All the way back in March and April when the plague really started spreading quickly and Massachusetts rolled out it’s lock down and stay at home orders I thought I’d get a lot of reading and writing done. I turned the dining room into a comic sorting den. I wrote a bunch of short quick posts based on the things I was reading like random Who’s Who issues, Skateman, and some X-Men comics that I got a great deal on. Things changed as the virus quickly spread across the country and the rest of the world.
Due to complications caused by Covid-19, comic publishing ground to a halt as did my sorting and writing. My wife and I were working longer hours and were more worn out at the end of the day. DC Comics suddenly announced that they were cutting ties with Diamond Distribution. Everything seemed to be up in the air and no one really knew what was going on. New comics eventually started getting printed and shipped again but there was still a lot of uncertainty. Some stores were able to weather the challenges with what was happening while many could not.
My comic guy, his shop closed years ago but he kept his business running for his most faithful customers, was having a hard time getting any news out of his Diamond contacts. Most of us bought DC books, with only a few Marvel, Image and other publishers thrown in. We collectively decided it wasn’t worth it for us and him to pay the outrageous shipping costs just for the handful of comics we would be able to get from Diamond and then try and work out how to get DC books. It was over.
Since I stopped getting comics from my guy I have gone to a couple of shops to pick up a handful of new books. But that has only been a few times. I still don’t like going out much beyond the most necessary errands so I’ve missed buying plenty of issues and will have to fill in quite a few holes eventually. On the flipside, I haven’t actually missed reading piles of new comics. While I still enjoy Daredevil, Superman, and the stuff I was reading regularly, it’s been easy to let keeping up with stuff slide. I had pictured spending hours filling out orders with Midtown comics or some other website where I could get a subscription of some kind but that never happened for many reasons, laziness, lack of desire, depression, whatever you want to call it, I didn’t do that.
Finally in August I filled out an order with DBCS for October release comics. This first order was a test to see if I wanted to keep going through them. It was easy and the price was great. The order arrived tonight and due to how great the whole process was, if I decide to keep buying new comics I’ll definitely be going with them. There is something wonderful about getting a box of comics in the mail. I decided to wait until after work and dinner to open it and really savor the moment.
Opening the box was a joy. They packaged everything really well. All the comics, magazines and digests were bagged and the comics boarded. Everything was surrounded by foam to hold it in place and prevent anything from getting dented, bent or crushed. On top of the pile were a couple of Archie digests. Under that were the comics, followed by a couple of magazines and finally the Previews catalog. A new copy of Previews is a little magical, I mean how could you not love looking through a catalog filled with comics, toys and games?
Opening that box was like reuniting with old friends, Archie, The Flash, and Alfred E Newman were all there. Sure, I have tons of unread old and new comics, but as a collector there is something special about brand new comics. As a lifelong comic collector, I’m always chasing that rush of buying some new adventure fresh off the newsstand. This also means I’ve got decisions to make, and sooner rather than later, but for the rest of tonight I’m just gonna be a happy guy on new comic day.
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