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def in Japan: a comic diary

I have around 1000 old comics in my cellar , the ones that sold for 10 cents each. I hope someday the market goes through the roof again and I might think about parting with them.
 
I have around 1000 old comics in my cellar , the ones that sold for 10 cents each. I hope someday the market goes through the roof again and I might think about parting with them.
The ones that were 10 cents are still valuable, and are unlikely to greatly improve in price unless they have a connection to something popular still going today (like, for instance, the Flash). The danger of the collectable market is that it seems to peek when the kids who first bought them get in their 40s and 50s, and have money and space to buy it. So, for example, in the used toy market, Howdy Doody toys aren't in demand, since the people who want them are in their 70s, but GI Joe and He-Man are going to be booming for the next decade or two.

You'd be well-served to find a reputable comic shop in your area to sort through them and see what they can get for them. By reputable, that is, a shop that sells a diversity of comics, not just super-heroes, and focuses on comics and books, rather than Funko Pops and Magic Cards. The shops that focus only on heroes often are baffled when actual silver age, non-DC/Marvel cross their path. The real dealers know what the books are and how to get them into the hands of people who will treasure them.
 
I ran into an antique shop here in Maine that is off the beaten path and run by an older couple. In a back corner of the shop , they had about 25,000 old comics that were dust covered. Someday I may go back and check them out. I had my wife with me and she knew I'd be there for about 3 days if she let me look , LOL. Back in the hey day of comics , some of mine like old Star Trek ones were listed at over $50 each. In todays market , I'd probably get $5 , LOL.
 
I ran into an antique shop here in Maine that is off the beaten path and run by an older couple. In a back corner of the shop , they had about 25,000 old comics that were dust covered. Someday I may go back and check them out. I had my wife with me and she knew I'd be there for about 3 days if she let me look , LOL. Back in the hey day of comics , some of mine like old Star Trek ones were listed at over $50 each. In todays market , I'd probably get $5 , LOL.
Why do you believe prices have gone down?
 
Years back , the market was crazy high and it suddenly dropped like a rock. To be honest , I have not checked prices in the last 5 years or more. These days , I'd probably swap the whole collection for a gun to add to my collection , LOL.
 
Continuing the month, I'm really enjoying doing color work far removed from my regular style

Atlas, a little known 70s DC character
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Black Widow killing time in a safe house
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Odin
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The Celestials, who may just become movie stars when the Eternals opens next month
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Vibranium, the power of Wakanda
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Atlantis
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Love the colors ! I learned to read with comic books. They were way more fun the the "Dick & Jane" books of the early 50's. Most of my allowance went for comics at 10 cents each. If you waited till they were 1 month old , they cut the front cover in half and sold them for a nickel. Your comics bought back a lot of good memories !
 
Finished off a month of work, and no lie, the last 10 days have been my stepping up and trying to show I can do illustrations. When I do comics, my ambitions are very different from when I'm doing an isolated picture. So I was seeing how far I could push myself, usually starting around 11 pm at night before bed.

Jack Kirby, the King himself
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Galactus, the planet eater
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Asgard, and Hemidall
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Orion, son of Darkseid
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Spider-Man. Kirby didn't create Spider-Man, but he drew the cover of the first Spider-Man comic, Adult Fantasy 15.
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Star Wars. Kirby didn't create Star Wars, but Darth Vader was inspired by Kirby's Doctor Doom, and Lucas was a fan. Kirby felt those first films ripped him off a bit, and parodied the movies with these designs.
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The Avengers as of Avengers #1: Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and the Wasp
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Saturday Morning. In the late 70s and 80s, Kirby found work in California doing character design for cartoon shows, and got paid far more than he ever did for creating comics for Marvel or DC. TV pays, comics don't.
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Fin Fang From, the greatest thing in the world. I wish I could have worked in his purple pants.
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But at least we freed Iraq. I still remember this Onion article from 2003.

 
The US messed with many democracies from Iran to Latin America.

and while Russia does mess with elections so does the US including messing with Japan


Still I think we are a nicer superpower than Russia I suspect. Putin is not a nice guy and it can be dangerous to even criticise him or the government (not so free to do that in China either). If we must have a superpower we could do much worse than the US.
 
I completely agree, America is not as bad as Putin's Russia or Xi's China. It's better than Nazi Germany too.

That should go without saying, and that strip is not a criticism of America, just reminiscing about facts and feelings. I don't think there is a need for Wikipedia links to American donations to the LDP. If you have links to evidence of WMDs in Iraq in 2003, that would be of much interest, and relevance to the strip.
 
My new comic will be posted from today on Solrad, an American comic arts website. It's an non-autobiographical piece about an American tourist in rural Hokkaido, drawn bilingually in English and Japanese. Maybe it's not a site you check every day, but over the next four months, all 34 pages will be posted there.

 
Hey everyone! It's been a while again. I've had a great improvement in the quality of my life the past few years. I'll have to change my avatar, because that reflects how I felt while working as an ALT, and that life is long gone.

Anyway, this weekend, I have been invited to participate in a museum event connected to the Snow Festival in Sapporo, and I'm thrilled. It's a small honor, but I got that because I've been participating in the city for years. I'm really happy. Last year was my twentieth year in Japan, and I've really started integrating. It seems like COVID cut a lot of attachments to the West for me.

For the first time, I made a comic specifically for the Japanese market. Up to now, I've always just said my comics are mainly for me. And I kind of felt like I hit a wall with that. I liked the last comic I did (linked a few posts up), but it felt like I was looking backwards somewhat.

This is written in English, then translated, but it's written in such a way that if you live in Japan, you should feel it. And it's Sapporo comics.

I'll share it later, after it's been on sale, but here's the cover and some images

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Thanks for the update, Ian; I am glad things have worked so well for you!

Only one question: where can we get signed copies? :)
 
Thanks for the update, Ian; I am glad things have worked so well for you!

Only one question: where can we get signed copies? :)
I'm actually talking with a friend in Tokyo now who knows a shop which carries exactly this sort of thing and we'll see about it. I'll have it in my online shop next week too! Probably for ¥400 with shipping in Japan and a postcard thrown in
 
I'm actually talking with a friend in Tokyo now who knows a shop which carries exactly this sort of thing and we'll see about it. I'll have it in my online shop next week too! Probably for ¥400 with shipping in Japan and a postcard thrown in
How much extra for the signature?
 
Secrets of Sapporo $1 is now online for sale, ¥300 plus ¥100 shipping. I enjoy selling things for cheaper than a 7-11 sandwich. I've decided not to post this work online at the moment, and restrict it to physical sales. I will only do domestic Japanese sales for now.

A publisher in the States will be printing a run of them to sell in America and Canada, and any Brits who want a copy, I can probably arrange that through private message.

Secrets of Sapporo 1 é¨ã²ã¼ã /The Rainy Game
 
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