collecting

Especially Punisher Armory.

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 14 Comments

Loureedrichards stretches in to street hassle me with

“The post on war comics and the reaction to it was interesting. Several people mentioned not being interested in war comics when they were younger, but they now have a greater affinity for them. I felt much the same way and now find I am as interested in war, horror, romance, and funny animal comics as I am in superhero comics. That may partly be due to the histories of those genres and many of the creators not being covered quite as extensively.

“Is there much demand for any of those genres outside of the EC titles (obviously) and something like early romance comics by Simon and Kirby? Is there a large Fox and Crow or Jerry Lewis fandom that I’m not hip to? If so, could you hip me to them so I’m not stuck out here in squaresville daddy-o?”

Look, I’m tuned in to your scene, Kookie, and it’s the absolute end! Honestly, when it comes to the war comics, or really any genre outside of superheroes, it may just be that they were overlooked when you were at the stands picking out your regular faves. The war books may have looked more “mature” or “serious” to you at a young age, and thus didn’t appeal. Which isn’t to say there weren’t some seven-year-olds out there desperately waiting each new issue of G.I. Combat, because obviously there had to be some, or the series wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did.

It may be a self-fulfilling prophecy from the publishers, too…”our war books don’t sell as well as the superhero books, so we’ll focus our efforts on the superhero books, and hey our war book sales have dropped further still, how’d that happen, better not waste effort pushing those.”

Another aspect is availability. Comic shops carrying back issues (by which I mean the good ones, possibly even mine) can expose you to a wider variety of books outside your initial experience. As you get a little older, a little more interested in reading something other than the same ol’ same ol’, and as you maybe hopefully have a little more disposable income (a tricky assumption at this current moment), you might peruse the stacks and come away with material you’d skipped before.

And when you’re older, you might just have more of an appreciation (sincere or ironic) for the craft of the books. Maybe that war book or horror comic looked “weird” to you as a kid, but looks fascinating to you now. I’ll tell you, not long after I started working at my previous place of employment, I’d be processing stacks of old war books, and I learned quickly that some, especially Sgt. Rock, had perfected the Intriguing Cover™. Each one set up a situation that was so mind-bogglingly compelling that you had to look inside and see what was going on. It was the ol’ “things that always work on covers” list (usually attributed to Carmine Infantino, but apparently actually from former DC honcho Irwin Donenfeld) but turned up to eleven. Or fifteen.


I mean, what the hell, dude.

Like I said above, this isn’t everyone‘s story. Some people read a lot of comics that weren’t superheroes as a kid, and just never made the move over. Or some, like me, were reading a lot of Disney and other kids comics in the ’70s, got roped into Star Wars comics in ’77, was reading a lot of Mad Magazine during this period, and occasionally read superhero comics as well. So, I was getting a good mix of stuff, but it helped that there was a good mix of stuff on the stands for me to get. As superheroes pushed other genres off the rack, the choices became increasingly limited.

Oh, and I suppose one more thing that helps people rediscover old comics they missed out on before: the internet. I hear that’s a big thing nowadays.

But anyway, yes, there is currently an enormous market for non-superhero comics of an older vintage. If I suddenly got a crate full of Golden Age romance comics, they’d be gone within a week. And that’s just from walk-ins. I’ve got people I can call who would rush right in and buy ’em by the armload. It’s no problem. And those war books I got recently…they’re selling nearly as soon as I price them, even in the condition they’re in.

“Do comic collections ever come in with superhero AND romance comics?”

Sure, all the time, if the collections are of a certain age. Granted, it’s usually 1% romance comics, 99% superheroes/other, but it’s rare when, despite my wishful thinking in the previous paragraph, that I get in a collection that’s nothing but romance. Unless you count Archie. Or Punisher, that’s kind of a romance comic if you really think about it.

“Unrelated, but are there any comics you would not sell due to ethical concerns about the content or the creators? Nothing springs to mind right off, but you have much vaster knowledge.”

The last time this was really an issue was the whole Orson Scott Card thing, which I wrote about here (warning: linkrot). And there are creators who have been involved in scandal and bad behavior which disinclines me from supporting future endeavors.

But the one line I am not crossing is carrying any Harry Potter items. It’s not likely there’ll ever be a Harry Potter comic (JKR probably thinks that’s beneath her), so it’s obviously easy to boycott that. I do, however, get inundated with offers for HP junk from my various toy/merchandise wholesalers, and man, No Huey, No News, No Thanks. I like my trans friends too much to stab ’em in the back like that.

“Just saw a video of someone being ripped off by a counterfeit Hulk #181. Obviously with your experience you could spot a fake a mile away, but I’m curious if anyone has ever tried to pull a fast one on you?”

Not that I’ve noticed. Boy, I hope none of that giant pile of Man of Steel (1986) #2 I have in the back are fakes. But, boy, with home tech advancing to the point where you can assemble a reasonable facsimile of a Hulk #181 to foist off on people? That’s a new worry unlocked.

One example I can think of was at the old shop, where we once acquired a ’60s Spider-Man toy still in the box, but that box was newly printed and we somehow missed that. I don’t believe this was nefariousness on the part of the seller, she was likely oblivious to its nature. (And I’m not trying to be mean, here…this particular person was likely not capable of either making this box or spotting it was fake. And we didn’t spot it either, so there you go.)

And I know one of our old customers got taken by some fake Jack Kirby “original” art, poor guy.

We did buy a counterfeit Cerebus #1 at the old shop once, but we knew it was a counterfeit, which is now sort of a collectible in and of itself. We bought it at the same time as a real #1, and they both sold to the same person. (Huh, I wonder if Cecil still owns those? Boy, I’d like to have ’em myself.)

“Like I said, forgive me if you’ve covered these topics before.”

Friend, you’re talking to a person who has a wildly extensive “Death of Superman” category, I ain’t afraid of repeat topics.

The legend returns.

filed under Categories collecting 14 Comments

So one of the things about providing content to this site is that it is often sourced from material at my store, rather than comics in my own personal collection. I’ll be processing comics, something will catch my eye, and the next thing you know a post like this shows up.

Before I had my own shop, when I was the manager at the previous place of employment, I often found inspiration in the many comics I’d process and handle there as well. And, occasionally, I’d take advantage of the store scanner to copy an image or fourteen and email them to myself for incorporation into Progressive Ruin.

One of the comics at the old shop, from which I had purloined some digital pics, has long since become an intrinsic part of this site’s DNA. I did not keep the comic, only scanned images from it and put it back in the stacks, and it was sold long ago to unremembered parties. Did they appreciate it as much as I had? As my readers had? It’s hard to say.

Thus, that comic had long since departed from my life, while my scans and posts remained. Notably, readers like YOU would still occasionally bring it up here on the site and on social media…why, it turned up in the comments just yesterday.

I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before this, but I decided the other week that I should in fact own a copy of this monumental comic, one that has inextricably embedded itself into this site’s history.

Which is how, one eBay purchase later, I am now the owner of Battle Stories #5, published in 1952:


…containing the most important comics page of all time:


…the one that holds the “THEN…KOREA” panel.

I’ve since re-scanned said panel at a nigh-Lichtenstein-esque size and resolution for future use, as seen in this fan-favorite detail:


Now that it’s part of the actual Vast Mikester Comics Archive forever and all time (or at least the next couple of decades or so), maybe that will encourage me to dip into the “THEN…KOREA” well a little more often than I had. Like so:


Star surfing, across the universe.

filed under Categories collecting, marvel, pal plugging, silver surfer, star trek 18 Comments

So I got something in a collection the other day that I’ve never seen before. Well, I mean, I’ve seen the comic, of course, in its much more common “softcover book” variety. But for the first time ever, I’ve seen it in hardcover form:


It’s the 1978 Silver Surfer original graphic novel by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, along with Joe Sinnott, John Constanza, Glynis Wein, and cover artist Carl Norem, retelling an alternate version of the character’s origins without the involvement of the Fantastic Four. This was one of a handful of releases from Fireside Books/Simon and Schuster that included Origins of Marvel Comics.

Way back when, at onne of the local bargain stores, there were stacks of the softcover available at next-to-nothing prices. (Also available for deep discounts at the same store: DC’s Famous First Edition treasuries in piles and piles.) I never bought one then, which I of course regret, but not as much as I regret not buying all of them to now sell in my comic shop.

It’s probably because of that long-ago stock dump that I keep seeing copies of the softcover version turn up in collections. As I said above, however, this is the first time the hardcover edition has made its way into my funnybook-worn hands. The dust jacket has seen better days, but otherwise the book looks good.

Here’s the back cover:


The inner flaps of the dust jacket:


Unfortunately, there’s no design on the book’s covers themselves:


…but at least you get some inlaid silver lettering on the spine:


It’s a neat book, and believe it or not, for all the times I’ve come across it at both of the shops I’ve worked at, either in the original softcover or via Marvel’s later reprintings, I’ve never read it. I am seriously considering keeping this for myself. I know, I know, how am I going to make any money and stay in business if I keep all the cool stuff for myself (like all the Popeye comics and fanzines that come my way), but this is a neat time and I’m really tempted. I mean, I’ll at least give it a read before putting it out for sale.

• • •

My ol’ Pal of the Internet Kevin Church has written a nice piece in celebration of Star Trek‘s 60th anniversary, and I heartily recommend that you go read it.

I’m a little jealous of Kevin in that he remembers exactly when, and with which episode, he became a fan. I was one of those folks who picked up on Trek when it was in syndication in the early ’70s, that period when a lot of new fans discovered the series. I remember watching it on TV, both the original series and that cartoon, I had several of the toys (the Mego figures, the bridge set, even communicators and the tricorder), but I was perhaps too young to remember which episode to which I was first exposed.

And then Star Wars hit in 1977, and that began to occupy a large segment of my forming fandom brain…but I never forgot Star Trek, which has continued to this very day, finally achieving perfection with the greatest Trek series of all time:


“Search your feelings, you know it to be true,” as someone from a famous sci-fi franchise once said. I think it was Captain Janeway.

Okay, fine, my hands are actually tender and pink-skinned, like a baby’s.

filed under Categories collecting, from the vast Mikester comic archives 6 Comments

So I was happy to discover the other day that I, in fact, did not give up all my copies of Dark Horse Presents to the store when I opened back in 2014, but kept them in what remains of the Vast Mikester Comic Archives. In particular, I was happy because I had a sudden urge to reread the short Concrete stories that appeared therein, inspired by the release of the new series.

Amongst my DHP collection was issue #24 from 1988, notable for containing an early Aliens story:


Now, I had rid myself of all my Dark Horse Aliens comics via the shop, so I figured “might as well get rid of this one, too.” I seemed to remember it usually selling for a good price, especially if it were in nice shape (as my copy was, natch), and thus put it aside for the “destined for the shop” pile.

However, a quick perusal of the price guide startled me with this notation:


Okay, wait, hold on, I’m still a fan of Michael T. Gilbert’s Mr. Monster, and as such I now can’t sell this comic, because Sluggo forbid that I have a hole in my collection.

I decided to take a quick peek inside, handling this precious artifact with my weathered and weary hands, and…no Mr. Monster. Not a bit of him. Not even an ad. Not even hiding behind a Xenomorph. This comic was entirely befeft of Mr. Monster.

Searching online, I saw several references to this comic in sales listings far and wide, all proclaiming that, along with this Aliens story, Mr. Monster also appeared within.

I looked again inside the comic; Mr. Monster had not sneakily made his way into the pages in the interim, and the comic remained free of his presence. I even double-checked the Grand Comics Database listing, which confirms said lack of character. Er, that character.

However, in my investigations, I did notice something interesting. In #24 of the third series of Dark Horse Presents, published in 2016, Mr. Monster does appear. The source of the confusion, perhaps? If so, it’s lightly reassuring if somewhat dismaying to know even Overstreet has trouble keeping all these straight.

Therefore, let it be shouted to the hilltops: despite what Overstreet says, despite what various online sellers say, Dark Horse Presents #24 (1988) does not have any any Mr. Monster. So let it be written, so let it be done.

And that’s how my copy of Dark Horse Presents #24, in NM condition, has ended up in my shop, ready for sale:


Before you ask…yes, I will feel a slight twinge when it eventually sells. I bought that comic new off the stand and I’ve had it in my possession for nearly the same length of time I’ve been in the comics retail biz. Hopefully it goes to someone who will appreciate it.

Just don’t ask me how that new Ultimate comic is selling.

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 15 Comments

Wayne queries

“[Another store] will keep as many back issues as they can, I can’t travel anymore, but I know this from THE WALKING DEAD and a few others back in the day.

“But keeping copies of ABSOLUTE BATMAN #1 in its tenth printing mean anything at all to a collector? Though I’d bet you only go back to maybe #15 now.

“Or is it that you’ll still get new customers.Buying the trade and then finding more recent issues on the racks for them to buy means you continue to get more people buying the book and possible other Absolute books?”

Believe it or not, Wayne, whatever issues in whatever current printings I can get of any of DC’s Absolute line go on the new comics rack. As of right now, especially after the restock I received earlier in the week, I have nearly every issue of Absolute Batman on the shelf, from the eleventh printing of #1 all the way to the most recent issue, the “hideously mangled” #20, plus the Ark-M special the and the annual. Note that’s not every issue, as I’m currently out of one of the issues in the teens, can’t remember which at the moment, but as soon as it’s reprinted, I’ll have it in!

And it’s a good sales tool to have ’em all on the shelf like that, as it attracts folks who have heard of these comics but don’t want to dig deep into their pocketbooks to splurge for the trade paperbacks. They sample a first issue, maybe a second, then come roarin’ back for all the rest. Having them all up and on display makes for an impressive sight, and certainly encourages sales from the curious.

Mostly, this is working for the main three, the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman titles, which probably isn’t a surprise, and those seem to be the titles that get the most reprintings. Absolute Martian Manhunter is probably the next in demand, followed by the relatively low (but still present) demand for Absolute Green Lantern and Absolute Flash. (And for anyone wondering, the newly-released first issue of Absolute Green Arrow is selling quite well for me, thank you.)

I’ve said multiple times I’ve never back issued any of the Absolute line, but strictly speaking, that’s not true. I did have a copy of Absolute Batman #1, first printing, that had a color-breaking corner fold on the front cover that I’d set aside and completely forgotten about until well after the book was determined by the comics-noscenti to be a Hot Item, when I found it again. Priced it up (probably well too cheaply in retrospect), put it in the New Arrivals back issue bins, and watched it get purchased and carried away by a grateful customer, holding it aloft upon a silken pillow.

Are these taking up space on my new comics rack? Well, yes. Even with the Gigant-o-Rack that I have taking up an enormous amout of wallspace in my store, the Absolute comics consume a lot of real estate. However, in terms of space used vs. dollars made, it’s well worth it. And given this is one of the few Big Hits the American direct comics market has, actually bringing in new readers excited about picking up monthly single issues, I happily will devote the space to them.

Is this something I can keep up forever? Or is this something DC Comics can keep up forever, maintaining the backlist of single issues of the Absolute books in print in perpetuity? Honestly, I don’t know which will give first…my shelf space, DC’s continuing willingness to go back to press, or trees. Right now it is in DC’s best interest to keep printing these comics so long as there’s this sort of demand, and it’s in my best interest to keep them displayed and available, so long as they’re getting new customers and making money.

Realistically, I can’t keep ’em all on display forever. I’m already overlapping the issues on the shelves so that I can still make room for other new comics. Or else I just devote the entire rack to nothing but Absolute books, and put all the other releases in a short box by the register witih a sign that reads “MISC. NEW COMICS.” But I haven’t quite hit that day yet.

Now Wayne, funny you mention the “does a tenth printing of Absolute Batman #1 mean anything to a collector” thing, as I was just talking about that with a customer the other day. I mean, technically, the later printings do generally have smaller print runs than the first printings. Thus, they are in shorter supply, which could mean, I guess, higher prices should demand arise. Now, it’s not likely now that the printings are in the double digits, but who knows?

This does happen in the real world on occasion. I forget which issue exactly, but there’s like a second or third print of an issue of Ms. Marvel that goes for dumb money, and those later printings of The Killing Joke with the differently colored embossed logos tend to be pricey since they’re not always easy to find. I don’t remember the last time I saw the blue-embossed eight printing, for example. And I haven’t really checked, but I’m sure the earlier reprintings of some of the Absolute books, especially the Batman one, are gaining some pricing traction.

Those are the exceptions rather than the rule, as decades of comics collecting and pricing have told folks that “reprints aren’t as expensive as first prints.” So no, that tenth, or even eleventh, printing of Absolute Batman #1 is unlikely (but not outside the realm of possibility) to get collector demand and go for premium prices. Its real value is in getting new readers to try out comics.

Unless everyone’s speculating on the reprints.

filed under Categories batman, collecting, publishing, retailing 3 Comments

Thanks, pals, for being patient as my blogging batteries recharge. I plan to have another “My Fantastic Four-ay” post this week, and should have another installment of the Final ’90s Countdown coming along in short order.

In the meantime, let me address a question that came up in the last post, about the supposedly-damaged Absolute Batman #20s, from D:

“So are people buying 2 copies of AbBat every month, one to read & one to slab at 9.8 to flip? Or is no one actually reading the book at all and just having their issues encased?”

I’m reminded of that one creator, during the height of the pandemic-inspired comic speculation frenzy where every first appearance of anything was snapped up in desparation for making that big eBay killing, who was so excited at the huge jump in demand for their comic. “Wow! Sales are through the roof! Thanks everyone for your support!” and I just didn’t have the heart to tell ’em that this was only a speculation-fueled bump, that sales were going to drop right back down to where they were previously. And the book ended shortly thereafter (it was a Marvel book, so “ending shortly thereafter” is pretty much a given, what with current publishing stragegies).

I think the point I’m trying to make here is that if Absolute Batman was purely a title supported by speculators, I don’t think it would have lasted this long and at its current high sales volume. That said, speculation is part of the formula here, as most issues have something to generate that sort of interest (1st Absolute Catwoman! 1st Absolute Bane! 1st Absolute Robin(s)!), so that sort of investment behavior is certainly subsidizing the sales.

In general I order around the same numbers for each new issue of Absolute Batman, and I can tell the difference between the issues that have something Hot and Investable in them and those that do not, given on how many I have left over after the initial sales week. However, the amount of demand from people who seem to be actually interested in reading the comic is enough that even if the issue has extra remaining copies, they will continue to sell through the following weeks.

Here’s the thing…I haven’t back-issued any Absolute Batman. (Or any of the Absolute books, for that matter.) I keep every available issue up on the rack and for sale. DC seems intent on keeping the periodicals in print, even if they’ve been reprinted in hardcovers/trade paperbacks, which is unusual. But DC seems to recognize the strong continuing sales of the individual comics and their appeal to new readers, and keeping them in print is money in the bank for themselves and the retailers. I just placed a reorder for more reprints of the entire run, and expect to sell through those again. We’re up to an 11th printing on #1, if you can believe it.

I’m not a mind-reader, so I can’t say for certain that the majority of sales for Absolute Batman is by readers, and not by people immediately shipping them off to CGC to be slabbed and graded. But the general vibe that I’m getting is that they are being bought by readers, and said readers find the comics exciting and compelling. Nearly all my sales in the shop are single copies to customers. Only occasionally do I have someone picking up two or three copies for themselves.

Now, this is just my store. Maybe other stores that are more CGC-oriented than mine (which ain’t hard to achieve) are seeing people buy Absolute Batman by the handful for immediate flipping. I can’t deny that speculation isn’t rampant with this comic, because otherwise this recent controversy over the “damaged” copies of #20 wouldn’t have happened if a significant number of people weren’t upset about not being able to get their coveted “9.8s.” But my sense is that, given the continuing reprinting of the individual issues, given the sales patterns I see at the store, given the general buzz around the actual contents of the stories, this book is getting more reader-driven demand than speculator-driven.

I hope Overstreet lists them as “no copies better than VF exist.”

filed under Categories collecting, employee aaron, publishing 7 Comments

So the big news this week is that several new comics showed up “damaged” to retailers this week…and to be honest, this damage wasn’t immediately obvious to me, so I figured I lucked out and didn’t get any of those copies. However, a customer did later point out a couple of minor spine creases on Absolute Batman #20, which apparently affected the entire print run (along with Absolute Martian Manhunter #11 and Barbara Gordon: Breakout #1).

I mean, honestly, the “damage” I’ve seen so far on these books appear to be well within the acceptability of new sales. I just looked at my own copy of Absolute Batman #20 and there is one single little spine break…I’ve seen a lot worse on new comics I’ve received that didn’t get all this hubbub. I also examined my personal copy of the new Absolute Martian Manhunter and I don’t see anything I’d call damage.

The instigation for this is, of course, the people who want to get those “9.8” returns on the Absolute Batmans submitted to CGC, since those are Big Money right now. Had this same thing happened to, I don’t know, Aquaman, we wouldn’t be hearing a peep. I don’t know, maybe I did get lucky and only have minor issues with my copies. Maybe other stores’ copies were absolute (heh) disasters.

Anyway, DC is putting out free “2nd printing” replacements for all these, which…I don’t know, I suppose that’ll keep the comic-flippers happy since Absolute Batman reprints also still seem to be “hot” and “collectible.” And DC announced that they’ll be talking to the grading companies like CGC about the linewide damage on these books, to…I don’t know, make them consider these books “Near Mint” even with the spine ticks? Or call them “Qualified 9.8” which, as I’ve probably noted before here or on the socials, a meaningless grade?

Sigh. But still, it’s an ill wind that blows no one any good (as per this eBay listing sent to me by former employee Aaron):


So technically, still not Near Mint because it’s been repaired. Would’ve been better off just leaving the comic alone.

And frankly, given the printing, handling, and shipping processes comics go through to get to the local comic shop, folks should be glad they show up in one piece at all.

The worst Civil War prequel.

filed under Categories collecting, low content mode, marvel 9 Comments

Someone came by the shop and donated a short box full of comics…not really much of interest in there, the usual smattering of random ’90s Marvel comics, but it did have:


…nineteen copies of West Coast Avengers Annual #3 from 1988. That’s a book value of up to tens of dollars!

You know, I’ve never actually read this particular comic. Now’s my chance to…well, probably not do so again.

Nature is healing…

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 6 Comments

…as speculation on Image Comics first issues is beginning to ramp up again. A few years back, my general sense of the Image speculation then was people hoping to twig onto whatever will be the new Walking Dead, a comic that expanded into other popular media and drove back issue prices into the stratosphere.

Now the speculation appears to be leaning towards first issues that are perhaps lower ordered, or otherwise under the radar. Titles that when they’re announced, and when it comes time for me to do my ordering, I don’t hear a peep about from anyone. And then, when it’s the day before the comic goes on sale, I start to get the requests.

From what I hear on the social medias, when I noted this, was that the comics folks on the YouTubes and the TikToks started to hype up these particular comics as “investable collectibles” within the last week or two. Of course, this is well past the time I’m able to get more copies, so even if I saw any of these videos (which I wouldn’t since I avoid most comics content on those platforms) what good was that going to do.

I haven’t noted the titles of the comics in question if only because the onus is not on them; they’re by creators doing books with stories they want to tell. And while I’m sure they’re pleased with the sales (and the attendant reprints), I’m not sure how happy they’d be to know that the primary push for sales is as a commodity, not as a storytelling medium. Look, I’m sure a bushel of twenties is a healing balm, but there must be some disappointment.

It reminds me of a creator at Marvel during initial COVID times, when speculators were desperate for anything to invest in, getting excited that an issue of their book suddenly shot through the roof in demand and sales. They seemed to think it portended future success, not realizing it was a one-off fluke as that issue featured an “invesetable” first appearance, and sales went right back to normal levels with the next issue.

So we have high demand for these new first issues, but no real indication of how many of those sales are to people looking to actually read it, and no indication as to what the sales will eventually settle down to once the investment opportunity is over. I’m just sorry that it may take two or three cycles of printings before the books can find their audiences. Unless they want to go on eBay and pick up the $20 or more copies of the first printings that were listed as such even before the release dates.

Collection and investment has always been part and parcel of the comics hobby — the phrase “must-have double-bag item” obviously came from somewhere. But in these days when comic orders are hewn close to the bone as it is, the surprise last-second demand for a low-ordered book is a frustration.

My Fantastic Four-ay: Prologue.

filed under Categories collecting, fantastic four 21 Comments

I’m not sure what my actual first issue of Fantastic Four was. I know I certainly encountered it as a younger child, having the vague memory of reading a 1970s-era issue at my cousin’s house. I know I definitely read (and owned) a copy of Marvel Two-in-One #18 when it was new, or close to, so that was very likely my introduction to the delicate sensibilities of a certain Mr. Grimm.

Eventually I would encounter the Origins of Marvel Comics paperback in the local library, possibly in the late-ish ’70s, which not only gave me my crash course on what the FF were about, but got me up to speed on several other Marvel characters to boot.

When I was reading comics in the ’70s, while I did get a superhero comic from time to time (like the aforementioned lightly-terrifying issue of Marvel Two-in-One), I mostly gravitated towards other topics. I read Disney comics, I enjoyed Pink Panther, I’d get the occasional sci-fi or horror comic somehow (like this comic with a worrisome sci-fi story from Denny O’Neil and Tom Sutton), that sort of thing. When I did get superhero comics, I primarily angled myself at DC’s characters.

Obviously, if you’ve been following my site for any period of time, you can guess that an early DC fave was Swamp Thing. I also got the occasional Superman or Green Lantern comic, or that one Superboy giant with the Legion of Super-Heroes. Oh, and all the digest reprints, and so on and so forth.

I would get the occasional Marvel superhero book, and even had a brief subscription to Amazing Spider-Man around issue #200, to fill out the rest of my subscription to Pizazz, which had been cancelled shortly after I started getting them in the mail. But I wasn’t a regular follower of any of them…mostly it would just be one issue here and there, if I had a particular need to read a new comic and I already had all the DCs I wanted from the latest shipments to the newsstands.

It was sometime in ’83 when I started making a more concentrated effort to follow certain Marvel titles, like Incredible Hulk, or Uncanny X-Men. But I remembered liking the Thing from those long-ago comics I read in the ’70s, and picked up a copy of this:


Given that my first issue of Incredible Hulk also featured the title character fighting other superheroes, maybe there was a specific attraction about such an event that attracted me to those issues. Regardless, I enjoyed this comic quite a bit, having a definitely different look ‘n’ feel from the DCs I’d been buying, and kept on buying more Marvels.

It’s not like Marvel replaced DC in my comic buying habits. I still predominately bought DC superhero comics. But I made room in my budget for more Marvel titles, including, eventually, Fantastic Four.

It was also about this time I started to discover that most peculiar of retail outlets, the “comic book store.” My first visit to one was well out of town, a place called Comic Book Nook in Simi Valley, which I’d found out about via a newspaper ad with a couple for so-and-so off the price of a back issue. However, a schoolmate of mine clued me into a place by the name of “Ralph’s Comic Corner” in the much closer city of Ventura, which is where, in short order, the greater percentage of my comics custom would be applied. (And I would also get a job there a few years later, leading to where I’m at now, but that’s another story.)

It was at Ralph’s where I could not only get the new comics usually a week or two ahead of the newsstands, but I could also delve deep into the back issues and fill in holes in my reading, picking up comics I long ago missed on the newsstands, or filling in runs of newer comics I’d just started. Like, you know, a lot of those Marvel comics that I just started picking up, which, unlike many of their DC counterparts, were a little more continuity-focused with more ongoing subplots and such. Reading the past history could often enhance the experience future stories, versus a Superman story that would exist in a vacuum separate from other Superman stories, and certainly other DC comics.

So I don’t recall where I started, exactly, with John Byrne’s run on the Fantastic Four from this period, but I absolutely used my access to the comic shop’s back issue bins to work my way back to the beginning of his stint on the title. That may very well be the first time I did such a thing with a comic book series I was following…not just going back a couple of issues to get the start of the current storyline, or working my way back to an actual #1, but liking a creator’s work on a specific title enough to get all the issues that creator did.

And reading that run of Fantastic Four started me on an on-again/off-again journey of reading that title, one that continues to even now and the great work being done by Ryan North and Humberto Ramos. But before I get to there, I’m going to start back here, and talk about what it was that grabbed my attention about Byrne’s tenure on Fantastic Four. And after that, what did and did not keep me following Marvel’s First Family over the succeeding decades.

This will be an intermittent series of entries on this site, probably at least one a week. I certainly hope you follow along, and I look forward to your comments on your favorite FF stories and why you read, or maybe didn’t read, the title.