My first comic book shop ('till they stopped selling comics when I was about fiften) had 2 for 1 boxes, where you paid the price of the most expensive comic for both. I ended up getting a lot of...well not great, but decent enough stuff for a 7-10 year old on my limited allowance.

There's a quarter bin at my local now, but it all seems to be kickers incorporated. I wonder when that'll ever appreciate in value?
dirk a. keaton | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 10:22 am | #

My local store has a quarter box, but like the fellow above me says, it's 99% unreadable, awful crap. Mostly early 90s Image stuff. But when I was a kid I used to pick up a lot old Archie and Sugar & Spike type comics in there along with the occasional coverless suoper hero book. Everything in the box was in terrible condition, but I wasn't too picky back then.
Eric L | 04.09.05 - 11:22 am | #

That's why I like going to local comic cons rather than big regional cons: there are still quarter boxes. I love nothing better than rooting through a quarter box. Well, that's not true, but you know what I mean.
David Campbell | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 12:17 pm | #

My friend and I've looked for quarter bins in comic shops for the past couple of days and found none. Closest I found was a close-out Crossgen box for 50c per comic.
I did find a comic shop here that's hosting a 24 Hour Comics event, though.
Ro | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 1:47 pm | #

I have almost every comic you mentioned in this post. That's new for me. I think the only thing I don't have is a couple of those Evolutionary War annuals. I have the whole series of Hex too. I actually enjoyed it. It was cheesy but fun in that grim 80's sci fi kinda way.
Shane | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 3:21 pm | #

I recently discovered a store near a friend's apartment that has several quarter boxes which I've been raiding for the past few months.

I've been picking up a huge chunk of SLEEPWALKER- wow, that's some dull comics. At one point the storyline really gets interesting, around issue #25- Sleepwalker discovers he's supposed to lead his race in an invasion of earth- but it's, uh, you know, Bob Budiansky, he... um.

Then there's THE 'NAM: dig that wicked Michael Golden art! I don't dig, however, the staid scripts by Doug Murray. Gee, this guy's going home in a few weeks, I wonder- yup, shot dead on page 21.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES, Baxter era- Damn, LaRocque rocks! Damn, the Millennium crossover is STUPID!

Old Mantlo ALPHA FLIGHT- Jesus, this is hideous writing- did he even LIKE these characters?

One of these days, I'm going to buy a full run of HEX, just.... I have to read it. Just to see if it's that bad.
Dan Coyle | Email | 04.09.05 - 3:26 pm | #

Mikester: That Emerald Dawn cover is quite nice. And unlike the cover of the original Emerald Dawn collection, in which Hal is flying in a similar pose, Hal is actually WEARING HIS POWER RING. Which I imagine helps the process quite a lot. And I wonder if the Hex interest is at all related to Hex's appearance on Justice League Unlimited?

Dan: Greg Larocque's work is just beautiful stuff, and criminally underappreciated. Is he still doing comics?
Chris Galdieri | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 6:19 pm | #

As the world's biggest Deadpool fan(sadly, this may indeed be true...), let me say: It's Deadpool. That is all.
LGP | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 8:09 pm | #

I only know of one store here in Jacksonville that still has a quarter bin. They've since expanded the section to include a fifty cent and dollar bin as well. I find great stuff in there all the time. I don't care about the condition. I just like reading.
Shane | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 8:23 pm | #

Avengers #196.

One of my first comics...
Reid Harris Cooper | Email | Homepage | 04.09.05 - 9:00 pm | #

The Comic Empire of Tulsa still does gangbuster sales with their quarter rack... the owner can barely keep it full. It's a small shop (space-wise) so the rack serves the necessary function of allowing him frequent inventory turnover. I picked up a few metric tons fo crap that I wouldn't have wanted for any other reason than they were cheap... stuff like Alpha Flight (70 issues worth), Starlin's horrid "Breed" series, a bunch of other crap.
Tim | Email | Homepage | 04.10.05 - 6:17 am | #

Dan - actually, I enjoyed Mantlo's Alpha Flight...at least the issues before #50. Okay, no, it wasn't any good, but it did have Mike Mignola art, and the stories themselves were just downright creepy.

It was pretty much the definition of guily pleasure.
Mikester | Homepage | 04.10.05 - 11:25 am | #

Chris G. - funny you mention JLU, since they just reran that particular episode with Jonah Hex last night. I don't know if that's really contributing much to the price jump...perhaps Hex's reputation as one of DC's more notable missteps is driving up interest. Hard to say, really.

Now I have the urge to reread Hex again.
Mikester | Homepage | 04.10.05 - 11:30 am | #

LGP: Sorry, I'm the world's biggest Deadpool fan. I even have a comic signed by a DP writer that says "Dan is Deadpool!"

Mike: Ironically, I really liked Mantlo's Alpha Flight AFTER issue #50, with the Derangers storyline, which was a really nasty take on Claremont's X-Men. Mantlo's stories were surprisingly ballsier. Though if I had to pick the prime Mantlo comics, I would definitely choose the Spec Spidey and Hulk stuff, even Crossroads.

Yes, Crossroads.

Stop looking at me like that.

Chris G: I agree that LaRocque is criminally underrated; he hasn't done any comics since the three-issue creator owned EXILED mini in '98. It was supposed to set up his creator owned project with Scott Lobdell, but that never happened. He still does the local conventions in Philadelphia every few months, and he's accepting commissions. He's a really great guy and does beautiful work.
Dan Coyle | Email | 04.10.05 - 1:39 pm | #

I gladly relenquish the title sir. Nice to know someone other than me actually knows the origin of old "Wade Wilson". And if you have Agent X, you are definitely a bigger fan. I was so pissed when that launched I didn't care how good it was, I wasn't buying! Regretting it now, I was lost in Alex's C&D appearence.
LGP | Homepage | 04.10.05 - 9:25 pm | #

AGENT X was a good series; it played more to Simone's strengths perhaps but I thought she did a fine job on DP.
Dan Coyle | Email | 04.10.05 - 10:33 pm | #

Interestingly, the only copy i've ever seen of that Super Jrs. digest was bought at "your" store. Probably two years ago. Unless there was a different digest with those same characters (i didn't remember it as a Christmas issue).
josh | Email | 04.10.05 - 11:30 pm | #

hey Mike what are you guys selling that Avengers #196 for (woot a preposition!)?

I remember that issue and how cheesy the taskmaster seemed at the time.
Evilbeard | 04.12.05 - 11:06 pm | #

I'm not sure what we're selling it for, yet...it's in the box of Stuff That Needs to Be Graded And Priced.
Mikester | Homepage | 04.13.05 - 9:16 am | #

Emerald Dawn: I'll never understand what posessed Owlsey and Helfer to make Hal Jordan a drunk driver who kills someone and is a self pitying whiner with all the typical Owsley/Preist Daddy issues his characters always have.

By the same token, I'll never understand what posessed Darwyn Cooke to exploit a real world conflict as a way of somehow "redeeming" it and pissing on real people who fought a war and didn't have the extenuating circumstances Hal did.
Dan Coyle | Email | 04.14.05 - 8:57 am | #