It was expensive, but I'm still glad I did it. I've long wanted a set of The Spirit Archives. DC published these handsome tomes soon after they acquired the rights to the character in the early part of this century. The Archive editions arrived over the next decade. Unfortunately, I was not in any position to make such an outlay for books of his kind at that time. Things are better now and so I've at long last treated myself to this elaborate birthday present.
It started when I found the first volume at a local Half-Price Bookstore for a bargain sum. I let one of these slip through my fingers many years ago and I vowed not to make the same mistake twice. (Why bother, there are always plenty of other mistakes to make.) I scouted the internet and found most of the others for prices well below the original asking price of fifty bucks or so. Some a few dollars more. (I'll have to let my credit card cool down some before I take it out for a spin again though.) There are however a few crumbs in my coffee as a few of the tomes were in a bit worse shape than advertised but I was able to salvage them. And four of the tomes were either unavailable or way too expensive. I have the stories in other formats, and I'll keep looking. It's fun to have something to chase again. I don't regret the outlay as I see the handsome volumes sitting on a table next to me. They are great books.
Below are the volumes I've gotten hold of. The smaller images are those four lovely books I have yet to add to the hoard.
I have big plans for these books. At my age, that counts as optimism. But I'm not done.
That series of purchases prompted me to go ahead and just get few more Spirit item I'd always wanted. I already own the first volume The Spirit Color Album and thought it was well past time to add the other two volumes of his very handsome Kitchen Sink collection.
Likewise, the Christmas Spirit from Kitchen Sink and the 70's The Spirit Coloring Book from Eisner's Poorhouse Press.
The 3-D Spirit is a fun comic and Eisner's artwork from this period does well in the format. The Spirit Pop-Up Book is a clever item from just a few years ago when folks hoped that movie might do some good. It didn't.
All in all, a pretty hefty haul. I'm for sure smiling on this birthday. More on that tomorrow.
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These beautiful tomes are hard to beat. Hard to lay down 50 bucks for all the volumes, but, like you I found the first two at HPB. Eisner and his Spirit are not to be missed!
ReplyDeleteSome of the greatest comics ever made. I found most for less than fifty, some far less. But a few were a bit more, so that evens out. Those missing four will be hard to land, but looking is what being a comic book fan is all about.
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