Welcome to the first Thrift Justice of 2013! Oddly enough, the stuff you’re seeing today is probably the stuff I’ve been holding onto the longest. Before I ever really envisioned the whole Thrift Justice thing, I used to frequent thrift stores to rummage through the longboxes of long forgotten comics. Longboxes are a funny thing for me – while they’re sometimes filled with treasure, they simultaneously fill me with a sense of anxiety that I can’t even convey. I have this tic where I feel like I HAVE to go through each box because you never know what might be in them. I HAVE TO. So, a room with 14 longboxes is both a blessing and a curse. Luckily, the thrift store only had about 2 boxes, but I never really expected to find what you’re going to see here today: autographed comics!
The thing with autographed books is that you never really know if they’re authentic. I mean, unless you watched it get signed, anyone could’ve put that signature on there, certificate of authenticity be damned! Still, I’m a bit familiar with the signatures we’ll see, so even if fake, they’re good forgeries.
First up, we’ve got the Top Cow “classic” (can you see me making air quotes?) CyberForce #1. I actually recently read the first volume of this series, so I’ll cover it in the upcoming return of Adventures West Coast. For now, let’s just focus on this one issue. It appears to be signed by EVERYONE at Homage Studios (except Jim Lee). Sadly, they gave it the gold Sharpie treatment, so I can’t read most of them. Because I have history with Dynamic Forces limited editions, I can make out some of it. For example, that’s Top Cow CEO/series creator Marc Silverstri’s signature across the title. Anyway, this book is from the early 90s, so it’s got the requisite holofoil gimmick cover, and will probably give you lead poisoning if you breathe in too much around it. Man, I can’t wait to review that book. It was GOLD!
Anyone remember Devin Grayson? Well, if you’re new to comics, there was actually a woman who once worked for DC Comics NOT named Gail Simone! While Gail was off writing Agent X (Deadpool Who Wasn’t Deadpool. Don’t ask), Devin was a key writer in the Batman corner of the DCU. She had long stints on The Titans and Nightwing (she actually wrote a controversial issue where he got raped. Not even lying), plus she wrote the majority of the Batman: Gotham Knights series. Then, she went on to Marvel to write the forgotten Ghost Rider: The Hammer Lane series, and just kinda faded away. At one time, there was Devin, Christina Z, and Louise Simonson, yet people act like Gail was some sort of trailblazer.
If you were a comic creator in the mid-late 90s, chances are you went through a Titties & Monsters phase. It was something of a rite of passage. This was that phase for Tony Daniel. Oh, you know who he is. He likes to be called Tony S. Daniel or Anthony Daniel now, but same guy: he took over the art on Grant Morrison’s Batman once Kubert bailed. He also wrote the New 52 relaunch of Detective Comics. I actually bought this series when it was out. Published by Image Comics, The Tenth was about some jailbait that hung out with a big ass monster. It probably had some kinda plot, but I was 16 and I liked how he drew girls. At least Spawn was “What if Satan Were Batman”, but 15 years later and I still can’t tell you what the Hell it was about. Anyway, this was an exclusive cover offered by American Entertainment – they were a mail order company that used to have ads in all the comics.
This is the final issue of the JLA: Year One maxiseries, signed by inker Michael Bair. I’m familiar with his work because he inked Rags Morales’s art on Identity Crisis. In fact, I initially got his autograph when I met him and Brad Meltzer at a signing for Identity Crisis. So, while flipping through the longbox, I said aloud, “I know that guy!” Anyway, I’ve never actually read this series. Mark Waid wrote it, so it’s probably good. That said, it’s pre New 52, which means it “doesn’t count” anymore. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
This is Wonderlost #1, signed by writer C.B. Cebulski. This was an interesting project. I actually read this when it was originally released, as I got a comp copy some years back. CB was an editor at Marvel, but had the option to do work for other publishers, so he delivered this anthology of anecdotes from his adolescence. While it entertaining read, it still left you wondering “Why?” Like, it read like one of those collections you’d get from a company like Top Shelf, where they call them “comix”. Each anecdote is handled by a different artist, and the cover was by Leinil Francis Yu. It’s clear that it was a bit of a love letter to his teenage years, but it was just such an odd fit for Image at the time. In fact, it probably still would be. He’s currently the Senior VP of Creative and Creator Development for Marvel.
I put these two together because that’s how I found them: sharing opposites sides of the same bag/board combo. Also, they seem to go together thematically. Here, we have Hitman #5 and Preacher #17. These clearly came from the same collection, as they’re both made out to “Bob”. Hitman is signed by series artist John McCrea, while Preacher is signed by cover artist Glenn Fabry. Plus, the chick at the register just seemed to think it was one really thick comic, so two signed comics for $0.50! Anyway, I haven’t read much of either series. I think they’ve finally collected all of Hitman, so I’ll definitely check that out. Meanwhile, I’m still on Vol 2 of Preacher.
So, there ya have it. My mild obsession led to some interesting finds, and I never paid more than fifty cents for any of them. Try paying a creator fifty cents for his signature at a convention! Are they all legitimate? I think they are, but who knows? WHO CARES?! I got a good story out of it, right? And, really, that’s all that really counts.
Will, do you ever notice this while looking thru longboxes at thrift stores: They’ll have a miniseries & they’ll have all but one issue. It doesn’t matter what mini series, they all have one missing issue. One place had 5 or 6 nearly complete series except that one damn comic.
Oh, that happens ALL the time! Depending on my confidence level that day, sometimes I’ll just buy all the parts they have, and tell myself I’ll track down the missing issue later. Find that issue was much easier back when more stores carried back issues. Instead, what I’m looking for is probably in some other dollar box. It’s a neverending saga!