April 16th, 2017
from the Library of Graphic Literature!!!
It was Easter Sunday and I was looking for something to do this evening and thought it's about time I shot a little tour of the Library for people to peruse! It's taken me over 22 years to collect the Library and at some point in the future, I want to open a real Library of Graphic Literature and/or donate the entire Library to some worthy institution!
I always felt a bit sad when I sold off my childhood collection when I had my own comic book shop, the Daily Planet, in the 1990's. After closing up, I had a handful of Marvel Masterworks and decided to see how much of my old collection I could recreate in hardcover form. Little did I realize how the hardcover market would balloon over the next two decades and how much of my old collection would actually become available in book form. The rest of the collection came from Downtown Comics of St. John's, St. Mark's Comics, Forbidden Planet, Jim Hanley's Universe, Comic Relief, Bud Plant, one from Ian Jarvis, a couple from Sam Johnston and Dennis Osbourne, three books from the Library of American Comics and two from Jim Simon from the collection of his Dad, Joe Simon!
The two oldest books are my "Major Fatal" hardcover, which is the French language edition of "the Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius" and a book I owned as a teen that recently came back to me, "Empire" by Delany and Chaykin! I'm far from a rich man but on average, I buy at least a book or two a week and as I've discovered, it really begins to pile up.
I've moved the Library four times and the last time, I ended up injuring my back after moving most of the collection by hand. I had to cart them down three sets of stairs and up one long set. And it still hurts me to this day. But...it's worth every twinge.
I have used the Library as a resource for my comic art classes, our local comic Jam and Salons and even as a research Library for our little community of comic book artists. My most loyal customer is my friend, IDW artist Paul Tucker and in the following months, I'll be bringing in more artists to keep me company as I work on my own series.
Anyway, that's enough of me shooting my gob off! What do you think? Did you see any books that you have or are on the hunt for? Any suggestions as to books you think I should have in the Library?