The GRAND TOUR of the LIBRARY of GRAPHIC LITERATURE 2017

April 16th, 2017
from the Library of Graphic Literature!!!

It was Easter Sunday and I was looking for something to do this evening and thought it's about time I shot a little tour of the Library for people to peruse! It's taken me over 22 years to collect the Library and at some point in the future, I want to open a real Library of Graphic Literature and/or donate the entire Library to some worthy institution!

I always felt a bit sad when I sold off my childhood collection when I had my own comic book shop, the Daily Planet, in the 1990's. After closing up, I had a handful of Marvel Masterworks and decided to see how much of my old collection I could recreate in hardcover form. Little did I realize how the hardcover market would balloon over the next two decades and how much of my old collection would actually become available in book form. The rest of the collection came from Downtown Comics of St. John's, St. Mark's Comics, Forbidden Planet, Jim Hanley's Universe, Comic Relief, Bud Plant, one from Ian Jarvis, a couple from Sam Johnston and Dennis Osbourne, three books from the Library of American Comics and two from Jim Simon from the collection of his Dad, Joe Simon!

The two oldest books are my "Major Fatal" hardcover, which is the French language edition of "the Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius" and a book I owned as a teen that recently came back to me, "Empire" by Delany and Chaykin! I'm far from a rich man but on average, I buy at least a book or two a week and as I've discovered, it really begins to pile up.

I've moved the Library four times and the last time, I ended up injuring my back after moving most of the collection by hand. I had to cart them down three sets of stairs and up one long set. And it still hurts me to this day. But...it's worth every twinge.

I have used the Library as a resource for my comic art classes, our local comic Jam and Salons and even as a research Library for our little community of comic book artists. My most loyal customer is my friend, IDW artist Paul Tucker and in the following months, I'll be bringing in more artists to keep me company as I work on my own series.

Anyway, that's enough of me shooting my gob off! What do you think? Did you see any books that you have or are on the hunt for? Any suggestions as to books you think I should have in the Library?

[FinComix]

Oh, my God! These comics are simply gorgeous! I sleep and see such shelves at home!

[Syntherus]

MOTHER OF GOD! IT'S THE SACTUARY OF COMICS!

[inthelibraryofgraphicliter]

ATTENTION!!!! I just posted a new GRAND TOUR for 2018 at:

If you like this one, you should see it now. Thanks folks!!!!

[RebeccaAEmrich]

Left drooling.  Wonderful collection.  I can't even begin to say how much seeing this brings back memories and my love for comics. (And graphic novels and books...)

[mauriced]

Wallace it's nice to see a true comic book historian, well done.

[fantasticmatic]

This has to be the best graphic novel collection ever, I haven't seen most of these titles, would love love love to be your neighbour or nephew

[jamesfletcher]

Absolutely incredible! Comicbooks are my life and I like to think I have a good collection (mostly Batman and horror comics.) but what you have? Just staggering. Thank you so much for sharing this on youtube. Long live the ninth-art!

[theclaw]

I want to live in the library of graphic literature...

[aftacomics]

Amazing library of books! A lifetime of collecting indeed!

[vertigofanboy]

That just makes me happy for some reason. It’s not really the reading but the very sight that makes me want to just explore that space and poke and discover all that creativity and artistry. If you ever open to the public, I’ll be there with bells on. Thanks for the overview mate.

[crawdad]

WHO THE EH EE DOUBLE HOCKEYSTICKS WOULD THUMBS DOWN ON THIS RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING GRAPHIC NOVEL COLLECTION!!!!

[glennoctor]

That's a fantastic collection! I'd love to see an updated collection video for 2020. Also would be great to go a bit more in depth about individual books, and some of your favourites. I love watching videos like this to find new books/series to read.

[Xbale]

haven't seen something like that yet; you're the one and only king of collected editions I guess. Still astonished by the crazy amount... Now I'm interested in what your job is...
great video of pure mouthwatering and gorgeousness!

[dacollector]

Nice collection and you have all of the volume of The Boys!

[dom]

WOW!! That is one amazing collection you have there Wallace. Some classic stuff. Is there a 2019 tour of the collection coming up? I'd need a whole new house if my collection was that big. Keep up the great work.

[moviesignsol]

To add a library to a house is to give that house a soul. Cicero

[therealcapitanchile]

i´been trying to do something similar with chilean comicbooks to preserve our comicbook history, but the new formats doesn¨t help because they are too expensive. thanks for this video, i love to dive into the comicbook history. you are my hero, now.

[earlgrey]

"and down there at the bottom just a few artist editions" :) .... this has to be the most overmodest comic collection presentation ever. Wow! I have to show this to my wife next time she complains about my comic hoarding habits.

[DarkTearsx]

Its the best comic book collection I have ever seen. I would love to camp out in that room for months and months reading all them titles. I am building my library slowly also. How many years has it taken you Wallace?

[dreddbustya]

This might seem like a silly question, but, have you read all the comics? I read the Judge Dredd Case Files, and amongst other books, it took me about a year and a half. Nice collection.