Thursday, October 16, 2014

Collectors Showcase - Chris Barnes: Artist, Blogger, Collector



This is our first installment of our new regular post that showcases collectors. Wether it is a collections, a memorable hunting trip,or the great success we will be sharing it here.

Our first collectors showcase star is Chris Barnes and as the title says Chris is an artist, a blogger and a collector. You can view his blog themightychrispy.blogspot.ca.

Now here is his story:

My first trip to go get a comic was back when I was in University in 1998 in Toronto, Ontario (I did have a few previously, The Untold Legend of the Batman is the only one that comes to mind though, and I got that through book order in Elementary School).  On a recommendation from my friend Matt I picked up Kingdom Come.  I loved it and at the time I decided I was going to pick up some other books from Silver Snail.  I got a whole pile of Nightwing books, that Included A Knight in Bludhaven and Rough Justice, collections of the first books of the series and then just single issues to continue the stories.  I got most of the issues up to 35 or so but the store here in Peterborough, Jeff's Cards and Comics, was kinda sucky and not very welcoming and so I stopped going in.  After that there was a long break, maybe ten years.  I started to peek into the graphic novel section at Chapters and I would pick up books that looked interesting to me, usually Batman.  Titles like Hush and All Star Batman and Robin, Batman/Superman was something I picked up once in a while too, but when I got wind of the New 52 relaunch in 2011 I knew I wanted in!  Especially once I saw some of the sample art!  Greg Capullo, Francis Manapul, Jim Lee, and Cliff Chaing!  I was stunned, I called up DC and got a subscription to Batman and Nightwing right away, I wanted each issue!  I picked up a few of the #1 issues, Justice League, Detective comics (which I now have signed by Tony Daniel!) Action Comics.  To collect the other books I have taken to ordering the volumes from Chapters, it's much cheaper, and makes for a more organized display of the titles.  When I go get comics weekly now I go to Dixon's Books in Peterborough which is most a used book store, but it has a large selection of comics.

I've read most of the books I have at least a couple of times, usually when a new volume comes out I'll at least skim over the past ones to refresh my memory of the story to that point.

As for things other than comics I have the usual five Justice League members as toys (except for Flash) but I have the Art FX statues of Flash, Supergirl and Nightwing, the later two of which just came in the mail yesterday!

I have pretty much all the animated films and have been a huge fan of Batman The Animated Series since it's debut in 1992 (up in Canada anyways) I think that show is what really made me a Batman fan.

I have my own art up in my hallway, the Hallways of Heroes I call it, I want to put villains up on the other side, I just have to get them done.  I have done a few commissions for friends, most of those can be seen on my blog themightychrispy.blogspot.ca I have videos of me drawing as well I am posting up comics that I have both written and drawn.

I would say the best parts of my collection though is that I have a number of commissions from Fan EXPO and Comic-Con in Toronto.  My first commission was by Marcus To and I got him to draw the Flash for me, it's really cool and hangs up in my living room.  I have two headshots of Superman and Wonder Woman by Ken Lashly.  By far my favourite though is the Batman I have by Francis Manapul that hangs in the upstairs hallway.  All told that artwork, as assessed by Comic Book Addiction in Oshawa is worth about $1300!

I think that about covers it, if you have any specific questions, or something you'd like clarification on or want me to expand on further just let me kno

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