..... and we're back!

First off, huge apologies to my tens (ones?) of loyal readers who have been hanging out for some more AFB fun the last couple of months. It's been a busy time of year, and what with it being summer here and Australia pretty much shuts down in January, but I'm back from the beach and back online now with lots to catch up with!

The OCD (and lets face it, every collector is a bit OCD...) part of me feels the need to try to travel my collecting journey in order since I last left you. I'll try to do my best overall but in order to get back on track I'll have to let some of the order fly.

And to get out of order right away, I'd thought I'd celebrate my return by mentioning the DC Comics Action Figure Archive by Scott Beatty which came out recently. I was lucky enough to receive this beautifully presented hardcover book as a gift early in the new year. Attempting to chronicle every figure that has been made of a DC Character is an ambitious undertaking at least and Beatty certainly deserves kudos for giving it a go.

His tome has its strengths - it provides some interesting, if sporadic, insights into specific product lines and their development, It's well photographed, and therin lies the big disappointment of the book, because of the nearly 1500 figures listed, we only see half. Quite a few of the pages are presented as per the Deadshot example (thanks to RTM or whoever they got it from) with one or two photos and then other figures unpictured. It stands to reason that the main audience for a book like this is going to be collectors, and I dare say that many of them experienced the same deflated feeling I did when they sat down with this expecting a treasure trove and found it a pretty but quick flick-through instead.

Needless to say this is not going to go down as the authoritative text in the subject. Along with the photo-skimping, the opportunity for a more expansive history of the various lines is also missed, which seems a great waste as there certainly is enough information out there in different places that could be brought together to make something more informative.

Despite all of this, it is nice looking and contains enough to warrant it a place on the bookshelf of any serious collector, but if you're not lucky enough to have it gifted to you, I would suggest looking for it on sale. Half-price sounds about right for something that only gives half the story.

So I'm back. I have a truckload of photos of recent acquisitions and some great customs to share and I'll try to work at them steadily from here on in. As always your comments are always welcome!

Yours in collecting!