The 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs

I know this blog is for sketches, but since this is the only one I'm posting at on a semi-regular basis for the time being, I've opted to post my picks for Tom Spurgeon's 50 Things That Every Comics Collection Truly Needs meme.

For anyone too lazy not to check the requirements at Tom's site, here's how the coding goes for my entries in 50 categories:

Leave Plain = Things I don't have
Make Bold = Things I do have
Italics = I have some but probably not enough

1. Something From The ACME Novelty Library
I've read Jimmy Corrigan by checking it out from my local library and have read several other issues of the series as borrowed from friends or work, but the only Ware I actually own are clipped pages from his NY Times Magazine strip.

2. A Complete Run Of Arcade

3. Any Number Of Mini-Comics
I don't have a number of the most famous ones, but I've got plenty of great stuff from younger artists who peddle them at shows like MoCCA or SPX.

4. At Least One Pogo Book From The 1950s
Again, cheap me…I've read this at the library, but never purchased any.

5. A Barnaby Collection
See #1, 4

6. Binky Brown and the Holy Virgin Mary
7. As Many Issues of RAW as You Can Place Your Hands On

8. A Little Stack of Archie Comics
And I'd note that the digests are my preferred format.

9. A Suite of Modern Literary Graphic Novels

10. Several Tintin Albums

11. A Smattering Of Treasury Editions Or Similarly Oversized Books
I have more of the modern versions of these including the RASL preview special and an issue of Cold Heat in the larger size, but those old Marvel ones catch my eye at damn near every show I attend.

12. Several Significant Runs of Alternative Comic Book Series
My number is woefully inadequate on this score, but I do have most of Palookaville.

13. A Few Early Comic Strip Collections To Your Taste
14. Several "Indy Comics" From Their Heyday
15. At Least One Comic Book From When You First Started Reading Comic Books
I've been going through old comics to sell/throw out the past few weeks, and I can't bring myself to part with my Doug Moench/Jim Aparo Batmans.

16. At Least One Comic That Failed to Finish The Way It Planned To
I'd nominate Kelly Puckett and Warren Pleece's Kinetic here.

17. Some Osamu Tezuka
18. The Entire Run Of At Least One Manga Series
I'm nearly close to having all the English language versions of Cyborg 009.

19. One Or Two 1970s Doonesbury Collections
20. At Least One Saul Steinberg Hardcover

21. One Run of A Comic Strip That You Yourself Have Clipped
I clipped Calvin & Hobbes Sunday strips for about four years, the peculiarity of my collection being that I always saved the various Sunday Comics mastheads that the Flint Journal would update every seven months or so as well.

22. A Selection of Comics That Interest You That You Can't Explain To Anyone Else
I probably have a number of books that fit this description, but my vast collection of Mighty Crusaders comics from various decades comes to mind. I know they're mostly terrible. I just don't care.

23. At Least One Woodcut Novel

24. As Much Peanuts As You Can Stand
I can stand a lot more than I own at present.

25. Maus

26. A Significant Sample of R. Crumb's Sketchbooks
27. The original edition of Sick, Sick, Sick.

28. The Smithsonian Collection Of Newspaper Comics
Another library fave from when I was a kid.

29. Several copies of MAD
I don't think I have any of the ones I had in middle school anymore.

30. A stack of Jack Kirby 1970s Comic Books
I'm a particular fan of the unfulfilled promise held in Kirby one offs from this period like his issues of First Issue Special or that one issue of Justice, Inc.

31. More than a few Stan Lee/Jack Kirby 1960s Marvel Comic Books
Trades only. I'm poor.

32. A You're-Too-High-To-Tell Amount of Underground Comix

33. Some Calvin and Hobbes
34. Some Love and Rockets
I started buying the bigger Complete Love & Rockets editions a few years ago and refuse to shift course to the digests due only to stubbornness.

35. The Marvel Benefit Issue Of Coober Skeber
36. A Few Comics Not In Your Native Tongue
37. A Nice Stack of Jack Chick Comics

38. A Stack of Comics You Can Hand To Anybody's Kid
I'd add Bone singles as an addition to the requisite Harvey and Disney go-tos.

39. At Least A Few Alan Moore Comics
40. A Comic You Made Yourself
You can read one of my early efforts on this very site!

41. A Few Comics About Comics
42. A Run Of Yummy Fur
43. Some Frank Miller Comics

44. Several Lee/Ditko/Romita Amazing Spider-Man Comic Books
Not nearly enough.

45. A Few Great Comics Short Stories
Not nearly enough.

46. A Tijuana Bible
47. Some Weirdo
48. An Array Of Comics In Various Non-Superhero Genres
I'd add mention of a lot of comics that are definitely in a genre outside of believable fiction yet not fitting into any predefined mold – a lot of the Oni books like Scott Pilgrim and Last Call come to mind.

49. An Editorial Cartoonist's Collection or Two
50. A Few Collections From New Yorker Cartoonists