I swear this isn’t just a commercial for my eBay store, but if you happened to go there and buy something, I would not disapprove of your selfless behavior.
So here’s the thing: I’m still planning on an End of Civilization post, but I just haven’t had the time to start putting it together yet. I’ve barely even cracked open the new Previews…I have no idea if that deluxe hardcover edition of Swamp Thing Meets Jesus is finally announced, or if the last issues of the Sonic Distruptors mini-series have finally been solicited. Could be in there, I have no idea.
But anyway…usually when I’m having a lunch break at work, I’ll buzz through the Previews and pick out some likely suspects for my EoC post, and then write up the “humorous” “gags” at home. Alas, this month my lunch breaks have been less leisurely and more “cram this food down my throat so I can get back to processing these huge collections I have to process” and “oh Lordy I gotta get all these things on eBay” and…well, you know, actual work. So, no Previews perusal has occurred as of yet. But soon…soooooooon. Hopefully before the DC Universe streaming service starts up next weekend and I suddenly disappar into binge-watching the Constantine series at long last.
Soooooo…let’s shoot for next Monday for the new End of Civilization. Agreed? Agreed! (I totally spoke for you there, I hope you don’t mind.)
In the meantime, let me tell you about some of the stuff I’ve been working on and processing (and may eventually get to my eBay store, if it’s not there already, and if it’s ite> already sold). Basically, former boss Ralph (I’m trying not to call him “old boss Ralph,” y’know) broght me more boxes of promotional funnybook items from the Good Ol’ Days, back when there was only one (or two) X-Men series, when many titles still had triple-digit numbering, when the only “-gate” we had to worry about had “Water” in front of it. I’ve been digging though them, and within I found:
Malibu Sun #13 from 1992:
…featuring a preview of Spawn #1, back when Image and Malibu Comics were briefly iinked together. As others have commented when I posted a pic of this on the Twitters…”that’s some logo.” Anyway, there are some black and white pin-ups by McFarlane inside, and a short (very short, since it had barely existed at this point) history of Image Comics and where it came from and why, and boy howdy do these things go for a pretty penny on the eBay.
Valiant Comics loved its chromium, as evidenced by this wee little “Ninjak on Sale” display piece from 1994 (I presume):
Measures about 5 by 8 inches, and is basically just a miniature version of the cover to the first ossie drawm by future Marvel head honcho Joe Quesada.
“Hey, where’s the new issue of Thor Corps?” “Why, right below the Thor Corps ‘New Arrivals’ sign, of course!”
Dated 1992. Odd choice to represent Marvel’s publishing line for All Time on a sign that’d be posted about the new comics and left there ’til it sunfaded into nothingness, but who am I to judge?
Speaking of odd choices, please enjoy this unopened pack of First Comics stickers from 1983:
And a closer look at said stickers:
Now, I read and enjoyed Mars as it was coming out, but even I’m like “…what would I do with a bunch of Mars cover stickers?” But stickers featuring First Comics mascot Teddy Q — well, those have no end of uses!
My favorite piece so far is the one that’s in the worst condition (a lot of dings and creases, but somehow never actually displayed!)…this promo poster for the second issue of the original magazine series of Nexus, from 1982:
Never did buy all those original mag-sized Nexus issues…got the third one for the flexidisc, but was otherwise satisfied with the trade collection First released years later. Also, that’s Paul Gulacy art on that nice-lookin’ cover, which I misidentified as “Steve Rude” in my rush to get this thing listed. Ah, well…fixed now.
You know, every time I’m reminded of Nexus, it makes me want to go back and reread all the comics. Man, I don’t have time for that…I’m behind on the new comics as it is. Anyway, Nexus is a good comic, is what I’m trying to say.
Next time…more stuff!
One of the lines that was folded into Malibu Comics was Eternity Comics. What does it say about me that I have about ten times as much from Eternity as Image?
Mind, when it comes to original material, my collections of both lines is about even. What I mostly bought from Eternity was their reprint collections. Especially the detective series: Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, the Saint, etc. The paper was the cheapest sort of newsprint, the reproduction was barely above Xerox level, but no one else was doing anything like this, so they won my loyalty.
Oh, and THE UNCENSORED MOUSE. This was a reprint of the earliest “Mickey Mouse” newspaper strips, which apparently had fallen in the public domain. Eternity’s promotion of this leaned hard on the idea that the strips were somehow naughty–the covers were solid black, apart from blurbs that contained such words as “uncensored” and “uncut,” and the comics were bagged, so that children could not peak at them. This was an approach guaranteed to provoke Disney’s ire, which I presume is why the series was canceled after only two issues (though at least two more had been solicited). In case you are wondering: the “naughty” part was a sequence in which Mickey’s plane crashes in the jungle, and he encounters natives who are racist caricatures.
I love promotional ephemera for comic books.
I remember Eternity fondly as well for their comic strip reprints, but there was also Pioneer Comics at the time https://www.comics.org/publisher/619/ that published what I remember as reformatted strip reprints on poor quality paper. Blackthorne also had some reprints – with many, many issues of Shel Dorf’s Dick Tracy reprints among others – https://www.comics.org/publisher/485/
Dragon Lady Press – https://www.comics.org/publisher/513/ did magazine size reprints – not the best paper, but generous amounts of reprints
There was also always Pacific Comics Club reprints –
https://www.comics.org/publisher/497/ and Tony Raiolo – https://www.comics.org/publisher/6535/ for what I recall as slightly better quality reprints. Not to mention Flying Buttress