Week 9: The Early Marvel keys
As comic collectors, we’ve all seen the covers to these Marvel keys featured below. I did a thought exercise and I couldn’t visualize even one of these splash pages in my head. I was close on a couple of the…
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.
Read MoreWeek 9: The Early Marvel keys
Comic Cons
I’m getting those email notifications for the big C2E2 Comic Con happening this coming weekend in Chicago. C2E2 is the official launch of the mega con season, San Diego Comic Con is probably the best known comic con with all…
Week 8: Double the Fun
My pal Alan was in the shop yesterday and he gave me a suggestion for this week’s Making a Splash post: feature some great double-page splashes! Nestor Redondo outdid himself with this beautiful double-page splash for Rima the Jungle Girl…
Nostalgia Cycles
Nostalgia cycles exist and they have a great effect on collecting comics and other pop culture collectibles. The process seems eternal. As kids we enjoyed what we enjoyed then too suddenly we grew up and found ourselves in school. After…
Week 7: it’s in the air
I was thinking of going hard on a Valentine’s Day theme but decided against it; I still added a few to remind us of what really makes the world go around. One of my favourite Undervalued Spotlights was when I…
Origin issues
Like I mentioned in the first post of this column, I’m planning to cover a lot of topics with some being meaty and others a little lighter but still worth discussing. I’m not sure where the Origin Issue falls but…
Week 6: Raboy gets his due
No theme again this week, and again I like where my A.D.D. took me. There have been some references to Mac Raboy lately so I thought I’d lead with a monster of a splash page from the man himself. We…
Scarcity of Grade
It looks like most of us have a very difficult time defining what kind of collectors we are; we seem to be opportunistic and have erratic buying habits. If we can’t be more focused on what we buy let us…
Week 5: Freestyling
No theme this week, I’m free styling and I like the result. Darwyn Cooke was a breath of fresh air, his New Frontier art knocked everybody’s socks off but I’ve always liked his work on The Spirit, a beautiful homage…
Collector Types
Time to Collect is a series of posts exploring collecting comics. We’ll focus on recognizing and exploring our collecting motivations and uncovering some common mistakes we seem to be prone to. The goal is a better understanding of how and…
Week 4: Being Frank
So this whole post started off innocently enough, I liked this Frank Brunner splash and this Frank Cho splash so I thought I’d add one or two more Franks’s and give it a cute name like Being Frank. Whoa! There…
New Column Update
Next Monday, January the 27th I start my new weekly column on comic book collecting. I was really hoping to have the working title ready to announce this week but I’ve failed miserably. I have several working titles but have…
Week 3: Steranko Squared
Grading comics allowed for the large and vibrant vintage comic market to expand exponentially. Gone was the worry of missing pages, of undetected restoration, of missed cropping and of buying over graded books. All this had come at a cost…
New Column
On Monday, January 27th I’ll be starting a new weekly column. I can’t tell you what the title of it will be because I’m still not sure but I can tell you what it will be about: collecting comics. The…
Week 2: Wood's Doom
Grading comics allowed for the large and vibrant vintage comic market to expand exponentially. Gone was the worry of missing pages, of undetected restoration, of missed cropping and of buying over graded books. All this had come at a cost…
Week 1: Trees
Grading comics allowed for the large and vibrant vintage comic market to expand exponentially. Gone was the worry of missing pages, of undetected restoration, of missed cropping and of buying over graded books. All this had come at a cost…
Covered 365: Day 365
Detective Comics #365, DC Comics, July 1967. Artist: Carmine Infantino. A great comic book cover matching each day of the year, 1 through 365. Please chime in with your favourite corresponding cover, from any era. We’re a stubborn lot I…
Undervalued Spotlight Sign Off
It’s time to put the Undervalued Spotlight on the shelf, I’m stopping my weekly column after 10+ years of posts. I’ll leave the door ajar and allow myself to revisit this post if and when the urge and inspiration arises.…
Covered 365: Day 364
Adventure Comics #364, DC Comics, January 1968. Artist: Curt Swan. A great comic book cover matching each day of the year, 1 through 365. Please chime in with your favourite corresponding cover, from any era. I’m going light today because…
Covered 365: Day 363
Avengers #363, Marvel Comics, June 1993. Artist: Steve Epting. A great comic book cover matching each day of the year, 1 through 365. Please chime in with your favourite corresponding cover, from any era. What a great day for covers!…