had a split-up in any way, the property would revert to me on that day that happened. My attorney went to 'Busy' Arnold and his family, and they all signed a release agreeing that they would not pursue the question of ownership." This would include the eventual backup features Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck.

Selling his share of their firm to Iger, who would continue to package comics as the S. M. Iger Studio and as Phoenix Features through 1955, for $20,000, Eisner left to create The Spirit. "They gave me an adult audience", Eisner said in 1997, "and I wanted to write better things than superheroes. Comic books were a ghetto. I sold my part of the enterprise to my associate and then began The Spirit. They wanted an heroic character, a costumed character. They asked me if he'd have a costume. And I put a mask on him and said, 'Yes, he has a costume!'"

The Spirit, an initially eight- and later seven-page urban-crimefighter series, ran with the initial backup features Mr. Mystic and Lady Luck in a 16-page Sunday supplement (colloquially called "The Spirit Section") that was eventually distributed in 20 newspapers with a combined circulation of as many as five million copies. It premiered June 2, 1940, and continued through 1952.

These books are beautiful and his line work is just incredible. He gets better with each one and I know I'm going to regret not picking up any of his work.

The third book ends with a new bad guy appearing and Christian told me he has 7 or 8 books already planned so there will be lots of opportunity to buy more stuff.

Mike M

I've been pretty busy the last two weeks and haven't had much time for comics. I guess that others can relate to that! I received my Dan DeCarlo cartoon back from the paper conservation guys and they did a great job deacidifying it. Now it is nice and white, just like new. I've put it up beside the other one and I think they look great together. Microbia received the Irma comic I sent back and I got a refund right away including shipping so I can't complain too much.

The next issue of Comic Book Quarterly is pretty much ready so you should be seeing that soon. I guess I shouldn't say I haven't had much time for comics as I have been working on the newsletter.

Other than reading Jeff's John Carter installments, I haven't been looking at too many comics. I did manage to finish FF 51-60, lots of Inhumans, first Black Panther, Dr. Doom and the Silver Surfer. One of the best story arcs of all time.

Please let me know how your collecting is coming along in 2012.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Is that it? Are you going to continue this through the year? I have been going through threads on the forums to see what has been discussed in the past. I just stumbled on this one today. I know it's a commitment to keep something like this moving forward, but I find it interesting and hope to see more.

To answer your question above: I find that I am re-evaluating my collecting in 2012. I have become very interested in GA horror/sci-fi/fantasy recently and I have been thinking about concentrating on that area. I also like that I don't seem as pressured (my self imposed neurosis) to have high grade books, which is a bit kinder to my bank account. Although, my first purchase of a few EC books took a bit of getting used to, as there is a lot of creases, chipping and writing on the covers. I am cutting way back on my modern purchases and at the beginning of the year I filled in a lot of holes in my X-Men books.

I was hoping to generate some discussion with my random thoughts on comic collecting over the year, but it didn't happen so I stopped posting. I'd start again if there is interest.

Mike

I am here as well. I reached a point a few years ago where the "bulk" just got to be too much. Now when I go to cons I dont even look at the dollar bins.

As much as I would like to thin the herd of thousands of 80s and 90s books, I just can't do it yet.

Mike,

I would participate.

For me the bulk got so much a few years ago - I stopped collecting/reading comics. I just started up again about a year ago. The owner of my favorite LCS gave me access to his basement and I was able to go through hundreds of boxes to fill in some of the stuff I missed.

Now, I find myself headed right back to my past "overload" status and I started to cull the new titles I am collecting.

I like to collect just what I need (I carry a short list). It does get tricky when you walk into a comiccon and you hear that little voice say you need everything! I bring my wife so she can bonk me in the head and steer be back on course.

Talk and share away

Hell, I've very nearly stopped collecting in the proper sense. Now, I still buy books, but more than half of them these days are for my various academic or writing projects; of those that aren't, they're almost exclusively digital for my Kindle Fire. Stupid Kindle. It's turned me into a modern fan! lol

No, I've really been surprised at how my collecting has dropped off so drastically in the past year or so. But I've been getting tons of great new books to read for free through my comic review gig (even if PDF format isn't as great as comixology's guide view format), and it's been nice. I've also been grabbing tons of graphic novels and tpbs from the local libraries as well.

FWIW, there really is a Renaissance of comics taking place--so much good stuff out there over the past few years, even if it isn't always from the Big Two.

Alright, I'll try picking this up again, although I can't really remember everything I've bought and read since the end of February. I did read the first two trades of 'Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson' which includes Thor 337-359. I've never been a big fan of Thor, but these issues were among the best comics I've ever read. I'm not a fan of 80s comic art as I find it pretty scratchy, but the story telling was great. I'm looking forward to reading the last 3 trades.

Good luck thinning the herd. Over the course of the past 10 months, I have sold 500 modern age books, mostly from the 1990s -- Marvel, Image, Valiant, and a few small press books. I sold to two different buyers. Got $95 for Spawn -1-83, The Maxx 1-3, Venom Lethal Protector 1-6, Spider-Man (McFarlane series) 1. And I got $65 for the other boxes.

500 comics for $355.00. A lot less than what I paid for them because I bought them when they came out at the shop, but I just had to let them all go. $95 for the one box and .65 cents a comic for the other four boxes. Oh well. Wish I could've got $1.00 a comic for them all, but it just wasn't going to happen.

I was at a con last weekend and saw a dealer that had bundled lots dirt cheap. Mcfarlanes spider-man 1-20 for $20... And a lot more 80s and 90s bundled for $1 or less per book. and it was major titles.

Scary. Unless it is 9.8 or better, it's probably better to donate to get tax write-off.

All of the comics I sold had been read once, bagged and boarded, and put into comic boxes. I didn't take time to have any CGC rated, but they were in excellent condition. Having 500 mondern books to sale is kind of a pain in the neck. Other than the Spawn, I had runs of Bloodshot 1 (four copies $3.50 cover price) 2-5, 7-17, Dark Knight Strikes again 1-3 ($7.95 cover price), Cyberforce 0,1,2,3,4, Wild C.A.T.S., 1-4, Batman/Judge Dredd One-shot, X-Force Vol.1, plus loads of other near mint comics, all for .65 cents a comic.

Oh yeah, I found my buyers through Craig's List.

I think that getting 65 cents a comic for the stuff you have mentioned is a very good deal. A dealer would give you 5 cents each.

Mike

That's true. I look at it like this: when a person subscribes to his local newpaper, he reads it and throws it away with no resale vaule--the same for most magazine subscriptions.