This year, I did two shops: “The Zone,” which is within walking distance of my apartment, and Amazing Fantasy (AF-Books) in Frankfurt, Illinois. The latter is where I keep my pull list and was also my first stop of the day.  They opened at 11 am, and by the time I arrived at 11:30, they were packed with customers.

There was already a line to get in, as well as a crowd of collectors going through bins outside. A row of long boxes offered an assortment of comic books for 50 cents each, and even cheaper if you purchased them in bulk.

It was a beautiful day, and the store had superhero and STAR WARS cosplayers outside and ready to take photos with visitors. Where else can you see Princess Leia disguised as “Boushh” from Return of the Jedi (1983) hobnobbing with Starlord?

The bargains didn’t stop indoors, as everything in the store was 20% off. As I’m on a budget, I headed straight for the freebies. Tables were set up with this year’s offerings (most of them – a few titles were already wiped out), and everyone was allowed to take a total of eight comics (no duplicates). I grabbed my selections and stood in the checkout line, which reached the back of the store.

While there, I noticed some neat Creature from the Black Lagoon (1955) figures in various colors, but, since they were in boxes, you had no idea which one you were given. I texted shots to fellow ‘Creature’ enthusiast, Chris Connolly, who discussed it on his weekly YouTube channel, Mr. C Dives In.

After about twenty minutes, they announced that anyone who had just wanted free comics and wasn’t buying anything could just leave (NOW they tell me!). A nice guy escorted me out and checked over my selections before letting me leave. While doing so, I spotted the manager, Lori Gentile, at the checkout, and she yelled my name and waved “Hello” as I was leaving. Lori is a big Svengoolie fan and a friend of one of DC Comics’ former publishers, Dan DiDio (who also happens to be a good friend of Rich Koz a.k.a. Svengoolie, himself). It was no surprise that this shop was one of the stores carrying an exclusive Svengoolie cover for his last two comics.

While heading to my car, I bumped into my neighbor, Bob, who was on his way in. Bob and his girlfriend live in an apartment downstairs from mine, and we’ve shared a few pleasant conversations over the years. Today, we’d have another exchange culminating in our finally exchanging phone numbers with plans to get together. I thought it was hilarious that despite living next door to each other, we became pals at a comic store thirty minutes away.

On my way home, I decided to check out my local shop, The Zone, and see if they had anything to offer. This place is a lot smaller than my preferred Amazing Fantasy, and it also gets much less foot traffic. I’ll go in occasionally, but they have less selection, and the fact that they place their “wall comics” (the old, rare, and expensive books) by a large window where they all get faded by the sun drives me nuts!

The rules here were less restrictive; you could take as many as you wanted as long as there were no duplicates. They also had the comics that Amazing Books were out of; specifically, this year’s hot copy, Dungeon Crawler Carl. As the fantasy novel series (now coming up on its eighth book) is extremely popular, it’s no surprise that its comic book adaptation would be in demand.

So, all in all, a successful day. I came home with a stack of comic books without spending any money, plus made a new friend…even if he has lived next door to me for the last five years.

Dave~