Back to comics by the kilo

We had to give up some of the finer things in life when we went back to live in my old home town last year - big concerts, great foods and the always excellent kilo sale at Arkham Comics in Auckland.

Jeremy and his crew at Arkham put on the kilo sale two or three times a year, and you get to go through a tonne of comic boxes and pay for your choices by weight. It roughly works out at about a dollar an issue.

And there is always a good mix of crazy stuff, not just the obvious trash found in most discount bins. Rare treasures, and surprisingly obscure titles. Lots of big titles from the big publishers (although never any Batman).

The main thing is that these are not for investment, because they are 100 percent all reader copies. Those rare treasures aren't going to put your kids through college, not with the cover only just hanging on. 

So I can pick up are some early 80s Green Lantern comics with some sweet Dave Gibbons and Keith Pollard artwork, and the official condition is shot to hell. But I don't care, because that's a lot of green-slinging I have never even seen before.

After being away from the kilo glory for the year, I've noticed some trends coming through, and there were definitely a lot more New 52, Rebirth and Young Animal comics from DC in the boxes. It's still a little stunning just how many comics DC put out in the past couple of decades, and there are entire runs of Animal Man and Doom Patrol comics that I never tasted, and now have the opportunity to indulge in. 

I also picked up a couple more of the DC 1M comics that I am currently mildly obsessed with collecting; and some John Byrne Fantastic Four, because I always think I've read all of Big John's FF comics, but there always seem to be more; and a handful of Superman comics from the sweet spot between the Crisis and the Death. Assorted other one-offs and annuals and various oddities.

Almost all of them will be sold on for cost price, and will be in my grubby mitts for a few months at most, but that's the circle of life, right? You can only hold onto this kind of four colour fun for so long, especially when you paid for it by weight.