Halloween Countdown 2010 Day 2: Dark Shadows Magic Slates

In 1969, Whitman produced two Magic Slates based on ABC's Dark Shadows gothic soap opera that sold for thirty-nine cents apiece. One clearly features Barnabas Collins while the other features the Collinwood mansion. In the 1990s, they were reproduced so well that "copy" was printed in red near the price to keep people from selling them as the originals. I have neither but I remember playing with a Batman Magic Slate when I was a boy in the 1970s (unfortunately, I never saved it or took a picture of it).

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century #16

The cover of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (May 1982) from Whitman, an imprint of Western Publishing Company, has our hero being sold to the highest bidder in the slaver's market. B. S. Watson wrote "The Seller of Souls" while Mike Roy inked and penciled. He befriends a few of the alien slaves including a small furball named Jamel from the planet Erion. Of course, he manages a breakout and defeats the alien slavers.

Thrift Store Finds: Book And Comics

I found a horror book and eight comics at one thrift store this morning. The book was I Am Frankenstein by C. Dean Andersson (Zebra Books, 1996) that I picked up for fifty cents (yellow tags were half price today).

The seven comics that I picked up at the same store for a dollar each include The Computer Masters of Metropolis (a Radio Shack giveaway featuring Superman and Wonder Woman), Flash Gordon #36 (Western/Whitman, 1981), A-Next #2, Iron Man #9, Incredible Hulk #466, Spider-Man, Fire-Star and Iceman (advertising supplement to The Denver Post in 1983), X-Men: Liberators #3 and Disney's Return To Oz (Scholastic, 1985). The Radio Shack giveaway comic has seen better days since the covers are torn at the bottom and are hanging on by one staple. The Flash Gordon and Dallas Post giveaway are in worn condition but the other comics are in fair shape.





At another thrift store, I found a battered copy of Devil Kids #90 featuring Hot Stuff the Little Devil for thirty cents. Not only are the covers worn and stained but three-fourths of the last ad page has been ripped out. Some one must have ordered the Sea-Monkeys. It has been a while since I last read a Harvey comic so I just to pick it up. I used to pick up anything with Hot Stuff and Richie Rich before I hit my teens.

Today was a great day for this comic fan to hit the thrift stores.

Thrift Store Finds: Bat Masterson And Constantine

I found two books at a local thrift store this morning that I just could not pass up. The first was Bat Masterson by Wayne C. Lee with illustrations by Adam Szwejkowski that was published by Whitman in 1960. This was an authorized edition based on the television series starring Gene Barry. This is in better shape than the Annie Oakley in Danger at Diablo book that I found a few weeks ago at another thrift store for three dollars. The price of Bat Masterson only set me back a dollar.

The second book was Constantine by John Shirley published by Pocket Books in 2005. This is the novelization of the movie based on the Hellblazer comic book published by DC Comics under the Vertigo imprint. I actually enjoyed the movie but maybe it is because I have only read a handful of the comics. Constantine was also a dollar.