Happy new year folks! Chris and Walt start 2023 off with a review of 2022. The boys try to make sense of what turned out to be a crazy year.
Please let us know what you thought of the show: leave your comment in the comments field provided below. All we ask is that you keep things civil.
What sticks out the most for you from 2022?
Walt is right on his position regarding the purists and how few there are…as a man who reads every book that comes into this house it has become obvious that I am a rarity at this current time in our culture. On Instagram (majority are under 45 year old) I have a reputation as being a quality hound (hey, Walt taught me that tight and crisp was the way!) but that I actually read books, at first it threw me cause I thought ‘well, what are you guys doing?’, but it turns out a lot of silver/bronze collectors just like the pretty cover!
This is not an opinion on what or who is ‘better’ it’s just an observation of the make up of the market. I try to just focus on what I enjoy but also like to remain aware of the market as it’s impossible not to impacted by those speculators/investors/dirty flipper/gold miners.
PS: I have TWO copies of Captain America #181 coming over from Canada right at this very moment – and to make Walter extra happy I have a nice 7.5 CGC Hero For Hire arriving in a few days…and a big flat-headed screwdriver just waiting to bust her out for a good read!
I have bought every book that I own with the intent to read it some day. Comics, pulps, magazines , paperbacks & hardcovers- all are to be read & consumed ! Unfortunately, I have failed miserably in this task in recent years & will be trying to rectify this immediately. I’ll let you know how I make out- I am just about to crack into a Super-villain Team Up #1. Wish me luck !
Tight, Crisp copies are the way to go Spider, you’ve learned well. And indeed you are a rare bird, a true blue blood of the comic collecting biosphere, reading what you buy. A quick tip on the cracking of those CGC cases, if the Cage is in a new one just crack it open from the bottom, you only have to open the “jaws” of the case up a bit and you can slide the sealed sleeve with the comic in it right out, easy, peasy.
Live Frog, please read in a well ventilated area, those dusty old things can be bad for your health, you should be alright with the Super-Villain Team-Up though but a nice scotch might help with the comprehension…
Walter, as we’ve previously discussed (during our ASM#50 chats), there are books out there that are becoming quite rare in their natural state, with a significant portion of the population being encased in plastic.
In 2021 I broke out 2 books, in 2022 I broke out 6 books…I have a shipment coming in next week and 3 of the books are encased…so I can see that 2023 will hit double digits in slab cracking. Small sample size, but I see a trend occurring!
The cracking is easy (well, easy for CGC, for CGCS it’s an absolute workout!) it’s the lamination on the book that can sometimes be a bit nerve racking to free them from.
Well, 2022 certainly had its highs and lows (I’m talking creatively, not monetarily). One of the highs was certainly two issues of the Reckless series by Brubaker and Phillips. These guys are really on a roll, and, if you’re looking for an alternative to tights and capes, you can’t go wrong with this one. Marc Silvestri’s Batman & the Joker: Deadly Duo was a real treat artwise, and the Local Comic Shop Day black and white variant really showed off his elegant line work. My biggest disappointment of the year was watching Alex Ross go dayglow on that garish Fantastic Four hardcover. Great story, but the pages looked like somebody had eaten a box of Smarties and barfed! I had to go back and look at his black and white pages in the Sandman Mystery Theater Annual to get over my nausea! And then, he applied the same formula to the covers of the FF relaunch, another huge disappointment for me, storywise and artwise. The second collected volume of Terry and Rachel Dodson’s Adventureman was simply a rollicking good time with wonderful artwork! I spent a lot of the year tracking down back issues in the five dollar and under range with great success. You don’t have to break the bank in this hobby for a great read with first-rate art. Oh, and I also got a 1797 George III cartwheel tuppence for my coin collection! Yes!!!
Mel, just reserved the entire Reckless run at my local library! Got my holiday reading sorted, thank you!
Walter, I have added Fantastic Four #161 to my wantlist – you reference a splash page featuring a very phallic weapon (that ain’t no eggbeater!) in your Sleepy Censors article and the Canadian artist Vince Marchesano mentioned the issue again (Thing vs. a dinosaur!) in your interview with him (12 years ago!) when he ghost drew it for Buckler. Very interesting!