IGN pub quiz

A couple of weeks ago, an old work buddy of mine asked if I wanted to take part in the IGN pub quiz. I was keen to flex my nerd muscles (the questions were all film, video game, a few comics and general nerdery). We came third, which is still pretty cool, as it proves at least we still have some grip on reality. This was the swag I wound up with.

Not bad at all, especially considering the booty was divided between six of us! I was particularly proud of the spot prize question which won us a heap of GTA goodies. Guess the circumference of one of the nerd hosts' heads. I was 8mm out. BAM! Yes, I think the knuckleduster mug will come home with me... 

Other news- one of the neighbours put some piles of comics outside their house. mainly 2000ad, a load of old White Dwarf mags, some tatty Marvels. Nothing special, but hell, if they're going, I'll take em!

Time

For an update. I've been busy blah blah.  The car boot sales have been pretty dire, although when I went up north for a weekend I snagged a nice batch of Battle Beasts. I do really like these, but it's just another thing I shouldn't really collect, so straight onto eBay with the little blighters.

See? They are bloody ace.

Got this clock from the car boot a few weeks ago, it's supposed to be a talking alarm clock, but sadly no longer. As soon as I saw the metallic pink Batmobile I knew I couldn't leave without it. What a treat!

So, not many car boot triumphs this Summer, although I did find an inspired use for that Mego Spidey outfit. 

"Eeeeeyyyy! My uh, Spider-Sense ain't the only thing that's tinglin' round here..."

Eeeeeyyy!

The car boot sale yielded little. I found the Mego Fonz for £2, and got him just because he looked better than I remembered. 

 EEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!

I was going to get rid of him on ebay, but he grew on me a bit, with his opposable thumbs. And when I checked on ebay, I realised he wasn't actually worth that much anyway. I figured the Fonz(s) on ebay were so cheap, I'd just replace his t-shirt (which looks like something Mr. Cunningham had used as a snotrag) and his missing jacket by picking up one of them. I had a quick look.

EEEEEEEEEHHHHHRRRRCCHH.....

This guy was perfect! He looked like he'd suffered an injury whilst operating heavy machinery. I wouldn't feel guilty about stripping him. Sadly, someone else saw the appeal in the rare variant 'crushed-head Fonzie' and outbid me. Blast it. So Fonz will remain dressed like a hobo for a while longer. We also dropped in on a jumble sale I'd seen advertised. It was pretty feeble, but amongst the cookery books and crappy biographies I found a Werewolf by Night #6 in good shape. There was no sign of any more comics, and I was one of the first through the door. Who knows?

Last week I picked up a couple of boxes of comics won on ebay from South London. I roped in my good friend Mr. Mwai into driving me there and off we set. When we got to the house, it looked a little... rustic. I knocked on the peeling door, and a tiny, slightly grubby looking chap who looked like a cross between Alan Moore and a bullfrog answered, ankle deep in newspapers and junk mail, the hallway wall behind him with patches of torn off wallpaper. 

"Hi Dan", I said, taking his clammy blue hand in mine and giving it a friendly shake. He looked a little confused.

"I'm here for the comics...?" Hmmm. Did he drop too much LSD in the 60s? Is it the guy's dad or something?

pause....

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Um.. does Dan live here?"

"NO"

Right number wrong road. So we picked up the comics with no hitches whatsoever, a decent enough batch of late 80s/early 90s. Mainly Marvel, and not too much dogshit. The predictable stuff, sadly lacking the Uncanny X-Men #266 (First Gambit) but luckily New Mutants #98 (First Deadpool). Some nice McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man, and this guy must have been a speculator- 2 copies of Spider-Man #1, 5 copies of X-Men #1 and 6! copies of X-Force #1. These comics in total are worth the equivalent of a ball of lint. Other highlights include a full set of Secret Wars II and some early 80s Avengers, so pretty happy nonetheless. 

For Nell's birthday, we went to Brighton (my first time). Tons of hippies and dread-headed snowboard types, but the first four bookshops we went in all had some comics. We had a look in Dave's Comics, which was spread over two shops, and was well set out and quite inviting for the non-comics or casual reader types. After a pleasant stroll we found ourselves in an antique/collector type place, where there were yet more comics. Some overpriced silver age stuff, and a box of 50p comics where I pulled out the Marvel adaptation of Time Bandits, and....another copy of New Mutants #98. Only too happy to take it off the hands of someone who is trying to sell Byrne's later X-Men run for £20 a pop. Come on, this comic isn't exactly a hidden gem! It's pretty common knowledge, although up until just a few years ago they were taking up substantial space in the bargain boxes. Don't think it'll reach the heights of Hulk #181 for a while, but It'll pay for our train fare for the day.

Swag 2

Not much this weekend, picked up this weird old handheld on Saturday for £2. Baikin-Kun 1982 Bandai. It seems the game is to look after baby bacteria(?!). It's intact and working, but a bit yellowed. I bought it with the intention to sell, but now I got it home, I'll probably just chuck it in the box with my other Game & Watches.

 The Car boot sale was pretty rainy by the time I got there on Sunday, there was virtually nothing there, but I did spot a bag of Batman related tat on a table. The lady wanted a quid but I knocked her down to 50p. Most of it was junk (Joker keyring is OK) but I only bought it for this rather awesome Batman badge.

Paris and Swag!

Just got back from a lovely time in Paris (apart from getting my MP3 player nicked). As soon as we got off the Eurostar I saw this advertisement for a Moebius exhibition, so it was pretty much set in stone we were going.

It was great to see a load of original paintings of work I'd seen in print for years. His show filled the whole gallery, and it took quite a while to get round. Recommended! 

We went to a vast market at St Ouen, where Nell bought a nice Brian Froud art book and the Taschen Betty Page, along with some jewellery and a handbag. There was a guy selling English language comics, and had some decent alternative stuff from the 70s and 80s including some Corben and the like, but we settled on a couple of old film posters.

When I got back to England I went up North to visit my ma in her new place, pick up my large backlog of comics from Planet Eater and hopefully score some decent swag at the car boot sale. Sadly for whatever reason Planet Eater had managed to miss a couple of issues from my Amazing Spider-man run. Coincidentally, one of them was 649 which is currently going for 15 quid on ebay. Hmmm.

The car boot sale was a good size considering the season hasn't really kicked off yet, but the only swag I acquired was a Mego Human Torch without his 'fire' costume, and from the same guy a Mego Spidey outfit. He took a quid for both so not bad at all. He had a Mego Frankenstein's Monster, but he was in such bad shape I couldn't bring myself to buy it. Wish I had now.