The Brave and the Bold #184

 

Comic: The Brave and the Bold #184

Where Purchased: Funny Book Factory in Lebanon, New Hampshire

When Purchased: July 30, 2005

When Read: November 26, 2024

When I returned to collecting comics, I made several trips to a shop called Funny Book Factory in Lebanon, New Hampshire.  The owner was a rather personable fellow and books were reasonably priced.  Another store where I purchased exactly 100 comics.   I made several visits over an  8 year period, as Nan would take courses at King Arthur Flour and I would spend time here.  I didn't get my comic collecting software until sometime in 2004, so the details of my visits in 2002 and 2003 aren't precise.

Sometime after my last visit in August 2010, the shop closed.  There is very little information about the store but this quirky little site has some details and tidbits about the owner: https://bookfactory.tripod.com/index.html

The Brave and The Bold was a Batman team up book from DC.  Like its counterparts at Marvel, this was a hit-or-miss title for me.  I never collected it outright but I would grab issues with characters I liked or if I remembered the issue being at my grandparent's house when we'd visit when I was younger.

It also became an easy title to pick up as I shopped at new stores.  I'd plug little gaps and then connect mini-runs.  I've reached the point where I no longer have any issues on my want list, as I have amassed a solid 70 issue run, beginning with issue 130 and running right up to the end of the series with issue 200, which I did purchase right off the newsstand in 1983.

This was a really fun Christmas issue.  Solid writing from Mike W. Barr, who has written 162 comics in my collection, mostly Batman related (or at least adjacent) but also a few Star Trek issues and a great series called Camelot 3000.  

I think this is the first time that Batman thinks his father might've been dirty.  There are clues you can pick up on to solve the mystery before Batman does.  I didn't.

But the big draw for me is that this issue has some art by the incredible Jim Aparo and guest stars a character called the Huntress, who is from Earth-2 and the daughter of that world's Batman and Catwoman.

There is also a back up story feaaturing a character called "Nemesis"....but I didn't read that.

Merry Christmas 2014

I hope your day is splendid!  As I eagerly await the time we get to watch our first Doctor Who Christmas special ON Christmas Day, enjoy these Christmas themed comic book covers from my collection!

Happy March!

I spent some time last month reading some comics and working in my comic book database.  It turns out that I purchased far fewer comics last year than in any year since I've been collecting.  Of the 97 comics I bought last year, only 68 were new issues, the remaining 29 were back issues.

I've set aside a number to donate shortly, which puts my current total of comics at 8785.

Here are some March cover comics!

Avengers 26 (1966)

My oldest March comic.  Cover pencils by Don Heck and inks by Frank Giacoia.  I've come to appreciate Heck's work as I've grown older.  He penciled 9 covers in my collection inked by others and 7 in which he inked himself.

Avengers 145 (1976)

One of my all time favorite covers!  Rated #80 in Wizard Magazine's Top 100 Covers of All Time (Issue 127).

Action Comics 469 (1977)

Just included to make Nan laugh...

Avengers 181 (1979)

Another on the Wizard list.  This one came in at 99.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns 1 (1986)

One of my all time favorites, for a variety of reasons.  Also on the Wizard list at #44.

In one of the art classes I had to take in college, I "reinterpreted" this and was quite proud of it.  However, it was one of the items that got "lost" during the dark times.

Fables 33 (2005)

Fables is one of three books on my pull list right now.  It is scheduled to end early next year with issue 150.  When it does, it will be the longest string of uninterrupted issues of any title I started collecting with its first issue.  It has some gorgeous covers.  This one was done by James Jean.

Green Arrow 46 (2005)

Also by James Jean!  In the same month! The diversity is impressive.

Saga 1 (2012)

Another comic on my pull list.  Vulgar, sweet, profane, heartwarming, hilarious, epic, intimate....the best comic book I have read in a long time.

Happy February!

I was up for about two hours this morning before I realized it was a new month!  What a nightmare January seems to have been!  It ended nicely though....despite the cancellation of recess, my teaching partner and I threw on our jackets and got our students outside for twenty minutes.  We secured a bus in the afternoon and went to the high school to see a wonderful performance of "Guys and Dolls" (co-directed by The Armchair Squid) with all of the fifth grades.  And I ended the day with Nan, our boy, and a dozen friends at an impromptu gathering at our local Buffalo Wild Wings.

So here are some of my favorite comic book covers with February dates:

February 1963

My oldest February comic.  I found this on my desk last year but with no recollection of where it came from.  I am meticulous with my records and couldn't find any invoice or any indication as to where it came from.  It should probably bug me more than it does...

February 1966

Another issue from "The Riley Collection"...I probably should read it just to find out what's the deal with Susan!

February 1978

One of the best Batman/Joker stories of all time.  The writer, Steve Englehart, once wrote that the comics from this run "define the modern Batman franchise, and from that, the modern superhero film franchise."  

February 1981

One of the last great self-contained stories in the X-Men franchise.  The entire story that will be the basis of the next X-Men film was completed in two issues.  Today it would be a twelve issue mini-series with numerous spin-offs and no lasting repercussions...

February 1983

My comic book collecting software assigns numbers to everything.  If I had been thinking long term when I started using it, this comic would be number 1.  This is the one that started it all.  Not a terribly remarkable cover but this is the one that started my obsessi....hobby!  

I just mentioned to Nan this morning that someday it might be fun to get a piece of original art from this issue!  While looking to see what was out there, I found this image of the original cover choice:

I remember once seeing an image of the two covers combined but I thought it was done purely as a goof...I had no idea they had messed up originally and someone blended the two covers together!

Happy December!

I like comic books.  I've been collecting comics for over 30 years.  I have 8,781 comics in my database with about 20 more lying around waiting to be entered.  I've brought comics into every classroom I've ever had and have shared my love with my students more and more in recent years.

 I am a fanboy but have recently slipped into a "grumpy-old-man, get-off-my-lawn, back-when-I-was-a-kid" sort of phase with comics.  I liked stories, back in the day, that lasted an issue or two.  I am NOT a fan of books these days that are one long continuous soap opera with no jumping on or off point.  I dropped my last superhero book from my pull list yesterday.

Awhile back, I intended to spotlight certain comics on the first day of each month.  So, without further ado...here are a bunch of comics, in my collection, that bear December cover dates!

Cover Date 1964
My 10th oldest comic book!

Cover Date 1975
Man, does this cover make me laugh!

Cover Date 1976
I love Neal Adams' cover art...but this is one weird image!

Cover Date 1979
One of my all time favorite covers!

Cover Date 1979
You can take the Justice League out of the 70s, but...

Cover Date 1980
Totally forgot I own this until I was scrolling through for this post!

Cover Date 1980
Bwah-ha-ha-ha!

There aren't many December dated comics in my collection worth spotlighting!  But scrolling through the database gave me a bucket load of ideas of issues to donate to Goodwill!!

12-12-12

I am a geek for numbers, so today's date does intrigue me.  To "celebrate", here are 12* comics I own....that are #12 in their series!

*I know there are WAY more than 12 covers here....I started this post last weekend.  I had planned to narrow this down before publishing it and time got away from me!  As it is, I am writing this footnote a full day late!!