Comic Books--Past and Future 2

An exchange on Facebook yesterday reminded me of exactly how I went from being a comic-book reader to being a comic-book collector. When I was growing up on Staten Island, there was a place called the Farmer's Market, a big open space under corrugated steel walls and roof, divided into stalls, that were rented out to various merchants. It was only open on weekends--Friday to Sunday. Most of the renters sold food of one kind or another, as the name "Farmer's Market" would imply. But some dealt in what now would be the stuff you find at flea markets...and one of them sold old comic-books. Not really old ones, though the proprietor did deal in those by mail, but issues from the past six months to five years, roughly. I discovered this place when I was 16, in 1968.

The owner was Bill Morse and his helper was Dave Kaler, a name I knew because he was a sometime-comics writer, notably on Captain Atom for Charlton. For about a year, I went there every Saturday (the market was about a 15-minute walk from my home) and picked up a few dollars worth of comics. (Back then, most of his recent back-issues--those about two years old or less--sold for 35 cents each; cover price in '68 was 12 cents.) Business was slow, though, so sometime in '69, Bill closed up shop.

He returned to running the business from his home....and I became one of his helpers. Every Saturday, I spent two or three hours sorting comics and keeping them in order. I got paid in comic books--three dollars worth for every hour I worked, as I recall. In 1971, Bill rented a storefront in another section of the Island, along a stretch that had become known as "antiques row". I worked there as well every weekend. Eventually, he moved the operation to Manhattan, in Greenwich Village. I continued to work for him until I finished college.

Through Bill, I met a number of young professional comic-book writers and artists, among them Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and Paul Levitz. Those acquaintances became important about ten years later when I started writing about comics for a living.