Hey Don. I was wanting to tell you that the hyperlink is coming on when you scroll down to the midway point of your newest blog.

As for the blog itself, I enjoyed it and completely understand what you mean in spite of the fact that there's something like forty years between the two of us. I started reading comics from my brother's collection when I was a kid (that was actually where I learned to read-- they actually had a problem with that when I showed up for school and could already do it b/c of "ew, comics"). He being something close to twenty years older than me, my initial exposure was to the Bronze Age. As a teenager, in addition to reading a lot of modern stuff at that point, my biggest interest (and it remains to this day; "teenager" not even being a half-decade ago) was in Stan & Jack's Marvel and DC's Golden Age. I religiously picked up the then-current "JSA", but I went in every month hoping that Al Pratt would be back or Wes would be running around in purple-and-yellow spandex like a weird human Good Humor bar. Never cared about Image, never cared about Rob Liefeld, never cared about what was on the hot list, never cared all that much about artists unless they came from the days when comics arrived as art. Everyone I came into contact with at the shop was welcome to whatever so far as I was concerned but this preoccupation with the Silver & Bronze without any real consideration or worry for prospecting like a quarter bin gravedigger bothered the hell out of them.

Typical exchange:
Checker: "You know, we got the new _________ in. It's really hot right now. A lot of people are buying it."
Me: "So business is going well, huh?"
Checker (disgruntled by the blow off): "Yeah, I guess. Hey, what's this?"
Me: "Oh, that's 'Tor'."
Checker: "Dude, this is not Thor."
Me: "No, Tor. Joe Kubert."
Checker: "Huh. That's Andy and Adam's dad, right?"
Me: "Yeah. And also the Charles Atlas of comic book art school ads."
Checker: "...Why'd he do a book about a caveman?"

or the always classic:

Checker: "Hey buddy, how's it goin'?"
Me: "It's goin' great! I can't believe I actually found some Ditko Spider-Man without having to sell myself to science. Also, "Secret Six."
Checker: "What is it with you and that old stuff? Artists are a lot better now. And the stories too. You know, they actually write books now that you don't have to be three years old to enjoy?"


man, the things that people could find to enjoy if they would get over the concept that the world started on the day they were born