Night Owl Cards

Buying cards is generally considered a pleasant experience. But because this is the real world, there are always some hassles that go along with even the happiest of purchases. If you're buying cards online, you may choose from multiple outlets, but sometimes you can't see the cards you buy, sometimes you have to constantly comparison shop so you don't get ripped off, sometimes someone snags the card out from under you, sometimes cards arrive damaged or not at all. If you're buying cards in a store, you must deal with crowds and lines. Sometimes you're dodging shopping carts parked in the card aisle for the specific purpose of deterring you. Sometimes there's this weird 20-something guy there in an army jacket, who -- what is he doing, is he sniffing the cards? -- and you have to pretend to be interested in something else in the store until he goes away. The worst experiences of the best shopping experience that exists are without a doubt in Walmart. I...

Take a look at this card. Nice card, right? Who doesn't love Campy. And old-timey photos. And floating heads. Unfortunately, I have this card already. So, it's destined for the dark, lonely dupes box. Such a wonderful card, banished to an overcrowded, cramped living space without light, food or water. It's crushing. Or how about this card? Sure, it's not much to look at here, but Sportflics are in their element in the real world. This is a lenticular masterpiece of the Tornado at the height of his powers. I already own this, too. It's destined for the same heartbreaking fate as Campy above. And you know how much Sportflics love the light and hate the dark. I can't bear to think about this much longer, the very idea of so many great cards ignored, untouched by human hands or sunlight just because they're dupes. It makes me think I should be doing this: This is gcrl's latest blog project. Yep, he's baaaaaack , with a creepy-th...

I believe I've established that there's nothing new in the card aisle this year that will get me to run to the store specifically to shop for cards. I expect the 2016 card doldrums to last just about the entire year. In more concerning news, I've been fighting writing doldrums for months now. I put on a good front (writing is what I do, you know), but the desire is just not as strong. I still have ideas -- some pretty good ones, too -- but the thought of spending an hour or two to search for the right cards to pull off the posts is inching its way into "do I have to?" territory. This isn't good. I need that incentive I had back in 2009. And the only place I can find that incentive right now is in the latest COMC order. Cards that are wildly interesting to me will always -- at least temporarily -- cure the doldrums. So let's see what can still get me excited that isn't strutting around in a tube top. Like I said: "wildly interes...