The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

comics rock. talk about them here. now. or just go to the "corn" section and wack off. i'll understand. i'll just sit here and read my spider-man comics.

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jjreason
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The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

Yeah. So I've basically pulled out all my boxes - not an EP-sized collection, but enough to make you shake your head at more than a few of the purchases over the years. I've gone through and re-categorized, collated, consolidated, whatever so that the boxes make more sense. Now I'm at the point where I'd like to start putting them away - and I can't find some shit I know I have - mainly any issues of "New" X-Men past 200, which I'm sure was called X-Men Legacy at some point. I'm also sure I filed them in my "to be read" piles, as, well, I haven't read them. In looking through I can't find them, which leaves my "New" X-Men box a bit empty. Also, I want it to be a bottom box, so if I put it away now and locate them later I'll have to dig them all out again.

Anyone want to come over and help me find these? :frus: :oops:
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

I've not lost entire runs like that, but I have found holes where I was positive I had purchased that issue, then when I was doing my 'serious' inventoring (where I write down each issue in a little book, and also log it on my cbdb account.) discovered I did NOT have that issue. I found out the hard way I didn't have the final issue of X-Factor. I swear I bought it. I had it marked off as bought because I had a full run of X-Factor. Then when I went to inventory, couldn't find the last issue. And as everybody knows last issues are sometiimes incredibly fickle items to track down. Luckily, I was in a comic shop last October to watch the first Episode of Walking Dead on AMC (they were throwing a pizza party) and the owner said on a complete whim "All them books in the dollar bin are 10 cents for tonight" So I started going thru them and one of the gems I found was X-Factor 149. Huzzah.

My biggest issue now is not having enough boxes to store and organize them into. I can't buy a long box at a time because I'll have it filled in two weeks between my regular purchases and my finds on ebay. Right now I have all these vertical stacks of books of my recent purchases growing like weeds on one wall. No discernible order whatsoever. I'm hoping my comic shop has a sale on DrawerBoxes like they did last year on FCBD.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
"You're an idiot, Starscream." -- Megatron, Transformers:The Movie
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jjreason
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

The drawer boxes are a godsend - holy shit. I have 4 and I'm going to keep buying those instead of the stackers - it's a no brainer. Oh, and my issue that I KNOW I HAVE BUT SOMEHOW DON'T HAVE is Daredevil vol 1 #159. I COMPLETELY recall getting this from ebay and filing it, very happy with the condition it arrived in.... but there it is, gone. Huh?

Image

I did manage to find that lump - they were right behind my Astonishing run in another X-box.... and good or bad news, I had 33 issues after 200, not the piddly 13 or 14 I was expecting. I also found the original Marvel vs DC 4 issue limited series in that same box, completely out of order - I had assumed looking through the box it should have been in that I had sold it or something (though I couldn't remember doing so).

Other serious discoveries:

- Bags & boards are worth the money. In my main Amazing Spider-Man box (consisting of issues between 135 and 500, not inclusive but pretty close from 238 onward) it looks as though something heavy got placed on top of it on an angle or dragged along it - about 1/3 of the backing boards had one dent that kind of ran the length of the box, hitting each issue on what would have been their top edges, likely fucking over 100 issues. I checked a few, no dmg at all to report. ASM back issues would NOT have been fun to replace, thank you bags & boards!!!

- I wish I could sell about 200 comics from my collection to anyone for half their cover value - there's NO WAY I spent money on this shit! How on earth can I have near-complete runs of the 1990s Alpha Flight and Maverick titles? Why do I have 2 Gambit limited series, or better yet the Domino one? Stryfe's Strike Files? Non-James Robinson Starman issues 1-27? I must have been functionally retarded.

- Frank Miller's cover to the original Dark Knight issue 2 is still unbelievably awesome.

Image

So my boxes all put back against their respective walls now, and my back is seriously buggered. I love the fact that the boxes I'll want to access in the short terms are more accessible though, that's worth the pain.
Last edited by jjreason on Sun Apr 24, 2011 11:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

I thought for sure I had bought that Marvel vs DC series when it came out. But when I looked thru all my stuff I didn't have it. At all. But I distinctly remember reading it. So it must've been after I stopped collecting but I went into a store and flipped thru each issue as it came out and thought "man, this is the dumbest shit I've ever read. it's so crass and commercial." but never actually bought any of them.

I did find almost all the Amalgam issues that came after from a guy on ebay for like 40 cents each. He charged me $7.00 for 15 random issues, but when I got them he had thrown in five more. I haven't read any of them yet. But it was kind of funny, you could tell which ones Marvel had published and which ones DC had done, because DC at the time was crediting their creators on the covers and Marvel wasn't.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
"You're an idiot, Starscream." -- Megatron, Transformers:The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

Yeah I had all the amalgam issues along with this other 4 issue called ALL ACCESS, which came later... but no 4 issue DC vs Marvel. Now my only problem is, of course, the box it's supposed to go into is buried. Sonuva. Also, edited my previous post, have a look....
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

Yes thank god for boards! I pulled a long box out once, and my hand slipped off the handle and sent the books sprawling all across the floor. A bunch of my Batman Confidentials and Detective Comics hit the ground on the corners from about four feet up. The boards were all bent to fuck, but the comics, aside from maybe one issue, came out unscathed.

One of my few missteps in purchases, was a run of Frank Miller Daredevils I passed on. This comic shop out in CA was having like a balls out inventory sale. They had hired like a dozen part time people and completely cleared out all of the storage garages and brought every single box they had and had them lining up and down the street in front of their shop. Like 500-1000 long boxes of stuff. And I forgot what the deal was, like buy 50 for $20. Anyway, I had already amassed over $120 worth of stuff and I had been there for a few hours already and my back was sore and I had to meet a friend for lunch like an hour away (if the freeways were clear), so I was feeling kinda rushed, but I was also delighted I had already found a bunch of great deals and finished some runs and filled some holes. Anyway, one of the last boxes I looked in had a bunch of Frank Miller DD from like 150ish up to the 190s. They weren't in great condition, but they weren't crap either. Probably rate Fine by the book. And I didn't get them. And I've always regretted it. Part of it was I already had some of the key later issues (I've had 181 forever) and part of it was I was concentrating on other runs at the time and DD wasn't my priority, but....I could've put back something else or if I had gone to that box first instead of last or whatever. But that opportunity will never present itself again. So it deserves a self kick to the shins.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
"You're an idiot, Starscream." -- Megatron, Transformers:The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

Ugh, sorry to hear that. I got into DD when Miller was writing - somewhere in the 170s or early 180s.... if I checked the covers I might be able to peg it. My brother & I would get it and one other comic every time we went to Grandma's. Either way, I had a few when I got old enough to start worrying about collecting for real & worked like a hound to fill in the gaps & replace the old issues.... sometimes spending much, much more than what you're describing.

The good news is that there are a million & 1 reprints of the stories, and "the Elektra Saga" breaks it down pretty nicely also in 4 deluxe issues.
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

I think everybody is stupid when they first start hunting for back issues. I think about how I started collecting back in the late 80s and how much I dropped on trying to piecemeil together runs of X-Factor, X-Men, Captain America, and Iron Man one issue at a time. Now I fuckin' know better, but sweet jeebus I spent way too much on those fucking issues. And another tiny twist of the blade is that I wasn't that disciplined at examining the condition of said issues, so a lot of those books are probably in crappier condition than many of the books I've bought since for a tenth the price.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

What's the online collection tracker you're using called? (Or am I out to lunch? I could have sworn you mentioned something like this but I can't find it now.)
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
"You're an idiot, Starscream." -- Megatron, Transformers:The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

I'm having a look at that now & trying to decide if I want to register and drag every box down here to list the comics I have. It almost seems like an insurmountable task, but if I didn't OCD it and just picked away it, it might be done in a matter of weeks. The only reservation I have is the Lonestar Comics site promising something similar - the added bonus being if you decide you want to send something to them for credit, you just get another page going & mark the issues you want to sell. That sounds handy.
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

One of the cool things about comicbookdb is that you can view your collection as thumbnails of the covers.

Speaking of "the fucking sorting" I finished straightening out my 11 long boxes and 6 short boxes of un-cataloged books. I've got 4 Drawerboxes of the "New" stuff, which is books that've come out since May of last year. The other 7 long boxes and three shorts are alphabetized stuff I haven't read yet. And a very piddly 3 shorts that I've read. It's slow going because I'll read like one miniseries or maybe 3-5 issues of an ongoing a day, but I'm buying books by the hundreds.

I've changed up my sorting pattern though. I used to do everything Alpha regardless of what it was. Now, I put all the Batman books in the B's. Even Detective. The same goes for Superman, all the Action and Adventures Of- go in the Superman box. And while I have Amazing Spidey in the "A"s, all other Spidey titles, be it Spectacular, Sensational, Friendly Nighborhood, etc etc etc all go in Spider-Man. Hulks go in the "H"s even if they're Incredible. Iron Mans go in the "IR"s even if they're Invincible.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
"You're an idiot, Starscream." -- Megatron, Transformers:The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

Nice. I have Spider-Man boxes & X-Men boxes & Marvel Universe boxes (basically a few that have all the Thor, FF, Avengers, Cap & Iron Man in them), 2 Daredevil boxes and boxes for other companies (I think all of my DC still fits in one box, that's how shitty they are :P ). But yeah, Amazing Spider-Man is followed by Spectacular and then by Web (as I have no volume 1 team ups here) but you likely get the point. Annuals with their respective series, but behind the main run of issues. Limited series in the right boxes but behind all the ongoing series (dead or alive).
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by Rollo Tomassi »

The miniseries, I've started to lean towards putting them behind whatever the end of the "era" they came out in. Like an Avengers miniseries that came out in the 90s would be after the original series run, but before the Heroes Return Reboot.
"Say Jim! Whoo! That is a bad outfit! Whoooo!" -- Pimp, Superman The Movie
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Re: The Sorting. The Fucking Sorting.

Post by jjreason »

That would fit better into continuity for sure, but I'd forever be stuck about exactly where to put them - imagine trying to fit the god damned X-Men minis in and around the regular issues >< . I personally don't have my pre & post Reborn era comics separated, but I can see that as being an obvious ending/starting point for boxes of the series that were victimized by that stupid horseshit.

I have the things like -1s and Age of Apocalypse/Scarlet Spider issues in their chronological places among the runs as to me they are actually a part of their respective series.
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