That’s right, it’s “More Comic Nerdom in Canada,” or if you prefer: “What Max did on St. Patrick’s Day 2012!” Max and his lovely wife Maureen hit up another comic shop in Ontario and find some treasures for the Library, including a run in with one of Canada’s premiere super heroes! Another blog “side quest!”
Super-Fly Comics & Games’ plucky sidekick Max Lake has embarked on a journey to read his collection of DC & other comics! Join Max each week every Friday as he takes on his Library! Titles reviewed by this blog do not necessarily reflect what the store has in stock, but you can always email the store to special order something that you’ve seen here at superflycomics@gmail.com. You can also call Super-Fly at (937) 767-1445 or just ask someone at the store next time you’re there for special orders. You can read past entries of the blog here. Any questions or comments for Max should be sent to maxdlake@gmail.com or feel free to comment in the comments section below. Check out @maxdlake to follow Max on Twitter. The things Max writes do not necessarily reflect the views of Super-Fly Comics & Games, and Super-Fly Comics & Games is not responsible for what Max says—especially anything that bugs you.
Written 3/18/12
Yesterday was a jam packed day, and I’m actually I’m surprised I was able to get any reading and writing done. Leave it to getting up early I suppose. After Maureen woke up, we made our way out to Peterborough to pick up Maureen’s sister (and my sister-in-law) Kathryn and our brother-in-law known in most circles as Loon. It was a pleasant drive out, fueled by an MF Doom soundtrack, which Maureen was nice enough to let me listen to as she’s not his biggest fan. We arrived in Peterborough a little over an hour and I was overjoyed to see Kathryn and Loon, as I have not seen them in months, and both were close friends before I was related to them (it was through them that I met Kathryn’s sister Maureen, but that’s a story for another time).
Kathryn and Loon were moving out, and as such wanted to take some boxes with them. They also asked if we wanted some shelving units they got from IKEA. Kathryn said they were perfect for DVDs, but I had another idea; they seemed perfect for action figures! I was a little worried how they’d fit into our car but Loon assured me he could fit them into our car after we dropped them back in Peterborough after we took them back to Maureen’s and Kathryn’s parents for the weekend. Exciting!
To help them move, we jammed as many boxes into our car that they could take back to Kathryn’s and Maureen’s parents’ to store, as Kathryn and Loon will be moving in there for the summer. Some of the boxes were getting donated, so we went to a Value Village, which is like the Canadian equivalent of Goodwill or Salvation Army. One quick side note about Value Village: Maureen and I browsed in one last week and found two DVDs of the original Superman cartoon from the 1940s for $4 apiece. SCORE! Those cartoons, which would sometimes be shown on Cartoon Network’s earliest incarnation of Toonami, still hold up today and are pretty neat. But here I am digressing…
So we went to Value Village to donate stuff, and then hit up Peterborough’s resident comic shop, Jeff’s Cards & Comics. I’ve been there before, and although the store doesn’t look like much and sometimes I haven’t bought a thing there, I have had a hard time walking out of there empty handed a couple times. I wasn’t expecting yesterday to be one of those times though.
The logo for Jeffs Cards & Comics, a cool little Canadian comics shop in Peterborough, Ontario.
As soon as we walked in, Maureen spotted a giant volume, The Complete Captain Canuck put out by IDW Publishing which was interesting, as Maureen and I had heard of Canada’s premiere super hero (next to the heroes of Marvel’s Alpha Flight I suppose) but knew nothing about him. Unfortunately, there was a giant bend on the cover. Maureen wondered aloud if we could maybe get a discount because of the damage, as it was a $29.99 book. I asked a clerk, who had to go into the back and “Ask Dave if he’s not too busy,” so he disappeared and we browsed some more. Then he re-emerged saying he’d knock $5 off. As soon as Kathryn heard that, she decided to buy the book for us. Wow! Thanks Kathryn! I mean, I know nothing about Captain Canuck, but was certainly always curious.
It's Captain Canuck, hero to Canada and the indie comics scene!
Maureen and I then browsed some more, seeing some rare Legion of Super-Hero toys. They had a cool History of the DC Universe Plastic Man figure too, and then Maureen looked at some staff picks hanging from the wall. One of them was Winter World by Chuck Dixon and Jorge Zaffino, also put out by IDW Publishing and apparently, it’s been out of print twenty some years and was highly acclaimed back in the day. Maureen decided to get it for herself. We looked at more toys, but when we got to the back wall, I heard Maureen exclaim:
“Max! Look! A Vandal Savage figure!”
Sure enough, it was the immortal intelligent caveman, Vandal Savage, foe to the Justice Society and Justice League alike. His price tag said $22.50, but Maureen insisted we had to have him. I heartily agreed, as we didn’t even know there was a Vanadal Savage figure and I had recently hoped there was. Then Maureen spotted a Legion of Super-Heroes Sunboy figure for $8 and pointed him out, knowing I’m planning to invest in some Legion figures soon. I knew I was pushing my luck, but asked if we could get Sunboy and Vandal. She agreed. (How cool is that? What a woman!)
A Vandal Savage action figure, something we didn't know existed! What a find!
The real treat came when we got to the check out, where the clerk we asked about Captain Canuck looked at the Vandal Savage figure.
“You know, we’ve had this figure forever. You can have him for $15.”
Hell yes! What a guy! I found out his name is Matt, so I’d like to say to Matt at Jeff’s Cards & Comics, thank you sir. Thank you very much!
Maureen and I were riding a purchase high after finding what we did at Jeff’s and headed back to her parents’ house to drop off several boxes of Kathryn and Loon’s stuff. It was starting to get foggy as we made our way from Peterborough, but we made it back safely. Then we headed out to dinner for all you can eat sushi—and we indeed ate all we could. It was so delicious and a perfect end to a perfect day!
We didn’t do any drinking for St. Patrick’s Day, even though we bought cider and beer (maybe we’ll break into those tonight!) and none of us wore green. But it was a heck of day! I tried to start reading some Aquaman, starting with The Aquaman Archives Volume 1 but I simply didn’t have time. Maybe later today or tomorrow? We’ll see…
NOTES FROM NOW (9/9/12): Jeff’s is not the cleanest or most organized comic shop, which makes going there a treasure hunt every time. I don’t know that we’ll be back to Jeff’s (as my sister-in-law and her husband moved away from the area), but at least I can rest assured that we got some great stuff, and just about everything we could want that they had. If you’re ever in Peterborough, Ontario, do check them out.
The IKEA shelves turned out to be less than ideal for action figures, but I’ve got a couple in one. They are very handy regardless, so thanks Kathryn and Loon!
And see what a nagging pain Aquaman is already becoming?