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Here's a link to a PicasaWeb for my first batch of books... pretty simple one. I sent out a 50 or so issue run of Iron Man that I had picked up from quarter bins many moons ago and never read, and two more modern runs: the beginning of the latest X-Factor and 25 or so issues from Ennis' The Punisher.

My first batch of books

I was very happy with the results. I just heard from Mr. Jansek my first Fantastic Four books should be done by the end of the week!

Rather than start a new topic, I will just update this one with some pics of my binding projects thus far...

The beginnings of my Fantastic Four collection. I have from 232 (start of Byrne run) through 400-some ready to be bound. I sent the first two books in with my last batch. I have the next 5 books with 20 some issues per book at LBC right now. These turned out good, I am very happy. 232 through late 300's I all bought one day from a quarter box at the Motor City Comic Con about 15 years ago. I was missing maybe 10 issues from a 150 or so book run.




Sample page from my first FF volume



Sample page from the second FF volume




Modern Daredevil runs. I did these books a little smaller, less than 20 in each. Maleev especially uses a lot of double page spreads. Very happy with these...



Here's a Maleev double page spread, this is cracked open, laying "flat" without any assistance and without me even reading through it once. Pretty good, very little loss. Totally acceptable to me.



Standing upright shot. Sassy (my black cat) approves.




These are from my second batch. All of the Next Men bound into 2 volumes, and my first volume of Ex Machina. I did like issues 1-24 and the first Ex Machina Special (2 issues) in this one. It's fairly thick. Again Sassy really approves!



Inside Ex Machina book



Inside Next Men Vol I... This set is probably my favorite and will be the most read. I adore the first half of the book, and generally enjoy the letter pages as well.




The collection so far...



I've got 5 additional Fantastic Four's at LBC now which I am geeked about. Last night I was prepping my next batch. I am sending in a Majestic book consisting of the 4 issue DC Mini and the 17 issue Wildstorm run. I am going to do a Punisher War Zone book consisting of all the runs I liked on that book. So the early JRJR stuff, the Abnett and Lanning stories, the Buscema and Kubert ones. This book is going to be too big to send in au naturale, which is the only way I've gone so far (ads and everything in) so I am going to get to work cutting up the Punisher War Zones. I have about 28 or so issues I want to bind (though my brain doesn't like the idea of ignoring books right in the middle of a series, some of the PWZ issues are AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL) so I am going to see how small I can get it by stripping out ads, back covers, etc...

Going through the Fantastic Four's, especially the early 80's ones, I love the ads, but the more modern stuff I feel no sentiments towards.

Anyway, so I've got my Majestic and PWZ going in. I also am going to do the whole Gotham Central run in 2 books (logical break down of 1-20 and 21-40 there). I have a few more Fantastic Four books, a few books before and after my existing Iron Man ones to do as well.

Whew! Can't wait..

Argh! Sorry.. I think they are working now. I like the handiness of PicasaWeb but it seems hard to get images from PicasaWeb onto other pages easily. Probably on purpose... They are hosted on my own personal web server now...

I got my latest batch yesterday from LBC.Yesterday I received 5 volumes of Fantastic Four, from issues 276 until 384. I had previously sent in 2 volumes from 232 - 275. I was fairly nervous about this batch. I was very much hoping that the lettering would line up with the earlier bindings. Luckily, everything turned out great!



That one is a little shiny.... without the flash...




The whole collection as it stands...



I've got 3 books in LBC now, a Majestic book (4 issue mini + 17 issue Wildstorm), a Punisher War Zone book (containing my favorite arcs from the whole series) and a Ren and Stimpy (roughly the first half of the series). I've got 2 or 3 more Iron Man's to go out, 1 more Fantastic Four (I am missing an issue or two) from after 384 (I started wandering away from comics for 6 or 7 years after 384 ish). I am considering binding the recent Omega the Unknown series, and I just completed picking up the 90's Foolkiller which I may bind with the newer one (though they have little/nothing in common really).

Hey David, I'll check the form for the exact # for the Iron Man volumes. I thought the color turned out perfect for that "Iron Man-y" look!

I got back a 3 books from LBC a few weeks ago. These were the first books that I cut out ads and back covers. I could imagine 15 year old "collector Matt" yelling at 30 year old Matt "What are you doing! Get that razor away from that precious comic!" But I love having the books on the shelf and being able to pull them down and read them.

I did a book with all the Punisher War Zones I liked (or though I would like, since I had not read all the later issues). I put the whole JrJr, Abnett and Lanning, Kubert and Buscema runs in there. About 28 issues or so total I believe. The book is fairly thick but very readable. Some of JrJr double page spreads are a little cramped. I read this whole book in about 1/4 the time it takes me to read one of my Fantastic Four binds (which is good and bad). I really like most of the story of the JrJr arc, but the Shotgun character is so over the top it's painful. The Abnett and Lanning arc is one of my favorite Punisher stories, it's far more mature and like something that would be done in the modern Marvel Max Punisher. I didn't much like the Kubert storyline honestly, and couldn't help but note the protagonist guy looks very similar to a character from Kubert's recent Sgt Rock miniseries (the Prophet one).

I did a book containing the last Majestic mini plus the 17 ongoing issues. I picked up Majestic at like issue 5 of the regular series, so I bought the mini + 4 first issues of the ongoing from Mile High Comics and sent them all off to LBC to be bound before I read them. I found the miniseries pretty forgettable but the first 12 issues of the ongoing series are excellent. Very sci fi heavy (I don't consider myself a sci fi fan) and extremely well done! Bravo.

The last book, not pictured, is my Ren & Stimpy binding for my girlfriend for XMas. I did it in a funky orange buckram with green lettering. It turned out cool. I think she'll love it. I bound like the first 18 or so issues. I had about half of those and picked up the other half (plus some overlap) in an ebay auction.

I recently got back my additional Fantastic Four binds, I've got 232 - 400ish done in like 8 books. I picked FF up in the 360's, so I had never read the earlier issues (though I am a huge Byrne fan, which is why I bought the earlier issues). The Byrne stuff is great (though I prefer his Next Men work) and I am glad to have it. I am just getting into the Englehart era now. While I love Buscema he just doesn't fit FF (at least in this era, I know he did a FF run earlier after Kirby, that probably was better). I actually find Paul Ryan's art serviceable, though most of my DeFalco story memories are not positive. We'll see if time has treated them well...