I didn’t know it was an adult bookstore when I went in; the sign outside just read “Books, Newspapers, Magazines.” Which I realize now is universal code for “Porn.” Anyway, the tiny, porn-free front room was filled with comics, books on tape, and used paperbacks. The odd thing about the comics collection was that although there were a lot of comics, there weren’t very many different comics: That is, each of the issues below were in stacks 20- or 30-deep.
Sure sure, a classic Alan Moore story in that Batman Annual—but it’s the Norm Breyfogle art in the second story that squeezed that fifty cents from my hands. Even if it’s before he fully committed to being Breyfogleicious.
Given my fondness for Blue-and-Gold era Justice League, I was a bit surprised to realize how little of Booster’s solo title I’d read: A couple of early issues, the origin story, and the last couple issues (a JL crossover and a Millennium tie-in). Reading through these issues, I think it’s easy to understand why the series got the axe. Booster Gold auteur Dan Jurgens established a compelling superhero-as-selfish-sellout premise perfect for the 1980s, and he created a clever and original backstory for his character. In fact, Jurgens seems to be doing something fairly complicated in those early issues: It’s clear that Booster’s perspective on superheroing sharply diverges from that of Superman or Batman—why not live the high life? Why not endorse products at a rate rivaled only by Krusty the Klown?—but Jurgens resists doing an easy growth-of-the-hero arc for Booster. Sure, he becomes more mature and develops as a character, but Jurgens seems to flirt with the idea that maybe BG’s model of superheroism isn’t necessarily a bad one, just different from the staid moralizing of the DC mainstays. But these stories indicate that by the second year the series had lost direction; the super-villain battles are generic and forgettable (two issues on the Rainbow Raider? Really?) and the corporate boardroom battles come off like Iron man lite.
I was going to pass over this 1982 Phantom Zone mini-series—and then I saw that it was written by Steve Gerber. Haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but if it’s appropriately insane I’ll be sure to let you know. Creepy-crawlie art by Gene Colan, which bodes well.
When you see a Walt Simonson Thor for a dollar or less, you buy it. It’s just a rule.
I haven’t read any non-Mcduffie issues of Static. So . . . we’ll see how this goes. Art by a young Humberto Ramos. This was the only Milestone comic in the whole store.
O man I love Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, so much so that I’m writing entries on Chaykin and the series for a forthcoming encyclopedia of comics. I bought the first year or so of Chaykin’s initial run from the quarter boxes at the late, lamented Star Store in Jackson, MS when I was a teenager; I was completely blown away and maybe a little scared by Chaykin’s innovative page designs—densely packed and yet thoroughly fluid—and his slightly-above-my-young-head fatalistic eroticism and acerbic, irreverent satire. It’s a series I appreciate more every time I come back to it. Of course, this isn’t exactly Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!: Mark Badger had been handling the art chores for a while, and chronicling the hard-living, self-loathing Flagg was . . . that’s right, you guessed it, J.M. DeMatteis.
No, really.
Now, I have much love for J.M DeMatteis, as I’ve written before. But he doesn’t seem like the most natural fit for American Flagg!, does he? He certainly didn’t seem that way to Mike Norton of Levittown, PA, (this Mike Norton? I dunno) who sounded a note of concern in a letter that appears in this issue:
Things that probably didn’t surprise Mike Norton about this issue:
Reuben Flagg considers hitting the road, like Jack Kerouac, to get in touch with himself.
A wise, aging, post-hippie grease-monkey sings verses from Bruce Springsteen’s “Jungleland.”
Final scene: Someone in California building a makeshift Buddhist temple.
Man, this is so awesome! I love a cheap comic stack, and these are all from a great time period: obvs, yo, the 80’s. I gotta reread some of my Boosters. They were, I suppose, marginally better than the Blue Beetles of the day—which, nowadays, the Booster is WAY better than Beetle (both have great devices/gimmicks going).
Remember that time I tried to read the DeMatteis run on Dr. Fate? And I hated everything as a result? And that I tried to read Moonshadow, and then I started punching balloons in the face? BAH ON DEMATTEIS
Ah, the Star Store! How I miss that place. I actually came across this entry by searching the internet for mentions of it. I’m trying to recall where in town it was located? (I was a young lad when it was still extant)
Jonathan, it was in the shopping center at the intersection of Meadowbrook and State—the one with the McRae’s in it that everyone’s grandmother was sad to see finally close.
Jonathan, specifically it was here:
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In fact, about two months ago they actually tore down the storefront that the Star Store was in (it became a nail salon), and now they’ve built a CVS.