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Thursday, June 21, 2007

DC Comic Pac - 1976

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Today being the first day of Summer(my favorite day of the year!), I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about the Comic Pac, a package of bagged comics, two in this case, also sold in threes during the sixties and seventies. Comic fans of a certain age(of which I am one) have distinct memories of picking these up for long car rides to summer vacation destinations.

Proving that there can be nostalgia for anything if it hangs around long enough, go to ebay and check out the comic pacs for sale--the prices are astronomical. The cheapest comic pac you'll find goes for around forty bucks--and that's if the titles enclosed are off-brand stuff like Kamandi, Strange Sports Stories, and Prez. If you want a Batman or JLA comic pac, prepare to drop some serious coin.

The funny thing about these comc pacs is, as Mark Evanier pointed out on his blog a few months back, I don't know anyone who didn't hate them--you always got stuck with a book you already had or didn't want just to get something you did(I, of course, didn't care what the second title was once I saw Jim Aparo's Aquaman in there!). And Rao help you if you bought the three-pack...you needed to be the Ten-Eyed Man to be able to figure out what that middle book was! Yet now they command high prices on ebay. As Bart Simpson once said: "Oh, the ironing."

But, hey enough negative talk--summer's here, and time is right, for comic-pacs!

9 comments:

Luke said...

You can still find those 3 packs occassionally in WalMart (at least here in South Carolina). And it is a TOTAL crapshoot of what you'll find. One time, I saw an issue of DC's "Who's Who" and (I think) and issue of "Tales of the Teen Titans" sandwiching some unknown comic. Too bizarre! My favorite such purchase from my youth was on a family trip to Disney World, where I found a pack of 5 issues of "Excalibur," all written and drawn by Alan Davis. Now THAT was a cool pack.

Anonymous said...

I don't really remember packs, but I remember when stores like VENTURE and GRANDPA PIGEONS sold comics. I bought that LSH reprint at VENTURE, and I bought Mike Grell's Aquaman series in Adventure there, too. I really think the publishers need to sell cheaper, family friendly comics in more markets. These things out there today are too expensive for the average kid!

rob! said...

Grandpa Pigeons?

Plaidstallions said...

My Dad's friend used to distribute these, I could grab with both hands when visiting, the middle book was always a gamble.

I saw piles of these in my local 7-11 two years ago, someone must have found them in the backroom, they were gone the next day.

Anonymous said...

Remember the Whitman 3-packs? They would replace the "DC" in the DC Bullet logo with the smiling "W" Whitma logo. I specifically remember a pack that had two Brave and Bolds: One had Batman and the Flash. They fought the Phantom of the Disco, and Bruce Wayne is seen in an exact copy of John Travolta's Saturday Night Fever white suit and black shirt, doing the hustle! Zany Haney and Aparo at their finest. The other B&B was Batman and Kamandi. Another Haney/Aparo tale. I had this one with the standard DC logo as well. That weirded me out.

The third book was my first LOSH comic. LIghtning Lad is holding a disolving, scantily clad Saturn Girl on the cover. First time I ever heard of or saw the Legion.

Chris

Anonymous said...

Grandpa Pigeons was one of those old Kresge/K-Mart type stores that were phased out with the upswing of stores like Target and Meijers. Or maybe it was just local in St. Louis?

Rick L. Phillips said...

Well you may have to blame my Mom and Dad that. In the early 1970's they sold them in packages of 3 for 39 cents. You can se on of them on my site if you go to http://onmymind1.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-i-learned-to-read.html#links
this link.

rob! said...

went to your site, rick...i LOVE that story!

i think now, if i saw them, i'd LOVE them for the sheer mystery and variety. but as kid with just a few quarters to spare, i wanted to make SURE i was getting comics i was gonna like!

Anonymous said...

Guys-

The Whitman/Gold Key stuff was a last-gasp attempt to keep their comics line from folding, by breaking out differently retail-wise.

(Speaking of one of your other interests, Rob, I remember picking up Whitman-labeled Treasuries in a K-Mart, among the coloring books & such.)

It didn't work!

Which is a shame, because along with the winking out of Charlton at about the same time, it was pretty much the death of all other genres than Men In Tights...

Great weekend,all!
-Craig