Oh, just a comic from an acquired collection that not only has a price tag from my previous place of employment, but has my writing on the sticker. Which means, this copy of The New Titans Annual #9 was originally processed as a new back issue after being taken off the stands by me around 33 years ago.
I’ve been at this a long time, you guys.
The short-lived Anima ongoing series, unexpectedly written by the talented prose genre fiction writer Elizabeth Hand, was one of a very few highlights from this Bloodlines mess. Ennis’ Hitman is probably the only “Bloodlines” character who you can say that about. I dare say the Anima series is truly a hidden gem.
I love that you all raised the price by only $.20 instead of the standard (I thought) quarter. That’s a reason I would shop at one comic store instead of another.
I knew Elizabeth Hand from her fiction, we were both in several Year’s Best Horror by DAW. She was happy to do comics, and sort of lucked out with ANIMA. You are right, great stuff.
Oh yes, I remember seeing your name in many a horror anthology from that time. I own a number of the DAW Year’s Best Horror anthologies; always a great find when I come across one I don’t own (they seem to be quite rare now). It was quite a special time to be involved in the horror genre…the Dell Abyss line, the late-great Karl Edward Wagner editing the Year’s Best Horror…that was when I first started reading horror fiction. Elizabeth Hand was definitely a stand-out talent.
Did you get the chance to know Karl Edward Wagner?
Very much so. I have 11 stories from XIV until it ended in XXII with his death. I was at his funeral.
Look up HORRORSTORY I and II, they had started collecting about four anthologies in one book. You’ll find the books where Gerald Page was the editor.
I’m honestly surprised DC hasn’t put out an omnibus of the Bloodlines crossover. I think they’ve done it for all of their other ones.
>> I’m honestly surprised DC hasn’t put out an omnibus of the Bloodlines crossover. I think they’ve done it for all of their other ones.
Not so! **stares wistfully at my shrine to Armageddon 2001**
Millennium. Invasion. Final Night. Underworld Unleashed. Eclipso. Genesis. Day of Judgment. I’m sure I’m missing several. Very excited about the complete Legends coming out and hope it’s a sign of things to come.
About 25 years ago I was in a Salvation Army and saw a copy of one of the best Intellivision games, “MicroSurgeon.” Basically the same concept as the movie “Fantastic Voyage.” Hey, I said, it’s still wrapped! And with the original sticker from KayBee Toys, dated from when I worked there! We’d handprice games with a red marker over the original retail (about $30). $3 here, and only $7.99 back when I bought it! Too bad I already own it–
Then I threw it down like it was diseased. It was MY handwriting. Sucker had waited a quarter century from that evil job to haunt me again, like a hand reaching from an EC Comics grave.
You can play it online if you care.
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/microsurgeon-eau
Chris V: You have my email up there. Email me (I’ll check spam) and I can explain more about the Year’s Best Horror DAW line. I can tell you about ABE Books and even a Dutch guy named kees buis in the hinterland.
I might have a few duplicates, and the ones you might have trouble finding might very well have to do with the cover artist. In reverse order, Joel Land (22), me, Elizabeth Hand, and the late Billing Relling Jr. (27) were youngest of the bunch. So you can likely find Hand’s early work there.
Mike is also aware of my medical condition, and I will be unloading books in the future and realized I don’t really need duplicates. (He wants nothing to do with my complete run on TRUCKSTOP FLOPPERS, but that is on him.) When you have a chance, send me a note. Even ask about other writers, I’ve been published since 1985, maybe I have an anecdote or two. All the best, Wayne
Bill – “Microsurgeon” is one of those Intellivision games that has fascinated me for decades without ever actually playing it. I’ve since watched YouTube videos, of course. Thanks for the link!
Thanks for your response, Wayne. I will take you up on your offer sometime, for sure. Joel Lane is another of my favourite horror writers, another name who died much too young. It’s sad how many young deaths there were from that talented group of writers.
I’d love to hear some anecdotes about your career and find out more about some of the names I grew up reading (I graduated high school in ‘94) who I never had the chance to meet or exchange correspondence.
I was lucky enough to be able to have had a lengthy exchange through E-mail with Steve Gerber before he died.
Chris: no problem. I have a complete run of YBH, minus #5 though I have both the US and UK edition of#3.
I tell people that I have 278 friends on FB, writers, artists, fans, editors. Out of those 278, over 50 are for dead people. A few are just static, the rest a family member adding info about a new reprint book or something. Or some just adding fireworks on July 4th.
Writers don’t have health insurance, or at least good ones. And no one really thinks of anything when they are “young”. A lot of lung cancer. Until 2019, the age range was 49-64. Then a few in their 70s, but they were writers who wrote for pulp magazines during the 1950s.
I’m in a NIGHTMARES ON ELM STREET anthology. Me and one other guy are the only two still alive. It makes sense, but older guys get lung cancer in their 70s, not it can be their 40s.
But just make my name a place mat. I just sent a copy of a magazine to a woman in Australia because it had an early Clive Barker story in it. I’m in 178 anthologies, so don’t think of my stuff. If you are looking for X or Y and see that they are in Z. Let me know. Also: Google Image search can be your best friend.
All the best to everyone.
“Ennis’ Hitman is probably the only “Bloodlines” character who you can say that about.”
He was the only good one I saw!
“Millennium. Invasion. Final Night. Underworld Unleashed. Eclipso. Genesis. Day of Judgment.”
War of the Gods!
most of these WERE pretty crappy.