I’ll probably be talking about stuff from this collection for quite a while.
So over the weekend, we acquired several long boxes’ worth of comic books from someone who himself had acquired them several years ago from a comic book store that was going out of business.
Most of the “biggies” were gone…no Superman, Batman, X-Men, or Spider-Man. In fact, most of the collection was nothing to get too excited about. Lots of black ‘n’ white boom titles, including Hamster Vice and a pile of Unicorn Kings…that sort of thing. Alas, no Shadow of the Groundhog, one of the Worst Comic Books Ever, and still eluding my grasp.
There was one black and white comic I was all ready to scan and feature on the site, but Mister Kitty beat me to it. Really, New York City Outlaws #3 is fantastic, though Comrade Kitty doesn’t mention the great ads, like the back cover ad for heavy metal monster Thor (though he does note Thor’s presence in a story in the comic itself), and an interior ad for the metal band called…er, Snatch. Ask for them by name.
There were plenty of ’80s indie color books as well…lots of E-Man, which is a pretty good comic, actually, but not exactly in demand nowadays. Plus, there were several instances of what looked like, at first glance, good runs of titles like Warlord, but were in fact just seven or eight different issues, with multiple copies of each. Ah, well.
Now, I know this collection is sounding like a big ol’ “why’d you bother” type thing. But, this fella what was selling the collection wanted to get rid of the whole thing at once, and, as it turned out, there was enough stuff in the collection to make it worthwhile. Sure, a big chunk of it is destined for the bargain boxes, but that stuff we didn’t pay very much at all for. However, we paid good money for what we could use, and that was the stacks of ’70s romance books, and the ’70s and ’80s DC war books, and the Charlton Bullseyes and the huge pile of Tales of the Unexpected and those couple issues of Kong and Rima the Jungle Girl. Heck, we even needed some of those E-Mans to fill some holes in our stock. And that little stack of the color Sam & Max book from Comico should do quite nicely at the shop as well.
Some nice finds included some of the more popular Marvel Star comics, like Ewoks and Droids and the elusive Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. Sure, laugh if you want…point and jeer if you must, but people go crazy for these. Only a couple different issues of each, but multiple copies of ’em, and that’s good enough for me. There were some Smurfs, too, but I think I have enough of those at the moment.
The only real “oh, yeah, this was a shop from the early ’90s” moment I had was pulling out a couple of “ashcans.” Originally, ashcans in the comics biz were cheap copies of comics produced solely to secure copyrights on characters or titles or logos…that sort of thing. Basically, it was an in-house production, not intended for sale or distribution. However, in the ’90s, “ashcans” became yet another “collectible” in a booming market that demanded more rare, hot items, and suddenly we had no end of “ashcan” comics, mass produced and sold through comic shops, or given away as promotional items (sometimes packaged with magazines such as Wizard or Hero). A manufacturer of comic supplies (it may have been Ultra Pro) even began producing protective sleeves sized specifically for the ashcan format.
Usually, when I come across ashcans in collections, they’re the Star Trek Deep Space Nine one, or the Wetworks one, which I think both came from Hero…I just kinda groan and toss them aside. They’re about as common as dirt, or Deathmate. But when I pull one of these out of a box:
…hey, now we’re talkin’. Signed by Rob Liefeld his own self…I’m touching something Rob Liefeld once touched. I…I think I’m developing super powers by its very proximity. Head…shrinking…. Crosshatching…appearing across my body…. Anatomy…becoming more improbable….
Er, anyway. That was my weekend. Also, it was ungodly hot. How’re you doin’?
