Tis the Season to sell comics falalala la la la Logan

Well I sold a copy of Giant-Size X-Men #1 on eBay today. I had bought one, had it graded by the CGC folks at a 5.0, and then recently got a great deal on a 6.5 so I upgraded and put the 5.0 up for sale.

I got an email from the buyer that said he was buying this for his son’s first birthday and was going to invest in a comic every year to help him build a collection of value. I was moved by the thought of a dad showing a one year old a comic encased in a hard-shell plastic case and saying, “Son, I am the coolest dad in the world. Someday this will help pay for college, or a lot of lap dances at a strip club. I promise to never, ever, buy you a copy of Rom: Space Knight.”

It made me think about what he would/should/could buy next year. Will his son become an X-Fan? Or a Marvel Man? Or maybe he’ll branch into DC comics? Who knows. But I am glad that the tradition carries on. With that, here’s my wish list to Santa:

X-Men #1 (A decent copy. I can buy a beat up one that was used to wrap fish for a low price currently)

The big one for me that started it all. I loved the X-Men from grade school and this is the moment it became a reality.

Green Lama #6

Ahead of his time, the Green Lama was the first globally minded hero in terms of being a friend to all men regardless of race, religion, or dining habits. But he still kicked some Nazi ass.

Suspense Comics #3

This particular copy sold for $47,800 at auction in 2006. Besides one of themost  awesome covers ever, its money in the bank as an investment. Iconic.

Marvel Mystery Comics #4

Ahoy! Submariner? Check. First appearance of the original Vision? That’s all I need. Talk about creepy. Aarkus was an alien law enforcement officer long before Martian Manhunter came to DC. And in the Silver Age at Marvel, his origin became intertwined with the Human Torch, the original robotic version that predated the Fantastic Four. I guess there’s something about a creep we all love.  I think what I love best about The Vision is that it shows how comics can reinvent themselves and recycle ideas.

Gay Comics #25

Gay Comics is a teen style romantic comedy comic along the lines of Archie. Simpler times back in the Golden Age of Comics… ah.  This issue is particularly of interest to me because I lost an eBay auction for it because I was too busy checking fantasy football scores. Final bid? $25.

Twenty. Five. Dollars. F me.

So Santa, if you’re listening, please take note. Otherwise, I’ll keep sacrificing meerkats to Gus the Groundhog from the Pennsylvania Lottery.
Keep on scratching, Gus, keep on scratching.

Read Full Post »

“Who am I” reveals “WHO THE HECK ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE”

Well this turned into a Pandora’s box.

On a very old post here, I discussed my brief adventure into squatting on some email names, as I was very interested in working on a “brand” for the blog, as well as just making some easier to use (and remember) email addresses.  This week the good folks at GigaOm did a piece on social networks and the process of evaluating what you use and what you don’t. In the article, they mentioned a fun little site called namechk that will take a user name and tell you if it’s available across a ton of selected social and sharing sites.

NAMECHK IS CRACK.

Besides throwing in every old and new name I’ve used since AOL was a relevant ISP, namechk is full of sites I have never visited or knew existed.

Here’s a random selection:

PLIME & MYLOT

Plime.com is a news feed, grassroots news site, like many others out there, where you upload links to create user driven news. Nothing new, but I like the layout and categories, and any news site where you might find a new undiscovered story is worth checking out. Here’s people who send toys to NYC for Christmas… and I mean literally “Toys visiting NYC”. Also see MyLot.com for an alternative to the ever-increasing clutter of Yahoo’s homepage.

SLIDESIX

Wow. SlideSix.com is a presentation website. Looking for new layout ideas for that big Power Point on why your children should do their chores? Want to browse a report on dentistry? Either way, SlideSix is like browsing your incredibly smart and organized friend’s computer. You’ll learn a lot, get some ideas, and probably feel ashamed at a few things you can’t unsee.

COLOURLOVERS & HOWCAST

Plain and simple, if you like design or you want to get some ideas on new schemes for that big room renovation, COLOURlovers is for you. Definitely a place for people who get need a new opinion and want to do more than use the Lowe’s design center. Tangent to this is Howcast, which is a video channel of how-to videos. If you find WikiHow‘s walk through a little dry, this is an alternative to scouring YouTube. I’m not hotlinking you, YouTube. You’re big enough. 

CAFEMOM

I didn’t need to go here. But some mommies will like the news & gossip, which I can understand.

TIPD

Finance. News. Rumors. Tips. Tipd. Efficient. End of line.
But this article on pretty money is cool too. Found that on Tipd.

So that’s the skinny. It’s amazing what kinds of stuff you can find when you’re only looking out for yourself.

Read Full Post »

Face it: Facebook sucks (has it always?)

http://gigaom.com/collaboration/facebook-new-profiles/

The good folks over at fellow blog GigaOM have a nice little summary on why the new profiles on Facebook kinda… suck.  One of the biggest peeves of mine is the new tagged photos showing up front and center on your page. So like when MySpace allowed comments out the wazoo, that stoned college fraternity brother of yours that you haven’t seen in five years can tag you in a photo for “HAPPY 4/20 DAY LOL” and next thing you know you’re guilty by association and taking a drug test for your mom. Awful.

Every now and then I rethink the whole social media thing. It’s not a matter of jumping from one page/provider to another, it’s the whole concept. If a friend from high school or college wants to track me down, here’s a shocker, I’M IN THE PHONE BOOK.

Of course, “Phone Book” is an old school term from the 1890s for using the white pages or any other online phone lookup. I wonder if now that we’re back in touch with the geek from geometry class or the hot cheerleader that we spilled our lunch ravioli on if we really need the social network anymore. My best friends and I often use our email to cc each other the links, news, stories we like rather than posting on the wall something that a person may feel the need to misinterpret or comment on. I’ve seen more than a handful of friends get into “comment fights” on Facebook because sarcasm, facetiousness and irony are lost when you haven’t had a one-on-one conversation with someone in years. Next thing you know, a rant about being cut off in traffic leads to a discussion of state tax revenue and someone getting called Hitler. I mean really.

So is it hypocritical to be using a blog? I don’t think so. A blog is a journal, or pedestal. In my case, I use this for some specific topics (mainly comics and my day-to-day tech life) as a chance to expose people to new things, or engage in light discussion about how things in their life can get better with a digital help.

Not everything has to be “Liked”.

Read Full Post »

SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP! THE YAMATO!

My goodness this looks insane. There’s no content to this post. If you liked Star Blazers, you’re already read too many words to get to this:

Wow.

Read Full Post »