FREE COMIC BOOK DAY - Still Cool

There are still some things in America that are advertised as FREE - and are actually FREE. No bait, no switch, no catch. FREE.

 

FREE Comic Book Day (FCBD) is just that. Go to any participating comic book shop on the first Saturday in May, and pick up a brand smackin' new comic book. If you have not read one in years, try it. totally, cool.

 

 

 

The smell of freshly printed, color covered, super studded choices are great. The idea behind this promotion was to get people back into the comic shops. These days, with Internet, mega-cons and mail order comics, the loss of the local store is like an endangered species.

 

I went to such a shop, about 20 minutes down the coast line in a sleepy beach town. They had two tables of titles to choose from. While many shops have put a limit on how many free comic you can take (usually 5), it sometimes becomes hard to just pick a few.

 

I selected some of my favorite titles - a Special Superman issue, Star Wars (of course) and Batman (of course).

 

I am usually attracted to the cover on these, so my picks are influenced by the art work. There were lots of goofy cartoon, from Ren & Stimpy to anime and several unknown titles.

 

Free Comic Book Day offers the opportunity to sample new comics and catch up on old ones.

 

There have been some exclusives made for the event - notably, a boxed HERO CLIX mini figure. This year it was an IRON MAN 3 issue.

 

 

While in past years these were given away free, some stores have chosen to use these FREE giveaways as incentives to solicit their store. This local shop was asking patrons to buy $10 worth of merchandise to get the Iron Man figure.

 

While, I was disappointed, I totally understand. Its about survival for these comic shops which are losing out to Wal-Mart and large book sellers.

 

One of the most anticipated exclusives of the day was The WALKING DEAD comic book. I got one. Mission accomplished.

 

 

I've noticed that some of the past FCBD issues are now listed in the comic price guide. Most are listed at $2 to $3 each (about the current day cover price of a comic), however, some of the rarer titles have made it to the $30 summit ! One example is Scott Pilgrim from a few year back. It was made into a movie and poof - its gold for free.

 

I am looking forward to reading these comics, and looking through the art work.

 

 

Bronze Age Gods : The SAVAGE SWORD of CONAN

I love finding stuff that is as cool today as it was when kids liked it years ago. In fact, they say if you wait long enough, everything comes back into style.

 

On a recent flea market outing, I picked up a Marvel AVENGERS issue # 190. Why is this cool, you ask ? Well, with the recent movie and a sure bet another one coming out, The Avengers is as popular today as it was in 1979.

 

Many issues are collected for the first appearence of a character. This issue debuts a lesser known villain named June Jitsu who battles Spider-Man in a half page ad for HOSTESS Twinkies.

 

The cover and interior pencils were done by legendary comic artist - JOHN BYRNE. As for the cover it features a line up that includes Iron Man, Captain America, Beast, Vision, Dare Devil and Ms. Marvel. 

 

The story inside also contains Thor, Wasp and Falcon. Needless to say, its chocked full of super characters - all which you could have had for 40 cents !

 

However, it was the find in the rest of the box that thrilled me. I was able to pick out 6 issues of "The Savage Sword of CONAN" from the piles. I left several behind only because they were missing their covers.

 

And in the 1970's as it was, cover fantasy art was king. I couldn't resist issue # 4, from 1975, with this great Boris Vallejo painting.

And three Earl Norem covers from 1977  ...

  issues # 21, 22 and 24 ...

 with interior pencils by John Buscema.

 A pair from the 1980's with a cover by Nestor Redondo ...

 and the famed Joe Jusko.

 

The popularity of this title was due partly that they were sold as a "magazine" rather than a comic book. Thereby, they could circumvent the strict comic book code of the time. This allowed the artists to show a bit of more graphic action and what might have been considered titillation art (i.e. topless women).

 

This was evidenced by the pin-up pages that accompanied each issue (see example below).

 

The Savage Sword run was a great success and featured many of the best comic and fantasy artists. One such artist was Pablo Marcos, whom I had the pleasure of working with and doing several comic shows.

 

This is one of the sketch cards Pablo did for me. Recognize the steely stare of this dude ?

 

All this is leads me to why I've been a bit slack on writing this blog. I had been preparing for an upcoming comic book convention. That's right, I'm back on tour !

 

I'll have pictures and stories of comic cons - coming soon !

No Hockey: No Secret, Not Weird, Man, This Is War !

It is No Secret that there will be no NHL hockey anytime soon. And if this vintage comic over is any omen, it spells doom for the ice men.

NHL near death cover on DC HOUSE OF SECRETS # 114.

It would be nice to blog about some hockey cards, especially since there are some appealing sets being produced. However, like many of my fellow card bloggers, we are disenchanted with cards and card collecting of late.

So instead, I have found solace in other treasures. 

MARVEL AT THESE

In my now regular garage sale outings, I found a seller who was liquidating his comic books. With the above DC issue I found these gems:

MEKANO LIVES, but not in the NHL on the cover of X-MEN # 36

Jim Rhoades should fight for the NHL fans, but featues on WAR MACHINE # 1

That managment and players agree would be a cover of WEIRD WONDER TALES # 20

IRON MAN # 300  - better than hockey right now

I picked up these 5 comics PLUS a record buyers guide book for $1.00 - yep one George Washington U.S. dollar bill.  'Nuff Said.