A major milestone...but issues...and Star Wars!

I've been trying to figure out how to post about this for several days, as my scanner just cannot handle these cards. It's a good scanner, but it can't do some things- Upper Deck cards from 1997-99, or lenticulars, for instance.

Of course, this entire set happens to be lenticular.

The 3Di sets are incredible in hand, but for some reason they issue them only on Topps' website- and they are very expensive. About $2.50 per card. At least you are guaranteed a complete set when you buy them...but the set is only 44 cards.

They did one for Return of the Jedi either last year or late 2013, but I missed it totally. I was going to pass on this set for Revenge of the Sith as well but my mom would have nothing of that.

I don't know if it's just geographical convienence or not, but it arrived to me the day after the order was placed.

I was a little closer than I thought, but the first card shown here is a MAJOR milestone for me- it's my 10,000th non-sports card! Fitting, as my FIRST non-sports cards, back in 1988, were Star Wars cards, actually the duplicates my brother got new in 1977. Star Wars takes up the largest portion of my non-sports collection, but I don't have an exact count of how many of those 10,000 are Star Wars. I used to have that sort of info, but being scatterbrained as I am, I lost it. Someday I will have to recount them and find out. I am just glad I have the running total of all of them. I also know I have more out there somewhere, but I don't know where/what cards, so the number isn't perfect. For example I know I broke a box of the Skybox Archie cards back in the 1990s, and there is more Star Wars I remember having, but have not been able to find in years.

The Lightsaber battle was my target in the second photograph, but the card on the stack above shows the 3-D affect much better. I took a photo of that as well, but it was not usable (blurry), so since I didn't think I needed it in this picture, I didn't get it all in frame. Figures, right?

In each set you are guarenteed to get two "hits". I'm much more into base cards but I did happen to get my first Star Wars autograph, and only my second non-sports autograph overall.

 I like the fact that they kept it in-continuity for the card. Being non-lenticular I was able to scan the two inserts.

I also got a sketch. I have no idea who the artist is.The signature on the back looks like it says "none" or "Jcone" or something along those lines. For some reason most Star Wars sketches are black and white, very few use color. My brother is a talented artist, and I'm trying to convince him to do sketch card work.
Each sketch card is a 1/1, by the way. However, there are enough sketches made so that every set includes one. Only 2000 sets were produced, and I got set #84, which is numbered on the box, but not the cards.

The cards come in a box with a cool embossed cover...

So, I am very glad I got the set- the 3Di cards are some of the most visually stunning cards ever made- but I am disappointed that I am not able to properly document them with scans. At least, not yet. When I replace my Epson scanner someday, I will be able to get proper scans then, as it scans them perfectly. Unfortunately the Epson scanner is on it's last legs and scanning these cards would be essentially impossible right now.

I am also very glad to hit the 10,000 mark for non-sports cards. Although I ignored them for years I began with non-sports and collected them exclusively from 1988-1992. And since I got back into them circa 2009 I have enjoyed them more than sports cards most of the time.

It's also pretty cool to have pulled an autograph as well. (there was no guarantee on them, well- you had about a 50-50% chance of pulling an autograph or manu-relic) But I pulled the autograph, the first one I've pulled for non-sports ever. (The other one I have was a promo/incentive that came with a binder, I'll show it someday) Unless you count the three in-person ones I got at the comic convention a month or so ago...but since they aren't issued cards I am not sure if those count. (They are counted towards the 10,000 however)

A Trip to the Hudson Valley Comic Book Expo

Although I spend my time working with my card collection, comic books have always been in my life. My brother read me my first comic book when I was 5 days old, and 30 years later, I'm still reading them! I don't really get many new ones anymore, but I continue to reread old ones and there are some I've had for decades that I still haven't read yet- but I will, soon, although that's a topic for another day and perhaps even another blog.

Today they held the first Ultimate Comic Book Expo and Trade Show at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY. It was a small show, but it was a good one. I ended up finding some comics I've been looking for for nearly a decade (I didn't know about them when they came out, they are kind of an oddity- more below). I hope they do another because we had a lot of fun! And of course I managed to get some cards, too, because you never have comic shows without cards, naturally.

I got to meet Fred Hembeck, who I've been a fan of for years. His humorous art has been providing laughs for more than 20 years now, and he actually is from the same small town I am from. He had a binder full of sketch cards at very reasonable prices, and I had to bring home the Marvel Family. The original Captain Marvel is my all time favorite super hero.

I also brought along some of those white cards that are put into packs to prevent feeling for relic cards- they are sturdy, they are not glossy, and they are great for autographs.

This is the very first time in my life I've ever asked for an autograph of someone who is not a race car driver.

We also met Charles Barnett III, an artist/inker who I was not as familiar with but he does good work and is a very friendly guy. I got an autograph from him as well...

...and I got an art print...also the first in my collection. (he signed that as well). The character is Lady Blackhawk, who is most known for being one of the Birds of Prey. A character and title I enjoyed very much. This is not card sized, it's a full page sheet.

We also met Todd Dezago. He was the original artist on Young Justice, but I have not scanned my comic collection yet so I can't show any of his work. I also got an autograph from him.

All three creators that I spoke to were friendly and nice, definitely a plus.

I found some Star Wars cards, of course. I got this box...I didn't realize that they were so large. Each card is the same size as the box. They are now the physically largest cards in my collection.

The Jeff Burton card, which is a card I just happened to have handy as I recently scanned the back of it, is a standard sized card!

And yes, in case you are wondering, I really did tape my scanner back together after the lid broke off..it still works!

And I also got the first series of Star Wars cards from Metallic Impressions. And they aren't rusty, which is a good thing, as the Metallic Impressions cards have a tendency to rust.

Here are some random comics I picked up. I am not sure if I needed them all- my wantlist got messed up as I forgot to remove some comics after hunting them down, and then mixed them up with the rest of my collection, so I basically have to recreate it. Smack myself upside the head for that one. I am sure I need the movie adaption on the left, and I'm pretty sure about the two in the middle. It's the Crimson Empire Handbook that I am not sure on. It's a fairly rare comic, so I figured for $5 I was going to take the chance and get it, and if it's a duplicate, maybe I can trade it away later.

This next set was the big find of the day. I have been hunting these books for years...I first found out they existed around 2006 or 07, when I found one of them at a comic shop in Toledo, Ohio, when I was out there for the big model car show I used to be able to go to. They are a bit unusual, in that they aren't standard comics, nor are they standard novels. They are mostly prose with some full page comic style art mixed in. I have only one of them, in soft cover, but I've never read it as it is part of a series and I didn't want to read only part of the story with no chance of reading the rest. So I've been on the lookout for however many years it's been since I found the first one- I don't even remember which one that was, but I think it's the one on the left- and I finally found them. It threw me also because I did not even know they were available as a hardcover. I was looking through a longbox of Star Wars comics- the four above were the only ones I pulled to bring home- and my brother says to me "What are those Star Wars hardcovers there?" and it was what I was looking for. Couldn't get any better than that! The same dealer that had the comics is also who I got the Master Visions cards from.

Here are some pictures from the show-

Batman with Batmobile

Captain America Mustang

Back to the Future DeLorean

Me and a Stormtrooper. I'm on the right.

 Girl dressed as Harley Quinn

Made entirely of Legos

Also made of Legos

And then, to top it all off, we go to Target, and I get the new Panini Excaliber set...where I pull my first card of Nikola Mirotic, making him the 2500th different person in my NBA card collection. I have not scanned it yet, it will probably lead to it's own post shortly.

Today was a VERY good day!

If you guys want to read more posts about comics, that could be arranged, by the way.