The Hunt Begins....

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I once owned all 60 issues of Twilight Zone Magazine, a collection that took me several years to complete. In a moment of either desperate poverty or rampant stupidity (likely both), I sold them off several years back, and have been haunted by their absence ever since. The only apparent solution to this haunting is obvious: I must re-collect them all. Today, the hunt began.

Wait, back up. The hunt actually almost began on Friday. I had placed bids on two different lots on eBay, 37 issues total, which would have put me more than halfway to my goal in one shot. However, I was outbid on both auctions. Unfettered, I immediately called Periodicals Paradise, and was informed that they had a couple dozen issues in stock. I was unable to go yesterday (Saturday) due to numerous family commitments, but today I set aside a couple of hours and made the journey to NE Portland (really not much of a journey, since it's only about 20 minutes away).

Periodicals Paradise had about 30 issues, some duplicates, a few of them really thrashed, but most in pretty decent shape. I bought 9 of them, all in very good condition. I skipped a few good specimens because they had those damned subscription labels on the covers (my goal is to collect all 60 issues without those; I wonder, though, if there's an effective way to remove them without damaging the actual covers, maybe Goo Gone or something. Hmmm....).

Next, I headed over to Cameron's Used Books and Magazines, downtown on SW 3rd. They had about 8 issues, 4 of which were in pretty good shape. Yes, I bought 'em.

So in my first day of hunting, I acquired 13 (out of 60) issues.

Not bad for my first day. However, the rest of hunt will likely be more difficult. TZ Magazine isn't what you might call a common item in the collectible magazine world, and I've already tapped out my local sources (the guy at Cameron's said he almost never sees them anymore). This means I'll be finishing my collection online, through eBay or other used magazine dealers, and it'll likely take me a while, since I'm not in a position to shell out lots of money for this endeavor. I paid $28.00 for 13 issues today (averaging $2.15 per issue), but I'm sure I'll be spending more online (due, if nothing else, to the inevitable shipping costs).

47 issues to go. The hunt continues....