Convention Comics Cavalcade Part 1

Before I went to the con I made up a list of all the major Ambush Bug and Great Lakes Avengers appearances, as well as some of the other holes in my collection. It seems like all the stuff I want is in this weird collector's dead zone, because comics slightly newer are plentiful and older comics are also abundant but super expensive. Actually, I just found out that they published Showcase Presents: Ambush Bug featuring basically everything earlier this year, so it's just as well that I didn't spend too much. I do like having the actual issues around for the ads and letters, though.

Action Comics #560 (1984)


Cute story about this one: I was complaining that none of the booths seemed to have any Action Comics lower than 600 or so. Kyle asked me what I was looking for and he disappears for a few seconds and comes back with this book. Awww! On the inside front cover is a sweet ad for Mario Bros. on the Atari 2600, and then most of the issue is a boring Superman affair. He fights some guy who's destroying prisons and courthouses with some kind of crazy magic handcuffs as an act of revenge for being falsely imprisoned, although it kinda sounds like he did it and he's just delusional. I dunno, if it were me I would have just lay low after breaking out of jail instead of wrecking up municipal property and attracting any number of costumed do-gooders, but to each his own. I'm only really interested reading about Superman when he's being incredibly camp in the 60s and 70s, the kind of stuff that ends up on Superdickery.com.

Of course, the selling point of this issue is the eight pages of Bug-tastic action. Clark Kent comes into Ambush Bug's detective agency attempting to do a piece for the Planet, and AB quickly sees through his pathetic disguise (that super-humanly clear skin is a dead givaway!) and makes him a partner. Supes flies off in a huff, but Ambush Bug continues to prey on his mind.

Actually, Superman in this was really interesting to me. I don't know if they've attempted to give him more of a personality recently, but I know him as the most milquetoast, zero personality goody-two-shoes in the superhero pantheon. But in this story, he has a dream about Ambush Bug, and when he wakes up he says "the only reason I sleep at all is for dreams." The implication here is that he doesn't actually need to sleep, he does so out of a selfish indulgence. Superman actually wanting something for himself that no one else can benefit from and then indulging in it is so contrary to what my idea of the character was. He could be staying up all night fighting crime, but he chooses not to. Then I thought, hey, even having a real life is taking away from the good he could be doing the world. Why would he do that? He's lonely; only by being Clark Kent can he make actual human connections. Through the magic of Ambush Bug, Superman has become a much deeper character to me. Is it just the joke heroes that are this thought-provoking or do the mainstream comics have this much to offer? Am I missing out on a whole world of art here or just reading way too much into this?

Teen Confessions #58 (1969)

This purchase was inspired by my mate's recent post about Gidget. It's basically what you'd expect, super lame over-inflated teen problems based around dated social mores. In the first story, homegirl cheats on her Green Beret boyfriend while he's fighting for her freedom to do so in Vietnam. He comes home only to reveal that he's had half the town spying on her for him, and he forgives her...but only if she'll be just as understanding about him! Those wacky dames!

In the second tale, a girl is madly in love with a mysterious bearded man, but she can't help freaking out about it. "What is he really like? Is he handsome? Does he have a hideous scar to hide? Or...or a weak jaw line?" she wonders. Her friends hint at a dark secret, and he refuses to shave it off or explain. She breaks up with him, naturally, and later at the beach she meets a handsome, clean shaven stranger! Why, it turns out that the man is her hirsute heartthrob! And he only had the beard for a play. He couldn't tell her this why? And he didn't invite her to see his performance or anything? Argh, I'm already fed up with this crap. All these problems could be solved with just a little communication.

Before the main feature, we have a real life teen romance problem action letter! M.R. is so lovesick over this girl that he's dropping stuff. Breakable stuff. His parents wisely advised him to write to a comic book advice column instead of actually offering guidance or support. Good ol' Doc Gluck sets the kid straight by recommending that he actually talk to her. Oh, if only it were that simple...

Ahem. Moving on we come to the cover story, "The Teeny Bopper." Girl is in love with this guy that she's bullied since childhood, but she goes one step too far when she snubs him for the hero of the beach. The guy leaves town for a few days and comes back in a psychedelic VW Beetle with this way-out happening hippie chick. Who of course is his cousin helping him out, because he's just trying to make the girl jealous. Dames!

We finish with a one-pager advising waiting until the man finishes school before marriage. Peppered throughout are ads for weight loss and seriously creepy beauty products, like Whyten, which looks a lot like dentally applied liquid paper. Eww.

Bird Hurdler

It's a free anthology of indie comics. They're all quite short, some are cute and some are surreal. I don't really have a lot to say about them because I seem to have wasted "the magic" on Teen Confessions, so check it out yourself. I also picked up a bunch of sweet postcards (also free) at the same booth (pictured below).