Happy Saturday and welcome to Shelf Porn, our weekly look at a fan's shelves. Today's collection comes from Marc in Hong Kong, who shows us how he uses the limited space he has available to display his stuff.

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And now here's Marc ...

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Hi, my name is Marc. I'm originally from Indonesia but I'm currently working and living in Hong Kong and anyone who has been to Hong Kong will tell you that space is a precious commodity over here as there is hardly any around. The same goes for my apartment. Space is at a premium and so what I've tried to do is make maximum use of whatever space I have available. Of course, that has forced me to keep some of my comics out of sight in storage boxes and so only my favorites are displayed. Luckily, my wife is a comic book fan herself so she doesn't mind the place looking like a nerd shrine. That's pretty cool of her.



This is my main comic shelf. It doesn't display much but I consider these the staples of my collection, what I consider most read-worthy with high re-read value. My long-term favorites are stored here and whenever I get a new comic that makes the cut, this is where I stick it. Of course, if I run out of space then one or more books need to be demoted back to the storage box simply to make space. Notice that my comics and other things I hold dear are located on the upper portions of the shelf since I have a 21-month old daughter who just loves to pull out books within her reach and simply mangle them.



On top I have several hardcovers consisting of art and comic-related books topped of by an imposing Batman bust on a gargoyle and Nightwing jumping over a chimney. I found Nightwing in a second hand toy store and was happy as a clam when I found it at such a good price and in sich good condition. In the front are the Hot Toys Iron Man Mini Cosbaby set which we got at the insistence of my wife.



The top tier is mostly Tolkien stuff. I'm a self-proclaimed Tolkien nut and Tolkien stuff probably makes up the most of my non-comic book items. DVDs, Blu-Rays, novels, and the usual related items. There's also a hardcover Avengers vs. X-Men because I couldn't fit it anywhere else and it fits just nicely in that space right there.



The second tier is my DC shelf. As you can probably guess by now, I'm a big fan of the Bat-family of comic books, most notably Batman and Nightwing. There's also a mythology book there because I love mythology and space was again an issue.



My Marvel shelf. This contains a lot of classic 80s-90s cross-over storylines such as Secret Wars and Infinity Gauntlet. I've really taken a liking to Uncanny X-Force with its realistic yet humorous tone. It has got Deadpool, after all, and Jerome Opeña is one my favorite artists along with Leinil Francis Yu. My favorite Marvel characters are Daredevil and Punisher although there are none of their comics on this shelf, they occupy another shelf which I will get into later on.



Right of the shelf is a stylized Dark Knight print that I found at a Street Market. Framed and at HK$ 90 (around US$ 12), it was a steal.



On the top of the light brown shelf, right next to my main comic shelf, we have my Lord of the Rings and Hobbit art and movie conceptual design books. Since I love to draw, I especially love the sketchbook by Alan Lee behind the Batman statue. Next to Batman is my Gil-Galad statue by Weta Sideshow Collectibles, in front of whom lies three shields representing the civilizations of Rohan, Gondor, and the Elves.



This is my rotational display shelf. Books that are displayed here generally fall under one of two categories: my ultimate favorites or what I am currently reading. This is where I keep all of my Daredevil and Punisher trades, my Jeph Loeb/Tim Sale Batman trades, and perennial favorites Identity Crisis, Kingdom Come, and Marvels. Again, there are some non-comic books thrown in the mix.





There are two mini shelves to the left of my rotational display; the top one houses the good guys from the Eaglemoss Batman Chess set (plus a Superman from the DC Chess set) while the lower one has the bad guys. These sets are incomplete, though. Mr. Freeze has fallen many times due to getting snagged on people passing by and I've had to super glue him together at least twice. The Scarecrow is my second since the first one got smashed beyond repair due to the same reasons as Mr. Freeze. People actually have to literally brush up against the shelf to get around the apartment. That gives you an idea how small this place is.



Near the entrance to my apartment is a series of built-in shelves and cabinets. Iron Man has been relegated to guarding the microwave oven, due to being fragile ane not very well balanced as he is a separate piece from his stand. A significant gust of wind will easily knock him right over so I can't risk putting him on open shelves.



A clear acrylic display case with LED spotlights houses my Eaglemoss DC and Marvel figures. I'm still working on collecting more of these but it is getting increasingly difficult since they are out of production and I do not buy them online. I find that the actual search and hunt to be enjoyable so progress is slow. You may notice that Robin is not holding his staff since it will not fit into his fists. They seem to be slightly out of alignment. I don't have a picture of it, but this thing at night is an absolute beauty with the LEDs on.



Here I have maquettes of animated Wonder Woman and Nightwing. I always seem to find Nightwing figures at a bargain. This one I found at 50% off in Auckland, New Zealand and since I'm a huge Nightwing/Dick Grayson fan, I couldn't resist. Between them is a complete collection of Tintin in a glorious wooden box, found on sale in New York City. On top of the Tintin set is a replica of the One Ring on a chain and the Ring of Barahir that was seen worn by Aragorn in the LotR movies.



I especially love the ring in a case. It gives the ring kind of a museum display vibe.



On top is my main Batman display case. Mostly made up of Batman Black and White statues, there is also a Robin and Nightwing action figure from the Arkham City line of DC Collectibles. Since they were pretty much similar in scale, I think they fit together nicely although, unlike the Black and White statues, they are not in grayscale. Due to lack of material, I simply re-used the boxes from the statues themselves or from other things I've bought to display them in a multi-tiered and interesting way and making full use of the available space. You will see two red LED spotlights in the foreground between the Joker and Batman Beyond. In the dark, with simply these red LEDs switched on, this display looks so bad-ass, shining mostly on the faces of the two Batmans standing at the back casting a bat-cowl silhouette on the backboard while giving the rest of the figures a faint red glow.



Near my ceiling, there are small ledges containing the light fixtures in my living room. These turned out to be a perfect place to display my Funko Pop Heroes. This is my Marvel side.



This is my DC side. One thing I like about the DC Pop Heroes is that they are not bobble heads. Lined up like they are here, it makes for a very tidy display unlike the Marvel bobble heads which causes their heads to be out of alignment. Still, I love them anyway. Every time I see other lines of Funko figures, I have to resist the urge to get them because once I do, I will try to collect the whole line and I simply do not have the space for that.

And that is pretty much it. I really do wish I had more space but I'm at least thankful that I get to display most of what I love. The feeling of hesitation every time I buy a new trade, statue, or knick-knack because I have to figure out where the hell I'm going to put it keeps me in check, though, so that is a good thing. Otherwise my place would be flooded with comic paraphernalia. Hope you enjoyed it.