So here I am, wasting time while waiting for my half-o-table mate John Martz to arrive for our fun-filled SPX weekend. I decided to take a hint from Johnny’s site and do the home version of Tom Spurgeon’s The 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs (from his great Comics Reporter site.) Here’s the list. What I have is in bold…or bold italics if I’m not sure.
1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library
Yes, but I might only have one now that I look. (Not starting off too well, am I.)
2. A Complete Run Of Arcade
3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics
Yes, a few. (OK, still a poor batting average so far.)
4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s
Now we’re cooking. I’ve got about a dozen including a Pogo songbook I bought on my honeymoon.
5. A Barnaby Collection
Two hardcovers, three digests and a more recent paperback.
6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary
7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On
Er, I have one, which is probably not as many as I could get my hands on.
8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics
9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels
Yep, got a bunch. (Not sure about the “bunch/suite” exchange rate…)
10. Several Tintin Albums
Also yep.
11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books
Most of mine are comic strip collections – Little Nemo, Polly and Her Pals, etc. (Always a challenge to fit on a regulation bookshelf.)
12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series
Some, but not sure if you’d call it significant.
13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste
Way too many. (And by “too many” I mean “not nearly enough.”)
14. Several “Indy Comics” From Their Heyday
American Flagg in original form. Do Cerebus collections count?
15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books
Still got all my Marvels from the 70s
16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To
17. Some Osamu Tezuka
18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series
19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections
Got a good load of these.
20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover
21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped
Not sure I have these anymore. Do have Conchy that someone else clipped. Partial credit?
22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can’t Explain To Anyone Else
23. At Least One Woodcut Novel
Reprint only.
24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand
I have over 100. I can stand more.
25. Maus
Yes, both.
26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb’s Sketchbooks
A couple Crumbs but no sketchbooks
27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.
28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics
29. Several copies of MAD
The mailman brings it hot-n-fresh every month. (Sometimes I’m even in it.) And I have all my MADs from the 70s.
30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books
One or two.
31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books
Once again, one or two.
32. A You’re-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix
33. Some Calvin and Hobbes
34. Some Love and Rockets
One.
35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber
36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue
I always ask people to grab me something – anything – when they’re traveling (as I do myself.) From Argentinian sci-fi that mirrors the country’s history to hysterically gross Dutch comics, I’m there.
37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics
38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody’s Kid
39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics
40. A Comic You Made Yourself
41. A Few Comics About Comics
Yep. I love this kinda thing.
42. A Run Of Yummy Fur
43. Some Frank Miller Comics
44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books
45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories
46. A Tijuana Bible
47. Some Weirdo
48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres
This defines most of my books.
49. An Editorial Cartoonist’s Collection or Two
Quite a few. Tom Toles stuff always reads well even years later.
50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists
A solid amount – probably an entire shelf.
October 3, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Are you killing time at the table? Are you there? And will you be unveiling anything…um…special for sale? Sign me up if you are.
October 3, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Nope. SPX doesn’t start till tomorrow. We staying at my house then getting up in the early AM.
As for something special…I think I may need a miracle of shipping at this point.