with all apologies to Hammershipdown...

So after being impressed by Hammer's trend of Three 4 Thursday journals, I picked up a CGC frame from Gweedo's Showcase too. I chose a two-slot this time, since I could come up with so many more duos I had that I would like to display. Plus, I wanted to try them out before dropping too much money. In short, I'm completely satisfied with the end result, and would recommend Gweedo's Showcase to anyone looking to display their books. I did pay extra for UV-resistant glass, which was an option I did not find on several competitor's sites. It seems that Gweedo makes his frames to-order, so it takes a little while, but I was satisfied with the level of communication. I got emails saying order received, then frames finished, then shipped, etc. The parcel was securely wrapped and packed, too. I often choose solid black or solid white frames for comics items because it reminds me of the panel borders.

Now to these particular issues...

On the right is Mangazine Vol 1 #1 from 1985. If I recall correctly, this is the second issue published by Antarctic Press (after Extremely Silly Comics Vol 1 #1), and was an anthology featuring several long-standing Antarctic contributors, most notably Ben Dunn and Herb Mallette. As a book that was nearly home-made, it is a bit smaller than standard comics. This was the first appearance of Tiger-X, a story about resistance fighters in a Soviet-occupied United States. Picture the original Red Dawn but with robo battlesuits. According to the CGC Census, there are three copies of this book slabbed, all 9.8s. I submitted this one myself, after picking it out from an extremely generous $1 box. That shop was apparently flushing their small-press books; I also got a full run of Megaton (including the first Savage Dragon in #3 that came back as a 9.6), Eradicators 1 (first Ron Lim), and Macross 1 (by Comico) for $1 each. A very lucky day.

THe book on the left is another early Antarctic Press, Ninja High School #1 from 1986. This series has a fairly storied past. It began as a three-issue miniseries, as shown on the cover. Its success led to a regular series, which gave us an Antarctic #4, then the series transitioned to Eternity Comics for wider distribution. The run included a 0 issue and a 3 1/2, as well as numerous spin-offs and crossovers. As to the plot... a regular high school guy is betrothed to the daughter of a ninja clan leader to unite the two families. Simultaneously, an alien empire plans to wed their princess to an Earthling to prevent a rival empire from claiming Earth. Thier computers predict the optimum human to be... the same boy as must marry the ninja princess. Hilarity ensues as the girls compete for his affection. I've described it as a kind of manga Archie. Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and Archie but as ninjas, space princesses, demons, etc. A wonderful combination of humor, adventure, action, and genuine emotion. Despite its relatively low profile, the series ran for 175 issues, phenominal for a black-and-white indy. There are 6 of these in the Census, but only 2 are 9.8s.

Someday, I hope to convert both of these to yellow labels with Ben Dunn signatures. Maybe by then CGC will have come up with a few notes to put on the labels... First appearances of characters who starred in a series than ran for 13 years, no big deal I guess.

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