My Latest Haul from Mile High (10/22/05)

[Cei-U!]

So I decided to take advantage of Mile High's HALLOWEEN codeword sale and pick up some odds and ends. My $40 didn't spread as far as usual, partly because there weren't a lot of bargains left by the time I decided to indulge and partly because I chose to treat myself to higher grade copies than usual. So without further ado, my haul:

Batman and the Outsiders #16 and 18 I now have an unbroken run of this title through #18. I have a ways to go but I'll keep chipping away at it as the opportunity presents itself.

DC Comics Presents #27 Superman and J'Onn J'Onzz tackle Mongul, in that villain's first appearance.

Flash & Green Lantern: The Brave and the Bold #5 and JLA: Paradise Lost #1 completing my runs of both minis.

Man-Bat #1-2, the complete run (!) of this obscure Bronze Age Batman tie-in. #1 has art by Steve Ditko!

New Gods #12 and 14 Combined with the issues I picked up at the Portland show, I now have all issues of this ill-fated revival. Alas, I still need an issue of Super-Team Family and Adventure Comics #460 to get the complete story.

Tales of the Teen Titans #51-58 and New Teen Titans (Baxter) #7 Hooray! I now have a complete set of the pre-Crisis Wolfman/Perez incarnation of the team. This makes me very happy!

Last but not least, The Essential Tomb of Dracula Vol. 2. If you have to ask why I wanted this, you've obviously not been following my posts on this board. Hello, Gene Colan at his prime!?

Between the above, my 38-issue haul from Portland and the Black Canary Archives I won on eBay, this has been a very good October for this CBR Old Fart! (And, yes, I'll be reviewing all this stuff on the "What Classic Comics Have You Been Reading" thread.)

Cei-U!
I summon the happy camper!

[AlterEgo]

nice to see such enthusiam from back issue collectors.

i rarely buy from milehigh...their prices are outrageous (even with their steep periodic 'discounts') and their grading is horrible. but they do have a deep database of covers and have a decent amt of most stock (depends on what titles/issues you're looking for).

[dan bailey]

good stuff there. i can particularly identify with your pre-crisis teen titans purchases, as i'm about 6 ishes (mostly from the first 11, though somehow i've unaccountably neglected to pick up #54 as well ...) from completing the first-series run, having picked up #s 1 & 7 with my last milehigh order. my next one is waiting for my next paycheck, which i hope will be in hand before the halloween sale ends.

i'm planning on a few more teen titans back issues, the 3 spider-man/human torches that weren't still on the shelves here last month when i decided i was interested in the comic, the 3 hero squared releases (that i know of, anyway), & i'm not sure what else to make the magic $40 threshold -- probably a whole bunch of dc's late-'80s secret origins ishes. i've got about half the run & have thoroughly enjoyed 'em all so far.

[gentlesatirist]

I haven't checked out Mile High in a whil, but can ususally find good deals for under a buck, even when they're not having a massive sale.

That Man-Bat series was one of the odder things DC ever did, from an editorial and publishing perspective.

Can you imagine today giving a supporting bat-character an ongoing title (before mini-series were around) then pulling it after 2 issues? How in the world in those pre-Internet days could they have any idea how well those first two issues had sold? DC canceled a bunch of books after only 5 or 6 issues in the mid-70s - but 2?

I think the Ditko art in #1 is great. May have been the only time he ever drew Baman? Both issues have Aparo covers, but the late great JA said he didn't draw the Batman figure on the cover of #1. It's still a mystery as to how DC patched it together. Still think it's a great cover, though.

Who did the interior art on #2? Garcia-Lopez? Aparo?


- FE
Wickliffe OH

[Cei-U!]

That Man-Bat series was one of the odder things DC ever did, from an editorial and publishing perspective.

Can you imagine today giving a supporting bat-character an ongoing title (before mini-series were around) then pulling it after 2 issues? How in the world in those pre-Internet days could they have any idea how well those first two issues had sold? DC canceled a bunch of books after only 5 or 6 issues in the mid-70s - but 2?

According to the letters page in #2, they decided to demote the series to a Detective Comics back-up to make room on the schedule for the Simonson-drawn Metal Men revival and because "we launched MAN-BAT in a market that couldn't get enough of macabre heroes and monsters, and that's changed since."

I think the Ditko art in #1 is great. May have been the only time he ever drew Baman? Both issues have Aparo covers, but the late great JA said he didn't draw the Batman figure on the cover of #1. It's still a mystery as to how DC patched it together. Still think it's a great cover, though.

It's a beautiful cover. Looking at the Batman figure closely, I'd say it's Aparo from about the diaphragm down (no mistaking those distinctive thigh muscles) and probably the right arm and cape but the head is off center and disproportionate and the left arm looks deformed. The style looks vaguely familiar but I can't place it. Makes me wonder if the art was damaged at the last moment and a hasty patch done.

Who did the interior art on #2? Garcia-Lopez? Aparo?


I wish. It's Pablo Marcos and Ricardo Villamonte, neither a particular favorite of mine. After a while issue of looking at the dreadful costume they gave the already-ridiculous Ten-Eyed Man, I was wishing *I* was blind.

Cei-U!
I summon the eyesore!

[gentlesatirist]

...the "macabre market" had dried up after 2 months? I find that hard to believe. And were they lumping Man-Bat in with their Stalker/Claw/Tor/Beowulf group? Or the earlier Swamp Thing/Phantom Stranger group?

I think PS was still around at the time, but Swampy may have been on hiatus.

And I guess if a floundering Man-bat title had to give way for those excellent Simonson Metal Men issues, it's really not a bad deal. But it still gives you an idea of how random DC's marketing moves were during the 70s - and makes you realize that in all likelihood the success of the Superman movie saved the company in that era.


- FE

[Cei-U!]

They knew the "macabre market" had dried up after 2 months? I find that hard to believe. And were they lumping Man-Bat in with their Stalker/Claw/Tor/Beowulf group? Or the earlier Swamp Thing/Phantom Stranger group?

I interpreted it to mean "Marvel bled the market dry* and we didn't notice until too late... again."

Cei-U!
I summon the oops!

*I was just reading my new Essential Dracula volume, can you tell?

[Rob Allen]

I wish. It's Pablo Marcos and Ricardo Villamonte, neither a particular favorite of mine.
Coincidentally, both of those artists got their start in American comics in the Skywald B&W magazines. Neither of them had much experience drawing superheroes when they did that Man-Bat.

[MWGallaher]

Both issues have Aparo covers, but the late great JA said he didn't draw the Batman figure on the cover of #1. It's still a mystery as to how DC patched it together. Still think it's a great cover, though.


Aparo did everything except the head. I was one of the ones that showed him the cover as printed; his exact words: "That's not my head!"
He had no idea why DC would have pasted on somebody else's work, and said he'd have redrawn it if he had known they had a problem with it. But he couldn't imagine why they would.

Joe Rubenstein was looking over our shoulders at the time and suggested it was Ernie Chua that drew the paste-over, and I think he was correct.

[MWGallaher]

...the "macabre market" had dried up after 2 months? I find that hard to believe.


That statement rang very true to me at the time. There were a lot of "monster books" and it seemed that DC and Marvel started bailing out at the same time. I don't know if it was really justified, but it was clear that the word was out: "monster books" have stopped selling. This was about the time that "Werewolf by Night" became a superhero series, essentially. And that didn't save it for long.

It was a disappointing time, because I still liked 'em.

[gentlesatirist]

..sales #s from other titles to make the decision, then. Given the mysterious nature of sales reporting in that era, DC might not have had solid data on the sales of #1 when they had to make the decison whether to do #3 or not.

And sorry for slightly butchering the Aparo anecdote. I remembered there was something about him saying "I didn't do that" concerning the cover to M-B #1, but didn't recall the particulars.


- FE
Wickliffe OH