Comic Shop

I was up in the loft the other day, which is full of boxes of stuff that have now survived two house moves. Getting up and down there requires some precarious balancing on the top of a step ladder, even more risky when hauling boxes up and down. I brought down four large boxes of comics and a biggish box of cassettes. In the mid 80s I was a big comics fan. I started as a young kid reading 2000AD and then moved onto Marvel and DC. I decided the time had come to sell them, especially as money is tight, there's a few things I'm after at the moment and raising the money out selling things seemed the best way to do it. Going through my comics collection (all filed in alphabetical order by title and then in chronological order, many of them in indivdual plastic bags) was a real Proustian rush job. I recognised some of the covers straight away and got a bit of a shiver, confronted with a much, much younger me. This younger me stared back in the shape of a few photo albums that came down as well. Look at a picture of yourself aged 17 and then tell yourself you haven't aged. I pulled out a few comics that I thought I'd keep (for, erm, sentimental reasons) including the run of Daredevil comics illustrated by David Mazzucelli (pictures above) and written by Frank Miller, a few X-Men, the full set of original Watchmen, a handful of others. The rest have gone up on ebay. The two big boxes (several hundred comics, buyer collects etc) sold pretty quickly. A run of Alan Moore written Swamp Things went last night and a pile of 2000ADs (variable condition) that have got some interest. I suspect the big boxes have gone to  a dealer who will make more money out of them than I have but I'm not going to start attending comic fairs and conventions to sell them individually and the amount I've raised will buy, ooh, that Clash Sound System boxed set for instance and a bit more besides. Although part of me is sorry to see them go, the rational part of me says 'they've been in the loft for twenty years, you'll never read them again- let them go'.

I also found a pile of Deadline magazines- an attempt to marry comic strips, satire and acid house. Tank Girl was Deadline's most famous character but there are interviews with clubby-comic crossovers and cartoon strips of 'real' people wearing MA1 flying jackets and ripped 501s (some by Jamie Hewlett of Gorillaz) with references to ecstasy. Strange days. I'm keeping these too.

The cassettes went up on ebay too- not all look like they'll sell but some Joy Division and New Order cassettes, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts and one or two others have gone for anywhere between £2 and £8.50. These are albums I've got several times, in multiple formats. I'm slightly bemused that people will pay for two decade old cassettes (a pretty poor way to listen to music, let's be honest).

Cut Copy, remixed by Audrey from a year or two ago.

Sun God (Andrew Weatherall Remix)