(Thrift Store Finds is a mostly-weekly “column” of sorts where I discuss some of the cool books I’ve happened upon in my neighborhood St. Vincent DePaul store.)
One of the things that got me started thinking about the comic paperback collections of the days of yore was this book:
The Untold Legend of the Batman was a TOR Books reprint of an old Batman origin series that the publishing house had in bookstores right around the end of the 1980’s… right at the time that the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie was breaking all sorts of box office records. To say I was a HUGE fan of that Batman movie and the resulting marketing hoopla would be a gross understatement. I gloried in that movie. I had Batman toys, I ate Batman cereal (despite, TRUE STORY, it being produced by a company more widely known for making DOG FOOD). I dressed up AS Batman when I finally got my parents to take me to see the movie… six weeks after it premiered. Imaging going to see a movie a month and a half after it had first come out in theaters and seeing people dressed as their favorite characters. Ridiculous… but I was that much a fan.
That paperback meant a lot to me, but somewhere between middle school and college, I lost my copy. I’ve been tempted to just buy one off eBay, but I’m relatively sure I’ll find one sooner or later.
I tell you all that to put my utter surprise into some kind of context when, out of the blue a few days ago, I found this paperback in the remaindered section of our local outlet mall:
The Superman Story follows the same narrative pattern as the Batman paperback I so loved as a kid.
Continue reading →
Teachable Moments 
thrift store finds: the superman story
Posted in commentary, thrift store finds with tags curt swan, fortress of solitude, krypto, krypto the super dog, martin pesko, superman, thrift store finds on April 17, 2010 by Christopher Pearce(Thrift Store Finds is a mostly-weekly “column” of sorts where I discuss some of the cool books I’ve happened upon in my neighborhood St. Vincent DePaul store.)
One of the things that got me started thinking about the comic paperback collections of the days of yore was this book:
The Untold Legend of the Batman was a TOR Books reprint of an old Batman origin series that the publishing house had in bookstores right around the end of the 1980’s… right at the time that the 1989 Tim Burton Batman movie was breaking all sorts of box office records. To say I was a HUGE fan of that Batman movie and the resulting marketing hoopla would be a gross understatement. I gloried in that movie. I had Batman toys, I ate Batman cereal (despite, TRUE STORY, it being produced by a company more widely known for making DOG FOOD). I dressed up AS Batman when I finally got my parents to take me to see the movie… six weeks after it premiered. Imaging going to see a movie a month and a half after it had first come out in theaters and seeing people dressed as their favorite characters. Ridiculous… but I was that much a fan.
That paperback meant a lot to me, but somewhere between middle school and college, I lost my copy. I’ve been tempted to just buy one off eBay, but I’m relatively sure I’ll find one sooner or later.
I tell you all that to put my utter surprise into some kind of context when, out of the blue a few days ago, I found this paperback in the remaindered section of our local outlet mall:
The Superman Story follows the same narrative pattern as the Batman paperback I so loved as a kid.
Continue reading →
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