Adventures in Comics: Surprises, Welcome and Unwelcome...

 

Redartz:  Are you one of those people who enjoy surprises? I am. That is, I enjoy good surprises. Unpleasant surprises I can do without. And of course, life is full of both kinds. So it only goes to follow that the activity of collecting (comics, or whatever) can also throw us an unexpected curve now and then. Therein lies our topic for discussion!

In the course of my comics collecting career, I've experienced quite a few surprises of both the welcome and the unwelcome varieties. What might those have been, you may ask? Well, pull up a seat; here's a tale of each to get things going;  starting with the unpleasant surprise (it's always good to end on a positive note).  

This past weekend my wife and I had the great pleasure of attending a big flea market; something which has been largely impossible for the last year and a half. It was a pretty good market, with loads of comics for sale (as well as many other items of interest). My purchases for the day included several vintage books, indulging my current trend of hunting Really Old books (the most recently published book I chose was from 1962). One of them was a copy of Pep Comics #109, from 1955. One dealer had a long box full of miscellaneous books, at five dollars each. The book was obviously worn, and had a torn place on the cover where the image was gone. That said, it was 'good enough' in appearance for a book of such age, it looked fun, and was only about as much as a new comic these days anyway. So I grabbed it. 

 

 

Fast forward to the return home. Opened up my new acquisitions to leaf through and assess them. It quickly became apparent that this "Pep" comic was a bit thin. Did a page count, and a bit of research; discovered that the multi-page "Katy Keene" story by Bill Woggon wasn't there. At least four totally missing pages, including what would have been a highlight to the issue. "Rats" was my immediate reaction; but also a bit of rueful amusement. I'd forgotten the cardinal rule to buying back issues: look through the book before buying. Ah well, it still had some fun stories in it, and it now becomes potential fodder for a 'cut and paste' project.

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, but what about a more pleasant surprise? This story also starts at a flea market (how would I ever manage a collection without those wonderful things?). Several years ago I was wandering on a Sunday morning, looking over booth after booth of goods. Happened upon a table loaded down with boxes of comics, literally hundreds and hundreds. Not bagged and boarded, just loose books in long boxes at 50 cents a shot. As you would expect, I pored each box, and ended up with about a dozen books selected. Nothing earth-shaking, but some fun items and some good reading. One of the books was a copy of DC's "Secret Origins" #6 from 1986: it had the origins of Halo (who, at the time, I was unfamiliar with) and of the Golden Age Batman. The Batman story was by Roy Thomas, with art by Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin (which is precisely why I chose that book). I paid for the comics and continued on to other tables. 

A few days later, I finally got around to opening up that "Secret Origins" issue to read. First up was the Batman story, which was predictably great. But upon turning the page to the beginning of the Halo story, I was met by a signature at the bottom of the page. It seems that the artist, one Dick Giordano, had signed this book! Obviously from the era when creators signed inside the book, rather than on the cover. As a big fan of Mr. Giordano, it was most definitely a Pleasant Surprise! 

 Soooooooo, you know what's coming next. What 'surprises' have greeted you upon purchasing some collectible, be it comic, lp or whatever?  Hopefully yours were more of the good variety than otherwise, but regardless, now you get to share them with BitBA assembled. And always remember to check out those interiors before paying...