40% Off LABORDAY Sale Plus Signed Frazetta Portfolios Howdy! As I anticipated, the commencement of our annual 40% off LABORDAY codeword sale on all of our back issue comics and magazines has prompted a huge surge in orders. If you have not yet placed an order with us to enhance your collection at today's amazingly low prices, I urge you to do so right away. So you know, our initial marketing focus as regards the LABORDAY sale has been solely on rewarding those of you who read our newsletter, so we have yet to make any sort a public announcement about the 40% off sale. Over the upcoming holiday weekend, however, we will broadcast news of this astoundingly generous sale 40% off sale throughout the entire online comics community. Need I say more? WALKING DEAD #17 On a side note, we were able to purchase a major WALKING DEAD comics collection on Monday, which included almost all the issues from WALKING DEAD #6-present. Fans who had these issues as a part of their personal Want Lists on our website received notices yesterday letting them know that we had these issues back in stock. As a result, we have already sold quite a few, all discounted by the 40% off as a result of the LABORDAY codeword. WALKING DEAD #6 If you have not yet taken the time to let us know which comics you are currently seeking, you really should. Creating your own personal Want List profile on our website is really easy, as it only requires that you establish a personal password. That way no one else can make changes to your Want List. We can then send you free notification e-mails any time an issue that you are seeking arrives. Receiving a notification e-mail obligates you in no way, but it can be very handy when trying to score a title/issue that we seldom have in stock. FYI, a private collection of 7,000+ different Marvel comics is scheduled to arrive later today, which includes a bunch of very scarce issues... In other news, I located a long lost box yesterday of items from the estate of Steve Allen, the co-founder of the legendary MIDDLE EARTH publishing empire. Steve, along with his partner Dennis Wakabyashi, were the first fine art publishers to contact major talents in the comics world, and work out arrangements to publish incredibly cool portfolios and art prints of their work. In 1974, I helped them market their earliest portfolios at the San Diego Comic-Con, earning enough money from that one remarkable convention to open the very first Mile High Comics retail store. MIDDLE EARTH continued to publish excellent portfolios throughout the 1970's, but when Steve contracted cancer and passed away in 1980, Dennis chose to shut down the company, rather than continue without him. It was soon after this point that Steve's widow offered to sell me portions of his personal collection. I bought eight boxes of material from her, including my BARRY SMITH'S 2P #1/1000 portfolio, and those 6 Frank Frazetta signed LORD OF THE RINGS #1 plates that we sold (in a heartbeat...) two weeks ago. All of the above having been said, imagine my shock yesterday afternoon when I found a sealed box of Steve Allen's MIDDLE EARTH portfolios on a top shelf of a remote locked storage room in our 56th Ave. headquarters building. I realize that this stretches credibility for me to say I had no idea that box was there, or what it contained, but that is the God's honest truth. Somehow, between about 1982 when I purchased it, and today, that box migrated into that hidden room. Maybe I stashed it there when we moved to our farm in 1990? I simply have no idea. LORD OF THE RINGS Portfolio #5/1,000 Signed by Frank Frazetta $895 In any event, when I tore open the seal on Steve's box, the very first item that came into view was the LORD OF THE RINGS #5/1000 portfolio, signed and numbered by Frank Frazetta! As I delved deeper, I discovered more Frazettas in that incredible treasure box, along with a mixture of portfolios by over a dozen other highly talented artists. I just cannot believe this treasure stashed away by Steve Allen disappeared 30+ years ago, only to reappear yesterday. I am still amazed... In all honesty, my first thought when I found that wonderful treasure box yesterday was that I wanted to put it right back in my comics vault, where it should have been in the first place. As I have mentioned in several recent newsletters, however, I recently celebrated my 60th birthday. Given that I have had two major occurrences West Nile Encephalitis of the Hypothalamus since 2003 (either of which could have easily have killed me), my four daughters have all expressed concern that I might leave them with a nightmare of obscure collectibles, which only I am capable of effectively marketing. Given that I own 9,000+ pieces of Pueblo pottery and 20,000+ pieces of comics original art, fanzines, and Underground Comix, I can see their point. What this means for you is that I am going set aside my own initial impulse to give you an opportunity to purchase some of the very rare items from Steve Allen's estate. Below is the listing of what I am going to offer everyone today: LORD OF THE RINGS Portfolio #5/1,000 Signed by Frank Frazetta $895 LORD OF THE RINGS Portfolio #27/1,000 Signed by Frank Frazetta $595 LORD OF THE RINGS Portfolio #39/1,000 Signed by Frank Frazetta $595 EDGAR ALLEN POE Portfolio #480/2,000 Signed by Berni Wrightson $395 NIGHTCAP Portfolio #395/1,000 Signed by Mike Ploog $95 CELTIA Portfolio #348/1,000 Signed by Jim Fitzpatrick $195 Steve also had the prescience to stash away two unopened copies of THE STUDIO, the record album-sized book published by Dragon's Dream, in 1978. This incredible book features artwork by Michael Kaluta, Jeff Jones, Barry Smith, and Berni Wrightson from the legendary time period when they shared a large loft in New York City. I found a used copy for my own collection three years ago, and gladly paid $150 for it, even though the glue binding the cover to the book was failing (as do they all...). Little did I know that I had two pristine copies of THE STUDIO (still in their original shrink wrap!) stashed in that magical closet. If you would like to add one of these copies for your collection, they are my bargain of the day at only $295 each. STUDIO at $295 each That's it for today. Please don't forget to take advantage of the 40% off LABORDAY sale, before I open it up to the general public. All ten million of our back issue comics and magazines can be discounted by 40% off when you type LABORDAY into the codeword box on our order form. Only new comics, books, CGC's, and a few variants are not a part of the codeword sale. Happy Collecting! Chuck Rozanski, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. September 2, 2015 Current Newsletter