I'm an odd duck. Statistically, I should be old enough to not have my pulse racing with anticipation when I enter a comic book store. But, that's how I am, especially at a store with a decent stock of back issues.

   Unfortunately, back issues are no longer a popular staple in a lot of comics stores. Lots of modern fans like only the shiny new stuff, not that fuddy-duddy Giant-Size Defenders with the cool Bill Everett Sub-Mariner reprints in the back. A lot of back issues just sit there for months, even years, and take up a lot of space unless a nostalgia buff my age (let's just say, for example, over thirty) comes in on a whim and buys a run of Secret Society of Super-Villains, Amythyst, Princess of Gemworld, Rom Spaceknight or some Ditko Charlton Ghost Manors (ahhh, that's the GOOD stuff...). Where was I? I was drunk on nostalgia for a moment...

   Another obstacle for comic store owners is the fact that they are taxed every year on their inventory. Small wonder, then, that most modern stores have 50% back issue sales or reduce recent comics that haven't sold.

   Thankfully, these back issue stories are becoming increasingly more available, in the form of trade paperbacks and hardcover reprints. Hardcovers may seem pricey, but the higher price-point is necessary, to justify the expense of art restoration. A lot of good stories haven't even been reprinted in twenty years or more, and old photostats of the original art don't age well. I'm grateful that there's a renewed interest in archiving the older stuff, whether it's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. agents, the upcoming Marvel Masterworks Golden Age (got mine reserved!) or, that treasure of treasures, the new Peanuts collection, finally in chronological order! None of this "with selections from 'You've been served, Charlie Brown' on the cover.

   When it comes to modern comics, I still prefer the individual issues over trades. I've grown accustomed to reading about my favorite characters in an episodic format. You get a week of good comics, stack 'em up, and savor each like an entree in a seven-course meal. Trade paperbacks and hardbacks can be too bulky at times, like when you're lying poolside.

   I have this habit of buying trades, then not reading them for months. Some trades are so cool, I want to wait until I have a day off to read the entire story (or stories). Jeff Loeb & Tim Sale's Spider-Man: Blue was a great read-through. As a freelancer, there are very few days off, unless you're fast (I'm not). So the trades will sit for that eventual day, unless I break down. I finally cracked open the Fantastic Four Visionaries: John Byrne vol. 2, reprinting # 241-250. Since this book is not all one continuous story, I can read an issue a day as time allows. I have most of these FF issues , but during the ' 80's, comic companies had shaved costs with cheap, messy printing, so, much as I have a newsprint-preference, it's great to see the ultra-sharp linework that Byrne employed back then. Same with the Walt Simonson Visionaries-I have the originals, and there are black smudges that carry from the left page to the right, as well as pages bleeding though the other side - UGH! Since modern comics are printed much better, I don't feel the need to wait for the trade. Lots of fans buy both the individual issues and the trade paperbacks. On behalf of someone who's living depends on your readership, thanks! (Cue AC/DC song): "For those about to buy, WE SA-LUUUUUUUUUUUUTE YOOOU!!

   Going back to the Byrne FF issues reprinted in the Visionaries (vol. 2, I remember, I'm back on track!): There's a perfect Marvel-style three-parter where Terrax attacks the FF and tries to enlist them to take down his master, Galactus. The first part's cover shows Terrax fighting the FF atop a damaged Baxter Building. Every time I see this particular cover, I immediately associate the image with cold, wet sneakers. Pavlov would've been well served had he expanded his dog-slobbering theories on comic book geeks like myself. "Where are you going with this, Drew?" Don't worry, I'll tie it all together somehow (or at least wad it all up).

   You see, the issue, # 242 had a May cover date, which meant it came out in late February. Huh? Let me explain...

   Until the ' 90's, comics had a three-month advance cover date. March issues came out at Christmas time, and I have a special fondness for comics that came out that time of year as it somehow added to the enjoyment of the holidays you can only experience through innocent eyes. Awwwww. Cue puking sound effect here.

   Growing up in the Pittsburgh area, enduring the winters was rough, but you don't mind. For me, there was a fierce pride in overcoming the savage elements of breath-stealing wind and shuffling through waist-high snow drifts (piled even higher in the wake of the snowplows). Winter stays until April at the earliest. I remember walking all the way past other comic-carrying convenient stores, to go to an inconvenient newsstand that was behind the Monroeville Mall (next to the Expo Mart that hosts the annual Pittsburgh Comic convention). Why? Because this newsstand got it's comics a week early, from Dahn-tahn. Excuse me, that's 'downtown', for those who don't speak Pittburghese. One particularly sloppy, slushy late February, I plodded home after buying that FF # 242 from the newsstand, reading it on the way home. This is during daylight savings time, so there's only, maybe, two hours of daylight after school. There I was, the streetlights and restaurant signs lighting my way home as I read the Fantastic Four comic, misstepping on ice, in slush and puddles and savoring every minute of it

   That's why I think of my cold wet sneakers when I see that cover. I didn't know from galoshes back then.