hoopla Comic Book Alert!

I came pretty close to buying DC's 1st Issue Specials collection when it came out at a list price of $40. Just thinking about it made me feel all shaky inside. For one thing, because I once owned most of those 13 issues. (My memory is no longer reliable, but I am sure that I at least had the first 9 of them.) But, alas, I sent them all away when, at the ripe old age of 19, I decided that I was Too Old for comic books. Let's not even talk about the current value of the pile of books that I sold to a friend's brother for $50. And it's best not to think about the fact that about two months after that sale, I started buying comic books again.

Sigh.

So in part I suppose that it was a desire to recapture some portion of those Things Passed that I wanted this collection. And in part it was because in my dotage I have become exTREMEly fond of Jack Kirby, and 3 of those books were by him (Atlas, Manhunter, and Dingbats of Danger Street). Plus I still have memories of that sweet Walt Simonson interior art on the Dr. Fate issue. (Not to mention that fanTASTic Joe Kubert cover.)

So yes, I wanted that book. But $40 is a lot of cash, so I didn't take the plunge.

And then I just kind of forget about it.

Until a minute ago, when I saw this bit of beauty--

                                                                                 --on  hoopla . 

And it's all for free, courtesy of the Public Library.

Thank you, Public Library.

Now excuse moi...I have some serious reading to do.

Oh...just in case you need more temptation, here's the TOC:

#1:  Atlas by Jack Kirby & D. Bruce Berry

#2: The Green Team: Boy Millionaires by Joe Simon & Jerry Grandenetti

#3:  Metamorpho, The Element Man by Bob Haney & Ramona Fradon 

#4:  Lady Cop by Robert Kanigher, John Rosenberger, & Vince Colletta

#5:  Manhunter by Jack Kirby and D. Bruce Berry

#6:  Dingbats of Danger Street by Jack Kirby and Mike Royer

#7:  The Creeper by Michael Fleisher, Steve Ditko, & Mike Royer

#8:  The Warlord by Mike Grell

#9:  Dr. Fate by Martin Pasko & Walt Simonson

#10: The Outsiders by Joe Simon, Jerry Grandenetti & Creig Flessel

#11: Codename: Assassin by Gerry Conway, Steve Skeates, The Redondo Studio & Al Milgrom

#12: Starman by Gerry Conway, Mike Vosburg & Mike Royer

#13: Return of the New Gods by Gerry Conway, Denny O'Neil, & Mike Vosburg

I mean...that's pretty much a mini-Who's Who of 70s DC Comic Book History!