Even More Comics Destroyed By Weather Howdy! When I was seventeen years old, I needed to earn gas money to attend the 1973 Dallas Comic-Con (my friend, Bob Conway, borrowed his mom’s car to get us there), so I set up at an outdoor flea market on the north end of Colorado Springs. While my efforts were initially successful, disaster struck in the late afternoon when a dust devil (mini-tornado) suddenly formed, and came ripping down our row. I could hear it coming toward my booth, as the shattering of glassware, and anguished cries of vendors who were losing everything, filled the air. Moments later, the air was also filled with my comic books, as the dust devil picked up all of my best display pieces, and hurtled them over the 6’ high perimeter fence surrounding the flea market. I mention that dreadful weather event because it was my first personal experience with having comics destroyed by weather. While I did climb over that 6’ chain link fence and recover many of my beloved comics, some were lost forever, and others damaged beyond saving. For someone who was struggling to escape a life of genteel poverty, it was a crushing loss. St. Louis/Central Missouri storm In the nearly 50 years since that awful day, I have experienced many other weather-related losses, and have (like most everyone else) watched the relentless increase in weather-related disasters that now put people’s lives, and property, at continual risk. Monday night’s sudden deluge of rain in the St. Louis/Central Missouri region is the latest case in point, as a storm stalled in one place, and dumped an entire summer’s worth of rain in a very concentrated area in only a couple of hours. St. Louis Flooding Our urban drainage systems are not set up for these kinds of torrents, so the result was massive street flooding throughout that region, with an unknown number of houses being flooded. This is exactly what happened at my house (and I live on a hill!) when we had 21 inches of rain fall in just 24 hours seven years ago, and how my dear friend, John Paul, lost his life’s collection in mere seconds last year when the northern part of New Jersey experienced a similar deluge. Simply put, these “once in a thousand years” events have now become far more frequent, and definitely far more damaging. Flooded Boulder Farm In addition, as Pam (quite literally) just pointed out to me, even brief localized events can have consequences. We have all-new skylights in our Jason St. Mega-Store after the devastating hailstorm (spun off from a tornado) of five years ago. An intense thunderstorm hit in the middle of last night, however, and the water apparently rose above the gasket seal on the skylight directly over her desk. While there was some rain intrusion, it appears that everything was well-sealed in plastic, and thus OK. Nonetheless, cleaning up afterwards is just one more added cost that we have to bear. Sigh. The 2017 storm that destroyed all our skylights In any event, if you wonder why old comic books and graphic novels are becoming harder and harder to find, look no further than your daily news for the causation. Contemplate (as I frequently do) about how many entire collections are wiped out in each reported fire, flood, or wind event. The implied total loss quickly becomes staggering. With longtime collectors frequently owning 10,000+ individual back issues, an event like that which just occurred in St. Louis can easily account for a loss (in total) of 100,000 back issues, and perhaps far, far more. I know for a fact that Superstorm Sandy wiped out many millions of back issues in New York and New Jersey, and other weather events have been equally tragic. HULK (1962) (#1-6, #102-474, #600-635)(INCREDIBLE)(MV) #271 NEWSSTAND Where I am going with all this is to encourage you to protect your comics, and to please (please!) not keep them in a basement. Basements are essentially big bathtubs with tiny drains, and water pouring in from the outside can fill them in seconds. Think that can’t happen in your area? Check out the photos from St. Louis. These days, a ten-inch rainfall can hit pretty much anywhere. Nuff said. Moving on to other news, Will Moulton and I have spent this week selecting great comics and toys for the no-minimum-bid auction that I will be conducting this Saturday in our Jason St. Mega-Store. We wanted to have photos of some of the lots for you today, but our work has been slowed considerably by a staggering inflow of collectors seeking to unload some, or all, of their treasures this week. Why are so many of our local collectors selling? It is all about downsizing to smaller living spaces, and/or moving out of the Denver area. Simply put, after nearly a decade of raging population growth, rents have escalated too high, and now the pendulum is swinging the other way, with some people leaving. X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #137 This housing turmoil has triggered 12-15 people (per day!) to stop by Jason St. Mega-Store. with boxes and bags filled with comics and toys. Will Moulton is an incredibly nice guy, so he spends time with everyone, first consoling them at having to give up their possessions, and secondarily seeking to give them as much as possible. As a case in point, I watched as Will nearly doubled a guy’s original asking price for a shopping cart filled with comics and graphic novels on Monday, just because it was the right thing to do. He is truly a good man. Anyhoo, we now have even more truly great items for Saturday’s auction, and for our website, too. We will have photos in Friday’s newsletter. In the meantime, please do enjoy the final days of our annual 60% off SANDIEGO! codeword sale. This systemwide 60% off applies to all ten million+ of our back issue comics and magazines listed on our website. Only new issues, a few variants, restored comics, and our professionally-graded items are excluded. Enjoy! Happy collecting! Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. July 27, 2022 P.S. Will managed to grade and enter just a few of our newly-arrived comics for you before being called to the front of the Mega-Store to look at, yet another, collection. Here they are: MARVEL ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL. 4: UNSTOPPABLE TPB (2008) #1 ASTONISHING X-MEN VOL. 4: UNSTOPPABLE TPB (2008) #1 Near Mint/Mint CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER TPB (2006) #1 Very Fine HULK (1962) (#1-6, #102-474, #600-635)(INCREDIBLE)(MV) #263 NEWSSTAND Very Good HULK (1962) (#1-6, #102-474, #600-635)(INCREDIBLE)(MV) #271 NEWSSTAND Very Good HULK (1962) (#1-6, #102-474, #600-635)(INCREDIBLE)(MV) #340 Very Fine HULK: PLANET HULK TPB (2008) #1 7TH PRINT Very Good INFINITY TPB (2014) #1 Very Good IRON MAN: DRAGON SEED SAGA TPB (2008) #1 Very Good MARVEL SPOTLIGHT (1971) (#1-33) (MARVEL) #5 Very Good NEW AVENGERS: REVOLUTION COLLECTION (VOL.6) (2007) #1 TPB Near Mint/Mint NEW MUTANTS (1983) (#1-100) (MARVEL) #87 Very Fine PIRATES OF DARK WATER (1991) #1 NEWSSTAND Fine PIRATES OF DARK WATER (1991) #1 Very Fine PIRATES OF DARK WATER (1991) #3 Very Fine PUNISHER: WELCOME BACK FRANK PREMIERE HC (VOL. 3) (2008) #1 Very Fine SIEGE TPB (2010) #1 Very Fine SPIDER-GIRL TPB (2001) #1 Very Fine THOR: AGES OF THUNDER HC (2009) #1 Fine THOR: GOD OF THUNDER VOL. 3: ACCURSED TPB (2014) #1 THOR: GOD OF THUNDER VOL. 3: ACCURSED TPB (2014) #1 Fine ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR: CROSSOVER TPB (VOL. 5) (2006) #1 Very Fine ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR: FANTASTIC TPB (VOL. 1) (2004) #1 2ND PRINT Fine ULTIMATE GALACTUS: EXTINCTION (VOL.3) TPB (2006) #1 Very Fine ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TPB #6 4TH PRINT Very Fine ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TPB #11 Very Fine ULTIMATES 2: GODS AND MONSTERS TPB (VOL. 1) (2005) #1 Very Fine ULTIMATES 2: GRAND THEFT AMERICA TPB (VOL.2) (2007) #1 Fine ULTIMATES TPB (2002) #1 5TH PRINT Fine ULTIMATES TPB (2002) #2 Very Fine WAKANDA FOREVER TPB (2018) #1 Very Fine WHAT IF: EVENT HORIZON TPB (2007) #1 Very Fine WOLVERINE (1982) (#1-4) (MARVEL LIMITED SERIES) #1 Very Good WOLVERINE TPB (1987) #1 Near Mint/Mint WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN TPB (2010) #1 6TH PRINT Fine WORLD WAR HULK TPB (2008) #1 7TH PRINT Very Good X 23: TARGET TPB (2007) #1 Very Fine X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #127 NEWSSTAND X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #127 NEWSSTAND Very Fine X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #127 NEWSSTAND Fine X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #132 Very Good X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #134 Very Fine X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #137 Fine X-MEN (1963) (#1-113, UNCANNY X-MEN #114-544) (MARVEL) #142 NEWSSTAND Very Fine X-MEN: COMPLETE AGE OF APOCALYPSE EPIC TPB (2005) #1 Fine DC BATMAN (1940) (#0-713) (DC) #397 Very Good BATMAN (1940) (#0-713) (DC) #398 2ND PRINT Fine BATMAN (1940) (#0-713) (DC) #399 2ND PRINT Very Good BATMAN (1940) (#0-713) (DC) #428 NEWSSTAND Fine BATMAN AND ROBIN VOL. 1: BATMAN REBORN TPB (2011) #1 Fine BATMAN: DARK VICTORY (JEPH LOEB) (TIM SALE) (1999) #0 Near Mint/Mint BATMAN: DARK VICTORY TPB (2002) #1 4TH PRINT Very Good BATMAN: NO MAN'S LAND TPB (BATGIRL) (1999) #1 5TH PRINT Fine BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN TPB (1999) #1 7TH PRINT Fine BATMAN: THE MAN WHO LAUGHS HC (2007) #1 Fine BATMAN: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE CAPED CRUSADER? HC (2009) #1 Very Good CATWOMAN (2002) (#1-83) (DC) #74 Near Mint/Mint DARK KNIGHT (1986) #2 1ST PRT DARK KNIGHT (1986) #2 1ST PRT Near Mint/Mint DARK KNIGHT (1986) #3 1ST PRT Near Mint/Mint DETECTIVE COMICS (1937) (#0-881) (DC) #880 Near Mint/Mint GREEN LANTERN: TALES OF THE SINESTRO CORPS TPB (2009) #1 3RD PRINT Fine JUSTICE LEAGUE (2011) (#0-52) (DC NEW52) #12 Very Fine JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK VOL. 1: IN THE DARK TPB (2012) #1 4TH PRINT Fine JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL. 8: DARKSEID WAR PART 2 TPB (2016) #1 Fine LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN TPB (2002) #1 9TH PRINT (DC/America's Best) Fine LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN TPB (2002) #2 3RD PRINT (DC/America's Best) Very Good NEW GODS BY JACK KIRBY TPB (2018) #1 Very Good RONIN TPB (1987) #1 8TH PRINT Very Fine SUPERMAN FOR TOMORROW COLLECTION (2004) #2 Very Good DARK HORSE COMICS HELLBOY: SEED OF DESTRUCTION TPB (VOL. 1) (2003) #1 8TH PRINT Very Good IMAGE COMICS SPAWN (1992) #51 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #52 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #53 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #54 SPAWN (1992) #54 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #55 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #56 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #57 Fine SPAWN (1992) #58 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #59 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #60 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #61 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #62 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #63 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #64 UNBAGGED Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #65 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #66 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #67 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #68 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #69 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #70 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #71 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #72 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #73 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #74 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #75 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #76 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #77 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #78 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #79 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #80 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #81 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #82 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #83 Fine SPAWN (1992) #83 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #84 SPAWN (1992) #84 Fine SPAWN (1992) #85 Very Good SPAWN (1992) #86 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #87 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #88 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #89 Very Fine SPAWN (1992) #90 Very Good SPAWN (1992) #91 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #92 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #93 Near Mint/Mint SPAWN (1992) #94 Fine WALKING DEAD VOL.10: WHAT WE BECOME TPB (2009) #1 3RD PRINT Near Mint/Mint WALKING DEAD VOL.17: SOMETHING TO FEAR TPB (2012) #1 Very Fine WALKING DEAD: BEST DEFENSE TPB (VOL. 5) (2006) #1 4TH PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: DAYS GONE BYE TPB (VOL. 1) (2004) #1 10TH PRINT Near Mint/Mint WALKING DEAD: DAYS GONE BYE TPB (VOL. 1) (2004) #1 11TH PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: HEART'S DESIRE TPB (VOL. 4) (2005) #1 5TH PRINT Near Mint/Mint WALKING DEAD: HEART'S DESIRE TPB (VOL. 4) (2005) #1 5TH PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: HERE WE REMAIN TPB (VOL. 9) (2009) #1 3RD PRINT Very Fine WALKING DEAD: MADE TO SUFFER TPB (VOL. 8) (2008) #1 2ND PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: MADE TO SUFFER TPB (VOL. 8) (2008) #1 3RD PRINT Very Fine WALKING DEAD: MILES BEHIND US TPB (VOL. 2) (2004) #1 6TH PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: MILES BEHIND US TPB (VOL. 2) (2004) #1 7TH PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: SAFETY BEHIND BARS TPB (VOL. 3) (2005) #1 6TH PRINT WALKING DEAD: SAFETY BEHIND BARS TPB (VOL. 3) (2005) #1 6TH PRINT Very Fine WALKING DEAD: SORROWFUL LIFE TPB (VOL. 6) (2006) #1 3RD PRINT Fine WALKING DEAD: SORROWFUL LIFE TPB (VOL. 6) (2006) #1 5TH PRINT Very Fine WALKING DEAD: THE CALM BEFORE TPB (VOL.7) (2007) #1 3RD PRINT Very Fine WALKING DEAD: THE CALM BEFORE TPB (VOL.7) (2007) #1 4TH PRINT Very Fine INDEPENDENTS ANGEL SPOTLIGHT TPB (IDW Publishing) (2006) #1 (IDW Publishing) Very Fine ANGEL: AULD LANG SYNE TPB (IDW Publishing) (2007) #1 (IDW Publishing) Very Fine WIZARD MARC SILVESTRI MILLENNIUM LTD DLX HC (2006) #1 (Wizard Press) Very Fine WIZARD WOLVERINE MASTERPIECE EDITION (2004) #1 (Wizard Press) Fine Current Newsletter