oldmilwaukee6er

The Lady Speaks. . . Gwenpool Holiday Special: Merry Mix-Up (aka Gwenpool Holiday Sneer) (Om- Six dollars for deez nutz!? What. The. Butt?) In what seems to be a tradition (if two years in a row counts as tradition) I will be reviewing Marvel’s Gwenpool Holiday Special. The cover lets you know you’ll also be seeing Deadpool, Red Skull, The Punisher, and Spider-Man (Miles Morales version). Just in case that isn’t enough, the first page lays out that you will encounter Gwenpool, the Punisher, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Galactus, Fin Fang Foom, and Red Skull. For some reason this annoys me. Either put it on the cover or put it in the interior page, but why spread it across both and not have the same characters each time? Plus there are ton of other characters who aren’t highlighted on the cover or interior pages such as the Avengers small cameo, Rogue, Squirrel Girl, MODOK, and Thanos. Okay, only Squirrel Girl has a significant role. From a publishing perspective the breaks between the stories aren’t as clean as I would like and it took me a couple of read throughs to figure out that the Spider-Man story was NOT connected to the Fin Fang Foom story. From an enjoyment perspective, I didn’t enjoy this issue at all. Last year there were a couple of sweet moments and the main storyline was friendly. This year there’s a weird fairly aggressive undercurrent \ of political opinion that undermines a lot of the good Marvel has done. I was left feeling like maybe I’m overly sensitive to alt-right attacks or that I’m looking for trouble where there isn’t any. But OM reacted similarly to a few key points in the issue without any prompting from me. I expected goofy irreverent humor similar to last year’s issue. Instead I was left thinking that Marvel is trolling its fans. First of all, Gwenpool is hardly in the issue at all. She appears in one story that is broken up into two parts (but doesn’t actually bookend the issue because Deadpool gets the final story) and she has a really lame cameo in the Spider-Man story. That’s all. And she is once again lamenting missing her family in an alternate universe (Earth TRN565) but it’s not organic. It feels really forced, like an add-on to the story. ALSO, Gwenpool doesn’t really fight ANYone. 1. Anyway something has gone off in the world and Gwenpool is hanging out with her friends Batroc, Mega Tony, and Terrible Eye learning about new holidays, including Christmas with Galactus instead of Santa Claus. One is Soulstice Reunion where you’re visited by dead loved ones, e.g. the Red Skull Story. There is a dark passage in here about how it’s not always joyful and that some are visited by “Abusive partners whose death may have provided a relief no one living would ever dare admit out loud.” *Needle scratch* Did a comic rated Teen+ just tell the reader that they may be visited in perpetuity by an abusive former partner? Is Marvel gas-lighting domestic violence victims? As in you wished this person dead who abused you so it’s your fault they’ll haunt you forever? The other big holiday discussed is Pantsgiving. Pantsgiving is when you give ugly hot pants to your loved ones. Naturally Pantsgiving plays a significant role in the issue, e.g. portions of the Fin Fang Foom & Deadpool stories. This story ends with Gwenpool heading out to find Santa because she knows something is wrong with this universe. It’s not the same as it was last year. 2. Spider-Man’s story is fairly straight forward and has a pretty predictable deux ex machina. He has to battle Fin Fang Foom to protect Christmas. Spider-Ma subdues Foom only to end up facing MODOK, Thanos, and the Red Skull except Galactus shows up to save the day. Spider-Man receives a bunch of gifts from Galactus. This story includes a not-at-all subtle attack on secularism. “The secular world has made a colossal alien with a turning fork hat the face of Christmas, which should tell you all you need to know about the secular world.” And that is why Galactus is being worshipped as Santa Claus? We brought it upon ourselves by not choosing one religion? Galactus is God as well? (Om- Seriously, is this a Secret Wars thing? Didn’t Secret Wars make Dr. Doom a god and Galactus Santa!?) This story does try to tack on a holiday message about the season being for good will and stuff but then Galactus reminds us it’s also about eating huge meals (Om- wocka wocka!). 3. Happy Pantsgiving: A shop owner named Ronnie (I’m not familiar with current Marvel universes but she appears to be Big Ronnie, proprietor of a superhero costume shop) summons Fin Fang Foom to work as an advertisement for her clothing store which sees the majority of its business on Pantsgiving. Even weirder, the story ends with the Punisher lecturing us about the true meaning of Pantsgiving, which basically boils down to showing your loved ones you love them enough to wear the ugly pants they buy you. It’s not about consumerism, people, it’s about embarrassing the ones you love through the purchasing of ugly consumer goods. Get it straight! I felt the most for Fin Fang Foom who runs back to Ronnie heartbroken that he couldn’t help her. It’s a touching scene until the Punisher shows up to lecture us all. 4. Instead of a last year’s cute story about the new Ms. Marvel negotiating a Christian holiday as a Muslim, this year we get a story about Red Skull missing Hitler because Hitler “really knew how to cheer me up.” It has a Dickensesque scene where Red Skull goes to his Christmas past (with Hitler as the guiding ghost) to watch himself kidnap the Pope. The entire story is a mean- spirited attack on inclusiveness which seems weird for a holiday issue but is in line with the overall tone of the comic. It’s fueled by Red Skull’s anger at the phrase “Hail Hydra” being replaced with “Hail hatred” because the social media arm of the bad guys is trying to not alienate other bad guys. No fewer than three “Go *spoon* yourselves” are dropped. But then there’s the odd exclamation of “What. The. Butt?” which sounds like something Erin from The Office would say. 5. We finally get back to Gwenpool who is heading to the North Pole using a rewritten holiday song as clues about Santa’s whereabouts. She sees one monster and destroys it. Then she talks to Santa who whines about being tired and how he used his magic to give himself a vacation. Monsters and weird holidays rushed in to fill the void. Santa is less concerned about the havoc he’s wrecked than he is about the other holiday’s being upset with his actions. 6. Then there is a Deadpool Halloween story involving Squirrel Girl and a random appearance by Rogue (who literally adds nothing to the story). This is the final story in the issue and it’s pretty disappointing. Squirrel Girl is running a Deadpool contest and Deadpool wants to win it. In the meantime Leather Boy tries to kidnap her squirrel and presumably strangle it to death until Deadpool saves the day. There is a bit of discussion regarding the ethics of letting Deadpool enter and win a costume contest based on him but really, this story was a big zero (Om- I liked this story a little better and enjoyed the “deez nuts” joke, but The Lady puts it best below. A shame too, because I enjoyed Chynna Clugston Flores “Blue Monday” for Oni Press). Once again Gwenpool wasn’t even in it. I think this story existed solely to get in all the popular catch phrases that have been circulating since the movie. I can’t help but feel that Marvel is showing its politics with this issue and it’s not funny. All the great diversity we’ve seen from Marvel in recent years is being mocked in this issue. Everything from Captain Marvel finally getting pants to Leather Boy’s stereotypical sexuality is a slap to the face. I’m sure many will argue they’re trying to be funny and timely but none of this feels funny or even like a joke gone bad. It feels hostile. Is this what we have to look forward to for with Marvel? I don’t even care about Christmas, so replacing Santa with Galactus doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that Marvel is chastising us for shooting for tolerance. They seem to be embracing the idea that we’ve created our own monsters by trying to be cognizant of other belief systems and that by trying to be inclusive we’re actually handing power to evil beings. That’s not a good message. TL;DR If you’re a Gwenpool fan, she’s not in this one very much and doesn’t really do anything. There’s more Red Skull and Fin Fang Foom in this issue than anything. If you’re looking for holiday cheer, you’ll most likely find holiday sneer. (Om- If you are the old-schooler that cringes at the inclusivity and diversity of modern comics and want to see some old-school baddies like Fin Fang Foom and Red Skull juxtaposed against popular newbies … Pull out a $10 bill because this is your one read this year (yes, new comics ARE expensive).

What's cooking this week Spawn is improving and the market is responding (and this month's cover was even better)... Plus The Lady is cooking up some Gwenpool holiday hate ... "Wait... wha?!" And why this was a good week to be an underground comix fan at the LCS... More to come! I gotta go dig my car out of the snow in -18C. *cry*

Thanks for the kind words, it helps keep us motivated and does not go unnoticed! We do have a lot of fun, at times we have collected together in the past, c. 1998-1999 in Billings MT and then again in Baton Rouge 2003-2005 (before a store closed down). She likes to write because it gives her an outlet, she is always journaling or thinking through academic ideas. I like to write and explore the positive side to writing as an outlet. Scholarship light. Yes! I do not have a lot of people in real life IRL that I can talk about my collecting with, even my LCS mgr likes to talk more about music. I like putting my goals out there and then checking back in periodically- have I completed it? Is it still important? Why or why not? The more I write, the more I feel the need to move the collection forward. It is like I am talking through a behavioral economics problem. Top 3 Purchases for 2016 In thinking back on 2016, it occurs to me that I have been priced out a few collectibles, including… Underground comix (the books I covet are generally >$300), poison bottles (even plain ones fetch >$30), and Nemadji tourist pottery (most pieces now fetch $20-30+ locally). Therefore, my list represents a little of the past and present in my collecting. #1- CGC 8.5 Mr. Natural #1 1st print (eBay). 2016 saw me slab 20+ high grade Zap Comix & sell off my best copy of Freak Brothers #1. I bought and sold just a few books after Slabgate 2016, but this copy was too good to pass up. #2- X-Men #12 VG 1st Juggernaut, O: Professor X (Burnham Bowl). It was a good year for X-Men books with 9, 12 and 14 added to my copies of 1 and 2. I see this trend continuing in 2017 with a goal of collecting 1-19 in raw GDVG to VGFN. #3- B^tch Planet #1 logo variant (WW Chicago). My modern collecting continued throughout 2016, a combination of minor spec’ing off Previews and run collecting Spawn & Usagi Yojimbo. Honorable mention TMNT 1991 Space Usagi action figure, loose with all accessories (not pictured; WW Chicago) Usagi Yojimbo #38 (WW Madison). The last issue of volume 1 Fantagraphics series and a somewhat tough one. Rust #1 Chromium cover (Spawn preview; WW Madison) Any cool- Kudranski Spawn or Spawn picked from my LCS incl. #152 153 162 163 174 203 204 205 206 209 211 212 213 214 215 (but particularly #174) 2017 is the year I complete my Spawn run!

Progress check for 2016 In 2016 I put forth many of the collecting goals below. As I begin to brainstorm my 2017 goals, it is a nice exercise for me to review the previous year’s progress and reflect upon any changes. In 2016, I wrote how I wanted MORE FOCUS and MORE RESULTS and LESS STRESS in my collecting life, and as Meatloaf famously sang “Two outta three ain’t bad.” 2016 was far less stressful of a collecting year, and I stayed relatively focused. However, I do not feel as though I have achieved as many collecting “results.” Buy Zap Comix #16… Achieved, but frankly this was easy and also my first purchase through Midtown Comics :thumbsup Advance my Zap Comix project in general… Not achieved. This goal seems so foreign to me now. I think it means submit more Zap Comix to CGC and update my registry set. This goal did not progress at all and upon reflection there are some obvious reasons. 1- CGC was not set up at WW Madison as I had (wrongly) assumed, and 2- The New Case fiasco. Ugh, it really had me questioning the role of third-party certification in my collecting. I think, if I am honest, I want to get out of the Registry game altogether, i.e. that I am playing a game I cannot win, but more on that later. Sell at least one thing per month… Somewhat a fail. After a couple of good sales to kick off the year, I did not set up at a convention or sell a book the second half of 2016. After an early addition, the ASM fund currently stands stagnant at $3000. The interesting thing is that the STRONG urge to own an ASM1 is fading. I do not think of the money, indeed enjoy it as extra savings for the time being. Submit my ‘homegrown hardcovers’ for Zap Comix and Freak Brothers to bookbinder… Complete! Submit a panel and attend WW Madison (APR16) Complete! And hopefully regional popular culture conference (OCT16) Fail. In fact, the lady skipped the Midwest PCA due to a scheduling conflict. That is ok, a little scholarship is good. On-site submit my high grade raw / PeeGeeX Freak Brothers at WW Madison (and maybe a few Zaps). Fail. No such thing as on-site grading or submission at WW Madison. Could have done it at WW Chicago, but decided to spend my money in other ways. Run collect / Dollar box grind Usagi Yojimbos with less emphasis on condition. I would call this a success. I probably bought more Usagi than any other title in 2016 and I only have about 14 issues remaining to be current. Run collect / Dollar box grind Spawn with more emphasis on condition. Ongoing. However, this goal – more than the others- really is beginning to weigh on me. I would like to be current on Spawn. This goal will take priority in late 2016 and early 2017 and it is my hope to become current on Spawn soon. Paint my Usagi Yojimbo custom action figure (by summer). Haha! That didn’t happen. This was somewhat of a stretch goal to begin with and a little outside my normal comfort zone. Not certain what to do with this goal for 2017. Downsize in general- books, clothing – and generally be WAY MORE SELECTIVE what I bring into the house (figure out some sort of measurable metric here). Some progress, but yet not. I have slowly become more discerning with Modern comics, and I see Modern comic collecting continuing through 2017. I also greatly downsized clothing and the majority of my books and have been very discerning there. Yet none of this has fully translated to my comic book collecting as a whole and my collection is the largest it has been for years and getting larger. Take my niece (9) and nephew (8) on two Lost World of Wonders shopping sprees ($50ea/trip; $200 total). Fail! I tried this a few times, but in the era of the helicopter parent and the over-scheduled kid, there is not much room for funny books. For my nephew, I focused more on sports and was present at several sport events throughout the year. I saw my niece perform three times in 2016- twice in theater and once in dance, and I have been pulling Boom Comics’ Backstagers for her to read. The wee nephew I play with, whatever he wants, and he has taken to calling me “his friend.” Good old-fashioned road trip (possibly Boston via Canada to see niece / gf OR to Colorado via I-90 and visit MN / ND / CO friends OR maybe Montana for in laws). Fail fail fail. To be fair, the lady was really opposed to the road trip idea. Do more sticker art; put up 200+. Total fail. I didn’t even paint in 2016; not one stroke. Terrible. I am going to make a new friend and generally let go of 2 toxic relationships (one work and one personal). Mostly achieved. I did well to let go of two toxic people in my life and move past (and eventually toward forgiving). However, I still struggle with making new friends, and one old friend re-entered my life and that needs a little active managing (as the lady quickly points out). And then some other pretty specific stuff related to clean living (e.g. 1 vegetarian meal per day; FAIL), exercise (can always do better, but not bad), fixing stuff around the apt (plumbing work and electrical work done; great room plaster ceiling still slowing collapsing), & finding a new/fun/exciting job with less stress that allows me to do all of this (new F/T job, but it is perhaps only a stop-gap)

A 1-2 Mr. Natural punch. There have been a few #1s parked on the 'Bay for a while now. According to the census, we can expect these books to skew to higher grades #1 44 copies total Near Mint + 9.6 3 Near Mint 9.4 11 Near Mint - 9.2 7 Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 2 Very Fine + 8.5 3 Very Fine 8.0 6 Very Fine - 7.5 0 Fine/Very Fine 7.0 4 Fine + 6.5 3 Fine 6.0 1 Fine - 5.5 1Q Very Good/Fine 5.0 1 Very Good + 4.5 1 #2 48 copies total Mint 9.9 1 Near Mint/Mint 9.8 10 Near Mint + 9.6 13 Near Mint 9.4 5 Near Mint - 9.2 8 Very Fine/Near Mint 9.0 1 Very Fine + 8.5 3 Very Fine 8.0 2 Very Fine - 7.5 1 Fine/Very Fine 7.0 3 Fine + 6.5 0 Fine 6.0 0 Fine - 5.5 0 Very Good/Fine 5.0 1

I copied the auction text, and edited it down to just descriptions and price realized (with bid price)... By my count, the first 226 items grossed $2,156,155.50 (incl. BP) with an average of $9,540.51 per auction. Eric Sack Collection (Rnd 1)

Maus’ Evolution in Underground Comix The importance of the Maus graphic novels is well established in academia. Art Spiegelman was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 (Awards and Citations- Letters) for his efforts, and numerous publications and internet resources continue to elaborate on Maus’ importance in comic narratives, trauma literature (e.g. Orvell, 1992; Rothberg, 1994; & Berlatsky, 2003). However, limited scholarly attention is given to Maus’ evolution in underground comix movement. The following is an attempt to establish a printing history of the formative u-comix comprising Spiegelman’s development of Maus, including its serialization in RAW and printings prior to the tale being collected in graphic novels in 1986 and 1991 (Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History and Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began, respectively). The first appearance of Art Spiegleman’s Maus in print is well known to u-comix collectors, but less know to academia- the 3-page story titled simply “Maus,” which appeared in Apex Novelties’ Funny Aminals [sic] in 1972. Funny Animals was a one-shot anthology title of anthropomorphic comix edited by Terry Zwigoff (later the director/producer of the movie “Crumb”) and featuring a collection of seminal u-comix artists, including Robert Crumb, Jay Lynch, Shary Flenniken, Bill Griffith, and Spiegelman. Apex Novelties’ Don Donahue recalls thinking that Spiegelman “had outdone himself.” Oddly, the Funny Aminals story was not reprinted verbatim in the larger Maus story, rather it is Spiegleman’s first attempts to render his beast fable, e.g. cats as Nazis, mice as Jews. It was also a more detailed artistic style than what would eventually be adopted for the Maus graphic novels. Figure 1, excerpted from Brown (1988), illustrates Spiegelman’s evolution toward a more simple, elegant, and austere format for which to present his father’s Holocaust survival tale. “I didn’t want people to get too interested in the drawings,” Spiegelman said, “I wanted them to be there, but the story operates somewhere else” (Brown, 1988, pg. 103). In the case of Figure 1, Spiegelman takes two panels in Maus I to illustrate what one panel shows in Funny Aminals. Most academics, e.g. Doherty (1996), Rothberg (1994), or Huyssen (2000), would agree that this self-revision was both justified and effective in avoiding pitfalls associated with visual representation of the Holocaust, e.g. what Huyssen (2000) terms psycho-comikitsch. Figure 1. Comparison of styles from Funny Aminals to Maus I (after Brown, 1988). Funny Aminals pg. 10 (more detailed) Maus I pg. 117 (more austere) The next development followed two years later and again appeared quite different (Figure 2). The 4-page “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” from Head Press’ Short Order Comix #1 (1973) is a more personal, expressionistic story portraying a prisoner who is remorseful over the death of his mother (Johnston, 2001). Figure 2. “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” in Maus I Maus I pg. 99 Exhibitions of Spiegleman’s art have shown that he first used the format of Maus in Prisoner (Feinstein, 2006). And its inclusion (or direct reprinting) is used effectively to underscore the theme of Spiegelman’s relationship with his family (Figure 3). “Prisoner” provides important direct testimony to the emotional breakdown of father and son at the death of Anja and the survivor’s guilt, complete with Spiegelman in prison clothing reminiscent of Auschwitz (Huyssen, 2000). It reinforces the theme that Spiegelman will never be able to re-create Anja’s lost narrative nor her voice- as her journals were lost to the Nazis, her re-created notebooks lost to Vladek and the garbage, and her testimony forever lost after her suicide (Rothberg, 1994; Huyssen, 2000). Figure 3. The effect of “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” on the Maus characters Maus I pg. 104 Art Spiegelman Short Order Comix #1 “Prisoner on the Hell Planet” preliminary artwork original art group of 58 pieces (FMR Eric Sack collection; currently for sale by Heritage Auctions). This auction was what inspired me to resurrect this article, originally included in the 2006 “Supplement” to the Fogel’s Underground Comix Price Guide and include it in my journal. The auction description notes “this group of art contains many of the preliminary sketches and rough scripts that were used to produce the piece. In fact, there are 58 pages of preliminary artwork and notes in this group… some in color…some in graphite only. To say that Spiegelman is meticulous could be quite an understatement. The finished work speaks for itself, to be sure; however you can see the power of the story forming as he refines panels and the viewer’s POV for increasingly more dramatic and effective storytelling….” Because “Prisoner” breaks abruptly from the metaphor that so defined Maus, that it is actually another early development of the larger Maus tale is often overlooked by contemporary u-comix collectors. While “Prisoner” stands apart stylistically from the beast fable, it cannot be separated from the entirety of Spiegelman’s family story. Consider… The art for both u-comix developments “Maus” and “Prisoner” are dated 1972, which supports the notion that Spiegelman was artistically contemplating how best to render his family’s survival tale. “Prisoner” is reprinted entirely within Maus I, pages 100-103, and the intense, personal style of “Prisoner” is one Spiegelman uses effectively to offset the ascetic tone of the larger Maus beast fable. Finally, Prisoner’s publication year (1973) represents the first copyright listed in the indicia of Maus I. Following Short Order Comix #1 in 1973, “Maus” was reprinted in several u-comix until Spiegelman became editor of RAW in 1980. All of these appearances reprint the original 3-page “Maus” storyline from Funny Aminals and they include: • The Apex Treasury of Underground Comix (Apex Novelties, 1974) • Comix Book #2 (Magazine Management Co., 1975) • Breakdowns (Belier Press, 1977) By 1977 the original 3-page “Maus” had run its course in u-comix, culminating in Spiegelman’s own anthology Breakdowns (1977). Around then, Spiegelman had made the decision to do a larger work and began to see / interview his father more frequently (Feinstein, 2006). Spiegelman’s first chapter of the larger Maus tale was incorporated into RAW Vol. 1 #2 as small-format mini comix attached to the magazine’s back cover. Subsequent chapters followed with each successive issues of RAW (Kartalopoulos, 2005; Table 1). While Spiegelman had already created an outline and basic chapters for Maus through an unsuccessful proposal for a French magazine titled A Suivre, RAW provided him with an outlet for his work and a necessary deadline (Kartalopoulos, 2005). In 1986, Panteon Books complied RAW’s first six chapters of Maus into one volume for publication, titled “Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History. And the rest is history.* *It is worth noting that some pages, e.g. Chapter 1: The Sheik, were redrawn or edited slightly for book compilation (as shown in Kartalopoulos, 2005). References Berlatsky, E. (2003). Memory as forgetting: The problem of the postmodern in Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Spiegelman’s Maus. Cultural Critique, 55, 101-151. Brown, J. (1988). Review: of mice and memory. The Oral History Review, 16(1): 91-109. Doherty, T. (1996). Art Spiegelman’s Maus: graphic art and the holocaust. American Literature, 68(1), 69-84. Feinstein, S. (2006). Witness and legacy: Contemporary art about the Holocaust. University of Tennessee- Knoxville. Retrieved from SOMETHING. Huyssan, A. (2000). Of mice and mimesis: Reading Spiegelman with Adorno. New German Critique, 81: 65-82. Johnston, I. (2001). On Spiegelman’s Maus I and II. Malaspina University-College Liberal Studies 112 website. Retrieved from http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/introser/maus.htm. Kartalopoulos, B. (2005). A RAW history. Indy Magazine, Winter. Retrieved from SOMETHING Orvell, M. (1992). Writing posthistorically: Krazy Kat, Maus, and the contemporary fiction cartoon. American Literary History, 4(1): 110-128. Rothberg, M. (1994). We were talking Jewish: Art Spiegelman’s Maus as holocaust production. Contemporary Literature, 35(4): 661-687. Spiegelman, A. (1986). Maus: A Survivor’s Tale I: My Father Bleeds History. Pantheon Books, NY. Spiegelman, A. (1991). Maus: A Survivor’s Tale II: And Here My Troubles Began. Pantheon Books, NY. Young, J.E. (1998). The holocaust as vicarious past: Art Spiegelman’s Maus and the afterimages of history. Critical Inquiry, 24(3): 666-699.

In Oklahoma, no less!?

There was 1-2 Crumb pieces in the contemporary art auction catalog from Sack too. Do you think he kept part of the collection or that part of it will go on auction at a later time? Felix was asking me & I don't have a good answer... The depth and breadth of the collection is astonishing if this is only part of it (even if that part is >85%)...

Amazing you guys... be sure to share your stories so we can live vicariously. About once or twice a year Heritage will send me a catalog out of the blue. Just last week I received two for the Contempory Art aution (morning / afternoon). Boy did they have me pegged wrong

The Lady Speaks. . . Sunday Road Trip! Soundtrack: OM had the great idea that we should spend the last lovely day of the fall (this is a fair assumption given that we live in Wisconsin and today was nearly 70 and it’s November 6) heading south toward Chicago and hit up a bunch of comic book stores for back issues. I’ll let him tell you what he was looking for. [Om- Spawn, dammit. I really thought I was going to finish this run. The books I am seeking are pretty recent and I thought I would get lucky with a few older issues. Plus picking comics in Chicago is nostalgic for me.] As for me, I was seeking Grendel back issues and Munchkin back issues. Munchkin, it was announced in this month’s Previews, ends its run with #25 in February of 2017. I have thoroughly enjoyed this comic and am very sad to see it end. Because I have loved it so, my issues haven’t been kept as pristine as one would hope. We removed all the free cards from issues 1-12 and a lot of the early issues were treated as reader copies (i.e. placed around the house strategically to read at one’s leisure). Now the comic is ending, I feel compelled to go back and re-collect the best issues of 1-12 that I can possibly find. [Om- Truth be told, I hoarded the cards and am asking $25 for the set.] When it comes to Grendel I’m looking at some very specific mini runs and the original Comico line which has 40 issues all told in it. Other than the Comico run, I’m looking for Warchild, Behold the Devil, and one of the Grendel Tales stories (right now I cannot remember which one because I didn’t write it down because it wasn’t until recently that I learned that there have been something like 6 different mini-runs under the banner of Grendel Tales). Other back issues I’m always looking for are Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children (an old indie DC imprint called Piranha Press), Detective Comics 267 (1st appearance of Bat Mite), Detective Comics 230 (1st appearance of Mad Hatter), Captain Britain 8 (1st appearance of Psylocke), X-Men 129 (1st appearance of Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost), and X-Men 266 (1st appearance of Gambit). I’m also on the lookout for Nightmares and Fairytales TPB (2008) and Annabelle’s Story (2010). I’m not particular about condition. [Om- I guess if I’m being honest I would have also picked Usagi Yojimbo books. Or a few other things off my want list. And I expected to make some dollar book finds too.] I’m going to give a rundown of my impressions of each comic stop. OM has his own opinions. The first place we hit was Comix Revolution in Mount Prospect. This was a small, sparse store. The guy working was a bit brusque, a bit of a meathead looking guy. There were very few back issues. Most of what they had was Marvel and DC. Very few indies. Disappointing. [Om- One bookshelf of back issues, which the guy fanned through in big stacks, bending the books in half. There were some Usagi Yojimbos, but none for me and no Spawns either Rating- But only for the Usagis Next, we tried like heck to find Pastime Comics & Games in Niles. I don’t think this place exists, or if it does it’s on an alternate plane. So we moved on. [Om- We were early and drove around some before giving up. Rating- Flaming Spawn eyes. We doubt your existence card shop. Our next stop was Aw Yeah Comics in Skokie. Another sparse store. The guy at the counter was super friendly and told us that they had just sold all their back issues two weeks ago. Apparently, the offer was one that they couldn’t refuse. I didn’t really look around this store all that much because I was distracted by a rack of writing journals. [Om- Somebody made them an offer they could not refuse, so they sold all their back issues. Rating- No Spawns Dark Tower Comics in the Lincoln Park area was our next stop. This store was set up kind of weird. Again, heavy on the Marvel, DC, Vertigo and kids’ comics. They did have a bunch of back issues and I was able to pull 4 Grendels out at $1 apiece. I also picked up a couple of Munchkins. Two positives about this store: 1) they had a public restroom and 2) the automatically bagged and boarded your raw comics. But the girl working was a bit of a fake geek girl who was more interested in putting together some IKEA shelving than helping customers. [Om- That line above was mine, actually, said perhaps unfairly and with a bit of spite. After much digging, there was some Spawn, lots of Curse of Spawn $1 issues and a ½ box of unpriced Spawn that I found, including a #244 marked $1. I asked “Are these Spawns for sale?” FGG “No, they still have to be priced.” Me “OK” (then to the lady) “Figured, there is one that is on my list marked $1” FGG- (AFTER finishing the lady’ s transaction, capitulating) “Oh well, I suppose…” Me “No, don’t worry about it. I’m not going to use a debit card for $1.” Rating- And a because I know there was at least 2 books for me in there. Our last stop before lunch was at Alley Cat Comics in Andersonville (like N Wrigleyville). This is a small store. Great location and a very cool store. Sadly, it was full of people waiting for their brunch times and they just stood in the aisles. This was also the first (but not last) store that seemed to display its moderns based on themes as opposed to standard publisher and alphabetizing. I found my needed Grendel Omnibus 1, though, so I was happy. I’ve never seen Omnibus 1 in the wild so I felt like I had to purchase it. After leaving Alley Cat OM did make the observation “All these places are terrible!” [Om- Ugh, by brunch we were in the northern portion of hell. Amazingly, I found parking in the neighborhood not far from the store. Super cool building down this faux alley. Books are by genre- and Spawn is a super hero? Anti-hero? Fantasy? WTF. Tried to look in back issues and did successfully, but had to move around this yoga dude all posing, stretched out 6 long boxes wide. Two dad-bods just standing in front of a cool display of Black Mask books right on rack. I just had to stop and back into them reaching for a Young Terrorist. Funny. Rating- You could be SO cool if you weren’t so try-hard. ALSO, I picked a Space Usagi ashcan that is foxing pretty bad. Lunch: Lou Malnati’s in Evanston, near Northwestern. Food was excellent. Service was pretty awful. I chalk that up to it being a big-named franchise location near a college campus. I don’t expect great service at a place like that. Our overly moist waiter managed to screw up just about everything except the pizza order (and truly we ended up with a much better salad than we had originally ordered). Plus, we had to ask for everything twice. [Om- Sigh, I hate you big city. Just trying to show my lady something nice! Rating- I got the Buttercrust®, damminit After lunch we walked to Comix Revolution’s Evanston location. It was only a 10 minute stroll through the heart of Evanston and after Lou Malnati’s pizza, a walk is indeed a good idea. This was a very hip store with a ton of indies, but again, the books were organized thematically which makes finding something like Munchkin difficult. Is it a kids’ book? A video game book? A fantasy/science fiction book? (For the record, all superhero books are science fiction/fantasy, whoever told these kids differently did them a great disservice). There were very few back issues here, but it was a cool enough store that I might visit again (if I can stomach Evanston again). [Om- I did a bunch of research from RCheli’s thread, but neglected to heed the warning in the title "I Went to Nearly Every Comic Store Around Chicago So You Wouldn't Have To" Rating- Just for the gaul to still ask $11.95 for those three Small Press Expo shirts from 2001. Hilarity. From there we hit the last store of the day Comix Gallery in Wilmette. Just to repeat—again, comics were arranged in some sort of esoteric thematic manner and they mixed their graphic novels in with the comics which was slightly irritating. However, this store is the first one we found that had a sale section for TPB’s. The other thing this one did that the others didn’t is that they had a vast number of bundled comics for sale, but no rhyme or reason to how those were organized. There were some back issues but most were 3/$1 raw copies in overstuffed long boxes. The guy working was very chatty and that was fun because everywhere else had been less than friendly. I did end up buying some more Munchkins, though. So all in told I cut my Munchkin list nearly in half. I still need 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, and 12. I knocked Grendel Omnibus 1 off my list and found Behold the Devil 8 (I need 5-7) and Warchild 3, 8, and 10 (I need 2 and 9). [Om- The lady found a Greendale (Neil Young) hardcover for me for $4. She knows a few of the family obsess over that album, incl. me. The guy had some great theories as to why I was striking out on Spawn- such as, McFarlane has the printing down to science to the point whereby they are basically putting the books directly into the fans hands, leaving only stores that order big to have back issues. He also said concept art for the movie caused people to buy up back issues and also noted that McFarlane has a way of creating small demand surges by limiting reprinting, giving the feeling that ‘the floppies are the material’ and so some fans may have multiple copies. Great chat, could have talked here for hours, but it was time to get the hell outta dodge. Rating- For conspiracy theories at least. The way I see it, the day wasn’t a total loss. Now we know which comic books NOT to hit and we know that Sunday might not be the best day to do such a trek as brunch can interfere with picking comics. Plus, we got out of the house, I avoided grading for another day, and we saw some lovely fall color. [Om- And I got to spend time with my special lady friend. Ten Spawns!!! (… left to go)

Once a collector learns to live without… OK… the lady made the comment that about how she was dominating the journal these days and how my hiatus has extended another month. This domination continued FRI night at the local comic store (LCS) where she shut me out 4 – 0 on new book pulls. This is part due to my lack of orders from Previews the past two months, as well as my busy schedule. As she closes out her first quarter at the college, I know her schedule will fill up and she may not write as much. Therefore, I have to get back into the habit of journaling to close out the year and think through new collecting goals for 2017. I wrote long about how “once a collector learns to live without, the passionate need to possess diminishes” (after Rinker or Welch). So what have I done in a month? Well… I guess living without. I have not really purchased any comics since my X-Men #9 and 12. I skipped Mighty Con Milwaukee- perhaps the last best one before it morphs into something bigger. I read Han Solo and Star Wars, and read through all 5 of The Massive TPBs while on jury duty. I enjoyed it… the perfect forced downtime. My most interesting modern pulls have been: My work schedule has been humming along and when I not too tired, I have enjoyed the balance of evenings and nights free of grading. I have been averaging three site visits per week, which both provides quality windshield time and demanding writing time. Proposal work has been steady and cool buildings explored include a convent in rural Wisconsin, a historic 1887 school, an old ice cream company, and a few homes. Just last night I finished a 4-day online meeting for big online University. It was the perfect time to double down on a little professional development ahead of some more institutional change (including going to Blackboard Ultra). I also have a night course starting in mid-December for a little extra holiday monies. SPEAKing of holidays… the lady and I booked a little winter holiday in Paris, that includes an $86 flight into Venice for her birthday dinner. Surprisingly to us, the whole jaunt is cheaper than going home to Montana for Christmas and well, one hopes the parents understand. FINALLY, fall is my favorite season. Our Halloween party, an open house eclectic mix of family, friends and coworkers, was a RUMP FEST (L- Om & Lady; R- Om MON for work)! Whew bwoy, we went all out with $$$ worth of food, beer, & booze to accompany the lady’s much lauded shrimp dip and roasted veg tray. It was a slow burn, yet proceeded until 4AM at the corner spot bar. I stayed up another hour cleaning up before trying disc golf on short rest at a beautiful course in kettle moraine country, where I… played solid through 11 holes before puffing some super skunk and then having a giant anxiety attack until properly hydrated. Eeeeeep. Is there such a thing as a 3-day hangover? We think so… SO… FRI we popped our heads up and after the LCS shared some happy hour maki at the lil sushi place down the block. Yesterday was a glorious 30 holes of disc golf and now SUN I am watching my fave sport- English Premier League Football (Go Liverpool!). Today I talked the lady into a comic pick run starting in Northern Illinois and ending at Chicago Comics before 7pm tonight. The goals are… 1. Finish my Spawn run, specifically- 156, 168 upgrade, 169, 174 Gunslinger, 216, 218, 221, 222, 223, 230, 244 2. Deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s (I’m craving the crust, and the lady has already had the other contenders) 3. Windshield time during the last Indian summer day of the year 4. Possible stop at Mar’s Cheese Castle

Look at this on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/152201644680 A nice CGC 9.4 on eBay with a make an offer feature. I thought about upgrading mine for a spell, but I'm pretty cool with my copy. Still, this price is not too bad for showpony. He's only 1.5hrs away and pulling high grade underground comix (but the prices are beyond pushing the market). I wonder if he'd meet up IRL at a con...

FRI was drinks out with the lady's department SAT Roman Coin 50th anniversary block party and 2 sets of Dr Chow's Love Medicine (band BTW). Nice weather too. SUN disc golf with the boys And now jury duty for two days. Some 100+ were called over 6 times (15-35). Not me until dismissed for day at 435pm. Work before, then courthouse at 9am tomorrow. $25 per day and I'm too honest not to pick as juror, so... what nice comic can I buy with my jury duty monies!? A random (cribbed) selection

Here is an old Howard copy, bought off these boards from one of his sales threads. Howard and I met over at the comicspriceguide boards. We hit it off because we both liked high grade stuff and didn't mind slabbing books. We were in the minority back then. We talked more by phone through the years, I had him on my cell. Hit him up and ask about this book or that. Was I overpaying? it is nice to have someone like that when dealing with underground comix markets. He'd ask me if I was selling anything (he always wanted first crack). I remember rolling over to these boards one day and BOOM there he was selling books! His threads always surprised me. He was never one to hype his threads. I think I picked this Die Gretchen after it sat a day or two at $99 More info: http://comixjoint.com/diegretchen.html

I bought this one off eBay from Apex Novelties (Don Donahue) c. 2005? I think it is every bit 9.4+ except those staples (from being bound in the magazine and pulled out).

Not the best picture, but in jury duty the next couple of days.

The Sucha News copy of #5 garnered 9.8. I bought all the first print Sucha News available from Metropolis c 2012. Overpaid for some n underpaid for some, but the #5 was the most expensive.

Continuing with the Crumb... A Schenker / Print Mint File Copy #8 Don't you love those old label CGCs... the notes were so sparse.

Hey BrotherJ. Thanks for reading and posting. I was looking through your eBay auctions yesterday getting tips for when (someday) I begin listing. I noticed that they were BIN. I find myself thinking about backing off of a modern comic pull list and going back to feeding off the racks. It is fun to see the Diamond Previews, however… I like gaining access to the more independent books being published. I would also miss the social aspect of the comic shop and talking with my LCS manager (we have shared interests in bicycling and music). And finally there is the ‘idea’ that I finally live within such easy walking distance of a shop. ANYways… I find myself thinking about it more and more. I was listening and the topic of Mighty Con came up three different times while grinding the floor. All I kept thinking was “be careful what you wish for.” I have called for Mighty Con to expand but the logistics of moving downtown are prohibitive IMHO. Plus 3x the table cost! One of the best things about Mighty Con was the $20 table fee. I could set up there and make a quick $120 grinding readers and surplus. And man the crowds sure did respond! One thing I think will help Mighty Con is that they do a good turn on social media and do drive public interest. However, this is the new breed of collector… more interested in prints and Funko Pops (Funko Pop vinyls are the new Beanie Babies). They do not necessarily buy comics as your posts attest, BroJ. A $60 table fee precludes me setting up; $7 entrance (x2-3ppl) and $10 to park (or bussing it) probably precludes me too. Suddenly it seems that Burnham Bowl is the show to set up at. Like the lady said, nobody seems worried for the ‘little bowling alley show that could,’ there just seems some goodwill toward Burnham Bowl. Our 30+ year old show. In a bowling alley. With a bar.

Pulling my floppies Soundtrack: SAT was a lovely raining morning at home. English Premier League soccer, Marco Polo episodes on Netflix and a little time to hobby with the comic books. Of course, this lovely sort of do-nothing morning weighed on the lady and by the afternoon she was a little stir crazy and wanton of a tame adventure with a bloody mary reward. Since she had just finished reading Assassin’s Creed: Locus #1 with the first appearance of Evie and Henry, she was kind of interested in obtaining a copy with Evie on the cover (being a cool AC female character). Additionally, she was looking forward to acquiring a copy of REBIRTH Batman Beyond… so Lost World of Wonders was our first stop. I was a nice, busy visit… she pulled a few books that she had been eyeing or that our LCS missed on our pull list, plus found a Neko Atsumi plush toy (Mr. Meowgi) and I was treated to my 5th and final installment of The Massive TPBs (Ragnorak). SAT I also took the time to organize my Star Wars and Han Solo comics and download all my digital downloads. Han Solo is easily consumed, while SW is fully 4 months behind with little retention of the previous issues and only to about #8 on my digital re-read. STILL, it was an interesting convergence of my comic collecting / reading styles… my first TPB series in The Massive versus my first digital series in Star Wars. As I catch up with both books, I want to be mindful of the reading experience and further explore these new approaches as an opportunity to ween myself off pulling floppies. Indeed, the past two Previews magazines have yielded next to nothing as far as new titles- nothing for last month and only the Mickey Mouse Inferno TPB and the Little Golden Book- I Am a Stormtrooper. Both of which I plan on popping on BTW, as the right bizarre MM book can fetch a 20-dollar bill to the right buyer and aspiring to be a child Stormtrooper is just plain strange when on pauses to think on it. SUN cancelled on Maxwell St Day’s flea market after it rained the better part of SAT set up and SUN early morning. I felt bad cancelling, as I was supposed to meet a coworker out there for a pick, but this type of rain really does impact dealer load in and set up and in my experience decreases the number of dealers. I am sure that there was still plenty of people in attendance, however I texted my buddy to get his read and he was all “hell naw” and I know another acquaintance that did not set up either. In the end my instincts were correct, as my coworker described it as a day slogging in the mud (though he did pick some interesting items to resell in his Etsy store). As it were, the chef “got pretty rumped” SAT night and so he texted that he was out for the Burnham Bowl comic show. In the end, SUN morning was a little more QT, English football, and hobbying. I loosely joked that we would not find anything as good SUN at the bowling alley as we already had. Boy, was I wrong. About 1130am we motivated over to the show by way of the ATM with our budget now $60 each after the entrance fee. I wandered the show’s wall books first, as many of the longboxes were occupied. I found a dealer that had a new dealer (DVD) that had many early X-Men in FRGD to VG or slightly better. I lingered looking at the books for a few minutes, listening in on his conversations with other potential customers, before becoming trapped in my own conversation that stretched for another 20 minutes or so (he did note that he sold the X-Men 4 from the group for 200). Eventually I excused myself to make the rounds on the floor and grind some long boxes, with the thought of schweet, early X-Men on my mind. I talked to a few dealers and listened to more, informing some of what the lady wrote on the changes to Mighty Con (and the Pop Con feud with Zurko Productions). I heard that old Ron Killian from Turning Page was like many original (OG) Golden Age collectors of their time… low on Marvel. “Like many of them, they were loyal to DC or Fawcett or Centaur… so he had one low numbered X-Men, but otherwise no Silver Age Marvel to speak of….” Stuff like that. Eventually I plucked $18 in $1-2 books from John Hauser, interrupting one such conversation to settled up with my $20 bill. Some of what I bought ended up being surplus to requirements, such as a few NM- Mad Love/Kitchen Sink “From Hell” books and one early Books of Magic prestige volume, However, I did score NM copies of Usagi Yojimbo 2, Frank Miller’s Ronin 1-2, and Astro City vol1 2-4 that should (someday) pay for the whole stack. Hopefully the doubles will serve to upgrade some of the lady’s existing copies or become readers (still, that was $8 spent unwisely). After breaking the ice with 1/3 of my greenback stack, I rallied out to the bar to conspire with the lady and plan anew. I thought I could perhaps buy one of the nicer X-Men books I viewed… perhaps the #9 Avengers crossover (priced at 120) or the #12 1st Juggernaut (130), if I was able to sweet talk a little extra cashish (or who knows what I was thinking). It did not matter, since it was time to sit down and discuss things through. Truthfully, the X-Men conversation had been bubbling for a few weeks and she suggested taking some additional funds and going after both the 9 and 12 for ~200. After hitting the ATM, I gave my remaining funds to her to help cover lunch (~18), holding back a 20 in case I had to stretch my offer a little further. I ordered my cheeseburger basket ($6) and went back in to scrutinize X-Men 12. By now, the show was much quieter and upon approaching DVD’s booth I noticed the 12 was missing and presumed sold. Dealer: “I have someone interested in all 5 books [5 low numbered X-Men, including 7, 8, 9, 11 & 12]” Om: “Ok, no problem… what are you thinking for all five?” Dealer: “Oh I told them I could probably do 15% off… are you interested in them?” Om: “Truthfully, only the 9 and 12, they are closer to the condition I am looking for.” Dealer: “Are you serious about the books? Cash right?” Om: “Yes sir, cash on the barrelhead… the most I could do is 220 for both.” I went full boat right off the bat. I generally think that -20% off is a good starting point for a larger cash transaction, and I also think he priced the books with the idea that they would be discounted a little. However, by our conversation I understood him to be willing to go about 15% off for a transaction of $300-400. AND, I presumed, my competition for the book was right there. So I went full boat right off the bat and for a moment I thought that the dealer was going to initiate a bidding war and pit the two of us against each other (I would have bowed out on principle). Thankfully, the other buyer did not interject as I weathered the following: Dealer: “Can you do 230?” Om: Slowly, “thank you so much for letting me look at the books… I am sorry but 220 is the best I can offer. I understand if you hold out for more.” Dealer: “225?” Om: “I’m really sorry, this is the drawback for me offering my whole stack…” Makes point of emptying wallet and turning out pockets. Dealer: “You can do 225.” Om: “220.” And… BOOM(!) we shook on it and the deal was done.

Fiscal fasting, new ‘mics & a pick… Soundtrack: Productivity is coming back, but not surprisingly my head hit the pillow at 8pm last and I slept a restorative 8 hours before waking and binging on Netflix’s Marco Polo (my latest watch). Hump day and new comic day. The lady and I are saving for SUN Maxwell St Days flea market in Cedarburg (~7AM) followed by Burnham Bowl comic show (11AM). I am calling it “the last pick of the year.” And I will run into some new coworkers on the flea market grounds. We invited the chef to join but the starting time is too early for him, so we will pick him up midway for the comic show only. I would have liked to set up and sell at a Burnham show… the runaway success of Mighty Con means that Burnham has been down dealers while still retaining a steady flow of customers (still, it is a dollar book type show). However, social schedules prevail and I am lazy. So today the lady and I are saving pennies and fiscal fasting. No spending ANY money. If we can succeed today, we should be in a good place. Tomorrow is local music at Radio Milwaukee (the Quilz) and if we head straight home after (and not out to eat), then FRI we can splurge on drinks/apps with coworkers and still have a budget for SUN picking (~100/ea plus 10 for parking). Fiscal fast means not picking up new comics tonight, but waiting until tomorrow after music. So double bonus for being disciplined and coming straight home tomorrow is new ‘mics and a pick. My expected pulls this week are: Batman Beyond 1 Hunt 3 Star Wars 23 Assassin’s Creed Locus 1 Dishonored 3 Munchkin 21 Backstagers 2 (for my niece) Tank Girl Gold 1? Previews magazine I keep having these images of Harvey Pekar and his collecting in the back of my mind… Maybe I will change the title of the journal for 2017? How I quit collecting moderns and bought an ASM1 with the money I saved

Slow Death Funnies #1 1st. Benefit book for an ecology center that according to the Comix Joint website (2013) the center rejected the book after it was published, leaving [Ron] Turner to sell the 20,000 copies on his own. It was published just a week before the first Earth Day 1970.