"Post No. 696"

I'm a little amazed that this hasn't already been done, but I read recently that Archie Comics will introduce a gay character to their comic characters.

Surprizingly...it isn't "Jughead". (Click on red link for story.)

Nice day here today although rain's predicted for later on this evening. Yesterday and last night we had 2-1/2" of much needed rain here in this region of South Central, KY. Bad part of that is the grass will be 8 inches tall again by the time I get around to mowing it again.

Saw the "Dr. Pepper" commercial for the "Iron Man 2" flick promotional and there's 89 year old Stan Lee in the background. That guy'll be 90 years old come the end of December, God willing. (Good for him!)

Went by the local flea market this morning and found a DVD of the "Daredevil" movie for $3. (yet another super-hero flick on DVD I can scratch off my want list), plus a nice conditioned set of 36 Greatest Hits of Patsy Cline. There's very little modern country music I enjoy, but I am a big fan of the rockabilly years of 1954 to 1959 or so. People like Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis,etc., and having this 3 disc set was definately the easiest way to go on getting everything the woman ever did that was any good.

Put a whole bunch'a listing on ebay this week of trade paperbacks and graphic novels (hey! Fred hembeck! There's "Dennis the Menace" stuff on there!) Everything's starting out pretty cheap so's...IF you're interested...just click onto the "My Auctions" link in the right column and it'll take you right there.

I finished work on that wheel barrow project. When my wife got this piece of junk the sides were rotting and all I could recover was the handles and antique iron wheel, so I literally had to rebuild the thing from scratch. But now I've got sides, braces, etc. on it and not only is it decorative, it's functional. Got most of my little wood-working projects done now except I still need to cover one side of my garage where it needs new wood or something to make that look better. Got to buy me some large pieces of plywood before I can do that however.

Still plan on starting my vacation next week.

"Post No. 695"

I finally got around to building a bench today from left over lumber and an old bed head I had lying around that I used for a backing board. Later on I'll post another photo of it when it's finished with paint and decorations for comparison sake.

Been busy today. Finally took off my cans for recycling. Had 38 lbs. and got a whoppin' $21. for them (better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick). I put that money aside for my upcoming vacation funds as I may get to attend my local comic book shop's "thingy" on May the 1st. which is "Free Comic Book Day" this year.

Got in a large lot, well, 15 different, trade paperbacks/graphic novels today. Got them as a steal for a mere $15. plus postage, which is a fraction of what they'd cost new. Some interesting stuff in them.

There's two different Kane collections by Paul Grist: "Greetings from New Eden", and "Rabbit Hunt", and these reprint the first 8 issues of that title.

Then there's two different Mike Allred "Madman" collections: "Madman Adventures" and "Oddity Oddyssey". Big fan of his work of course.

Three different reprint TPBs of EC's Shock SuspenStories: Volumes 2, 3 & 4, which collect issues of that 1950's horror title #'s 6 thru 18 (last issue).

Then there's Planetary/JLA: Terra Occulta by Warren Ellis, and the Wildstorm Summer Special which also contains work by him.

And next, The Complete Ballad of HALO JONES by Alan Moore/Ian Gibson reprinting books 1-3 of their British stuff.

Then there also Kabuki: Skin Deep by: David Mack, The Black Forrest by: Liningston/Tennell/Vokes & Schiavano, Bulletproof Monk by: Michael Avon Deming, and Six by: Oeming/Berman & Beavers. Not familiar at all with these last four but I'll decide if I want to keep them or sell them after I read 'em.

Finally there was also a copy of Mike Gilbert'sMr. Monster Vol. 1, but I already had this one so it goes on ebay auctions this week with some other TPB's and the like I'm cleaning out. The copy I got did have the original tip-sheet (so I kept that).

Lotta good reading ahead for me.

Got some more projects I need to complete around this place. I want to finally do something with an old antique wheelbarrow my wife got from my cousin. Mostly it was a piece of junk, but I think I can rebuilt that and make it look pretty neat. Then I need to replace (or cover) one side of my garage where the boards look bad. Just last week I fixed the bottom of that same shop, but it needs some more work in other places.

Got around to once again going thru box after box of comics; things I don't consider part of my personal collections and had tried to sell before as "a lot". This time I pulled anything I wanted to keep, boxed them and marked the boxes as "NL" ("not listed",i.e.on my collection lists) and put them aside, and pulled well over 1,500 misc. comics for sale at yard sales and the flea market. I also removed any good/decent backing boards and bags from those books so I had an ample supply of that for a good time to come.

Tomorrow I need to take mom for a doctor's apointment. ( Busy, bust,busy...)

"Post No. 693"

A good friend of mine passed away a couple days ago named Donnie Jolly. I'd known Donnie since I was just a kid. In fact, the first time I met him I was too young to drive. Someone had told me he traded comic books so naturally I looked him up and asked him if he was interested in swapping some comics and arranged to meet him at his house to do so. Donnie was some years older than me so to my delight I was able to trade for books from the early 1960's and latter 1950's. I remember the best comic I got way back then was the first app. of Green Lantern in a Showcase #22.

Over the years Donnie and I remained friends and trading buddies, and even after I sold my original collections in the early 1970's, we stayed in touch, since he was local, seeing him on occasion and stopping to talk a bit. I can still hear his little girl shouting, "Don't give away my Archie's!", which always gave us a big laugh.

When Debbie and I got married in 1988 we had Donnie do some portraits photos of us as he was doing photography at that time. They still remain the best shots of us as a couple we've ever had made.

But as time went by Donnie developed several health problems confining him to his home and on oxygen most of the time. I really didn't know he was in "that bad" of a shape until here recently. He will be missed.

And I'd like to let the family of fellow blogged "Johnny Bacardi" know that Theresa and her sister Nan who have just undergone surgery are in our thoughts and prayers today, and wish them both a very speedy recovery.

In other news...

I picked up several DVD's at the local flea market this past weekend, one of which is the 2004 "Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow". This elaborate flick contains a little of "Captain Midnight", "Blackhawk", "Doc Savage", "King Kong" and "Things to Come", set in a 1930's style and was an alrght adventure, but I found the acting a bit "blah" at times. Still well-worth the watch just for all of the special effects.

Finally finished work on the exterior bottom of my garage, cleaned out my tool shed, planted some flowers for my wife, mowed at least 3 times this year, got some more dirt from that pile in the back and filed in some areas, etc. I plan on starting my vacation the first week in may, and, if I'm lucky, will actually get to attend Free Comic Book day at my "local" comic shop come the 1st.

And today marks my 10th. year anniversary at work, "Pier 19". A landmark record for me at any one job I must admit.

"Post No. 692"

Picked up the above shown comic this week, which is a Cheyenne Kid (Charlton) #8 (1958). Collecting older Charlton's, this is one comic I've never owned a copy of, and it's also the first issue of CK (the first seven issues being called Wild Frontier) and it's his 2nd. app.;his first beng in WF #7.

In fact, I tried to win a copy of Wild Fronteir #7 several times but always get outbidded on it. Just tried again here recently and those I was bidding against would skyrocket their bids to the point that they were twice what the comic's actually worth (according to Overstreet listings). Well, I'm one that doesn't mind paying wat a book's worth, but not twice as much even if I'd like to have it, and I'm sure another will pop up sooner or later at a more reasonable price.

Also won a couple of issues of DC's All-Star Comics (#'s 58 & 60) from the early to mid 1970's, which have a lot of things going for them that I like. Such as artwork by the great Wally Wood, plus app.'s of Golden Age DC heroes/heroines. #59 is also the first app. of "Power Girl". This was a continuation, of course, from the 1940's series which stopped being published in (I think) 1949, and the title lasted on up into the latter 70's issues, but really the best one's were te ones where Wood was involved with the title (which goes no firther than #65).
The other issues were readable and drawn just fine by Joe Staton, so's...if your a fan of his DC work...

And in other news...

Got up early today at my usual time of 5:30 AM and went down to my mom's at 7 AM to begin working on her new handicap ramp. I thought perhaps I could at least get it planked where she could use it by today. Surprizingly, I had it in that shape by 10:30 AM and all my mess cleaned up and tools put away by noon! I still need a couple of extra pieces of support, a hand rail on one side, and laying new indoor-outdoor carpet on the thing, but it looks pretty good. This time I used treated lumber which someone here locally just gave me (probably saved me a good $70.), so the only cost I was out was screws to hold it together. I'll finish that up in the next few days and one less project to contend with this year.