There's a place...somewhere...where things are different...
...somewhere she's the one throwing punches along side Superman...
...somewhere coats punch people too...
That somewhere is The Superman Family issue 201 from May 1980. It's a magical place!
I bring this up because it helps point out a struggle that's near and dear to my collector's heart: Somewhere, perhaps on Earth-Two, I have amassed a collection of thousands of comics. You see, the guy that looks like me on Earth-Two started collecting earlier than me and his horde of comics grew in every direction. In some ways I envy Earth-Two me, but I know he has a problem.
For example, I recently took a friend of mine up to largest $1 comic bin I've ever seen. It's the same place that I found Action Comics 455, 456, and 483, but now they have even more! We spent about an hour and a half there and I didn't find a single Action Comic I needed for my collection. Thus enters my problem... Hey look at this!
They have all but Action Comics 846! That would almost finish off the story you got on Free Comic Book Day all for just $4! Wait... What's this!
They have Superman 650-653 over here...AND Action Comics 837-839 over here! I only need to find Action Comics 840 and I'd have the whole Superman: Up, Up, and Away! set in mint condition. And just look! Part 1 normally has a price tag of $6! You could probably buy the whole set for $8 and resell it for over $20!
STOP RIGHT THERE! It's easy to get lost in Candyland. Everything looks so good that there's no telling which way you'll wander. Fortunately/unfortunately for me, I rekindled my interest in comics when I was cleaning out my house with my fiancé, now wife. With the responsibilities of a husband looming in my near future I knew that either I had to have a purpose for the comics or I had to let them go. There was no time in my new life for extra clutter.
Ecclesiastes 4:6 (The VOICE) And it is better to have one handful of peace than to have two hands full of hard work and a desire to catch the wind. If you're not into eloquent metaphors the Easy-To-Read Bible says this: But I say it is better to be satisfied with the few things you have than to always be struggling to get more.
With so may $1 comics jumping at me, I forgot my ultimate goal, my defined beginning and end, my satisfaction in simplicity. With that in mind, I announce that I have found the only issue outside my magnum opus...
Hold on! I just spent this whole post saying I should only be acquiring comics specifically consigned to the collection of Julie Schwartz's Bronze Age Action Comics. What gives? Why is Superman 423 allowed? Well, to the best of my knowledge this is the only crossover title in Action Comics 1972-1986. It makes sense to include this in my collection because Part 2 is the final Action Comics issue in my run. So without this Part 1, my grand finale loses it's beginning. So this will be the only comic I purchase outside of my pre-defined set.
...unless there is another crossover issue.
...or my collector's madness sets in again.