Cornering the Market Redux... I own 2 1/2 percent!

It's been awhile since I posted a Journal... since February 2nd... and that's by design. I took a very long break from creative writing... much too long! I will admit... I'm a lazy . But discovering CS Journals and the wonderful collectors behind them, gave me back my writing juices and for a brief and shinning moment I became a mainstay... almost to a point of an addiction... but now I'm parlaying that wonderful, passionate, positive energy, back into creative writing. For the last few weeks I've been writing the outline and treatment for what I hope to be either a very long short story or novella.

But I do miss regularly contributing to the Journals. I miss sharing what I've been collecting and my love for all things comic books... and I so truly miss the supportive feedback I've come to cherish. If anyone is a writer out there... you'll understand my position when I say this... writing can be a very solitary experience... quite a lonely one. But the CS Journals make me feel I'm part of a community... and who doesn't like being a part of something?... to embrace an ideology and share it with other ideologists.

Anyway, I'm getting off the beaten track as usual. So what's new with me? Besides creative writing, I've been trying to spend less and less money on comics in order to pay back the enormous debt I owe: money I borrowed from credit cards in order to build my current CGC collection. How else do you think I managed? Money don't grow on trees ya know! And in order to pay back the debt completely, it means making some serious sacrifices: I must avoid further CGC purchases until sometime in late summer or early fall when I estimate the debt will be fully paid. But I'm okay with this. My initial goal when I first joined CS was to have my childhood comics graded and potentially sell them to purchase the Holy Grail comics I so truly want. At the moment, I have about 44 comics on queue and nearly graded by the CGC. They'll serve as the perfect antidote for my comic buying abstinence. And the other positive side to all of this: I can concentrate on my creative writing, and get all those long awaited ideas that have been seemingly floating forever in the ethos of my brain, into fruition.

So here's a contribution... albeit not a final one... but it will be some time before I post another as I sojourn off on my self-imposed hiatus... hopefully to return with a completed novella.

So last week, my San Diego Comic Con #2 comes in the mail. It's actually the fifth one I own. Yeah... that's right, the fifth copy. I'm crazy... I know it... I like buying multiple copies of keys... that's my thing... that's my obsession... that's what I collect... and it's okay to call me nuts. This 9.8 beauty comes by way of MyComicsShop (aka Lone Star Comics). I can't say enough about MCS/LSC... every comic I have purchased through them going back to August 2012, has arrived on a timely basis and has met my every expectation. I can wholeheartedly say MCS/LSC is a part of a growing list of my favorite trolling haunts (this list includes: ComicConnect, ComicLink, Pedigree Comics, WWComics, and a selection of preferred sellers found on eBay). They have my glowing endorsement. MCS/LSC makes it very easy... just like the other aforementioned auction sites... they offer a Want List option for any comics you may be searching for. And sure enough, I received an e-mail message about two weeks ago informing me a SDCC #2 in 9.8 was available. I immediately snatched it up, and at a reasonable price!

So what is so important about SDCC #2? I first became aware of it after reading the digital copy of Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction on my Nook. Just after the conclusion of the main story, there is a section dedicated to Hellboy's roots called "Where the Hell did He Come From? Personal reminiscences by Mike Mignola." In it, Mignola showcases his early published illustrations of Hellboy and you can see the evolution of the look and feel of the character. Hellboy actually starts off looking like a cross between DC's Etrigan the Demon (Jack Kirby's 70's Creation) and Marvel's lesser known character The Gargoyle (1st Appearing in Defenders #94). Mignola writes: "This is a drawing done for a convention program book. I added the name Hellboy at the last minute and it made me laugh. The name stuck and the character started to take shape in my head." That particular illustration is the very first conception of Hellboy, who not only has a pair of long pointy horns (ala a bull's) protruding from the sides of his head but also has a front pair filed-down in typical Hellboy fashion. This initial incarnation also wields a chain-linked mace-like weapon, and wears a very large belt around his waist, with a numbers of unusual items affixed to it including: a dead fish, a dead crab, a skull, a couple of daggers on each hip, and capped off with a gigantic belt-buckle with the name Hellboy inscribed. He also comes replete with a pair of wings, his long tail, and a pet Vulture sitting on his back. Said illustration is considered by many to be Hellboy's first published appearance, printed in 1991 in a pamphlet given away at the Great Salt Lake Comic-Con. I have searched high and low for a copy of that pamphlet... and so far nothing. This is one very rare piece of comic history! I have no idea how many copies were printed or how many survived. The pamphlet actually predates the 1993 Italian fanzine Dime Store Press No. 4, where another proto-type gray colored Hellboy minus coat, appears on the cover battling a bat-winged and pointy-tailed rendition of sci-fi detective Nathan Never. I often see this one listed on eBay with a very high asking price. CGC key notes on Dime Store Pres No. 4 states, "Hellboy cover predates first US appearance". This is an obvious mistake and should be corrected since the Great Salt Lake Comic-Con pamphlet was published in 1991... a couple of years before Dime Store Press No. 4. Many will argue that GSLCC Pamphlet is not the genuine published first appearance since the character was still in prototypical form... but the same argument can be said of the Dime Store Press cover appearance which is also a prototype. To kill the sticky argument entirely... in my book... I say forget either of the two one-piece illustrations which amount to almost nothing, not even a cameo (cameo's can only happen when there's an actual story), and stick with SDCC #2... and I will explain why in the next few paragraphs.

Side note: the Dime Store Press No. 4 cover illustration is not mentioned in Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction... I wonder why.

Anyway... There are three additional early illustrations included in Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction, where once can observe the evolution of the character as it gestates into the Hellboy we all come to know and love.

Moving past the proto-illustrations, in what Mike Mignola describes: "The following stories are the first Hellboy stories ever produced, done to promote the miniseries and introduce the character. The first story ran in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, and given away at 1993 San Diego Comic Con. The second story was published in the Comics Buyer's Guide." That first original 4-page black and white story published in SDCC #2 by Dark Horse, is reprinted in color, in both the digital and trade paper back versions of Hellboy Volume 1: Seed of Destruction. It is here where one can plainly see the character comes into full fruit

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.