"Get your favorite comics bound professionally" Update

A while ago I put up a post about getting your favorite runs of comics professionally bound into handy-dandy softcover (or hardcover) books. Long-time comic fan Jeff Bonham sent me some neat pictures which I posted HERE. Recently Jeff stopped by the store and showed me these:




Let me tell you, this is some cool stuff! The volumes are solidly and professionally bound and look great on the shelf beside your other Showcase or Essential volumes. The only way you can tell these didn't come from a publisher is that there is no price anywhere on the books! It's amazing seeing them in person and holding them in your hands... they are that well done. I'm thinking about getting some of my more obscure stuff bound into nice bookshelf-friendly volumes.

CLICK HERE to go to the Single Bound Studios site and see for yourself!

Have your favorite comic runs bound!

The other day longtime fan Jeff Bonham came by the store to show us something really cool... his custom-made softcover of the Jim Lee (adjectiveless) X-MEN run.

Behold:




This book was amazingly well-done and got me to thinking about all the obscure comic book series that I would love to have in a nice trade paperback or hardcover book to put on my shelf.

HERE'S binder David Banks' weblog with lots of additional photos of other volumes he's completed. Go check it out, it's very cool!

What runs would you like to have bound? I'm thinking ARCHER & ARMSTRONG, HATE, ALIEN WORLDS, TWISTED TALES and more obscure stuff like EYE OF MONGAMBO! And how about a classic hardcover of BROTHER POWER THE GEEK! I'd love that!

The return of the DRAWERBOXES™!

Yep, that's right, we've just replenished our stock of those ultra-cool DrawerBoxes™! Come and get 'em! Only $13.99 each for filing-cabinet-style convenience in comic book storage!

Cool Collectible Marvel Figurines

Perhaps you've seen these cool Marvel Character figures in the stores:


If you're one of the many who have noticed these and have begun acquiring a few, then you'll know how completely awesome they are! Finely-detailed, hand-painted, cast in lead and standing about 4 inches tall, these figures look amazing:


And now there's hope for you DC fans! Behold:




Coming soon (I hope)... let us know if you're interested in any!

Oh, and most are $12.00 each, with jumbo figures going for $20.00. Plus they come with a neat magazine that has a history/summary of the individual character! Check 'em out today!

UPDATE: By the way, the other figures in the first run are Catwoman, Flash, Robin, and the Joker.

Recent Arrivals: Silver Age Goodies!

We recently acquired a small pile of tasty Silver Age Marvel and DC goodies in the Mechanicsburg store! Included are short runs of DETECTIVE, BATMAN, IRON MAN, INCREDIBLE HULK, BRAVE & THE BOLD, DEFENDERS and TALES OF SUSPENSE (Featuring Captain America and iron Man)!

Behold:







We should have these available by the end of this week, so dust off your want lists! If anyone at Comix Connection - York would like to see these, let your friendly Comix Connection Counter Monkey know, and we will bring them down for your perusal.

Man, I get all giddy when stuff like this shows up! Great stuff!

Own Dave Cockrum's comics

Want to own comics from the personal collection of Dave Cockrum (who passed away in 2006)? Here's your chance. Of course you know who Dave Cockrum is, right?

From Wikipedia:

At Marvel, Cockrum and Len Wein (under the direction of editor Roy Thomas) created the new X-Men, co-creating such characters as Storm, Nightcrawler and Colossus. These characters made their debut in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (Summer 1975), and then in a relaunched Uncanny X-Men (beginning with issue #94). Wein left after an issue and a half, succeeded by Chris Claremont, the team's primary writer from then on. Cockrum stayed with the title until 1977 (as main penciller on issues #94-105 and 107), when he was replaced by penciller John Byrne with issue #108.

(More info on Cockrum HERE.)

And HERE'S the link to the site where you can see the list of Dave Cockrum's comics that are for sale.

This one -> X-MEN King-Size Annual #1 VG/FN $28 would have been cool, but it's already sold!

I met Al Feldstein today

Yep, I met the legendary Al Feldstein ytoday (Saturday) and had him autograph my battered copy of SHOCK SUSPENSTORIES #7 (cover by Al Feldstein!)


and my similarly-battered copy of the 1970's oversized hardcover book HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950s, right beside the autographs of Johnny Crag and George Evans. Click HERE for some background on Al Feldstein. I'm too tired to post anything else. What a great day to be a comic book geek! Back to Baltimore tomorrow!

See you in Baltimore...

Stop by our booth today or tomorrow at the Baltimore Comic-Con in the Baltimore Convention Center...

Naturally we're so cool, we're at booth number

One Double-Oh Seven.

Baltimore Comic-Con Updates!

Just a few short days until the coolest comic book convention on the East Coast... the Baltimore Comic-Con! If you haven't already, check out the amazing Guest List ... and also make sure you take a look at the Updated Programming Schedule for all the cool panel discussions, like chats with Jim Lee and Mike Mignola! Of course we will also be set up there in our usual booth, handing out crisp new one dollar bills to all who show up wearing their Comix Connection T-shirts! Stop by and receive the Über-Secret Comix Connection Convention Coupon!


THIS JUST IN:


Local fave artist and all-around swell guy Mike Hawthorne sent me this:

Just a quick note. I'll be at this year's Baltimore Comicon.
 I'm unveiling a new series of prints I'm working on called
 "the Sweet Science", which is a series of boxing related
pin-up art. Check out the blog for some pictures of the prints.
I'll also have original art on sale, as well as taking orders
for commissions during the con. You can also see previews
of upcoming issues of Un-men.
In addition to that, UMBRA writer Steve Murphy will be at
the booth signing copies of our book UMBRA. You may remember
that UMBRA is up for a Harvey Award this year, and the
actual awards ceremony will be held at the con this weekend!
links:
Photos of the prints on my blog-
http://mikehawthorne.blogspot.com/
The convention's homepage-
http://www.comicon.com/baltimore/
The Harvey Awards-
http://harveyawards.org/

Stop by and say hi!

Best,
mike

Well there you go! Another great reason to go to the Baltimore Con! See you there!

Just thirteen days!

Until the ultra-cool Baltimore Comic-con! Click HERE for more info!

And once again, here is the AMAZING Guest list:

SERGIO ARAGONES | Dick Ayers | Kyle Baker | Tom Brevoort | Kurt Busiek | Jim Calafiore | Jerry Carr | Tommy Castillo | C.B. Cebulski | Bernard Chang | Howard Chaykin | Sean Chen | Mark Chiarello | FRANK CHO | Steve Conley | Amanda Conner | Todd Dezago | Dan DiDio | Tommy Lee Edwards | Rich Faber | Al Feldstein | DAVID FINCH | John Gallagher | Ron Garney | MICHAEL GOLDEN| Jimmy Gownley | Randy Green | Cully Hamner | Dean Haspiel | Tariq Hasson | Marc Hempel | Adam Hughes | Chris Ivy| James Jean | Georges Jeanty | J.G. Jones | Joe Jusko | Ken Kelly | Leonard Kirk | Barry Kitson | Rich Koslowski | Adam Kubert | Andy Kubert | JOE KUBERT | Scott Kurtz | Greg LaRocque | Eric Larson | JIM LEE (Sunday only) | Norman Lee | John Paul Leon | John Lucas | Ron Marz | Sean McKeever | Mark McKenna | Bob McLeod | Pop Mhan | MIKE MIGNOLA | Mark Morales | Doug Murray | Scott Neely | Steve Niles | Phil Noto | Mike Oeming | Jimmy Palmiotti | Andrew Pepoy | David Petersen | Brandon Peterson | Keith Pollard | Paul Pope | Eric Powell | Tom Raney | JOHN ROMITA JR. | JOHN ROMITA SR. | Don Rosa | Craig Rousseau | Stephane Roux | Andy Runton | Alex Saviuk | JIM SHOOTER | Louise Simonson | Walter Simonson | Andy Smith | John K Snyder III| Chris Sprouse | Jim Starlin | Brian Stelfreeze | Paul D. Storrie | Karl Story | Mark Texeira | Herb Trimpe | Dean Trippe| Tim Truman | Billy Tucci | Tim Vigil | Dexter Vines | Neil Vokes | Mark Waid | Mark Wheatley | Ron Wilson | Kelly Yates | and many many more!!!

We will be set up in out usual booth there, wallowing in funnybook goodness! Join the party, Baltimore is just an hour away from York, an hour and 20 minutes from Harrisburg! We will gladly stow your stuff under the tables of our booth so you can walk the convention hands-free!

(My swell pal Marc Nathan, con organizer extraordinaire!)

And ask me about the awesome Light Rail!

The tallest lighthouse in Florida

Today Karen and Max climbed the tallest lighthouse in Florida: The light station at Ponce Inlet, Florida, a couplefew miles south of my parents house. Today I remained on the ground with my daughter Leni, as I have a bit of an aversion to heights. (Last year I climbed to the top of the lighthouse with Max, but I was too chicken to go out on the rickety wrought-iron balcony at the top. Just call me Coward Man!)


Leni and I hung around the gift shop at the base of the lighthouse and added to her collection of elongated pennies, something I used to collect ever since my mom found two from the 1934 World's Fair which she gave to me when I was about 12 years old. I actually used to belong to The Elongated Collectors, and we would buy and swap elongated pennies back and forth. I still have the original two and am now chasing these whenever we find a "penny squisher" so that we can add to my kids' collections. Any of you have any to trade?

Only 35 days until my favorite Comic Convention!

That's right, it's only 35 more days until the BALTIMORE COMIC-CON 2007!

WOOO HOOOOO!

I love the Baltimore Comic-Con. It's in one of my favorite cities, it's easy to get to, and show promoter Marc Nathan keeps the focus on comic books and comic artists. Check out this year's guest list:

SERGIO ARAGONES | Dick Ayers | Kyle Baker | Tom Brevoort | Jim Calafiore | Tommy Castillo | C.B. Cebulski | Bernard Chang | Howard Chaykin | Sean Chen | Mark Chiarello | FRANK CHO | Steve Conley | Amanda Conner | Todd Dezago | Dan DiDio | Tommy Lee Edwards | Rich Faber | Al Feldstein | DAVID FINCH | John Gallagher | Ron Garney | Michael Golden | Jimmy Gownley | Cully Hamner | Dean Haspiel | Tarig Hasson | Adam Hughes | Chris Ivy| James Jean | Georges Jeanty | J.G. Jones | Joe Jusko | Ken Kelly | Leonard Kirk | Barry Kitson | Rich Koslowski | Adam Kubert | JOE KUBERT | Scott Kurtz | JIM LEE | Norman Lee | John Paul Leon | John Lucas | Ron Marz | Sean McKeever | Mark McKenna | Bob McLeod | Pop Mhan | MIKE MIGNOLA | Doug Murray | Phil Noto | Mike Oeming | Jimmy Palmiotti | David Petersen | Brandon Peterson | Keith Pollard | Paul Pope | Eric Powell | Tom Raney | JOHN ROMITA JR. | JOHN ROMITA SR. | Don Rosa | Craig Rousseau | Stephane Roux | Andy Runton | Alex Saviuk | Andy Smith | Louise Simonson | Walter Simonson | Chris Sprouse | Jim Starlin | Brian Stelfreeze | Karl Story | Herb Trimpe | Tim Truman | Billy Tucci | Tim Vigil | Dexter Vines | Neil Vokes | Mark Waid | Mike Wieringo | Ron Wilson and many many more!!!

WOWIE! Sounds like a blast! See you there!

For more info, click HERE!

DRAWERBOX™ Update!

Hey gang! We're getting more DrawerBoxes™ in shortly, along with a new innovation to stabilize your stacks of DrawerBoxes™... the Boxlox™! What is a Boxlox™? From the DrawerBox™ website:

For some time we have been working on a major enhancement that we think will take our DrawerBox concept to the next level. We know that many people have been doubtful about the usefulness of DrawerBoxes because they believed that they would tip forward when the drawer was pulled open, making them awkward to use. While this was never a problem except for the top box, now even the top box can be pulled open to its fullest extent without any concern about tipping.

How do we accomplish this? We are excited to introduce our Boxlox™ box anchoring system. This is a unique system of clips that are only available with DrawerBoxes. The clips attach the sides of the shells to each other, creating a unified bank in which each DrawerBox stabilizes the other. When a drawer on the top level is pulled open, it is held in position by the others without requiring something on top of it to counterbalance it. And when Boxlox are used on the lower boxes, the clips will provide more stacking strength by securing the sides of the shells to each other and keeping the sides of each level centered properly above the sides of the unit below. This ensures that the support sleeves create a column, transferring the weight of the stack to the floor.

Effective immediately, all DrawerBoxes, both longs and shorts, are shipping with the modification required to accept the clips. And each case shipped, through Labor Day, will also contain a sample set of clips to tie 2 DrawerBoxes side-by-side. Additional clips will be available through our website.

But we have not forgotten about the loyal customers that have already purchased DrawerBoxes in the past. Boxlox require heavier cardboard to work properly and DrawerBoxes have always been manufactured with heavier weight material to provide extra strength. Because of this, existing units can be easily modified to accept the Boxlox and we have templates we can make available upon request.

Boxlox™ will be available at both stores early next week! Thanks to everyone for making DrawerBoxes™ a required part of our inventory! I think they're great!

A place for your MEGOs

Need a nice display for your MEGO action figures? Check these out:




Uber-toy collector MegoSteve sent me THIS LINK recently... Scott C. Adams of Oakland, California and his company Dida Displays makes these colorful modular custom display units to give your Megos something to do besides stand around in a display case! Pretty cool! Go poke around both the Dida Designs site and this Mego Museum site... they're pretty amazing!

From TODD S's VAULT!

In response to my query from a couple of weeks ago, alert reader Todd S. sent me scans of the fliers from YORK-CON VI and YORK-CON VII:


(Ned and I put on a total of 14 comic book conventions in York back in the late '80s/early '90s!)


YORK-CON VI's featured guest was the legendary George Evans of EC Comics fame. George was one of the nicest people I have ever met, and seemed astonished that anyone would want to come see him. I could be remembering wrong, but I'm pretty sure Ned and I had to convince him to ASK FOR MONEY for his original art pages, rather than GIVE THEM AWAY! I asked him to autograph one of my EC hardcover reprint books, and he insisted on inking a full-sized drawing of my favorite First World War biplane, the SPAD-13. That, and an original SECRET AGENT CORRIGAN daily strip by Mr. Evans are two of my favorite possessions. Good times.


Kim Demulder was the special guest for YORK-CON VII, and he was great to chat with too. His delicate line work would soon be featured in DCs SWAMP THING. I have a wonderful watercolor painting by Kim of a lovely nymph bathing in a waterfall that is one of the keystones of my original comic art "collection". I wish I could post it here for all to see, but she's a bit topless. Ah-OOOO-ga!

Thanks, Todd for the scans, and for stirring the memory pot!

Were any of you at these comic conventions? What do you remember about them?

Ladies and Gentlemen

I give you...

DRAWERBOXES™!

DrawerBoxes™: The handy-dandy, stackable and strong filing-cabinet style comic book boxes! Now you can get to the comics at the bottom of the stack without moving all the rest! Too cool!

Now available at BOTH Comix Connection Locations! Go check them out, they're AWESOME! I actually stood on one to test it, and you know that's like 165 pounds of pressure!



(Give or take 40.)