Comic Book Friday: Big Flea Finds

There wasn't a lot of good comic picking at the last Big Flea.  A couple of the usual dealers weren't there, and several that were did not bring their cheaper stock.  Oh well.  At least the comic shop will start having sales again soon.

I did find a couple of things, but not too much.

You all know I love me some old romance comics.  Typically, though, I stick with the DC comics, as they are both the cheesiest and the best quality.  This one is from Charlton, which was kind of a bargain basement comics company overall.  I got it because I liked the cover, which has an interesting and uncommon art style with all the shading. Charlton wasn't generally known for doing unique stuff like this.  The cover itself reads like this could be the comic version of the "Me Too" movement, except that you just know in the story she's going to fall in love with the creepy boss. 

I already have this one in several versions, so it's going to the booth. Also known by the title Barefoot Gen, this is one of the most powerful manga I have ever read.  The cartoonist lived through the atomic bomb blast in Hiroshima, and the comic tells that story.  It's graphic, intense, and not for the faint of heart.  It's also incredibly timely right now, as we have leaders bandying the prospect of nuclear war about like it's no big thing.  I highly recommend this book.

Thirteen Going on Eighteen  is a teen humor series by John Stanley, who wrote and drew the classic Little Lulu comics.  His work has a style and flair to it that I have always loved.  

More romance comics, this time from DC.  This was the second-to-last issue of Young Romance, which ceased publication in 1975.  The romance genre in comics did not survive the 70's, sadly.  I got this book and the one below from a dealer who is always at the Big Flea.  I usually buy manga and Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew books from him.  He's had these comics forever, but wanted ten bucks each for them.  Not from this romance comic geek. He'd marked them way, way, way down to a much more reasonable price, so I picked them both up.

And that's the comic book update for this week  I'm going to work really hard to make this the regular thing I intended for it to be this year.

I'm off to an estate sale today that is supposed to have not only old comics, but one of my other comic obsessions.  At least, according to the pictures.  The person running the sale has caused some problems for me in the past, so I generally give her sales a wide berth, but I can't pass this up. Wish me luck!

And today, I am 52!

It's time for....

Well, comics geeks will get the joke anyway.

You see, for the past couple of decades or so, major comic companies have gotten in the habit of reinventing their lines every so often--tossing out everything that has gone before and starting it all over.  This is why the Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al that you see today are very different from the ones that were being published in the 90's, the 80's, the 70's, and so on and so on.

It's also one of the reasons why I prefer to stick to reading pre-1990 super-hero books.  It's gotten way too confusing to try and keep up.

Anyway, in 2011, DC comics did a relaunch they called "The New 52."

Since this is my 52nd birthday, and thus the start of a whole new year for me, I decided that would also be a pretty nifty theme for this birthday.

Not to mention allowing me to do a birthday post and a Comic Book Friday post in one fell swoop!

EDIT:  Oh yeah!  I forgot to mention that there's a theme song too.  All good birthdays have one, you know.

Just take out "New Zoo Review" and sing "The New 52" in its place.  Totally works.



Singing pink hippos optional.  (But who wouldn't want one?)

This one's for Roger Green!

It's not often you find a comic that has a connection to someone you actually know, so when I saw this one at the Big Flea a while back, I had to pick it up.

Blogging buddy and role model Roger Green worked for the company that published Smilin' Ed  and knew the creators well.  I'd been wanting to post this for s while, but decided that today is a good time to do it for two reasons.

First, just to let him know that I'm thinking about him and to send him some cheer.  The anniversary of his father's death was this week.  It was right after my father died that Roger reached out to me and we bonded over having experienced the same type of loss.  He's a good man.

Also, this seemed like a good way to inaugurate a new feature for the blog:  Comic Book Fridays!  Whenever I can remember to do it, I'll be posting something comic book related on Friday.  I hope to talk about some aspects of comics that will be helpful to other junkers, but also to share a bit about my favorites, trivia, etc.

Hope you enjoy it!

PS Check out Roger's blog for thorough, thought-provoking, and humorous posts every day.