I can’t believe how much time has passed since my last blog. I’m grossly overdue. It’s June 2021 and this time last year I was finishing my last round of chemo. In July, I go for my one year checkup and expect that I will still be cancer free so yay!

My job is still good, I’m still working from home and most recently leadership has decided that we can treat work with a hybrid approach. Basically what this means is we won’t be returning to the daily commute, we are not required to return to the office, if we want to work from home we can, if we want to work in an office, we can. I’m surprised and happy a this decision and hope all US companies consider it from now going forward. Work is good, feels so different when you have a choice.

I’ve had some thoughts on comics, it’s been a great time for speculators and flippers as more comic stories find their way to a screen whether large or small. As a collector it’s felt very much like the 90s when the market was flooded with tons of variant covers (no expense spared $$$) and print runs are huge. It gives me pause, I feel there’s no way this hyped atmosphere can hold over time. Also I’ve noticed a sad trend, new series start with a bang, solid good stories and as issues come out, they fizzle until the series just stops abruptly. Or the other trend has been a glut of limited series and issue 1s (for the money of course, who wants quality); series last about 8-12 issues and then start all over again with issue 1. What a racket? I’m a bit soured on this. Still I admit there are some amazing comic artists are there and I love collecting my favorites. Here are my latest additions, many from my personal collection that I had pressed and graded. This blog post feels like a contradiction = ‘what a time to be a collector (yay, great pressing companies, competitive grading market, gorgeous variants to your hearts content)’ versus ‘what a time to be a collector (boo, tons of reboots, tons of variants, a ridiculous speculator/flipping marketplace)’.

I considered leaving the hobby all together but got immersed in it on social media and decided against leaving it. I would miss it, feels like a part of me would be missing. I still find joy in these floppy books, I love owning them, collecting them, hunting for missing issues, all of it.

While I’ve cut back on comics, I’ve really been roped in by Magic the Gathering. Wizards of the Coast put out these limited edition cards called Secret Lair and man do they have my money on their latest drop. Look at these awesome cards depicting Saturday Morning Cartoon – Dungeon and Dragons. I loved this show as a kid. Also have I mentioned how big of a fan I am for Fiona Staples artwork? She draws one my absolute favorite comic books called Saga. She also happens to be a guest artist for one of the secret lair drop sets, see pic. Yeah, my wallet wept.