MY LAST GARAGE SALES OF 2022

My final VAST ACCUMULATION OF STUFF garage sales will be on Friday, September 30, and Saturday, October 1. I had hoped to also schedule one for Thursday, September 29, but dental surgery and my extreme reaction to same forced me to go with the usual two days.

The sales will take place from 9 am to noon each day at 840 Damon Drive in Medina, Ohio. If you’re arrive just before noon, I’ll keep the sales going until you’ve completed your shopping. I don’t want to disappoint any of my customers, old or new.

I never know exactly what my sales will have. In general, you will find boxes of dollar comics, magazines, more expensive collectors comics, trade paperbacks, and hardcovers. There will be comics and books written by me, including an exclusive signed and numbered Misty Knight comic book only available from me. That one is priced at a fan-friendly. Quite a bargain when you consider that I charge $10 per signature at conventions.

Another special garage sale bonus is that, whether you bought the items from me or not, I’ll sign your Isabella comics and such for free. All I ask is that, if you bring a large number of comics, you be patient as I wait on the paying customers.

In addition to the boxes, there will be display tables covered with manga, paperbacks, large-size books, Godzilla action figures, rare Godzilla items from Japan and more. There will also be a clothing rack with shirts, jackets and other items priced at a ridiculously low $2 each. For other cool stuff, check out the bookcases and the magazine rack and the spinning rack.

I will have a very limited supply of our beloved $10 mystery boxes. When I say limited, it means one box per customer per day. I have been using a specific size box for these mystery boxes and, after years of garage sales, my supply is exhausted. I may find a couple more during the fall/winter garage sales hiatus, but probably not more than that.

Does this mean the end of the mystery boxes? Not a chance. It means the boxes will be more of a mystery than ever. Different sizes, but the same cool mix of comics and more in each box.

Because these are the last garage sales of 2022, I’m going to take appointments for private shopping from October 3-7. To make such an appointment, you have to email me with several possible times you could come to my garage. I’ll pick the time that works best with my schedule. There will be no appointments after October 7 on account I’ll be taking a vacation and clearing half the garage so Saintly Wife Barb can start parking her car in the garage.

If you miss these garage sale, you’ll have one more chance in 2022 to give me your money in person. I will be a guest at the forever wondrous Akron Comicon, November 5-6 at Emidio’s Expo Center, 48 E. Bath Road, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223. The show hours are Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm.   

I won’t be hibernating this winter. I’ll be working on a number of writing projects and also going through boxes upon boxes of stuff for my 2023 garage sales.

That’s all for today. Keeping watching this bloggy thing space for more news, views, reviews and other stuff. See you soon.

© 2022 Tony Isabella

WHAT I READ IN TEXAS

 

 

I had a wonderful time at the Eastern Rim Funny Books and Vintage Con in Baytown, Texas a few weekends back. Since I have never been much of an after-hours convention party monster and since my son Ed was hanging with an Ohio State friend for two of the three nights of our stay, I was able to do quite a bit of reading during my stay in the Lone Star State. So why not share the things I read with you bloggy thing afficionados?

Most of what I read was on my Kindle, but I packed a physical copy of The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 28 [The Library of American Comics; $44.99]. This beautifully-crafted hardcover collection reprinted Tracy from July 7, 1974 to March 14, 1976, a very odd and interesting time for the comic strip and for creator Chester Gould.

I’ve described this volume as “a psychedelic trip” and Gould as “a great cartoonist gone right-wing ape-shit and still telling wildly entertaining stories.” Some of the sequences are just plain weird, especially when Gould (through Tracy) rants about weak judges who coddle criminals and release murderers from jail after just a year or two in prison. This is typical of the Republican rhetoric which ridiculously exaggerates the situation and ignores that even such criminals have rights. To Gould/Tracy, judges who try to apply the law justly are as big a menace as the murderers. The detective and his team are downright bloodthirsty, celebrating the bloody deaths of those they pursue and cheering that the deceased never got their day in court.

Gould’s insane political commentary would have destroyed any comic strip by a lesser talent, but this book shows him struggling with other creative issues as well. For one thing, with comic strips now being published at a smaller size than previously, the lettering on the strip becomes enormous at the expense of the art. For another, Gould is no longer able to show violence as graphically as he once did. Virtually every important death takes place off-screen.

Even with all those concerns, I highly recommend this penultimate volume and all the other volumes in the series. Gould was a pivotal comics creator. Today’s creators can learn much from him. Today’s readers will find some great entertainment.

ISBN 978-1684056903

                                                               

Read via my Kindle Fire, Bikini Atoll by Christophe Bec and Bernard Khattou [Clover Press; $24.99] is a scary horror movie waiting to be made. Vacationing divers and tourists take what they think will be a relaxing weekend trip to Bikini Atoll, the scarred island where the U.S. tested nuclear bombs for four decades. But there’s something awful in the waters surrounding the island and something even worse on the island itself. Things go bad quickly.

The graphic novel is terrific. Interesting characters. An overall sense of menace. Shocking moments. I recommend it to any who likes a good horror/monster story. As for a possible movie - I would be astonished if the film rights haven’t been snapped up already - its success would depend on the actors cast as those very interesting characters. This could be a blockbuster.

ISBN 978-1951038434

                                                                          

Also on Kindle, I read Red Sonja: The Super Powers by Dan Abnett and  Jonathan Lau [Dynamite; $19.99]. Here’s the Amazon pitch:

The She-Devil With A Sword has battled barbarians, scuffled with sorcerers, and mangled magical creatures of all sizes. But when a collective of superheroes from the Project enter her world, will Sonja know how to adjust to their foreign ways, before they all kill each other?

This one was a wee bit difficult to get a handle on. The heroes of the Project come from different realities and have banded together to protect their version of the Multiverse. The heroes are all very familiar. Some are public domain super-heroes from the 1940s comic books. Some are pastiches of other existing super-heroes. They meet Sonja. They fight Sonja. They join forces against the real villain. They recruit Sonja to join them.

I tried but I could never believe/accept this take on Red Sonja. She came off as a cross between a party girl with a sword (or some more futuristic weaponry) and Sergio Aragones’ Groo. The collection of the mini-series is not without entertainment value, but I found it acceptable at best.

ISBN 978-1524120290

                                                                       

Much better on every level was Vampirella: The Dark Powers by Dan Abnett and Paul Davidson [Dynamite; $19.99]. The Amazon pitch for this one:

Welcome to the Project, interdimensional collective of superheroes, tasked with recruiting members from across infinite worlds. And their newest recruit is...VAMPIRELLA!?  

The grand adventures of Vampirella as an interdimensional superhero and member of Project Superpowers! Will she be able to fit in, or will she take a darker path?

Vampirella is a much better fit for a super-hero universe than Red Sonja. While she believes her powers are science-based - after all, she is an alien from outer space - many of her new teammates think of her as supernatural and, worse, a supernatural demon. That makes for good and intriguing conflict.

Vampirella is more naturally violent than the super-heroes. She is dismissive of their code against killing, though she does attempt to adhere to it.

This series happens more or less simultaneously with the Red Sonja series. Even with my above-stated misgivings about Super Sonja, I’d be up for more books in this reality.

ISBN 978-1524120320

As I become more comfortable with reading comics on my Kindle, I’ll be downloading more comics to it. It’s a far lighter option for my convention traveling.

I’m working towards increasing the frequency of these bloggy things of mine. I have several topics waiting for me to write about them. Hopefully, I’ll get to them soon.

Have a great day. See you soon.

© 2022 Tony Isabella

TONY GOES TO TEXAS: PART TWO

 

 

Sunday, August 28, was the second and final day of the Eastern Rim Funny Book and Vintage Con at Goose Creek Memorial High School in Baytown, Texas. My day started with a most unsatisfactory breakfast at the Staybridge Suites. The “eggs” offered were minuscule cheese omelets of the sort you can find in the frozen food section of most grocery stores. Just a few years ago, you could get a decent-size and tasty buffet at hotels. That’s rarely the case now.

My disappointment was short-lived. I knew I had another day of the Eastern Rim event. I was definitely looking forward to that event. Last time out, I talked about the convention venue, the vendors and the wonderful fans who attended. This time out, I’m going to talk about the guests, a great bunch of creators to be sire.

British superstar comics artist and painter Glenn Fabry was set up next to me, so we got to chat quite a bit during the weekend. He’s as affable as he is talented. I’d love to work with him on one of my bucket list projects.

Anthony Tollin was next to me and, next to him, was another friend of many decades. Val Mayerik and I worked on “The Living Mummy” for Marvel Comics in the 1970s, though he’s is somewhat better known as the co-creator of Howard the Duck. He’s a former Ohio resident who now lives in Texas. It was great catching up with Val and I hope to see him again soon. Which isn’t impossible since a couple promoters asked for my contact information with the hope of bringing me to a convention of theirs.

                                                                              

He didn’t have a table at the show, but I was nonetheless thrilled to finally meet comics art collector supreme Alex Johnson. We’ve been online friends for a decade or two. I always love seeing his new acquisitions, especially his long-running series of commissions featuring Sheldon Mayer’s Sugar and Spike. What Alex does with that is get amazing artists to draw Sugar and Spike faux-covers. I’ve shared some of them on my Facebook page.

One of the most entertaining guests was Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers, the American dancer/actor known for his role as "Turbo" in the 1984 film Breakin' and its sequel Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. We met, chatted and bonded to the extent that whenever I walked past his table, he would break into dance moves and sing a song using the words “Black Lightning.” I don’t dance - don’t ask me - but I think Michael should take some of those made-up-on-the-spot songs and make YouTube videos of them. He was great fun to be around. I also had enjoyable conversations with several other guests during the show:

Artist Mark A. Nelson, whose stunning work has appeared in comics, role-playing games and more, gifted me with a copy of From Pencils to Inks: The Art of Mark A. Nelson and what a stunning collection of illustrations it is. I can look at some of the pieces and find myself thinking about writing a story around them.

It’s always great to see Pop Mhan at a convention. His distinctive style has graced many a fine comic book and yes, like every artist I’m writing about there, I’d love to work with him.

                                                                         

Keith Kez Wilson is one of my favorite cartoonists, comics artists, illustrator and animator. His pastiche prints, which include covers for Doc Savage paperbacks that never were, are wonderful. I bought four of them and - I swear to Godzilla - I will find a way to get all of them on my walls.

Comic-book artist Vo Nguyen and I have been Facebook friends for a long time, but we had never met before this convention. Hopefully, we’ll see each other again and another Texas convention next year. I like Texas, its citizens and its restaurants a lot. I think it speaks highly of my tolerant nature that I have only made one Ted Cruz joke in this multi-part convention report.

I can’t praise the Eastern Rim event and all those who were part of it enough. I can’t think of a single unpleasant moment during the time my son Eddie I were there. Aside from the one unfortunate meal from Sonic. I’m thinking the burger and fries were cooked in actual hedgehog grease.

After the con ended, Eddie and I went to the famous Cavender’s Boot City. My son bought an expensive cowboy hat and a pair of slightly less expensive boots. They look good on him. As for me, no cowboy hat or boots are going to make look authentically western. I just bought hilarious t-shirts for my wife, my daughter and my gay best friend.

That Sunday night, Eddie and I had Ricky’s Burgers. It’s not a big restaurant, but the burgers were some of the best I’ve ever had and were not expensive.

Monday morning, on our way to return our rental car and check in at the airport, we stopped at Buc-Ee’s. As least as big if not bigger than a Costco, the place had all manner of hot sandwiches and other food-to-go plus pretty much anything else you could need. It also had the biggest restrooms I’ve ever seen anywhere. When you hit 70, my current age, you’ll understand the importance of this.

After we checked into our flight and passed through the TSA stuff, my cane was even more useful than on our previous flight. We got a ride to our gate from a friendly cart driver. This happened after we landed in Cleveland as well. And, as previously, the cane got me early boarding.

The only less-than-wonderful thing about our return flight was it left almost an hour later than scheduled. Still, since we were on a direct flight, that wasn’t nearly as anxiety-provoking as if we’d had to make a connecting flight.

Eddie and I enjoyed our visit to Texas. As I’ve said, the people, the food and especially the convention were first-rate. I’m hoping to return to the state next year.

Next up: what I read in Texas. See you then.

© 2022 Tony Isabella

TONY GOES TO TEXAS: PART ONE

 

 

As I work at getting this bloggy thing of mine back to the level of frequent posting and superlative quality, something I most want to address is my appearance and convention reports. My goal is to post  reports within days of my returning home from them.

I definitely don’t want to let too many days go by without praising the excellent Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con that was held on Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August 28, at Goose Creek Memorial High School in Baytown, Texas. Which is around a half-hour distance from Houston. Admission was free, the convention guests and vendors were many, the promoter and staff were incredible and the fans were among the nicest I’ve met. My thanks to Jerry Shafer for inviting me to the convention and to Jared Jerard of Free Form Frames for sponsoring my appearance.

My son Eddie and I flew to Houston on United Airlines. Much to my delight, it was a direct flight that only took about three hours. I was using my cane for the first time in public. That was a wise decision. Trying to navigate the lengthy distance between the TSA checkpoint and our departure gate would have been a nightmare sans the cane and it wasn’t fun even with the cane. Fortunately, on the way back, I was able to get rides to and from the gate.

I felt bad accepting I needed extra time to board and then boarding  early, but I can’t ignore my hopefully temporary mobility issues. The United personnel were unfailingly helpful. Yes, it’s true air travel always sucks these days, but United did as good or better a job at it than other airlines.

When we landed in Houston, Eddie rented a car for us. The Eastern Rim folks were more than ready and willing to pick us up and drive us wherever we needed or wanted to go - they had even assigned me a driver - but Eddie planned to visit one of his Ohio State friends who lived in Houston and wanted a car for that.

                                                                                

We were staying at the Staybridge Suites, a pleasant extended stay hotel with a full kitchen and plenty of room to stretch out. Food options were limited, but that is the way of such accommodations.They did offer a free breakfast and a guest could purchase frozen dinners and other items from the hotel pantry. We did not go that route because there were many fine restaurants with a short drive from the hotel.

Eddie was meeting his friend Friday night. In my first and only bad decision of the weekend, I had him drive me through a Sonic for my evening meal. Pardon my French, but it was merde. I ate maybe half my meal before I decided I wanted to live. The next morning, when I looked at the brown bag of leftovers, the bottom half of the bag was soaked through with grease. It was as if someone had turned Ted Cruz into a hamburger.

Saturday’s free hotel breakfast was decent enough. Scrambled eggs. McDonald’s-style hash browns. Sausage links. Various juices and other beverages. An assortment of breads. Yogurt. And, if one were so inclined, one could make a waffle. Nothing fancy, but certainly a good start to the day.

                                                                                

Goose Creek Memorial High School was an impressive venue. If you’ve seen Friday Night Lights, you know high schools are a really huge deal in Texas. The long first floor hallway was filled with guests and vendors. I’ll talk about them in a bit.

                                                                        

The convention had assigned me two guest tables, which was one more than I needed. I travel light when I fly to a convention. But this made room for Anthony Tollin, my dear friend of over a decade, to take my second table and fill it with pulp magazines and reprints of pulp magazines, original art from the pulps and elsewhere, cool prints of various art and an assortment of color guides from some of the countless comics he colored while working at DC Comics back in the day.

Besides being one of the nicest and most honorable men in comics, Tollin is an expert in many other areas of pop culture. He had been heavily involved in old-time radio - he did a stint writing copy for Walter Cronkite - and pulp magazines. I’m sure many of you have bought his great Sanctum Books reprints of The Shadow, Doc Savage and other pulp heroes. These books were so amazing that more than one pulp magazine collectors have put their original pulp magazines on the market in favor of the Tollin volumes. You can’t spend any time with my friend without learning something new.

Another Tollin area of expertise is...dachshunds. He’s owned these animals for decades and several of his dogs have been champions. His tales of these wonderful companions is one of the main reasons I keep asking Saintly Wife Barb to let me get a dog. If you should see Barb at any conventions, tell her that dogs make people better. Maybe she’ll believe it if she hears it from someone other than me.
Hope spring eternal.

Getting to spend so much quality time with my friend was easily the highpoint of the convention for me. Even if there had not been so many other great guests and so many amazing fans, just his presence would have made the convention for me. However, there were many other great guests and I got to chat with most during this splendid  two-day event. I’ll cover the other guests in the next installment of this bloggy thing, but I wanted to talk about the fans and the vendors today.

                                                                                 

The fans were among the nicest I’ve encounters at any convention. I was truly moved by how many of them reached out to tell me that I was the reason they came to the convention. They were excited to talk about comics I had written and my journey through the comics industry and the Black Lightning TV series and comics in general. I especially enjoyed speaking with Meredith, a young lady who was an avid fan of Black Lightning. I don’t want to speak for him, but I think my son Eddie gets a kick out of seeing his dad treated with such love and respect from the fans. He knows that’s not often the case from the professional side of the industry.

The vendors? There was a wide variety of items being offered to the fans. An abundance of comic books but also things from the worlds of anime, cosplay, gaming, prose novels, toys and more. It pleased me to hear from several dealers that they sold Black Lightning #1 and other Isabella-written comics. As I’ve said before, if I am a guest at a convention, the retailers should bring as many Isabella items as they have in their stock.

Eddie had plans to go to a Houston Astro game with his Ohio State friend, so Tony Tollin and I were on my our own for dinner. Being a wise man, my pal asked one of the police officers doing security for the event for restaurant suggestions. The officer recommended a number of restaurants.

                                                                                 

We decided to go to Baytown’s 888 Chinese Restaurant at 4567 Garth Road, #400. It’s a medium-size restaurant that serves authentic and delicious cuisine. I ordered the chicken with broccoli, served with white rice. A great meal at a very reasonable price. Our server was great with the only downside being that, when I opened my fortune cookie, there was no fortune. For a moment, I took this as a sign I had no destiny. But our server brought me a second cookie with a message indicating...well, I’m not sure what the message was trying to convey because it was confusing. I decided it meant my destiny was mine to decide.

Tollin drove me and my plentiful leftovers back to my hotel where I read some comics collections on my Kindle and surfed the many TV channels available to me. I got a great night’s sleep and woke up ready for the second and final day of the convention.

More to come.

© 2022 Tony Isabella

I SHALL RETURN

September is turning into a month of knocking a great many odds and ends off my too-long to do list. New bloggy things will be rare until October.

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN AUGUST

While I’m still terrified of the menaces that are criminal former president Donald Trump, his insanely rabid followers and the more vile than ever Republican Party, my August was, otherwise, pretty darn good. My garage sales did very well. My Facebook auctions also did very well. I capped off the month with the absolutely wonderful Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con. I will be writing about that convention in a near-future bloggy thing.

While you’re waiting for that, here are some of the terrific things that made me happy last month...

August 1: Barb and I have been enjoying the second season of Only Murders in the Building. The main cast is as wonderful as ever, as are the crazy twists and turns. Plus fun new supporting characters and the returns of old favorites.

August 2: Ron Fortier and Gary Kato’s Mr. Jigsaw Christmas Special. Published in 2019, it’s 55 pages of full-color, suitable-for-all-ages super-hero fun. Jiggy is one of my favorite comics characters. You can order this special at Amazon.  

August 3: Disney’s Jungle Cruise. This adventure/comedy made for an enjoyable two hours.  Fun performances from Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Paul Giamatti and, especially, Johnson’s pet jaguar Proxima. I have thing for cats of all sizes.

August 4: The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide 52nd Edition, 2022-2023. It’s always great to get the new Price Guide, chocked full of comics history and commerce. I got the Butch Guice cover of Winter Soldier. What a terrific artist!

August 5: The Netflix premiere episode of The Sandman erased all my doubts as to whether they could do justice to Neil Gaiman’s classic nay legendary comics epic. It was chilling, evocative and intense.
I’m looking forward to the remaining nine episodes.

                                                                            

August 6: Rokurou Ogaki’s Crazy Food Truck. In a dystopian world, a mysterious man drives a food truck, picks up a one-woman army and defends his few customers from an armed militia. Don’t ask. Just enjoy this insanely entertaining manga.

August 7: Our Little Secret by Emily Carrington is a graphic memoir of being abused as a child and dealing with that. It is a difficult book to read. Though Carrington finds peace at her struggle’s end, it never feels like it’s enough.

August 8: On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took a shot at Warner Bros. Discovery, his new “business daddy,” for its dumping of the Batgirl movie for tax purposes. I laughed out loud, but it was a sad laugh.

August 9: The Sandman. Specifically, Patton Oswalt as Matthew the Raven. I’ve said this before, but every movie and TV series should have a role for Oswalt. If I ever write for either, I’ll do my best to hire him.

                                                                                     

August 10: I got a cool new t-shirt. There are several variations of this concept, but this is the one I like the best. Comfortable and formal enough for any event.
                                                                                 

August 11: Given the insanity of these times, I felt the need to hire additional legal representation. If it please the court, Ms. Elle Woods with Bruiser.
                                                                               

August 12: Another cool new t-shirt. This is Superman as I like him best. Not yet the boy scout. Dismissive of authority. Dealing with crooked businessmen and politicians like the trash they are. A true champion of the oppressed.

August 13: My beloved Tina Fe is back where she belongs. After too many delays and indignities, my Hyundai Santa Fe SUV is back in my driveway and running well. I’m looking forward to many more con and road trips with my girl.

August 14: I took Barb to lunch at Medina’s Foundry Social. It’s a cool bar/restaurant, brewing company and game place. Good food in big “take some home for another meal” quantities. We want to return when we have time to play the various games.

August 15: I keep discovering great stuff in my Vast Accumulation of Stuff. This weekend’s garage sales will have complete runs of Disney’s DuckTales...in the dollar comics boxes! So many bargains to be found at my sales.

August 16: Another heirloom found in my Vast Accumulation of Stuff. A big roll of stickers for Isabella’s Italian Bread from the family bakery. I’ll use them to seal greeting cards and letters.
                                                                               

                                                           

August 17: New to me is Man-Eaters by writer Chelsea Cain & artist Kate Niemczyk. I read the first volume last night with my reactions being discomfort and intrigued. Which are fine reasons to continue reading this series.

August 18: Last night’s movie with Barb was The Lost City, starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt and the wonderful Da'Vine Joy Randolph. This comedy-adventure was perfect for our “busy day” relaxation.

August 19: She-Hulk: Attorney-At-Law. The debut was glorious with everything I wanted from the series. Tatiana Maslany is an absolute dream in the title role. Even Saintly Wife Barb enjoyed it and will likely join Eddie and I in watching it.

August 20: This weekend’s Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales were an amazing success with my achieving 144% of my two-day goal. I also got to spend time with some fantastic customers and friends. What an incredible weekend!

                                                                                 

August 21: Taking the night off to read Linda Castillo’s Fallen, a recent addition to her Kate Burkholder series. Kate is police chief in a city including the Amish community she left as a teen. Great characters, suspenseful storytelling. Recommended.

August 22: Bonus episodes of The Sandman on Netflix. Both “Dream of a Thousand Cats” and “Calliope” were riveting television, but the former deserves multiple awards while the latter hit home in a most personal way.

August 23: I chatted on ZOOM with a pal of fifty years for a book he’s writing. It was a nice reminder that, despite the bad times in my career, I made a lot of terrific friends who I cherish to this day. I should tell them that often.

August 24: Bad Luck Chuck by Lela Gwenn and Matthew Dow Smith. The title heroine uses her superhuman bad luck for insurance fraud. A bit rough around the edges but it’s a fun comic book. That’s good enough for me.

August 25: Day Shift. Los Angeles vampire hunter needs a big score to keep his family together. Nice performances by Jaime Foxx, Dave Franco and Snoop Dogg. A fun movie with a hilariously high vampire count. I’d be up for a sequel

August 26: Getting to board airplanes early because I’m now using a cane. It’s not something I wanted to be doing, but anything that makes flying even a little easier is a cause for celebration. I’ll still be glad for when I don’t need the cane.

                                                                                  

August 27: The Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con was a glorious event. The venue had plenty of comfortable room for the wonderful guests, vendors and especially the terrific fans. My son and I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me.

August 28: Getting to spend time with Anthony Tollin at the Eastern Rim Funny Book & Vintage Con. An incredibly accomplished man, Tony has been one of my dearest friends for over fifty years. I hope to do many more conventions with him.  

August 29: Fitting for a book reprinting the strips from 1974-1976, The Complete Chester Gould's Dick Tracy Volume 28 was a psychedelic trip. A great cartoonist gone right-wing ape-shit and still telling wildly entertaining stories.

August 30: Bikini Atoll by writer Christophe Bec and artist Bernard Khattou is a grim and gory graphic novel wherein tourists to that atomic-bombed island are pursued by monstrous mutants. It’s scary and suspenseful and not for the faint of heart.

August 31: Stargirl is the only CW show I watch these days and its third season premiere showed why. So many great characters, led by the optimistic title hero. The chance of redemption for her former foes. And, of course, a murder mystery.

That’s all for now as I resume work on this weekend’s garage sales. But I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2022 Tony Isabella