Well, between selling a boatload of donuts and running myself practically ragged I managed to give away a BUNCH of comics. Probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-70 but I didn't think to count them beforehand so we'll never know for sure. Let's take a look at some highlights and lowlights, yes?

Fantastic Four 243 and 245

A running theme in these posts is most definitely going to be the very transgressive and transformative nature of the comics themselves. The bulk of my collection (suitable for giving away to relatively all ages) is from a time before "This Business" had identified status quo as a desirable state and condition for merchandising purposes. Costumes, names, characters, all seemed up for grabs. Case in point - John Byrne's barn burning pace on Fantastic Four. Invisible Girl No More - Galactus Falls. Byrne did a really, really nice job showcasing the talents of Sue Storm. Her invisble force projection power (vague and uninspiringly defined by recent art teams) was given a huge "level-up" under his able draftsmanship. Similarly, watching a group of Marvel's finest and also-rans take Galactus down a peg over the course of 3 issues blazed with a kind of manic pace that's not very common today. As our beloved mainstream titles get lost in wandering stories spanning actual years of the fleeting readership's lives it's important to remember what made this stuff "Can't miss" as opposed to "Days of our Lives" never-ending soap opera horseshit.

Star Trek 10 - 11 - 12

The Mirror Universe concept gets dusted off here and by the end of it everything is blown up and Kirk is literally strangling himself. Awesome. Sidenote, for the LONGEST time I only had issue 11 of this arc. Can you imagine the fever dreams I had?

THOR 247

Thor and Firelord find themselves in the bewitching thrall of a gypsy's magical diadem. No worries, here comes JAne Foster to challenge her to (and win cleanly, I might add) a girl knife fight. APPROVED BY THE COMICS CODE AUTHORITY! Thor gets the patented "I say thee, NAY!" moment but not until AFTER Jane wins the fight on her own. Take that, Bechdel Test!

Superboy starring the Legion of Super Heroes 200

Wow, great Cockrum costumes. Duo Damsel's wedding dress is gorgeous. Starfinger, on the other hand...jesus. Just...no.

Amazing Spider-Man 258 and 270

In 1985 Ron Frenz and Tom DeFalco took over from my boy Roger Stern (He of ASM 251 ENDINGS fame) and went on quite the little tear themselves. in 258 Spidey discovers his swanky black threads are an alien symbiote and he battles it with the FF. That resulted in the classic Spidey wears a bag on his head bit. "Kick Me" sign and all. Then, in 270 he somehow gets pulled into a fistfight with a former herald of Galactus and after a really well done cat and mouse game finds himself lured into the open. It's at this point Peter goes full "Ralphie beats up the bully" from A Christmas Story on Firelord and beating him into unconsciousness He only snaps out of it when Captain America taps him on the shoulder and is like, "Whoa, son." The man who killed more Nazis than anyone else in history just told you to take a chill pill, Spidey. Time to switch to decaf.

Adventures of Superman 463

This comic broke my "Superman and the Flash are forced to race under a dubious premise" cherry and it was soooooo good. Really dynamic stuff from Art Thibert of all people sees Superman breaking through to the developing core of the Wally West character. Wally being all insecure but trying hard to earn it. It's a comic about people who are learning, growing, and destroying a Mxyzptlk altered Mt. Rushmore...oops.

Wonder Woman #0

Thanks Azzarello. 20+ issues of pushy gods, bad puns, and about 12 issues of wasted Cliff Chiang and I'm practically willing to forgive it all because of this #0. It's a great "Young Diana" story about learning the virtue of Mercy and the importance of staying true to your heart.

But no, I don't see an audience for this kind of book, do you?

Welp, that was the week that was. Looking forward to next week when we discuss our favorite Hostess Pie interludes!