Loved this storyline and loved the cliffhangers. About six months prior to this issue, continued stories made me crazy trying to figure out when the next issue was coming. Once I figured out the distribution schedule, I was usually at the local convenience store spinner racks the same day the next issue came out. And on a good day I had to go and kindly ask the clerk if he would PLEASE come out and unbundle the comics. Great memories.
I recall a few Tuesday mornings when the grumpy small-town, local 'gift shop' guy still had the bundled comics on his countertop.Doug: The cover I chose was one of only two issues of the All-New, All-Different X-Men that I missed between #100 and #130, when I quit collecting during my high school years. How about that? The debut of Alpha Flight, and I can't find the stinkin' main battle issue! Of course, my best story always remains my mom running by a porn shop where I was able to secure Avengers #161. That one saved me from the crux of today's conversation!
I sheepishly asked him whether he'd go ahead and open 'em up.
And he'd always give me that snarky stare like either I was crazy, or I owed him something for doing that small favor.
You'd think this guy would gladly take regular income from a kid for these 'funny books', even it it was a dollar or two.
Incidentally, this store was a small storefront-type place, primarily dusty old glass and tacky antique art sculptures there, with dingy old toy stock on the back shevles. It pains me that there were some ultra-cool '60s GI Joe MIB sets among the cheap toys sitting there, waiting to be bought.
Doug: Today let's discuss moments like those mentioned above, when you can recall specific instances of waiting at the spinner rack for the new weeks' books. Better yet, discuss those times when your reading pleasure of a particular storyline was interrupted by the spotty distribution so many of us knew well back in the 1970s. What's a book -- title and issue number -- that you didn't get until years later? Of course in our "golden age of comics reprints" that Karen loves to praise, it's probably a non-issue. But today's the day to let that anger and bewilderment from over 30 years ago flow -- get it out!
