Working The Boxes: The Unbearable Lightness Of Comic Marts, Part II

Working The Boxes is all about back issue discoveries, whether they're buried in dusty old comic boxes or digitally sourced online.

Rob N: Comic marts in the past may have been wet and windy affairs, but last Sunday saw the return of the heatwave that turned us all into sunbaked desert lizards for most of the summer. It was a fitting start then to our hunting expedition to London in search of old comic books and ephemera. No need to burden myself down with heavy coats and umbrellas this time around; just a small day bag and, tucked inside, a good sturdy hemp-based 'bag for life' to hold the inevitable books I’d be buying.

Other than that I armed myself with a single sheet of A4 paper on which I’d scribbled the numbers of comics I was particularly looking out for. I always have a full Excel spreadsheet of my comic collection loaded onto my phone, but in the heat of the crate digging that goes on at comic marts a single sheet of paper is easier to consult as you shuffle along the rows of boxes.

Working The Boxes: The Unbearable Lightness Of Comic Marts

Working The Boxes is all about back issue discoveries, whether they're buried in dusty old comic boxes or digitally sourced online.

Rob N: Summer frankly wouldn’t be summer without a few weekend outings to look forward to, and so it is that this coming Sunday I’ll be joining a handful of the PCG regulars in the capital to run rampant through the double conference rooms that make up the decades-old London Comic Mart. Like hyperactive kids who’ve binged on too many sugary snacks I suspect we’ll be gleefully ransacking the boxes, inevitably making those agonising life or death choices as to what we can afford to pick up and what we’ll have to leave behind for another day, after which we’ll probably retire to a nearby watering hole to proudly compare and contrast our bags of savage plunder.

The humble comic mart is something of a throwback to a pre-Internet age; a world apart from the growing sophistication of the major comic book conventions that offer a very professional weekend experience with top end creators as guests and slick panel discussions with their carefully curated insights into the creative process. Often situated in town or church halls or the sort of hotel conference rooms that Alan Partridge might frequent, the comic mart is concerned only with retail, packing in rows of trestle tables piled high with back issues, licensed toys and vintage ephemera. Sometimes resembling a land where ageing comic dealers come to die, this elephant’s graveyard of comic book dealing is the Mecca for back issue collectors like me.

Working the Boxes: THANOS #1-12

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

Jo S: Imagine the scene: Josh Brolin, resplendent in purple body paint, blue and gold armour gleaming, stomps onto the set in those gigantic boots, their weight causing tremors in the surrounding scenery. A voice like a crate full of loose slates sliding over a cliff grates out and the Russo brothers raise their heads… “So… what’s my motivation here, guys?”

See, this is my problem with Thanos. Motivation. We need Bad Guys in comic books, otherwise who do we save the world from? But we also need to know why the Bad Guy is so Bad. What was it that set this person off down this road to destruction? Just being evil has limited reach, surely? Being motivated by pure evil must eventually lead to a miserable life for the perpetrator - but perhaps I am a little naive in that.

Jeff Lemire’s recent run of twelve issues, lavishly illustrated by Mike Deodato and then Germán Peralta, lit up in bright flames by colours from Frank Martin and then Rachelle Rosenberg, does a great job of exploring the motivations of its characters, so before the imminent release of Avengers: Infinity War, I wanted to look at what drives the main player, and perhaps thereby shed some light on why the Big Bad of the movie is such a force to be reckoned with.

Working The Boxes: INFINITY GAUNTLET #1-6

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

Matt C: Admission time: until recently, I'd never read Infinity Gauntlet. When writer Jim Starlin resurrected Thanos in Silver Surfer #34 in 1990, I was totally on board with the cosmic awesomeness of the Marvel Universe, and my reading trajectory at that point should have lead me to pick up Infinity Gauntlet at the time. Life, however, had other ideas. As has happened with many of us at some point in our lives, certain things become more distracting (for me, in my late teens, it was rock'n'roll, and related activities), so the need for larger than life characters throwing their weight around the universe seemed to diminish. Sooner or later that need reasserts itself, and after a couple of years of being out of the loop, I was back! In the interim, Infinity Gauntlet, and its direct sequel, Infinity War, had come and gone, and the second sequel, Infinity Crusade, was on the shelves. Reading Infinity Gauntlet did become a mission of sorts for me, but one that remained on the backburner, with issues being picked up at comic conventions at acceptable prices over the years. Once I had the six, they went on the 'To Read' pile, but never really progressed up to the top, until the imminent release of a certain movie made me think, 'I really need to read these comics!'

Working The Boxes: MARVEL PREVIEW #7 / INCREDIBLE HULK #271

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

Jo S: Linking to the imminent release of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2, it feels like a good time to dig out a couple of issues which showcase the origins of my favourite wisecracking fuzzball space pilot, the irascible Rocket Raccoon.

Whilst the Guardians in their current form are a fairly recent entity, Rocket himself has been around since a year when my most vivid memory was spending a productive afternoon filling ice cream tubs with mud to find that the sweltering drought had turned them into bricks overnight. Older than a good number of the PCG, Rocket Raccoon first sauntered onto the pages of Marvel Preview #7 in the sweltering drought summer of 1976, swearing mildly and smoking a cigarette in classy detailed monochrome; suavely putting down the hero of the tale, Prince Wayfinder. The prince has landed on the mysterious Witch World, planet Hailailae, and is totally unprepared to meet animate trees which fight back and sassy rodents who backchat and refer to him as ‘old bean’.

Working The Boxes: LONDON SUPER COMIC CONVENTION 2013 PREVIEW

In Working The Boxes we usually highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention, but with a compliment of the PCG heading to the London Super Comic Convention this weekend (see our preview of the convention itself here) we thought we’d offer up a little insight of what gems we’ll be keeping our eyes out for as we plunge headlong into the longboxes of the numerous retailers.

Matt C: Like an old, creepy businessman, I’ve been lured away from my long time squeeze, the Bristol Comic Expo, in favour of a much, much younger model  in the form of London Super Comic Con for 2013. Yes, I know it may seem shallow, but the Bristol Expo isn’t what it used to be and if you can only shower your money on one of them, it’s going to be the one you know is going to show you a really good time. So, yes, for 2013 at least, I’m all yours LSCC!

Working The Boxes: CAPTAIN AMERICA #372-378

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.Matt T: I should have known this seven-part storyline from 1990 would be memorable from the writing credit on the first page. Mark Gruenwald was a hugely acclaimed writer before his untimely death and was responsible for the twelve-issue Squadron Supreme limited series that has since influenced numerous super team books. This arc on Captain America, entitled Streets Of Poison, wasn't just classic action, featuring the likes of Daredevil, Crossbones, Bullseye, Black Widow, Red Skull and Kingpin, but asked some truly probing questions of the Sentinel of Liberty himself.

Starting with a sidekick's drug issues and spiralling into an unexpected first hand bit of experimentation, Cap is put through the ringer to say the least. As the world of narcotics - in this case focusing on a designer drug called 'Ice' - isn't normally Avengers territory it seems logical for Cap to be somewhat wet behind the ears to the effects. When lecturing his addicted cohort, Cap is posed the question of how he sees the Super Soldier Serum that gave him his powers, as surely that is itself a drug?Therein lies the central theme for the next six issues as an explosion at an Ice factory dowses Cap in the substance. Acting like a man possessed with more than an air of paranoia, the classic, slightly clichéd effects of substance abuse can be seen as Cap dashes around trying to track down the origins of Ice. As the drug begins to take a more obvious effect, friend and foe merge, with the combined efforts of both Diamondback and Black Widow doing little to slow the big man down. A first meeting with Bullseye is a closer fight, and Crossbones looks far more pumped than any of his modern appearances, but there seems to be more big-name throwdowns in these seven issues than in twenty of most average comics. There's even time for a burgeoning love quadrangle, with Cap's new girlfriend Diamondback meeting with fiery ex the Black Widow and J. Jonah Jameson's son John.

With Cap hurtling around beating the snot out of just about everyone who gets in his way, the true perpetrator of the sudden spread of the demonic substance comes to the fore in the portly shape of The Kingpin. Red Skull then wants in, and challenges the Kingpin to a one-on-one fight. Inside a bubble. In their pants. I won't spoil the ending of that particular battle, as it has to be seen to be believed, but needless to say Cap is treated by his buddies to a rapid dry-out, and is back on the wagon sans Super Soldier Serum. Unfortunately this comes at the worst possible time, as the aforementioned chubby gangster versus scarlet Nazi smackdown needs disrupting, and Crossbones is blocking the route. Good may triumph over evil in the end, but Cap was left changed for a fair while, and all thanks to an accidental dose of a drug.The themes in Streets Of Poison aren't exactly subtle, and the “drugs are bad, even when they're good” moral might as well be written on a sledgehammer and wrapped round the readers head, but for a seven-issue arc Gruenwald packed in the action so tight it was fit to burst. The current Cap series suffered a touch from sticking to a single plot for too long, where as this managed to turn out more mad moments in a single issue. For a bit of ‘90s excess and some interesting battles this storyline is well worth picking up.

Working The Boxes: SUPERMAN #221

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

Matt C: A few summers ago I read Gerard Jones exemplary Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (a must-read for anyone with an interest in comics history!) which stoked my interest in the works of Superman creators Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster, prompting me to look into the possibility of purchasing issues of any comics credited to them (with the help of this handy page). Some of the more famous books written by Siegel, such as the first appearance of Mon-El in Superboy #89, are way too pricey for me but, with eBay as my friend, I did manage to track down a few relatively cheap issues, and then found myself buying a couple of non-Siegel/Shuster Silver Age gems.

It was often the covers that have me handing over the cash, the more ridiculous the better (any Jimmy Olsen book featuring a gorilla is usually a guaranteed camp classic!). What amazes me, and it's something a more knowledgeable Comics Historian could elucidate on, is how DC continued to pump out a string of books plotted in a relatively puerile manner during the ‘60s while Marvel was continuously pushing the boundaries of what the superhero genre was capable of. But, even though DC's comics lacked the sophistication of their competitors at this point, they did still offer plenty of entertainment value, albeit not always in the way the creators may have intended. Which brings me to an issue I picked up at the Bristol Comic Expo last May, and as this year’s convention is just a couple of weeks away I thought now was as good a time as any to give it a look. I think the cover kind of speaks for itself:One look at that image, and I knew this comic had to be mine!
The issue contains two stories, the lead tale featuring what was possibly the first and last appearance of Super-Pancho, a former slave on the remote island of Remora who presumably to this day continues to terrorize would-be criminals in a Superman costume given to him by the Man Of Steel himself. Even after being freed from bondage Super-Pancho didn’t feel it necessary to get hold of a razor, perhaps believing his five-day old beard differentiated enough him from the real thing.But nobody bought this issue for Super-Pancho. What they really wanted to see was Super-Fatso!!

Inexplicably piling on instant pounds during a visit to a space centre in his guise of Clark Kent, Superman learns that an alien race he’d previously befriended, and who had given him a taste of their sacred scarlet nectar, had since discovered said nectar had past its expiry date and become poisonous! Kal-El’s invulnerability saved his life, so instead of killing him the poisoned nectar transforms him into the Man Of Fat!Weighing himself on a hastily constructed Super-Scale, Superman realises he must lose the pounds by 8am the next day, as only his precise weight can open the vault which contains the Nullifier, a device that will deactivate all weapons within a hundred-mile radius!! The only way to achieve this is through a rigorous bout of super-exercise, interspersed with an occasional feat of derring-do, such as plugging a dam with his butt!It doesn’t quite live up to the cover (although the 'Man Of Fat' sobriquet is quite awesome) but there’s an extra bonus in this issue in the form of a lovely portrait of the Superman 'Family', with a full page of text explaining who each character is:Direct your eyes to the bottom left-hand corner and you will see Beppo, the Super-Monkey, described thusly:

“Originally a test animal in the laboratory of Jor-El, on Krypton, Beppo stowed away in the rocket that brought baby Kal-El (now Superman) to Earth. Here, under Earth’s yellow sun, Beppo became super. He is now king of the African jungle.”

Step aside, Tarzan, there’s a new monarch in town!

Now to the bottom right, to Lori Lemaris, the Mermaid from Atlantis, who is revealed here as a master of disguise (!) attending Metropolis University “using a wheelchair, with a blanket to hide her fish-tail”. Ingenious!

And let us not forget Comet the Superhorse! If, like me, you’re wondering who the hell he is, wonder no longer:

“Comet the Superhorse was Biron, a centaur, in ancient Greece, till an evil wizard turned him into a horse. Circe the witch gave him the powers of the gods, but the wizard banished him to a far star. When Supergirl’s rocket passed on the way to Earth, it freed him, and he followed her to this world.”

Fantastic!

Reading the above, you’ll probably have a good idea whether you can stomach this kind of thing, and whether your 21st century sensibilities are really attuned to DC's brand of Silver Age wackiness or not. Me, I love it, it’s kind of the last gasp of the 'anything goes' ethos that served DC so well for such a long time before they realised it was time for their comics to grow up.

Working The Boxes: DETECTIVE COMICS #571

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.
Matt C: There are a few creators I always have my eyes peeled for when searching through the back issue boxes: Kirby, obviously, John Byrne, at least up to the early 90s (after that, fuggedaboutit!), and Brit artistic genius, Alan Davis. Davis’ clean, hugely distinctive linework (Bryan Hitch had to learn somewhere!) is always a joy to behold, every panel bursting at the seams with ingenuity and energy.

The artist collaborated for a brief seven-issue stint with writer Mike W Barr on Detective Comics in the mid-1980s which seems to have taken many of its cues from the more fantastical and light-hearted Silver Age adventures of the Caped Crusader. I’ve not quite managed to get hold of a complete set, but #571 – with Batman and Robin battling the Scarecrow – is the most recent addition to my collection. Compared to the grit and darkness that followed, perhaps this take on Batman will seem a little too camp for some, especially when you’re confronted by panels like this:Is this perhaps some kind of ironic riposte to all those who’ve made snide comments about the character’s supposedly questionable relationship with the Boy Wonder?! Because, honestly, I can’t believe no one involved in putting this book missed the blatant sexual innuendo! If the image of Robin spraying the Dark Knight wasn’t enough, it’s like they’ve decided to slap you round the face with it, having Bats utter, “That’s it, good and wet…”. What the hell?!

I wouldn’t be surprised if this panel is already over at Superdickery (haven’t spotted it there myself) but it definitely did provide a particularly humorous highpoint (intentional or otherwise) to an issue which really was a bit too cheesy, even for my tastes! Much as I love Davis’ art, I do think that, tonally, it’s not really the right fit for a Batman book – it’s just too colourful and lively, at least the way I perceive the character looking (in his “modern” incarnation as opposed to the kitsch approach of the 50s and 60s). This feeling is further cemented when you turn to page 27 to see a full page advert for the first collected editions of Frank Miller’s seminal The Dark Knight Returns (On a side note, it was a much better fit in Batman & The Outsiders, another Barr & Davis collaboration, where Batman is part of a larger cast rather than the central character).

If you spot this cheap, and you’re an Alan Davis fan, then grab yourself a copy because the art is still gorgeous and it kind of a fun read if you're in the right mood, but if your still reeling from the brilliance of The Dark Knight movie and feel the need to expand your Batman collection, it’s probably advisable you look elsewhere. Unless of course you enjoy seeing the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder in suggestive situations!

Working The Boxes: SQUADRON SUPREME #1-12

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

By Matt T

It’s rare that, in a single comic, the origins of a whole plethora of others can be seen. Within the twelve issue run of the much-missed Mark Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme, the foundations for many of the JLA, Authority, Avengers and countless other major mainstream comics can be seen. Left with some seemingly unrecoverable continuity and a group of characters that were little more than Justice League proxies, Gruenwald forged a truly remarkable run that transcended the ostensibly predictable origins and created an exceptional piece of work.


First, a little history: Roy Thomas created the Squadron within the pages of the Avengers, with the villainous version turning up in #69, under the moniker Squadron Sinister, and the benevolent Squadron Supreme arriving in #85. After confusion and the standard battle, the two forces join against a common foe. The next significant appearance of the Squadron is in Defenders #112, in which an alien entity known has Overmind has successfully enslaved their home planet of Earth 712, with the intention of leading an assault force against the other dimensions. Although the combined might of the Defenders and Squadron were triumphant, their world was left in tatters. The fact that the public were left in the dark as to the Alien mind-control, and Kyle Richmond aka Nighthawk is still president, means mass riots and general chaos is running rampant. The Squadron are accordingly left to clean up the mess, with the civilians less than grateful.

The mini-series picks up in a mire of disaffected civilians and ragged heroes, trying to rebuild a society pushed to the brink of destruction. After growing tired of constantly fire-fighting and simply reacting to worldwide issues, the group decides to take larger actions, such as banning all weapons. Nighthawk disagrees, and promptly leaves the group. After unmasking, the team set about creating a Utopia, installing themselves as peacekeepers elect. And all this in the first issue! The following eleven are split between smaller sub-plots, such as the nuclear-powered character Nuke (!) accidentally infecting his parents with cancer and subsequently going insane - only to be killed by fellow Squadron member Doctor Spectrum - and the bigger picture of trying to change the world.


One element that proves to be the team’s undoing is a brainwave modifier, which is first utilised on standard criminals then on those of the powered variety. After being knocked back by his supposed girlfriend Lady Lark in #3, the Golden Archer employs the machine to change her mind and accept his marriage proposal. Unfortunately the modifier works all too well, and Lady Lark becomes virtually obsessed, barely giving the Archer a minute to himself. As a result both quit the team as the Archer is forcibly thrown out and Lady Lark leaves by her own modified free will.


With numbers dwindling, a few new members mysteriously appear, showing remarkable powers and a willingness to help the cause. New members Redwood and Moonglow are not as they appear, being plants by the former member Nighthawk, who has been observing the morally flawed behaviour of the Squadron from the sidelines. With a remedy for the modifier used on the supervillains that had been enlisted to make up the numbers, a final battle ensued that left both sides suffering seriously losses. The fact that smaller plots and bit-part characters are so expertly woven into the story make for superb, and ultimately rewarding reading, and the moral battle is strangely reminiscent of Marvel’s Civil War. For a bunch of throwaway facsimiles of more famous characters, Gruenwald instils some individual character traits and Bob Hall’s pencils work well in both the action set-pieces and dialogue driven sections.

Working The Boxes: DC: THE NEW FRONTIER #1-6

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.


By Matt T

I was vaguely away of Darwyn Cooke’s The New Frontier being published a few years ago but, being a die hard Marvel fan, missed it due to whatever part Spider-Man’s continuity was being destroyed at the time. After passing me by in various hardback and collected editions, the DVD hit the shelves and I thought, before watching, I should familiarise myself with the source material.

It’s fair to say that New Frontier is almost perfect as a template for animation. The clean, crisp colours and reduced level of detail lends the images almost perfectly to movement. Where the art may be the most immediately striking element, the method in which Cooke weaves multiple stories into a single narrative, creating a blockbuster-paced six-issue arc, is my lasting impression.


New Frontier is set in the 50s, at a time where most of the modern characters were coming to prominence. Hal Jordan, the soon-to-be Green Lantern forms the backbone, from his days as a gun-ho pilot in the Korean War. The likes of Superman and Wonder Woman are giving starring roles as well, but the characterisation plants them within the time period, with Big Blue being a down-the-line, flag-waving patriot and the Princess of Themyscira opting for some hard line feminism. After Batman reveals some big time foul play with the help of the other major character J’onn J’onzz, alias the Martian Manhunter, there’s a battle of global proportions that leads to the formation of the JLA, not unlike the origin story in the cartoon series.


Each story not only compliments one other, but also the often confusing manner in which the DC Universe is constructed, keeping in more well known elements and bending others to form a well structured overall tale. For a relative newcomer with only a passing knowledge this acted as a superb introduction, and gave me plenty of background information for major characters. There are a few flat moments over the six issues, but they’re few and far between, and I got a real kick out of Batman’s reasoning for changing to his campy 60s outfit. I’m looking forward to the DVD retaining the feel and quality of the comics, as this really was a cracking read.

Working The Boxes: CONAN THE BARBARIAN #109-#112

In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

By Matt C

Up until a few years ago I never really cared for Robert E Howard's most successful literary creation, Conan: I was aware of him, and aware that the Marvel comics series was highly regarded, but I only had a basic idea of the character and I'd never even seen the Arnie movie, Conan The Barbarian (an admission I'm sure will be frowned on in some circles!). I was pretty certain that situation would always remain the same and I'd never give the character further investigation. Conan #0, published by Dark Horse in 2003, changed all that. I was impressed enough to return for the #1 issue, and have been hooked from thereon in. The title's consistently bowled me over with the quality of writing and art , and I'm not embarrassed to admit it: I'm a fan!!

So what about all the Bronze Age Conan books from Marvel? Would I get the same thrill I do from the current stuff or would they all seem a bit dated by today’s standards? Only one way to find out: I took the plunge and picked up a pile of cheap back issues of Conan The Barbarian recently (all around #100 onwards - earlier issues are slightly more pricey!) to see how I'd get on.

You know what? This stuff is frickin' great, by Crom!

I should've known really: written by the vastly underrated Roy Thomas (underrated in the sense that, seeing how much amazing stuff he wrote he should be considered as one of the industry legends) with art by the late John Buscema (who's run on Avengers, inked by Tom Palmer, is pretty damn close to perfection), putting these two together meant you'd get a solid read at the very least. The issues I read exceeded expectations: action-packed, witty and highly addictive.

The main, complete arc in the bundle I picked up is an adaptation of the Sons Of The Bear God by Norvell W. Page which, from what I can gather through the magic of Google, is a pulp novel featuring Prester John and not the Barbarian himself. The arc runs from #109 to #112 of the comic and, whatever its origins, it's a damn fine adventure yarn.

It starts off with Conan and his reluctant companion, Erfu - a wannabe sorcerer - being attacked by the Sons of Shem on the outskirts of the "haunted" Devil Grass. Outnumbered, they flee into the "emerald sea" and it doesn't take them long before another battle erupts between Conan and a bunch of dwarves who have mysteriously managed to enslave a band of brawny warriors from Aesgaard.

The following chapters take us too the dwarf city where Conan hooks up with an enchanting young lady - the unfortunately named Tossa (!) - gets forced into a gladiatorial arena to fight a massive bear, decides to overthrow the dwarf-king, and typically acts like a law unto himself.

Thomas brings the character to life with ease, no doubt after having spent so much time putting words in the Cimmerian's mouth writing him had become second nature - he nails the character's unsuppressed disdain at so-called "civilized" cultures. Buscema always excelled at portraying muscular men (or women) in the throes of battle, and while this may not be the best example of his work you could find it's still beautifully evocative and dynamic.

So, count me down as full convert to Conan comics, be they old or new. I have no idea how this story stands up against other tales from the various books & magazines he appeared in during the 70s, but I'm guessing (and using the fact that I can't find any details of reprints as evidence and the original source material didn't even feature him) that this wouldn't rank as one of the most revered comic book adaptations of Howard's most famous creation. Which means there's a wealth of possibly even better material out there for me to get my hands on!!

I'll be searching through back issue boxes and eBay for more (any recommendations would be appreciated!) and would advise anyone who loves the character but is only familiar with the Dark Horse series, to take the plunge too - I'd bet money that you won’t regret it!