Gems You Won't Find at Just Any Comic Book Shop

There's nothing better than rummaging through the back issues at your local comic book store. Even if you don't have much cash, you can leave with a pretty good stack of old gems.

My newest stack comes from two different stores in Nebraska: Behind the Glass in Lincoln, and C&L Baseball Cards in Beatrice.

Behind the Glass is a new addition to a store called Toys From the Past. If your inner child is stuck in the Eighties or Nineties, then you'll love this place as much as I did. Nostalgia screamed with everything from He-Man and Ninja Turtles, to X-Men and Power Rangers—and that's only what caught my eyes! This second room, though, is where all the comics are held. Toy store employee, Nate Hammel, manages this section. Surprise had it that he's actually an industry artist who's work has been published in the pages of Image Comics. It can also be found on his site, Action Figure Art Factory.

Where Behind the Glass and Toys From the Past were a new discovery for me, I've been shopping at C&L Baseball Cards for years. It started off as a search for Pokémon cards. But the comic books are what kept me coming back time and again. And after fifteen years or so, you kinda become acquainted with someone. Every time I walk through those doors, I can always expect a long conversation with Chris, the C of C&L.

Cyber Force

These two books, I found at C&L. What caught my eye was that logo in the top-left. I love classic Image! My best theory for my fascination is one-part the art, one-part the story about the revolution these original creators started by leaving Marvel and creating their own publishing house, and ten-parts that nostalgic Nineties inner child!

In my collection, I have some Savage Dragon, Wildc.a.ts, and the Maxx. But no Cyber Force. So what better to start this title off than with the first two issues?

Lemme tell you something, though. You can't just follow the pictures and read the word bubbles in these old comics. Back in the day, there was a thing called the letters pages. This was before social media, where fanboys could air their grievances wherever they pleased. If you really wanted to know something about these books, then don't skip the last few pages.

One such letter compares team member, Velocity, to X-Men's Kitty Pryde and Jubilee. She is the "kid" of the team, just coming into her powers. The Image revolution was nicknamed "X-Odus," since many of the disgruntled creators came from X-Men titles. So its a no-brainer that many of these characters shared similarities with the better-known mutants. Creator, Marc Silvestri's work hails from Wolverine. Therefore, you can even find someone who resembled mister adamantium claws. Not only does Ripclaw have an obvious name, but he also has an obvious personality.

From the letters pages, I also learned that these were not actually the first issues of Cyber Force. Before-hand, there was a mini-series, marked volume one.

This volume two marked the ongoing series. And to kick the series off, these first couple issues were part of a crossover with fellow Image heroes, the Wildc.a.ts. I know I have the Wildc.a.ts issues in my collection somewhere, but I can't recall the story that crossed over into their title. From Cyber Force No. 1, the story moves to Wildc.a.ts No. 6. So by the time I got to Cyber Force No. 2, there was a gap.

I did catch the main point, though. In which, Ripclaw has a rivalry with Wildcat, Warblade, over the emotion-swaying Misery. Now that I think about it, that reminds me of another Wolverine story; one I saw on the big screen.

Dreadstar Vol. 1 No's 4 & 7

At Behind the Glass, it was the imprint that led me to buy these as well. I never heard of Epic Comics. Evidently, it was a direct sales line from Marvel back in the early Eighties.

What made my decision, though, was the name in the credits..... Jim Starlin. You know who Jim Starlin is, kids? His biggest creation was the star of this summer. I'm talking Thanos! So with the Mad Titan on my brain, I had to check out what else came from this mastermind.

Once again, the letters pages confirmed my feelings about this space epic. Epic Comics was created for readers with a little more mature taste. When most think of mature content, they think of something that would make the immature blush and giggle. The maturity of this story was in the thorough storylines and complex characters. Supplemented with expressions on the previous issues in the letters, my curiosity wants me to find more on this Dreadstar.

Iron Man Vol. 1 No. 144

I found a few Iron Man comics at Behind the Glass. In the letter pages of another Stark story, a fan offered an origin for Tony Stark and James Rhoades's friendship. The editor replied that they actually had something planned for No. 144. I flipped through my stack, and hey! I had No. 144! Hot dog!

The movies update Tony Stark's journey and places his origin in the Middle East. But when these comics were published, the war was in Vietnam. He really was, however, kidnapped and forced to build a weapon for the enemy. And just like the movie, he shared his cell with a scientist named Yinsen. Stark and Yinsen worked together to build this "weapon," which was actually a prototype for the Iron Man suit.

This issue is two stories in one. The second tells the story that was promised. Hours after Stark escaped captivity with the Mark I suit, he roamed the jungles of Vietnam. He ran into U.S. Marine, Rhoades. Iron Man's best friend and longest ally turned out to be the first victim of Stark's little white lie. See, there was a time when people thought Iron Man was Tony Stark's bodyguard. Ol' Shellhead didn't let Rhoady think any differently.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol. 3 No. 1

I found my Image gems, Cyber Force, at C&L. But Behind the Glass had my other. That logo, so cleverly disguised as the letter I, just looks so beautiful.

IDW has been putting out quality Turtle comics as of late. Mirage Studios sparked the franchise that became my obsession. And though my first TMNT comics were those from Archie, I've found the Image ones my favorite. Therefore, I was stoked to find their first issue with the big, beautiful I.

This run is considered the third volume of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle comics. Savage Dragon creator, Erik Larson, picked it up where Eastman and Laird left off in Volume One. Archie Comics gave the guys their colorful camp from the cartoons. But this one returned to the black-and-white grittiness.

Also, I think Image had a cyborg fetish. Not a single member of Cyber Force wasn't one. Here, Splinter is captured once again. So our reptilian friends fight through an army of them to find their sensei and their brother, Donatello. This must have led to the later issues I own where Donnie too is a cyborg.