Eeeeeyyy!

The car boot sale yielded little. I found the Mego Fonz for £2, and got him just because he looked better than I remembered. 

 EEEEEYYYYYY!!!!!

I was going to get rid of him on ebay, but he grew on me a bit, with his opposable thumbs. And when I checked on ebay, I realised he wasn't actually worth that much anyway. I figured the Fonz(s) on ebay were so cheap, I'd just replace his t-shirt (which looks like something Mr. Cunningham had used as a snotrag) and his missing jacket by picking up one of them. I had a quick look.

EEEEEEEEEHHHHHRRRRCCHH.....

This guy was perfect! He looked like he'd suffered an injury whilst operating heavy machinery. I wouldn't feel guilty about stripping him. Sadly, someone else saw the appeal in the rare variant 'crushed-head Fonzie' and outbid me. Blast it. So Fonz will remain dressed like a hobo for a while longer. We also dropped in on a jumble sale I'd seen advertised. It was pretty feeble, but amongst the cookery books and crappy biographies I found a Werewolf by Night #6 in good shape. There was no sign of any more comics, and I was one of the first through the door. Who knows?

Last week I picked up a couple of boxes of comics won on ebay from South London. I roped in my good friend Mr. Mwai into driving me there and off we set. When we got to the house, it looked a little... rustic. I knocked on the peeling door, and a tiny, slightly grubby looking chap who looked like a cross between Alan Moore and a bullfrog answered, ankle deep in newspapers and junk mail, the hallway wall behind him with patches of torn off wallpaper. 

"Hi Dan", I said, taking his clammy blue hand in mine and giving it a friendly shake. He looked a little confused.

"I'm here for the comics...?" Hmmm. Did he drop too much LSD in the 60s? Is it the guy's dad or something?

pause....

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

"Um.. does Dan live here?"

"NO"

Right number wrong road. So we picked up the comics with no hitches whatsoever, a decent enough batch of late 80s/early 90s. Mainly Marvel, and not too much dogshit. The predictable stuff, sadly lacking the Uncanny X-Men #266 (First Gambit) but luckily New Mutants #98 (First Deadpool). Some nice McFarlane Amazing Spider-Man, and this guy must have been a speculator- 2 copies of Spider-Man #1, 5 copies of X-Men #1 and 6! copies of X-Force #1. These comics in total are worth the equivalent of a ball of lint. Other highlights include a full set of Secret Wars II and some early 80s Avengers, so pretty happy nonetheless. 

For Nell's birthday, we went to Brighton (my first time). Tons of hippies and dread-headed snowboard types, but the first four bookshops we went in all had some comics. We had a look in Dave's Comics, which was spread over two shops, and was well set out and quite inviting for the non-comics or casual reader types. After a pleasant stroll we found ourselves in an antique/collector type place, where there were yet more comics. Some overpriced silver age stuff, and a box of 50p comics where I pulled out the Marvel adaptation of Time Bandits, and....another copy of New Mutants #98. Only too happy to take it off the hands of someone who is trying to sell Byrne's later X-Men run for £20 a pop. Come on, this comic isn't exactly a hidden gem! It's pretty common knowledge, although up until just a few years ago they were taking up substantial space in the bargain boxes. Don't think it'll reach the heights of Hulk #181 for a while, but It'll pay for our train fare for the day.