Sometimes foraging through the quarter bins, you stumble upon something that makes you go "Wha?"
Today it's these oddball collections of DC's that I found:
As you can see, they've got exactly the same cover, except for the background color and the "series" number. They're square bound, with no price marking of any kind.
On the inside? Each one contains three (apparently random) DC issues. In their entirety, original ads and letters pages and all. Series 2 contains Superman #355, Ghosts #96, and JLA #186. Series 3 rocks out with New Teen Titans #3, Secrets of the Haunted House #32, and Wonder Woman #275. Series 5 has Legion of Super-Heroes #271, Green Lantern #136, and Super Friends #40. All of those issues are January 1981.
The inside front and back covers of the collections are blank--just empty white glossy paper, which is kind of freaky, actually.
So what the heck is Elson's? Well, fortunately, we get a little comic story on the back cover of each one:
And in detail:
Yes, he said "Grunge!"
Ahhh, a chain of airport/hotel newsstands. I suppose a series of repackaged comic books might make sense for them. The GCD tells us
Still, quite the nifty deal at 25¢. But given the lack of any cover pricing, and the typical evil mark-up at hotel/airport gift shops ($3 for a 12-ounce can of Coke? Are you kidding me, you sadistic thieves?!?!), what do you think these babies retailed for "new?" The three comics individually would have gone for $1.50, so I'm thinking $2.99, at least...
Oh, and the cartoon on the back is "copyright DC Comics," so DC went the extra mile and made the little story of "our hero" for Elson's. Isn't it about time DC brought this guy into mainstream continuity??
Today it's these oddball collections of DC's that I found:
As you can see, they've got exactly the same cover, except for the background color and the "series" number. They're square bound, with no price marking of any kind.On the inside? Each one contains three (apparently random) DC issues. In their entirety, original ads and letters pages and all. Series 2 contains Superman #355, Ghosts #96, and JLA #186. Series 3 rocks out with New Teen Titans #3, Secrets of the Haunted House #32, and Wonder Woman #275. Series 5 has Legion of Super-Heroes #271, Green Lantern #136, and Super Friends #40. All of those issues are January 1981.
The inside front and back covers of the collections are blank--just empty white glossy paper, which is kind of freaky, actually.
So what the heck is Elson's? Well, fortunately, we get a little comic story on the back cover of each one:
And in detail:
Yes, he said "Grunge!"
Ahhh, a chain of airport/hotel newsstands. I suppose a series of repackaged comic books might make sense for them. The GCD tells usOther 1981 comics repackaged by DC Comics for Elson's Gift and News shops (typically in hotels and transportation hubs). Each comic has the same cover art, but the background colors and the three-issue interiors are different for each book. There is debate whether these are remaindered comics or were printed at the same time as the originalsI've done some small bit of traveling, and I've never even heard of Elson's, so either they are (were?) regional, or they went out of business way back when. It looks like remaindered repackaged comic books weren't enough to save the day.
Still, quite the nifty deal at 25¢. But given the lack of any cover pricing, and the typical evil mark-up at hotel/airport gift shops ($3 for a 12-ounce can of Coke? Are you kidding me, you sadistic thieves?!?!), what do you think these babies retailed for "new?" The three comics individually would have gone for $1.50, so I'm thinking $2.99, at least...
Oh, and the cartoon on the back is "copyright DC Comics," so DC went the extra mile and made the little story of "our hero" for Elson's. Isn't it about time DC brought this guy into mainstream continuity??
Is that Neal Adams?
ReplyDeleteI don't see it, but then again, I have a notoriously bad eye for such things. I'm picking up sort of a Ross-Andru-rush-job-inked-by-gosh-knows-who vibe...but that's probably just me.
ReplyDeleteHe seems rather clean shaven to me. Somebody forgot to even draw a five-o-clock shadow.
ReplyDeleteAs fas as getting into DCU Proper, he might be better off not, all things considered.