Ben Simmons 2016-17 Hoops RC, PSA 10

Here's a card I've had for quite some time but never got around to scanning in and writing up. I picked it up raw from COMC and sent it in to grade through my old job. I was very pleased when it came back a PSA 10. It's just a low-end base rookie but I like the design and simplicity.

I love Ben Simmons' game (despite his current struggles and unwillingness to shoot the ball) so grabbing some rookies of his was always something I wanted to do. I ended up mostly targeting lower-end stuff and his 2016-17 Hoops RC was an obvious choice. I have four or five more of them, ungraded, and they will likely stay that way.

Simmons is one of three number one overall picks born in Australia. Can you name the other two without the assistance of old friend Google?

A Mini COMC Purchase With My Favorite Johnny Bench Card....Back

I emphasize back as the 1969 Bench -- both the Topps and OPC versions -- represent my favorite Bench cardboard. However, the greatest Bench card back resides with the below beaut I recently added to my Johnny Collection via COMC.

1971 OPC! These cards are just fantastic as the yellow back really pops and stands out. '71s in general are great when even just in mid-grade condition, and this card actually presents much better than the VG it is as the surface creases are only visible in-hand. They're hidden so well that the one through his right cheek would appear to not even be there.

$7 and change earned exclusively through COMC challenges was too good a deal.

Next up I decided to do a bit of prospecting on Ben Simmons and picked up a quartet of low-end 2016-17 Hoops RCs. I think Simmons is going to be great and if he becomes a star I can potentially flip a couple of these, maybe even getting them slabbed first. Generally speaking I like guys who possess his all-around offensive skill-set and that 76ers team is loaded with top-end talent.

The final cards for me were the above pair of Kristaps Porzingis RCs. Another guy I enjoy watching and another guy I think is a star or at the least star-bound. They were affordable and the man has a slew of phenomenal nicknames.

I picked up one final card which will be heading to a great blogging friend to complete a semi-long ago trade. I think he'll quite enjoy it.

COMC Order: ALL THE 1966 BATMAN

I placed an order with COMC way, way back during their Black Friday promotion. I'm just super slow in posting, obviously. The cards arrived about two weeks earlier than they estimated and it was my largest order to date with them, from a quantity perspective. I picked up a few cards for a fellow blogger and the lot of mostly 1966 Batman cards you see below.

I knocked off 17 Red Bat Series needs. I am closest on that set so I decided to focus the entire order on getting that as close to completion as possible.

I am disappointed in whomever pulled my cards at COMC headquarters as they clearly did not pay attention to the condition I ordered. I made sure to order cards without creases based on their scans and some of these have creases I would have clearly seen. It's not a set I'm very condition-picky on (that holds true for the Blue and Black Bat Series as well) but for the price they had them at I was not going for anything less than VG-EX. There's really no point in complaining to them though as I doubt they'd do anything about it.

I'm ~57% of the way to finishing the Red and much further behind on the others.

Finally, I wanted to add one more card to my collection and this seemed appropriate after hearing about the passing of Jose Fernandez. It's just a tremendous card as so many newer Stadium Club offerings are. Everything about it just epitomizes who Jose was from everything I've read and heard about him.

Via COMC: Ryan Getzlaf '10-'11 Dominion Base Emerald Parallel #'d 2/5!

Here's a card I was entirely shocked to find on COMC during one of my random searches after I started to use the site to complete challenges and earn copious amounts of store credit. It's a card I desperately needed to find in order to inch closer to completing the Master Set of Ryan Getzlaf's cards from the inaugural release (2010-2011) of Panini's Dominion. Without further adieu, The Captain's Emerald Base Parallel, limited to 5 copies, from my favorite hockey product ever.

To date this card marks the most I've shelled out for something on COMC. Thankfully it was all through credits which helped to soften the blow as I think it may have gone for less through a traditional eBay auction. But again, it was essentially free, just costing me time. So I'm good with checking it off the list and being more than happy with that in and of itself.

That all important Emerald print-run numbering: 2/5!

ANN PERKINS! A Rob Lowe 2013 Press Pass Parks and Recreation Auto!

Here's one of the first cards I ever purchased on COMC. I left that shipment pending for probably over a year and have slowly been posting its lovely contents. I was absolutely thrilled to find this sitting on COMC for the plucking as I needed it for my Parks and Recreation Master Set and I didn't have to spend anything out of pocket to secure it. This was paid for solely through COMC Challenges. I like free.

Ann Perkins! I love Rob Lowe and I especially love his portrayal of Chris Traeger on the show. I don't think any actor ever could have better played the role. This was one of the two big autos in the set, and I define big as being crossover actors who would attract attention from non-fans of the show (the other being Amy Poehler). It's a happy moment to cross this off the needs list.

An Eclectic COMC Order

Here are three more cards from my first ever COMC purchase. The first portion of that purchase can be found here. These three pieces of cardboard are of the higher-end variety although they're not really all that high-end.

I love Heritage autos as you can't beat the combination of a vintage look with an on-card signature. When I stumbled upon this I knew I wanted it. I believe I made an offer on the card rather than buying it outright. Either way, $6.50 worth of COMC credit earned from challenges netted me my latest Bison PC pickup.

Another in the category of "I just can't resist" is the above Ruby Auto -- numbered 09/50 -- out of 2010-11 Dominion of my main man Ryan Getzlaf. I adore the inaugural release of Dominion and anything Getzlaf from the product is always a target. This is my 10th Ruby Parallel Auto of The Captain (20% of the print-run just sounds better).

And now for something entirely different: a beautiful VG 1956 Topps Gray Back Johnny Podres. I don't even recall why I was looking at this card the night I nabbed it for three bucks, but I do like Brooklyn cardboard and Podres is a guy every Dodgers' fan needs in his or her collection. It's one of my three favorite Johnny cards I own, along with his 1957 Topps and 1952 Parkhurst Frostade offerings.

My 1st COMC Purchase: Batman, Bison, Hockey, and Pre-War British Tobacco!

I recently received my first COMC buy in the mail. I had been building up a cache of cards for almost a couple years and did so entirely through credit earned by completing challenges COMC offered after their breakup with Beckett.

BATMAN cardboard! I've discussed my love of these before and I couldn't resist picking up this great shot of a "Cycling Crusader" for a wee bit of COMC credit. The artwork on these cards is just spectacular and then some. This is from the Red Bat A Series released in 1966.

I'm beyond tempted to slowly put together this Red Bat set as it's only 44 cards deep and I now have six cards without putting in much effort.

MORE BATMAN! Here's the "Concrete Conquest" card from the B Series Blue Bat issue, also out of the year that was 1966. It's another 44-card set and although it's my first Blue Bat piece of cardboard I might just have to give it a go as well. Again, the artwork on this bad boy is just amazingly impeccable.

The '66 Black Bat set is a bit tricky at 55 cards but it's doable.

The colorful and puzzled Batman backs.

Despite the extra-large scan this beaut is a mini from 2005 Bowman Heritage and a Bison I somehow had never gotten my hands on. It sat on my Want List forever and I finally decided to change that. I dig everything about it, down to Matty sporting number 44.

I must give a big thanks to shoeboxlegends for making me aware of this beautiful piece of cardboard's existence. Teemu is synonymous with Ducks' history and this is all sorts of amazingly awesome. Gaudy is the best word to describe it and after seeing sbl post I immediately went and added it to this batch of COMC cards.

The back is somehow more reserved despite the color and font.

Rakell! Rakell would be priority 1A for me this offseason if I was Ducks' GM, basically in a tie with Hampus Lindholm. Both are Restricted Free Agents and I only prioritize Ricky because the Ducks' have done a much better job at drafting and developing d-men over the last handful of years. Both need to be signed long-term though and I believe both will be.

I wanted to add Rakell's Young Guns RC for the nice game shot and affordability.

This card has captivated me for years. It hails from the absolutely stunning UD Masterpieces of 2008 and the canvas shot of LT -- who in my humble opinion is the greatest running back of all-time -- is a classic and unique one showcasing his passing ability. Much like the pitchers batting pictures we all love this oddball photo UD chose instantly drew me to the card.

Tomlinson could do it all, excelling not just in carrying the ball but in catching passes from the backfield and split out wide, blocking, and throwing as he was 8 for 12 in his career with 7 TD tosses.

British tobacco cards allow me the opportunity to link to one of my favorite scenes from any TV show ever. That Yorkshire card was also a COMC addition for the aforementioned shoeboxlegends although this time it's a mere coincidence we both added this pre-war tobacco card to our respective carts. I nabbed it way back on January 5th of 2015 for some reason that now eludes me and it waited patiently for me to complete my order.

Yorkshire cakes is just a funny phrase which probably explains why I liked it. That and it was a lonely dollar to purchase. A dollar of store credit earned through challenges. Basically, a what the hell buy.

The rest of this COMC batch of goodies will be written up and scanned in the upcoming weeks.