No debate about it, these are some hot tips.
So, continuing the the look at this Bud Plant “Battips” insert with order suggestions for retailers…but first, let me address this one comment from adrian:
“I wouldn’t mind reading a few entries into Robotech Comics.”
Boy, adrian, I’d sure like to, except I unfortunately don’t have a lot to say. Yes, yes, I know longtime readers have come to expect when I say “I don’t have a lot to say” or “I’ll keep this short,” I’ll then launch into like a 3,000 essay. But honestly, in this case I don’t have much to talk about simply because my interaction with Robotech comics is mostly selling them and replacing back issues in the bins from the back room at the old job.
One thing I remember is that my former boss always said that Robotech comics (at least from the Comico era) seemed to sell better out of those back issue bins than new on the rack. An explanation for this may be that the primary audience for these weren’t necessarily New Comics Day regulars, instead only coming in every few months and catching up on what they missed. To be clear, it’s been too many years and I entered the comics retail biz near the end of these Comico Robotechs, so I can’t recall their sales with that level of granular detail.
However, Robotech’s always had its following, even as Malibu/Eternity picked up the franchise. Back issues of the multiple series sold relatively briskly for us, regardless of the publisher, at least ’til the ’90s comics crash.
Okay, now on to BATTIPS:
Welllllll…they didn’t sell forever, but they do remain classic comics. Interesting seeing these prices points this early on, even with the higher page counts.
A reminder that, no matter how diminished this sort of even has become over the decades, the original Crisis on Infinite Earths was in fact a Big Deal at the time. I can remember walking into the shop that would within just a few years become my place of employment and seeing that huge stack of Crisis #1 on the counter. And confirming with my former boss Ralph…oh yeah it sold well.
Gotta be honest, I totally forgot there even was this Man-Bat reprint. But you bet I bought that Deadman reprint series, collecting together all of the original stories and putting them on nice paper. Now at the time, I was in my mid-teens, so I don’t know if I counted as “an older fan,” but I ate these up. For some reason I was a big Deadman fan then (even before he started popping up in Swamp Thing so this was directly aimed at me.
Yes, this is the beginning of the Englehart run on this series, introducing new characters and concepts still in use even now (lookin’ at you, Kilowog). But this issue is also the debut of Mogo, The Planet What Is Also a Green Lantern (spoiler), in a back-up by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons,a pair soon to go on to do a particular maxi-series of some note.
Some shops at the time weren’t even ordering Sgt. Rock or any war titles, in case you were wondering why these comics are 1) hard to find and 2) expensive now. I actually bought #400, even though I wasn’t a big war comics guy. Plus, this is a nice eye-grabbing cover:
Yes, cut back on this issue featuring this new guy Todd…MacFarnee? Something like that. Anyway, we’ll never hear about him again.”
(Just pokin’ fun…who was to know, right?)
Good to see textual evidence from the time that word on the street was translating to Big Sales on the big green plant guy’s comic book. It certainly came a long way from being on the verge of cancellation just a couple of years or so prior.
Now, I read and enjoyed Sun Devils, but I feel like (aside from a story or two in some Superman comics several years ago) it’s pretty much forgotten. Surely with the periodic Dan Jurgens-mania that goes around, some attempt at reprinting this would have been made, but alas, it remains a bargain bin oddity. It does contain an early mainstream comics example of a gay couple, though (surprise) one of the pair dies in a real Women-in-Refrigerators moment. I’m sure it was just intended a Capital-D Drama, but we’re more aware of this sort of thing now, and it hasn’t aged well.
Will wrap up next time with a look at the Marvel tips!
Also a big fan of those deluxe 80’s reprint books like Deadman and GL/GA. I believe Marvel published a few as well – Starlin’s Warlock comes to mind along with a few one shots like the Claremont/Byrne color Star-Lord and the Thomas/BWS color Conan Red Nails. Great way to catch up on some of the classics and, eventually, a gateway to collecting the original works at cons.
That Sgt. Rock cover is kinda hard to interpret, at least for me it was. He looks absolutely fantastic, but it took me a few seconds to make sense of the big stone “400”. Doesn’t help that he’s standing in front of the “4”, the zeroes are a different size than the four, the “th” is all obscured and cut off and the “e” is missing from the word “issue”.
Just wanted to say I’m still loving some DEADMAN.
Recent appearances in Brave & The Bold and Nighwing, have been enjoyable, and I liked the Knight Terrors event too – like that was the first “event” I found pleasure in reading in more years than I can remember.
I’ve been enjoying the Deadman/Nightwing connection too, Brian. It seems to me their teaming is a recent development. I’m trying to remember the first time thier common circus background was brought up, and I’m feeling like it was sometime around Flashpoint? I think there was a teamup in the temporary Flashpoint universe, and it felt really novel to me then. I wonder how far back the relationship goes, and if there are any pre-crisis antecedents.
Is ‘Kilowog’ the worst character name in comics? (Especially from a British perspective.) I suppose the infamous manga character ‘Rapeman’ is even worse.
hey, thanks for taking the suggestion seriously, even if you’ve got no first hand experience to work from. i guess i really should have done my own deep dive into it’s history for the podcast i had all those years. that would have been smart of me lol
An anecdote meaningless to anyone but me… this period reflects the ending of my dad’s comic collecting days and very nearly the end of mine. The comic store decided to randomly close his account so he walked away from the hobby. It took me almost a year to get a job and have enough money to start my own collection… and by then Crisis was over and everything had changed.
It took me a very long time to fill all the gaps in between.
Hey Bob –
I believe it was in Nightwing Vol.2 #103 (2005) that the Deadman/Dick Grayson connection was first brought up – I need to reread the comic but it’s suggested the Nightwing costume was actually based on Deadmans since they were both circus acrobats.
It’s a retcon I like.
The Injustice comic series had Nightwing becoming a new Deadman.
“in this case I don’t have much to talk about simply because my interaction with Robotech comics is mostly selling them and replacing back issues in the bins from the back room at the old job.”
My experience is even less than that! Though I did have a short run of the Novels, for some reason.
“Sgt. Rock #400”.
Cool!
“Marvel published a few as well – Starlin’s Warlock… Claremont/Byrne color Star-Lord and the Thomas/BWS color Conan Red Nails”.
There was also Dr. Strange, Moon Knight (he was HOT for awhile), Micronauts, Electra Saga, Spidey/Daredevil, Nick Fury (yes, the Steranko stuff), and a few others. Put “Special Edition” if you do an ebay (or wherever) search for them. Back Issue had an entire issue dedicated to them, so i put a bunch on my want list.
Thanks, Brian & Matt — I’ll look for those!
Oh yeah, Dick as Robin did spend some time at Deadmans old circus and met his brother Cleveland Brand over 3 issues of Batman in 1981 too – I kinda forgot about these even though I wrote them up a while back –
https://deadmanissuebyissue.tumblr.com/post/7390531740/batman-337-339-jul-sept-81
@Snark Shark
Speaking of Steranko, I wish that Marvel would release facsimile editions of all of the X-Men issues for which Steranko either drew the covers or the interiors–and all the Neal Adams issues as well, and night as throw in the first Sunfire appearance issue that Don Heck drew in a quasi-Neal Adams style.
*might as well …