Well, I don't watch TV. I'm one of those assholes. During baseball season, I always have the Cards game on, but that's usually on my computer or phone. If April is watching a show that I can tolerate (which is seldom), I'll sit down and join her. Sometimes I even sit through utter shit just to spend time with her. That's the kind of guy I am.
But there's a new show on that I am 100% addicted to. They can't film the episodes fast enough. I have to see what is next. It's not a drama. It's not a sitcom. It's a stupid show about finding highly collectible toys called Toy Hunter. This goofy cherub-looking dude meets people that have collected toys over the years and are ready to unload them for whatever reason. He haggles over price with them until the two sides come to an agreement. It's kind of like American Pickers (which I'll watch whenever it's on, too. I guess I do watch some TV...) but all about old toys. Not super old toys from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, but more around the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Superheros, Star Wars, cool 70s stuff like Starsky & Hutch, KISS, Six Million Dollar Man... So a lot of these pieces that the host runs across I remember from my childhood. If I didn't have the toy as a kid, maybe my neighbor did, or my cousin's friend, or some classmate in Mrs. Matthews' 3rd grade class. The show really brings back a ton of memories and makes me want to start sifting through my old boxes of childhood garbage.
Most of the old toys I used to have are long gone. Victims of a garage sale, death by firecracker, or given away when I thought that I was "too old for this crap". But I still have a few. It's kinda fun to hold on to them...let my friend's kids play with them.
But what's gotten me into total geek-mode lately, thanks in part to this addictive television show, is digging out my old comic books. I've got some pretty good ones. The new found popularity of Marvel Comics in particular--with the X-Men and Spider-Man movie franchises, as well as the new Avengers-related series of films--has me dusting off all my old books, organizing them by title, and pricing them out. Some aren't worth shit, but they have a ton of sentimental value, either due to their art (I used to draw comics religiously) or how many times I stayed awake at night reading them over and over.
Oddly enough, as horrible as my memory is, I can remember where and when I picked up most of my comic books. Spider-Man #280 & #281 (guest starring the evil group of bad guys, The Sinister Syndicate!), which are worth close to zero dollars, are two of my favorites. I was camping at Roaring River State Park with both sets of grandparents in 1986. While we were at the lodge buying our tags for the following morning, I picked up both comics to read that night. There was a cute girl with strawberry blonde hair at the cash register who rang me up. Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight" was playing on the radio.
Yeah, but I can't remember my wife telling me two days ago that we have dinner plans tonight. "Huh?"
My nephew, Alden, is digging the comics too. That has sort of rekindled my interest in them. He's loving Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Avengers--so when he sees some of the old books I have and where the characters originated from it's pretty cool. It makes me grin to see him so excited when I give him an old Iron Man from the mid-80s. It's not just a cool movie anymore at that point. I told him that when that comic came out, Robert Downy Jr. was co-starring in "Back To School". He didn't get the reference. "Rodney Dangerfield? Sally Kellerman? That kid from "Christine"? The guy from "Rocky"? No? Nothing?...."
So, anyone that's actually reading this...and certainly bored as shit by this point...how 'bout you donate your comic books to me and Alden?? If you've got some laying around in your attic, or your uncle, neighbor, or brother-in-law has a few tucked away in the basement collecting dust, why don't you send them our way? Spider-Man? Yep. X-Men? Avengers? Journey Into Mystery, Daredevil, Tales to Astonish, Iron Man, Amazing Fantasy, Hulk? Yep to all. Even our DC friends would have a good home here. Superman, Batman, Justice League? Yes please. I'll pay shipping.
It's fun feeding my inner-geek. And Alden...he's a geek too. He just doesn't know it yet.
