2021 Summer Vacation Recap!

 
Months later and COVID is still throwing us some curve balls, but that didn't stop my wife from scheduling us a pretty cool vacation! We took the kids to South Dakota for a week and to my wife's credit, she scheduled a lot of outdoor activities to cut down on our chances of infection. We all had a great time and made some memories with the kids that will hopefully last a life time.

We marveled at the giant statues at Dinosaur Park...

We enjoyed a relaxing evening at Storybook Island...

We took in the views at Mount Rushmore...

Observed some freaky animals at Reptile Gardens...

Had a blast playing mini golf at Pirates Cove (BTW, I won)...

And saw some bears at Bear Country USA!
We also visited Cosmos Mystery Area which was crazy! All these places were fantastic and offered a lot for us to do, but when I go out of state for vacations, work retreats or any kind of road trip, I need to visit the local comic & card shops! Luckily Rapid City had 2 comic shops and a card shop all within a block of each other. I looked through all the long boxes and dug through bins at each shop while my family patiently looked on. I gotta say, I am very pleased with my finds. Here are a few of the comic purchase standouts:

I was able to add a few more Marvel STAR comics to my collection, got a few Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, picked up a Bob Burden autograph for cheap and finally nabbed the first appearance of Spider-Ham for $4! I'd say that's a productive day!!

At the card shop, I picked up a few packs of 1990 Topps Traded for 99 cents each. Got a few decent rookie cards and as a lifelong Mets fan, I love that I got a Todd Hundley!

Also, was able to scrounge up a few new Bo Jackson cards for the collection. I'm sure you will see these at "The More You Bo" soon! What a fantastic trip it really was, now it's back to the real world which includes work, house chores and other adult hurdles. Can't wait for next summer's vacation, the countdown has already started!

Every Ad In Muppet Babies #7

Recently I have been organizing my entire comic book collection that I currently have at my home. Of course while bagging & boarding I have been flipping through some of my favorites. A lot of the favorites were put out by Marvel under their STAR Comics imprint. These were some of the best comics put out in the 80s and featured many of our favorite cartoon characters including Thundercats, Silverhawks, Heathcliff and of course Muppet Babies. The stories are fun and nostalgic, but if you really want a blast of memories past you need to check out the ads within these thin paper pages of gold! I have decided to share every ad in this issue from May 1986 since all of them are great! I guess that's enough jibber-jabber...on with the ads!!! ENJOY!!!

Online Pick-(me)-ups!

Since this whole Corona Virus mess has hit our great country, myself and my family have been going out less and less. Most of the times it's just for grocery shopping. So in addition to being bored, I have had my regular urges to continue building my collections. Online buying can be addicting and sometimes I went a little overboard. Below are some of the most recent purchases I have made and I would like to share these with you, RIGHT NOW!

Toys

I did make a special trip to Wal-Mart so I could see if they had any of The Real Ghosbusters toy re-issues and I lucked out! I found the last two figures on the shelf which happened to be the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and my favorite RGB figure of all time, Slimer aka Green Ghost. I bought the carded E.T. figure and Bow from She-Ra at an online store. I picked up E.T. because he was cheap and Bow because I had always wanted one since this figure was released in the 80s. Did it bother anyone else back in the day that the Bow figure does not include his kick-ass mustache that was featured in the Princess of Power cartoon?

Magazines

I spent hours looking through these magazines as a kid. My preferred publication of choice was either Tuff Stuff or Beckett, but these two mags from 1990 (Topps) & 1991 (Superstar & Rookie Special) still brought back so many memories of looking up card prices, reading about the "HOT" players and prospects and drooling over the Top 10 cards of the month. I bought these because I am a huge Bo Jackson fan and did not have either of them in my current collection, but the cool thing was that each of these magazines still had their bonus cards intact, but as is my luck there were no Bo Jacksons included. Still pretty AWESOME though!

Sports Cards

Speaking of cards, I discovered a website that was selling every card in their inventory for only 10 cents a piece! I spent around $30 on cards to add to my favorite team collections. Since I am a Jersey boy, these teams include the Mets, Jets, Nets and Devils. They also had some pretty cool non-sport cards, so I bought a few TMNT items and the above included DC Holograms. Beside collecting my favorite players and teams, I love finding oddball cards like the "Burger King All-Pro" set featuring Ron Darling & Steve Garvey! I wonder if BK will still honor that free Whopper coupon?

Men In Black Memorabilia Card

I included this card separately since it was from a different seller. I had been keeping my eye on these cards on ebay for a long time now and finally decided to pick one up. The price was right at $5 and now I can add this relic to my collection. Love the MIB movies and Will Smith aka The Fresh Prince is one of my all-time favorite rappers. Glad I finally got this authentic piece of an MIB agent suit for a fair price, around $5!

Comics

A few sites that I shop for comics at were running specials of 40% to 50% off all back issue orders. So, I pulled out my comic wish list and went to work. I like to collect books that have sentimental value to me or are of 80s & 90s properties that I enjoy. So when I was able to pick up the first issue of The Real Ghostbusters for $1.75 and add more books to my Marvel STAR collection, it was a no brainer (plus the wife gave me permission). Overall I knocked a bunch of books off my spreadsheet and I am one happy man!

A Look Back At STAR COMICS

In 1984 Marvel Comics started their new young readers imprint STAR COMICS! At the time Gold Key, Harvey and other children's publishers had shut down production of their young readers lines so Marvel started up this new imprint to grab those beginning readers. 

The first STAR COMICS book to reach the stands was an adaptation of the movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan in November of 1984. Marvel saw how popular the book could be and decided to not only publish licensed books, but also to create their own new characters in the mold of the old Harvey comics. This led to the creation of Royal Roy, Planet Terry and Wally The Wizard.

Wally The Wizard and Planet Terry would both last 12 issues, while Royal Roy only lasted 6 issues. This was due to a lawsuit by Harvey Comics claiming the character infringed on their creation...Richie Rich! These Marvel made characters were a nice try by the company to start a new universe, but it would be their licensed comics that would leave the biggest impression.

They had some of the best characters that the 80s had to offer all in glorious four color beauty! If you were a kid during this time, chances are they had a title for you. Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, Strawberry Shortcake and so many more! This line holds a very special place in my heart, because...

The first comic I ever remember owning was Heathcliff #16. This was STAR COMICS longest running series at 56 issues. I loved this comic and read it over and over. These comics were great! Unfortunately the STAR COMICS imprint was discontinued in December of 1988. A few of the titles were continued under the Marvel banner, but most were done and never seen again. It was a short run, but damn was it AWESOME!