Comics History

It Came From the Back Room #26

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Phil

Standard recap: I’m slowly going through AABC’s one-million-plus back-issue room, restocking the boxes on the sales floor and pulling stuff to sell as discount/overstock/special items. I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed, this amounts to a two-year project. This week, we’re looking at a couple of DC bargains from the end of the letter “H,” and some indy titles from the beginning of the letter “G” : Hellblazer Alan Moore’s occult trickster, who first appeared in Swamp Thing looking almost exactly like Sting (the Police lead singer of the early ’80s, not the easy-listening jazz … Continue reading →

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Gene Colan Art Exhibit

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Phil

Here are the five Colan pages being displayed at the store this week, through Saturday — and at the July 4 sale! — and, no, none of them are being sold….: This is from Tomb of Dracula #9, page 10; inks by Vince Colletta and words by Marv Wolfman. Evan Dorkin said last week that Colan’s art was like “dreams on paper,” and this is a good example: the hand-drawn panel borders radiating from the center; the use of … is it whiteout?… to indicate fog; the bottom image of Dracula on the ground in the shadows, weak but still … Continue reading →

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Fresh Eyes on Old Books #24

Posted on June 5, 2011 by admin

All right folks, it’s been a long weekend, the X-men movie was rad, and now I’m reading old stuff.  Let’s do this! Hawkman #5 from 1964 So I completely don’t understand the Shadow Thief.  He’s a guy who steals stuff, but is basically like Kitty Pryde, unable to be touched.  But how does he steal things if he’s only a shadow?  It’s logic like this that makes me smarter than the 60s!  Hawkman is using his bow and arrow to try to shoot the Shadow Thief, and this story is all about finding a way to stop the untouchable villain.  … Continue reading →

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It Came From the Back Room #23

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Phil

Standard recap: I’m slowly going through AABC’s one-million-plus back-issue room, restocking the boxes on the sales floor and pulling stuff to sell as discount/overstock/special items. I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed, this amounts to a two-year project. This week, we’re doing miscellaneous Marvel and DC “I” books, and, as always, discount copies are available on the rack near my corner by the west end of the store: Identity Crisis This was one of DC’s first attempts to make its mainstream superhero comics more “adult,” almost seven years ago now, and they got a lot … Continue reading →

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It Came From the Back Room #22

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Phil

Standard recap: I’m slowly going through AABC’s one-million-plus back-issue room, restocking the boxes on the sales floor and pulling stuff to sell as discount/overstock/special items. I’m going through the alphabet backwards (don’t ask), and at my speed, this amounts to a two-year project. This week, we’re breaking the regular alphabetical pattern, and time-traveling back to stuff I pulled a year ago (before I started doing these writeups). Why? Because it’s a comic character who’s hot right now, with a movie, a crossover event miniseries, and a new number-one issue all calling attention to him: The Mighty Thor We can pass … Continue reading →

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