AFTER THE GARAGE SALES ARE OVER

 

My 2024 garage sales were fairly successful. I made decent money putting books, comics and other items in the hands of customers who enjoyed getting them, especially at my low prices. I reduced my Vast Accumulation of Stuff somewhat, though I still have much more stuff than I need. And the fun isn’t over yet.

After my last garage sale, I consolidated my garage sales boxes on one side of the garage. This allows my saintly wife to once again park her car in the garage. But the big fun comes from the side of the garage I’ve continued to claim for the VAOS. It will remain mine throughout the year.

We have a second vehicle. The Hyundai Santa Fe SUV I drive and which I christened “Tina Fe” because I’m a clever person. But it has weathered several winters outside the garage and is prepared to do so again. I will explain.

By using half the garage for my boxes of stuff, I’ll save four or five days I’d normally spend bringing it back into the house and bringing it back out in the spring. The plan was always to have the boxes readily available for my post-garage sales guest appearances at upcoming conventions – like the Akron Comicon and GalaxyConColumbus.

It also allows me to continue working on next year’s VAOS sales throughout the fall and winter. So far, I’ve put together nine mystery boxes, six of which have already been sold to one of my regular customers. Indeed, by special appointment, I’ll open the garage to any customer who wants to shop for an hour. E-mail me to arrange such an appointment.

Most days will see me adding a dozen or so books and comics to my garage stock. Which puts me that much further ahead for next summer’s sales. And I’ll continue putting together mystery boxes as suitable contains arrive at my house.

I am contemplating some changes for next year’s sales. I’m going to reduce the number of dollar comic boxes. Putting those comics in bags with boards cuts into my non-existent profit on them and takes time. Initially some of those comics will go into my other comic boxes and some will go into the mystery boxes. The better and newer comic books will be priced at $2, still a considerable discount over their cover prices. If they don’t sell at $2, they will end up in mystery boxes. While the mystery boxes are not profitable in themselves, they make my beloved customers happy while reducing the afore-mentioned VAOS that much quicker.

I could probably devote an entire bloggy thing to the economics of being an older comics creator who is not getting many paying gigs from publishers who pay a decent wage. In my case, I rely on my social security, reprint payments and royalties from a few publishers, convention sales, my garage sales and my eBay store. My wife and I are in better shape than most, but others are not as fortunate.

SIDEBAR: Talking with one of the big publishers recently, I have suggested they do an anthology to benefit the Hero Initiative. It would feature older creators doing stories about characters who are also dealing with age, financial matters, health issues and so on. There is so much under-utilized talent out there.

As I go through the VAOS for next year’s garage sales, I am also looking for items to offer in my eBay store. My dear friend Rob Petersen runs the store and he’s been amazing about educating me in the arcane knowledge of eBay. His packaging and pricing are second to none. Please check out my eBay listings every week. You will find some wonderful things there.

My next convention will be the astonishing Akron Comicon, Saturday and Sunday, November 9 and 10, at Emodio’s Expo Center,48 E. Bath Road in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. I’ll be writing about it in greater detail later this week, but I wanted to let you know I will be bringing my garage sale stock, which includes some way cool Godzilla swag and a few $10 mystery boxes. I hope to see you there.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2024 Tony Isabella

GHOST RIDER REBORN

 

This is a chapter from The Unrealized Isabella, a book that will collect a great many pitches and sometimes full plots for comics and other projects I wanted to create, but which, for one reason or another, never happened. I’m just beginning to work on this book. That work will go much faster if I can find a publisher who wants to publish it.

In June 2018, having been given the go-ahead by the Marvel brass to submit pitches. I came up with three limited series, two of them featuring characters I created back in the 1970s and the third featuring a novel concept for a character who had been part of the Marvel Universe since the early 1960s.

I’m currently taking a look at two of the series to ascertain if I can remove all the Marvel Universe elements from them and make them their own creations. When and if I have accomplished that, I will use my social media to offer them to publishers and other partners. I won’t be posting free ideas, just enough to give any interested parties an inkling of what I’m pitching. If they want to see the actual pitches, they’ll have to sign an NDA. I have had enough of my ideas stolen by a former publisher to risk that happening again.

This brings us to the remaining June 2018 pitch. There’s no way to remove its Marvel Universe elements without draining all the life out of it. So you get a glimpse of what might have been if the Marvel editors had shared my vision for a continuation and alternate take on a character I wrote for two years.

GHOST RIDER REBORN

by Tony Isabella

pitch for twelve-issue series

Background. In the 1970s, I wrote a two-year Ghost Rider story line intended to free Johnny Blaze from Satan’s power and change the title to more of a super-hero stuntman in Hollywood series. In the finale of this story, Blaze accepted (albeit in Marvel speak) Jesus as his savior. This was approved by three editors: Roy Thomas, Len Wein and Marv Wolfman. During the chaos of Marv leaving, an assistant editor said this finale offended him and took it upon himself to rewrite and have redrawn several pages of what turned out to be my last issue. In his version, Jesus, who was only ever called “the Friend” in the comic, was revealed to be a demon. This made no logical sense. I’ve been answering questions about it ever since and that individual has been lying about it ever since.

In this alternate universe series, we’d pick up Johnny’s story with the finale I originally wrote. Freed of Satan’s power, Johnny would have more control over his supernatural abilities and become the modern-day equivalent of a “white hat” cowboy. Over twelve issues, skipping entire years as we go along, we’d see the effect of Johnny’s redemption on himself and others.

Johnny would have intervened when Karen Page became a drug-abuser. He would have steered the Champions to achieve their original goal of being heroes for the common man. He would have married Roxanne and started a family. The religious aspects of his character would not overwhelm his stories. Much as in the critically-acclaimed Black Lightning TV series and my own Black Lightning comics, we would see Johnny attending church from time to time, seeking advice from his pastor and doing good works.

I feel strongly that diversity in comics should mean that all our readers see themselves in our stories. I have met countless people of faith who read comic books. All too often, when they are portrayed in comic books, they are portrayed as bigots and villains. If we’re truly committed to diversity, this should not be the norm.

Time-jumps and all, this will be an exciting and meaningful super-hero book. Just a bit different. Which is what Marvel at its best has always been about.

I’ll conclude today’s bloggy thing by letting the Marvel editors of 2024 know that, if they would like me to write this series, I'm still very open to it. I’m easy like that.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2024 Tony Isabella

BATMAN THE SILVER AGE CLASSICS: SEASON FINALE

 

Here’s the final chapter in my series of bloggy things about the stories reprinted in Batman: The Silver Age Omnibus Volume One. That hardcover chronicle collects Batman #101-116 and Detective Comics #233-257, ranging from the mid-1956 through the mid-1958.

First up is Detective Comics #255 [May 1958}. Like most kids of the 1950s, I loved dinosaurs and cover artist Sheldon Moldoff has robot dinosaurs for us. Close enough.

“Death in Dinosaur Hall” was by Batman co-creator Bill Finger, my favorite Batman writer. The interior art is by Moldoff and inker Charles Paris. The Grand Comics Database synopsis:

Responding to an urgent call from Professor Hale at the Mechanical Museum of Natural History, Batman and Robin arrive only to find the professor has apparently died at the "hands" of one of the mechanical dinosaurs on exhibit. When they examine the body more closely, they discover the dead man has left them a clue to his killer!

Finger rarely disappoints. We get the sensational murder of Hale and four likely suspects. We get false clues and dangerous robot menaces. The solution to the murder mystery is fair. One of the very best stories in this omnibus.

                                                                       

Moldoff’s cover for Batman #116 [June 1958] is striking. I would rank it as one of his best. As usual, there are three stories in this issue.

“The City of Ancient Heroes” is by Finger, Moldoff and Paris. Their pursuit of the Gimmick Gang leads Batman and Robin to the amazing Legend City where, once a year, the citizens dress up as the likes of Robin Hood, Circe and Siegfried. This story is so much fun I wish it had been expanded and published in Detective Comics.

“Batwoman’s New Identity” was written by an unknown writer with art by Moldoff and Paris. Batwoman poses as a photographer in a night club to get the goods on the Funny Face Gang. Batman is his usual male chauvinist with his comments that crime-fighting is too dangerous for a woman. Batwoman proves him wrong. I have a hunch this story was written by a woman.

“The Winged Bat-People” is Finger, Moldoff and Paris. A strange sonic barrier pulls the Bat-Plane into another dimension where a medieval kingdom is under attack by the title characters. There’s a beautiful queen, a traitor and some smart action from Batman and Robin. A solid adventure.

                                                                        

Detective Comics #256 [June 1958] features “The Captive Planet!” by Finger, Moldoff and Paris. As usual, Moldoff is the cover artist. The Grand Comics Database synopsis:

While visiting an exhibit at the old Gotham City Fair Grounds, Bruce and Dick are whisked away in an alien spaceship to the planet Tora, where, as the Dynamic Duo, they battle not only the elements, but invaders as well.

I wasn’t generally a fan of the “Batman in outer space stories,” but I loved this. It was a classic Finger plot, team our heroes with a group of ordinary people: a big-game hunter looking for new thrills, a bored businessman, a bitter ex-convict who’d been sent to jail by Batman and a pair of newlyweds. If I were ever to write a long run on a Batman title, I guarantee you’ll see my modern take on a “Batman and civilians” adventure. 

                                                                                   

                                                                                  

 

“Batman’s Invincible Foe” from Detective Comics #257 [July 1958] wraps up this first Batman Silver Age Omnibus collection. The cover is my Curt Swan and Stan Kaye. The story itself is the work of an unknown writer with art by Moldoff and Paris. Here’s the GCD synopsis:

A criminal and a policeman from the future draw Batman into the middle of their battle.

This story is notable for the introduction of the Whirly-Bats, an invention our heroes will use in many stories over the next few years. Beyond that, it’s fairly bland and uninteresting. I don’t if these “unknown writers” stories are the work of the same person, but they are generally more hit that miss.

At some point in the not so distant future, I’ll do another deep bloggy thing dive into another classic omnibus edition. Right now, I’m leaning towards one featuring Marvel Comics stories from the early 1960s. I guess we’ll find out which omnibus at the same time.

Thanks for visiting the bloggy thing today. I’ll be back soon with more stuff.

© 2024 Tony Isabella

THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY IN SEPTEMBER

 

September was crazy insane for me. On the comics and convention fronts, I was a guest at the always-wonderful Flaming River Con, a Cleveland-area LGBTQ+ comics and science fiction convention. I wrapped up my successful Vast Accumulation of Stuff comic books and pop culture garage sales for the year. My eBay store, run by my friend Rob Petersen, brought in nice results and will keep running throughout the year. On the sad side, we lost a number of great comic books and entertainment figures this month, some of them after tragically short lives.

On a personal level, my Saintly Wife Barb has finally retired. Unfortunately, instead of being able to relax, her new job seems to be trying to get our supplemental insurance sorted out. We’ve been jumping through hoops for a month. It’s getting expensive to have to pay some health care costs out of pocket, especially since we don’t know if that money will be reimbursed.

On a national level, the hate-mongering and misinformation from Trump and the Republican Party gets worse every day. As has been the case for too many years, the media is not doing its job in reporting on these monsters. I am optimistic that things can and will turn around, but it’s still scary times.

However, as you should know by now, even in the midst of these concerns, I try to find and write about things that bring me joy every single day. Here are the things that me happy in the month of September…

September 1: Sunny. In this Apple TV series, Rashida Jones is an American woman whose Japanese husband and son are reported dead in a plane crash. There’s also Sunny, a domestic robot built by her husband. And nothing is what it seems.                                                               

September 2: Mr. Mercedes. I started watching this chilling TV series based on one of my favorite Stephen King novels. Brendan Gleeson is perfect as retired police detective Bill Hodges. It’s all I can do not the binge-watch all three seasons. 

                                                                     

 

September 3: Kuboken’s Killer Shark in Another World may be the silliest manga of all. Shiromi is the worst summoner ever. She summons a shape-changing shark to fight demons. Hilarity reigns as it kills friend and foe alike. Goofy, gory fun.

September 4: When I Was Me: Moments of Gender Euphoria is a collection of one-page comics on the joys of being transgender, as told by creators from around the world. Published by Quindrie Press and recommended by me.

September 5: Essential Showcase Presents Stan & Jack Vol. 1 by Pete Doree. What if our favorite comics creators of the 1960s had outrageous adventures? The gags are hit or miss, but this is such a mad concept I couldn’t resist.

September 6: Captain America: Liberty’s Torch by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll. A Facebook pal listened to the audio version while exercising. He loved it. I think I should finally buy the audio book and listen to it.

                                                                         

September 7: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures 1 by GRG Payne, Maria Li and Starbite. A humorous take on the Bats. Batman isn’t insane and all the Bat-Kids are living with Bruce Wayne. It’s the Brady Bunch with costumes. Suitable for all ages.

September 8: The Sarge Steel Collection (Classic Comics Library) has Sarge Steel #1-10 and the handful of shorts from Judomaster. The reproduction is rough, but the stories themselves are well-done and a fun look back at the 1960s.

September 9: Super 7’s Godzilla Minus One action figure. While I’m selling some of my Godzilla collectibles, I couldn’t resist adding this incredible item to my collection. It’s a definite keeper.

September 10: Wheel of Fortune’s back. New host Ryan Seacrest is adequate, but no Pat Sajak. Parts of the new set are garish. But Wheel remains an entertaining game show that’s fun to play along with.

                                                                         

September 11: “It’s Only Paint.” A cute curly-haired young woman paints with Dutch Boy Paint. Inspired to write a masterpiece, she becomes TV’s hottest writer and finds love. I want to see this commercial expanded into a full movie.

September 12: Soul War by Mac McClintock and Patrick McEvoy. I got this Titanic Creations graphic novel at G-Fest. It’s giant monsters battling during World War II and it’s a page-turner. I recommend it to all Kaiju comics fans.

September 13: The amazing Black Cat Books & Oddities (420 South Court, Medina) will celebrate Banned Books Week (9/22-9/28) with 15% off everything in the Banned Books Closet. First 5 customers each day will get a free banned book!

September 14: The Kite-Man Hell, Yeah first season finale (“Hero Stuff, Hell, Yeah!”) was funny and heart-warming, showcasing the supporting cast, providing a satisfying ending, introducing new threats. Season two can’t come soon enough.

September 15: Greg Berlanti receiving the Governors Award at the Emmy Awards for the ground0breaking diversity of his work. The DC super-hero shows with which he was involved were mentioned, including my own Black Lightning. 

                                                                           

September 16: Medina’s Black Cat Books is hosting a Curiosities and Cryptids Festival at Medina Square on October 6 from noon to 5 pm. Shop spooky vendors. Take a photo with Mothman. Tarot and oracle readings. And so much more. See you there!

September 17: Medina Library will host a special Halloween event on Wednesday, October 16 at 6:30 pm. It’s all about Medina’s most haunted places and will feature local homeowners sharing accounts of their own ghostly experiences.

September 18: A is for Antichrist: Obama’s Conspiracy Alphabet by Rick Geary. I rediscovered this hilarious hardcover book from 2013 while going through boxes for my garage sales. I’m keeping my copy but look for it on the secondary market.

                                                                          

September 19: Matlock 2024. I watched the pilot. I absolutely love this new series. Kathy Bates is incredible, but I can’t say more without spoiling things. I highly recommend you watch this episode and the series.

September 20: Battle Action by Garth Ennis and various terrific artists. Ennis revisits one of the greatest, most controversial of British comics with seven thrilling stories, including a very clever one about the demise of the title.

September 21: Flaming River Con 2024 was a wonderful event. Many great vendors. Caring and supportive people. Interesting panels. Such a joyful experience. This is why I advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. They make for a better America.

September 22: The BottleHouse at 2050 Lee Rd was where we went for dinner after Flaming River Con. It’s a charming, community-centric brewery with great drinks and comfort food. I’m looking forward to my next visit there.

September 23: Fantagraphics’ Mickey Mouse: The River of Time by Italian writer/artist Corrado Mastantuono. There’s a surprising “team-up” of Mickey and Pete, as well as the new-to-me character of Boomer Buff. A great gift for any Disney Comics fan.

September 24: The House of Hunan at Medina’s Public Square is my favorite restaurant. The food is always excellent. The service is second to none. Dean, the manager, is a comics fan. So please dine there soon. Tell them Tony sent you. 

                                                                       

 

September 25: The Adventures of Kobra Olympus by Bijhan Agha and Swaptrap. A Muslim trans woman and queer friends battle vampires from the future. It’s not very polished, but it is great fun. I want a movie and a part in that movie.

Superman 26: Superman by Kurt Busiek Book One is a whole lot of Superman by one of my favorite writers, including the wondrous “Secret Identity” with Stuart Immonen. It’s currently available at In Stock Trades for under $30.

September 27: The Penguin (HBO). I watched the first episode and thought it was excellent. Colin Farrell brought incredible depth to the character. Cristin Miloti was delicious as Sofia Falcone. Don’t the naysayers keep you from watching this. 

                                                                       

 

September 28: Will and Harper is the best film I’ve seen this year. The actor and his transitioned friend of 30 years go on a cross-country road trip. The documentary is compelling, funny, heartrending, heartwarming, informative.

September 29: The Simpsons: “Bart’s Birthday!” The season opener was a brilliant faux series finale which packed hilarious jokes and “Happy endings” into one of the best and funniest episodes of all. The Simpsons? They still got!

September 30: I got my new Covid and flu vaccines at the Medina County Health Department. I did it for me because I want to stay healthy and continue to create. I did it to guard my loved ones. I did it for my community and country.

Here are my “Best of the Month” picks.

BEST COMIC BOOK/GRAPHIC NOVEL: Batman: Wayne Family Adventures

BEST BOOK: no winner this month

BEST MOVIE OR TV SHOW: Will and Harper

BEST PERSON(S): Greg Berlanti

BEST OTHER THING: Flaming River Con

A new month brings with it new challenges, new determination and new remarkable books and more. Follow this bloggy thing of mine to see what October brings for me.

© 2024 Tony Isabella