Bronze Age Baby

Memorabilia: The Dark Knight Returns

You know, that’s why I have this big box of crap sitting in my home office: to buy time on the blog. While I know you’re waiting desperately to hear what title renewed my faith in 1980s comic books, I’m afraid I have a new semester to start.

So enjoy this, perhaps the pride of my collection of old comic book ephemera. Seems timely; isn’t The Dark Knight still in theaters? I probably paid five dollars or less to take this off the hands of my local comic shop, where it had been sitting on the counter. I believe it appeared after issue #2 of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns but before issue #3. Oh, the waits between issues were torture! Kids today just pick it up in trade paperback, grumble, grumble, grumble…

Anyway, it’s about 9″ by 13″, plastic, attached to a cardboard easel-thing that lets it stand. What sells it, though, is that the image of Batman is raised, giving it a 3-D effect. I hope that comes through in the photo.

This sat on top my turntable all through high school. Nerd!

Deep Sigh: Worst Fear Realized?

First, let me establish my Alpha Flight bona fides: I was a true ‘Byrne Victim’ long before I’d heard the phrase. I’ll talk about my love of his Fantastic Four run here before long. I was all primed for the team’s debut in their own title. Heck, I subscribed and yet was so eager for the resolution of the first plotline that ran out and bought a copy of the third issue before mine arrived in the mail.

Heck, I bought this thing, whatever it is:

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(In case you’re curious, it’s a kind of banner, made out of some felt-like material of all things. Hangs from a dowel rod, about 15″x23″. I have a bunch of these stored away. Marvel must have been the only ones producing them, as there’s no DC or independents.)

You can probably guess where this is going. Brace yourself, because this is going to take a while. Read the rest of this entry »

Diving In: ALPHA FLIGHT

The boxes weren’t in any particular order, and #2 was right there on the top. Let’s see, what’s in there? Oh yeah, Alpha Flight!

Awesome! I loved them. This should be great.

Preliminary Apprehension

I have to admit that I was a little nervous. After all, these comics had pretty much been the most important thing in my life as a teenager. Besides girls. Maybe. I talked all the time about how the Eighties had been the Second Golden Age of Comics. Here was the proof; here was the pudding. Stacked up in boxes on my porch, waiting to be moved to the basement. Where to start? What was on top? Hmm, let’s see.

Memorabilia: The Test

One of the things I plan on doing here on Bronze Age Baby is sharing some of the cool crap I accumulated back in the day. Or, to class it up a bit, let me call it ephemera. I was a sucker for just about any promotional materials my local comics shop had. “Can I have that when you’re done with it?” The answer was usually yes and I only occasionally had to pay for it.

So, to start here’s a reminder that Batman: The Dark Knight Returns wasn’t always a nifty all-in-one trade paperback. Months went by between issues. Long, tortuous months! It was no Camelot 3000 but it was news when an issue came out:

It’s about 6″x9″, on light cardstock. I can’t remember if I had to pay for it or not, but I think it was a give-away. Looks like we’ve passed that test!

The Collection in Question

So, what is this collection anyways? Well, in 1982 I probably had about 200 comic books. In 1988, when I went off to college, I had over 4000. I never collected seriously again after that, but there were enough fits and starts over the last two decades that I estimate the total count at over 5000 now. (Rest assured that a careful tabulation of the total is on my agenda. You know, after everything else gets done.)  

Once I went off to college I had to find a home for it all. Thirty-something short boxes. Luckily I have a wonderful aunt who volunteered to store it in her basement, along with a number of other things all deserving their own posts. There they all sat, in a basement in rural Minnesota, for twenty years.  

Cut to Phoebe and Dave O, shopping for a house. One of the criteria, much to the amusement of their realtor, is room for 5000 comic books. A house with suitable space is found, but it’s not quite as easy as that. Phoebe has the excellent idea that perhaps it would be best for the comics to remain in storage until the dissertation is done. Good thinking, that.  

Against all odds the dissertation was indeed completed and, after a long day of driving and heavy lifting, the collection came to reside in its present location, as shown below. Luckily, it fit perfectly! As can be seen below:

(Phew! The image-posting system is successfully tested. With bonus, totally unimpressed, cat!)  

It Begins (at last)!

And thus a dream is realized. 

It seems like it was ages ago that the realization struck me:  this interweb-thing could be used for non-academic (and non-porn) things! Things like science fiction, Tolkien, and - most importantly - comic books. Halcyon days indeed, as I slowly discovered and devoured all the comic-book blogs I could lay my eyes on. To any and all I often declared my intentions: “When this dissertation is done, as Uatu as my witness, I will have a comics blog!”

And lo! It came to pass. Not through my efforts, of course. The Watcher may not have heard, but Zardoz certainly did. At my graduation party he presented me with the virtual keys to this blog, all set up with the name I had bandied about for so long. All praise Zardoz!