3/17/26

Made it through the storm unscathed, although this morning’s predawn drive featured a number of fallen trees partially blocking the road at various spots.

Scored these yesterday at Comix Connection York.

Yes, these are originals and not reprints.

Now, I know that Hans Gruber’s quote from Die Hard (“And Alexander wept, seeing as he had no more worlds to conquer”) isn’t a real quote from real literature, but it sums up how I feel about my comic book collection quite nicely. I’ve been reading and collecting comic books since I was 8 years old (and I’m 58 now)… so, most of my life. And as such, I’m reaching the stage where there’s nothing more to collect. I’ve got complete runs of all-time personal favorites like The Defenders, Kamandi, Marvel Two-In-One, Marvel Team-Up, Swamp Thing, Man-Thing, and so many others. I’m two issues away from completing Marvel’s Conan, 15 issues way from completing Avengers, and two to three dozen away from complete runs of Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Fantastic Four, and Amazing Spider-Man.

(My stopping point, for those who are curious, is Marvel’s Onslaught, when half the books got rebooted in their own little pocket universe created by Franklin Richards and drawn by Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, etc. For me, in my own head continuity, that’s when the Marvel Saga came to an end. I know that others my age see the second Secret Wars as the Great Jumping Off Point, but for me, it was the Image-fication era).

Anyway, my collection was always based primarily on the Bronze Age titles of the 1970s and 1980s — Marvel, DC, Charlton, Gold Key, etc. After that, it made sense to go back and collect the Silver Age stuff that led up to that era. But what I find myself doing now is collecting Golden Age stuff that I have no nostalgic connection to, like EC Comics. And also original comic art. Keith Giffen and Mike Hawthorne gave me a few pieces of original comic art over the years, but it was all from stuff I’d worked on. Recently, I’ve purchased a few from comics I grew up with, including a Herb Trimpe page from The Defenders featuring Omega the Unknown.

When Mary and I retire to West Virginia I will have a climate-controlled room dedicated to my collection, with a well-lit reading table where I can sit and reread entire runs and maybe talk about them online to the 4 or 5 people who will find that interesting. And next to it will be a little bar with about 178 different bourbons on the shelf. And also really good coffee.

#RetirementGoals

~

Robert Swartwood thought Creature Feature Weekend in getysburg, PA was last weekend, but it isn’t. It is, in fact, this coming weekend. Reminder that I am one of the Guests, and will be available to sign Friday through Sunday. See you there!