NSFW EDITION
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I had my big comic book back issue sale and it was a huge success. Would you expect anything less from little ol' me, Frankie D? I sold tons of of cool old comics and still have boxes and boxes worth of comic book gold. So I am planning on making these back issue sales a regular thing for as long I as I find myself in this burg.
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(Photos by Michael Rhoades)
Lots of people showed up - mostly folks who only know me through this column or my blogs. Even two of my correspondence course students were there. Nice to meet you all. Dash Shaw stopped by. So did Ben Marra and his entourage. Even the mysterious Jonny Negron made an appearance. Jonny dropped off the drawing I commissioned from him. Check it out:
(if you steal this image for your blog - which I am sure you will - please credit it to Jonny Negron - and also put "collection of Frank Santoro" - thanks)
Everyone was like, "What are you working on?" And I replied, "This." My collection is a living, breathing body of work - something I have been growing and pruning for years. It's a hustle. Selling wacky back issues that no one else has is an art. This is what I am always working on. Sitting in a room drawing by my lonesome has destroyed my last few relationships and doesn't pay nearly as good as hustling comics does. This is more fun. Assembling and disseminating these old comic back out into the comics reading world in an effort to sway opinion about these old forgotten things is my art these days.
My rehabilitation of these comics is no different than Dan doing same with Art Out of Time. We are building on years and years of work by other superfans, other scholars - and then packaging the books for a new audience. Except, unlike Dan, I like to champion the lowest of the low. The black and white explosion of the mid to late 80s is supposed to be the absolute worst moment in comics history. To most, this work is dead. But to me, it's alive. Solid gold. Top of the charts.
