My circle of geek friends, particularly those who share my gravitation towards superheroes, knows that I'm a fan of the Avengers. Make that a big fan. I can't claim to be the greatest fan because I'm not likely to indulge in expensive back issues that covered either the almost twenty years prior to my own coming into this world nor the nearly twenty years after until Kurt Busiek and George Perez started their award-winning, critically-acclaimed and well-received run on the series.
However, I do find that my fantasies during idle HOURS involves forming the best Avengers team line-up or what a new Avengers animated series is gonna look like. Although, the subject of movie hasn't crept into my fantasies yet.
I'm not a collector either for the same reasons stated above but my collection includes comic books (DUH!), trade paperbacks, hardcover collections, a few action figures, DVDs and VCDs of the animated movies and TV shows, a deck of VS cards, the Ultimate Guide book and my latest baby - a poster by current New Avengers artist, Leinil Yu, who happens to be a Filipino. Oh, any wallpaper is half of Oliver Pulumbarit's updated JLA/Avengers artwork (care to guess as to which team I cut out?), 3 of my shortcuts icons on my desktop are Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, and my mouse cursors are also Avengers. Yup, not a collector, not the greatest fan - just a BIG fan... and modest too.
Here are photos of my fabled "collection".All that almost became the subject of a major melancholy induced by a stupid accident last Sunday.
Back Story: Civil War split the Avengers into two teams in three titles (New, Mighty and The Initiative). Naturally, I was gonna follow all. I wasn't gonna follow the Initiative if War Machine hadn't been there. Anyway, May started with me splitting my wage to paying dues and debts leaving me with not enough resources to buy the latest issues. Thankfully, Druid's Keep, which just had to be in Magallanes, sells comic books for a cheaper price. The plan was simple: wait until all 3 books are out and buy them in bulk at Druid's Keep, which is a departure from where I buy them regularly week after week - Comic Odyssey in Robinson's Galleria.
Last week, I got my pay and found out that Druid's Keep is also selling the Leinil Yu poster. No choice - will have to get it along with the 3 new issues. Come Saturday, I went to Druid's Keep planning on getting 3 comics and a poster but left with 4 and, well, the poster. I just had to get Fallen Son: The Avengers, which detailed the reactions of the 2 Avengers teams to the death of frequent Avengers leader, Captain America.
Come afternoon the next day, I bought a huge illustration board, plastic cover and a mounting tape so I can put the poster up on a wall of my room. The process again was simple: lay down illustration board on floor, put plastic cover on and measure then cut, then put the poster in between. Since the poster was rolled up til that point, it required some straightening out. Again, simplicity exemplified: my 3 Avengers Assemble! hardcover collections and the Ultimate Guide on each corner to press down on the cover and the poster and straighten them.
Since this was gonna take a while, I decided to geek out and relax. Put my Avengers: United They Stand DVD on my PC so I can watch some episodes while re-reading my 4 new comics. After I finish, the poster and plastic would be straight already.
Mistake no. 1: Having coffee in bed where I'm reading my comics.
Mistake no. 2: Putting put said cup of coffee on table beside bed where the yet-to-be-re-read comics were.
Mistake no. 3: Putting cup beside comics on chair where I also settled a portion of my butt while I checked out why the DVD stopped or skipped.
After the conundrum with Windows Media Player, I seemed to have forgotten where the cup or the comics were. I don't think I need to narrate what happened next.
So potential casualties would be:
A. The new issues I just bought the previous day
B.The Ultimate Guide book which I got for my birthday last year
C. 3 expensive hardcover collections of the Busiek/Perez run
D. Lienil Yu's poster which i had just gotten
Fortunately, I know when to be OC-OC with my things. The comics were still in their polybags (thanks, Penny) and their backing boards, the hardcovers were still in the original wrapping they came in when I bought them, the guide book was covered and the poster was under the plastic cover. Puddles of coffee weren't on any of the items - just a few splotches here and there.
Had to be very careful in cleaning the comics, though coz I didn't want any moisture seeping in. Thankfully, I also had spare plastics and backing boards because while the comics were spared, there was still a minor breach and the backing boards were compromised (the Trekkie in me demands release).
Immediately after realizing what had just happened, I was in a state of shock but I acted swiftly and decisively to prevent further complications. Yes, it sounds like a fire had just consumed our house and it may as well have - the gravity of it would still be the same. Of course, I say that now...
By the end of the day, I've reread the new issues, watched a few episodes and put up the poster. It's now on my workstation with the Avengers looking down on me while I watch TV, go online, read my books, or simply do whatever geeky thing it is I do.
Sigh!
