Kelly is a master of digging through the quarter boxes. Those of you who are not comic readers, let me tell you about this incredibly cool--by which I mean dorky as fuck--ritual. Most comic shops have boxes and boxes of back issues of every title imaginable. Most of these aren't worth dick as collector's items, because for a comic to actually appreciate in value it has to be pretty much mint. Of course that's not an absolute but for the most part, those old comics in your attic aren't going to make you rich. So comic shops will buy boxes full of them from collectors (or collectors' parents who got pissed off about their kid going off to college and leaving all these damn comics everywhere), oftentimes without even really looking through them. Occasionally they get a gem, but for the most part, they end up in neatly sorted back-issue boxes priced cheaply or, in the cases where they're not even deemed worth organizing, in the quarter box -- as in "dig through this box of random shit, take what you want, and it's $.25 a pop."
You can spend a whole afternoon sitting on the floor, ending up smudged from fingers to face in newsprint, and come out of it with a whole run of Claremont's New Mutants (not that I've done that *cough*) or the complete Emerald Allies crossover (Kyle as Green Lantern/Connor as Green Arrow -- slashiest bromance ever). There will also often be a fifty-cent box and a dollar box, but oh, the quarter box is where the magic happens.
And now, a scan from one of Kelly's favorite quarter box finds: Marvel Team-up (vol 1, #121, 1982) Featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch, by DeMatteis/Gammill.
Hold me, Pete! Our bromance depends on it!
Damn you for looking so heroic, Johnny!
Torch, you jerk! ... I love you anyways. :/
Ah, the early 80s. Good times.
That's all for this edition, but come back next time for a round with the way-back machine!
Post a Comment