Morty Comix # 2524

Morty Comix # 2524 looked like it wanted to travel.

So I walked through a parking lot in Tumwater, Washington and told myself that the first out of state license plate I saw would decide the general jurisdiction of this little comic's destination. Fate chose Alaska, our neighboring state.

Then I told myself to watch for anything that had a number between 1 and 5. As I walked through the grounds of a vocational school I spotted a tennis ball a good block away from the nearest court. It had the number 2 on it. So 2 it was.

Alaska's biggest city is, of course, Anchorage. The 2nd largest depends on what source you use, and it looks like a tossup between Fairbanks and Juneau. I chose Juneau because my beautiful cousin Patti lives there. Then I located a Juneau telephone book that was about 4 years old.

For once I thought I'd actually send one of these to a comic book store, but none were listed in the Yellow Pages. Instead I found myself between Colon Hydrotherapy and Commercial Artists. You know, when you look for a comic book store and find these two instead-- I don't think this is an accident. No. It is an editorial comment.

Anyway, naturally I chose the Colon Hydrotherapy option. Fortunately I double checked the address online, because the doctor had moved since the book was printed. 

So, it is North to Alaska for this one!

Unpublished Drawings 1971-1974

Page 2 of the comic collector story is missing. I believe this was drawn about 1971. There might have been other pages after page 4, but I can't recall. The drawing pad is dated December 1972. The Bogart portrait is dated March 18, 1974.

Brave and the Bold # 43: Joe Kubert Original Art

I collected comic books in the 1960s and up to the start of the 1970s. The discovery of underground comix made me eschew my collector side and embrace the artist/publisher part of the game. I sold all my comic books (which helped pay a big chunk of my first year of college) and didn't look back.

But I did keep one item. This page of original art from Brave and the Bold # 43 (September 1962), with pencils and inks by Joe Kubert, was too beautiful to sell. I acquired it through a trade with another collector in the Olympia area, I think he got one of my Golden Age comics with Captain America in exchange.

This is page 15 of a story featuring Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and the Manhawks. I'm sorry my phone doesn't take real clear photos, but you can see Dreamer the cat sitting next to the framed art. The closeup photos are about as good as my phone will take.

The piece was apparently thumbtacked on all corners by someone in the past, and aside from a small tack rust ring in the upper left edge, this work is in excellent shape. There are a few spots where you can see whiteout was used in the lettering and drawing. I never get tired of admiring this great work and feeling inspired by Kubert, a master cartoonist.

Phone photo 203

McCleary, Washington.

I always liked this unique little square poking into the greater McCleary megaopolis skyline from one of my all-time favorite grocery stores. There are stories in town that it was actually an apartment for a store employee long ago and today is haunted. Pretty neat, eh?

This store was a regular stop for me from age 8 to high school for buying the newest comic books and thus shares the blame for how I turned out as an adult. Back in the early 1960s they actually had a bench where kids could sit and read comics while the parents shopped.