Well, this Bronze Ager has done so. Not on ebay, but I've tried a 'grab bag' of comics from time to time at flea markets. No luck at all; there's obviously a reason those books get sold in a plain wrapper.
And speaking of plain wrappers, one of my worst purchases should have come in one. Back in college, I was inclined to give almost anything a try (comic-wise, that is). At one local convention, a dealer had a display of a new comic entitled Cherry Pop Tart. From the cover, it looked like a parody of Archie comics, right down to analogues of Betty and Veronica. I gave it a shot, without looking into it. I should have been warned by the "Adults Only" label, but by that time I'd picked up some undergrounds by the likes of Robert Crumb and Howard Cruse. Figured I was sophisticated enough. Turned out to be some pretty cheesy porn; rather embarrassing to look at or even possess. And it wasn't even particularly clever or satirical porn, just tacky. I got rid of it quickly. Oddly, that book seems to have developed some kind of cult following in the intervening years. At any rate, ever since that fiasco I try to look through any 'new experience in reading' I'm contemplating. Which, actually, is a good practice anyway: like the time I bought a copy of Silver Surfer #1 at a rather inflated price, very early in my collecting career. Opened it later to find four pages missing and a detached cover. It just goes to show you, caveat emptor!What about you fine folks? Have you ever wasted your fifty cents (or fifty dollars) on some four color failure? Open up and we'll share our miseries together...
6 comments:
The one that springs to mind is Marvel UK's 'Star Wars Weekly' launched in February 1978. I missed #1 so I was very glad to get #2 but, oh dear - I thought the artwork on the Star Wars adaptation was horrible. Even worse, the comic only had 28 pages compared to the usual 36 pages in Marvel UK weeklies but it cost the same as the others, what a rip-off! Also, gasp, I didn't find the Star Wars story all that exciting and so I dropped the comic at #6. At this point I hadn't yet seen the Star Wars movie and my experience with the comic cooled my enthusiasm for the film somewhat - but in May 1978 I finally saw the movie and it was spectacular !!!
I gave Star Wars Weekly another try from #15 onwards and I stuck with it this time but I never think of the comic fondly like I do other Marvel UK titles of the time.
I remember buying Dr. Strange #32 when I was six because I liked the cover, even though I never read Doc Strange. I can't remember exactly what the story was about, but it bored the hell out of me.
I pretty much regret most of the comics I bought after the turn of the century. That's around where I mark the point that comics started their downward spiral. IMO
From JMS's Amazing Spider-Man run (which I absolutely loathed but still read for some reason), to Brian Michael Bendis' "New Avengers" (again, I did not like it but bought it anyway), to Mark Millar's "Civil War" (which was finally my breaking point and pretty much turned me off of new comics for good). Just to name a few examples. (But I could go on and on).
Bob oh boy... so many clunkers out there but those I bought solely due to the cover is a tuff question.
After a good 24 hours of letting it swirl around my noggin, I would have to say most of the Classics Illustrateds I have fall in this category. I'm a sucker for their covers and the "high culture" implied from reading a classic. Yet I can say that they mostly disappoint me.
And I have (had?) a stack of the originals and Marvels that I could no longer bear to read/work through and could not give away.
(Red - based on an earlier post from you this week, with numerous Marvel Classics covers, if I find them, they are yours!!!)
Colin J- Odd that the Star Wars Weekly was pricier per page, perhaps they charged more to help cover the royalties. Incidentally, at a local flea market here last weekend, I found several UK edition Marvels from the 70's. Pretty rare to see those around here...
William- although I do like some of the modern books, I fully agree with you on some of JMS' output. The Gwen Stacy/Norman Osborn tryst he wrote may have been the absolute nadir of the webslinger's history. Winceingly, unspeakably bad.
Charlie- you are most kind, but I believe the post you mentioned was by my esteemed partner Marti! I personally only have one issue of Classics Illustrated, a copy of "War of the Worlds". Have you read any of those, and how did they compare to Marvel's Classics comics?
Well, I will be honest and hope I do not offend...
The original Classics had poor production quality so the coloring was often outside the lines, the art sometimes a little simple, and the story just raced through the plot. I mean, they were often taking a 200-400 page book and condensing it to 30 or so pages? The covers could be great, though, with their painting.
Marvel's Classics... I was tired of seeing Gil Kane's art everywhere and when I saw a GK cover, by that time, it was a non-starter for me. So, I never read the Marvel CIs that I had acquired, on the cheap, at a convention. (OK so why did Charlie buy something he was not going to read? LOL. I'm sure I'm not the first comic reader to do that. I guess cause there were a bunch of them and they were cheap?)
Red - by the way - I went to a couple post offices to try and find those express mail envelopes with bubble wrap inside, that you spoke of, and could not find any! I started thinking that the Post Office did not offer that anymore, so I googled it at USPS and lo and behold, they are mailing me 30 of them for free! They'll mail me an unlimited quantity for free from what I can tell! Cool beans!
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