On top of my roll top desk at eye level where I sit every day I have a Dark Horse Series 1 Uncle Scrooge figure. I especially like this Uncle Scrooge because it really looks like a Carl Barks' Scrooge. I love the expression on it and it's my favorite piece of all the one's Dark Horse has released.
There's something else I like about it, too. I like the aged look and the roughness to it. It feels like a toy that would have been made at the same time some of my very favorite Carl Barks' stories were written. Of course, Carl Barks' figure toys like this weren't available then but I like sort of thinking they were. I was looking at it today and pondering it's aged look when it made me think of something else.
Most of my comics are in pretty nice condition. I don't keep them in sleeves (I like to get to them fast) but I have a way of arranging them tightly together on my shelves so that they stay in nice shape.
Generally the newer comics I buy are either new or in near mint condition.
However, if I bend a corner reading a comic it doesn't bother me at all. In fact, it almost makes it more mine, though I don't go out of my way to be rough on them.
This is what I was thinking about. I prefer to buy perfect comics and yet really like the Dark Horse series of aged figures.
One last thought. Some of my favorite comics are not only my favorite stories but one's that have memories for me. I have an old worn copy of Terror of the River I bought a long time ago where Carl Barks' signed it to me and wrote Greetings from Duckburg. I still remember that whole day vividly.
My paperback Life & Times has traveled a lot with me. I even had it with me last summer when I was working on a cruise ship in Alaska and reading Scrooge stories about the Yukon. Before that I had it at a comic convention and was invited to sit next to Don Rosa. He opened that same book and showed me things in it he drew. Those books, though beat up, are very special to me. I wouldn't even consider trading them for mint copies.
I guess that's why I kind of like the nicely aged figures. Even though I had nothing to do with it, they kind of have that well worn, "pretend" loved look that sort of goes with my most cherished books.
Patrick Hanifin
www.PatrickHanifin.com
www.SqueakyCleanComedy.com
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Author
Topic: Mint Comics and Aged Comic Characters
(2 messages)
Patrick Hanifin
Mint Comics and Aged Comic Characters
Message 1 -
2011-10-06 at 05:36:48
Dutch Duckfan Down Under
Mint Comics and Aged Comic Characters
Message 2 -
2011-10-06 at 15:22:14
I get sentimental about some of my comics too, sometimes. I still have lots of "firsts", all with their own story, and I'd never want to trade them for a better version. In fact, I may still have my first Disney items. They were stickers from kindergarten, that I put on an old radio. Somehow, that radio managed to survive for years with the stickers intact. Lately, I tried to get them off, which didn't really work out. They broke in half and all of a sudden, the pictures nearly vanished. Now it just looks like some old junk. But I couldn't throw them away. Still have 'em.
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