"Here's To Good Friends"

My good ol' long time friend and fellow local comic book collector, David A. Jones, stopped by last night for a visit and brought me a nice Christmas present: a copy of the children's book he and his wife Theresa had published this year called Pumpkins On The Vine. Theresa wrote it and Dave illustrated it. Pretty neat! Dave always has some interesting stuff on his blogger site as well which goes by the name of The Johnny Bacardi Show.

I've known Dave for a lot of years. In fact, the first time we met he was still a kid and I was probably in my late teens. I forget the circumstances exactly; either his mom told my mom that Dave collected comics, or maybe we first met at a drug store both looking at comics originally. I'm afraid my mind isn't what it used to be on memories sometimes, but I do recall going over to his folk's house and trading comics and getting a copy of Detective #359 (1st. app. of the Barbara Gordon "Batgirl") those many years ago, and we've been friends ever since, making numberous trips together to comic book shops in Bowling Green and buddying around together. Mr. Jones has introduced me to many a great comic book and much good music over the years that I would have otherwise gotten in late on or missed altogether. Dave was even my Best Man at one of my weddings! If he's not my Best Friend, he sure makes a damn close resemblance! So, here's to ya D. Jones (and Theresa as well whom I've also know since the days they were still just dating) and the friendship we've shared over the years! Oh yeah...it was Dave who first turned me on to blogger too, so now you know who to either thank--- or blame! X^D

And...in other news...

Looks like I've closed a comic book deal on a dozen or so issues of the Classics Illustrated series The World Around Us, a title that ran in the late 1950's and early 60's which contained some really great art by Kirby, Crandall, Evans and a host of others. Each issue of that title was dedicated to a single subject, much like Classics Illustrated dedicated each issue to an individual book. Some of the WAU issues are on things like: The Civil War, The French Revolution, American Presidents, when others would be on such diverse things as: Ghosts and Pirates, or even Horses and Dogs! Anyway, I always loved the title and there was 36 issues published, so after this deal I think I'll only need about 5 issues finishing a set.

Another title I've just about completed due to yet another deal is a set of the Kirby 1970's series The Demon. This was my favorite of the later 70's Kirby books he did for DC, and The Demon is one of the few reoccuring characters of his that still has some sort of evolving history in the DC Universe. He was even animated here recently on an episode of Justice league Unlimited, and has become part of the DC-Vertigo dimension now. Although I always liked Kirby's other stuff, like the "4th. World" books: New Gods, Mister Miracle, Forever People, I think why I liked The demon more is because of the mystical aspect to the stories. But then again, I was always more a fan of Marvel's "Dr. Strange" than some of their other stuff at that time when it ran in the 1960's.