Superman Sonderausgabe #6 - Superman gegen Mongul! (1981)

I never thought of Cologne as a must-visit locale for comic book fans. However, my second trip to Germany was going to be too brief to do anything substantial, so I Googled some nice looking shops within walking distance of where we were staying. As it happened, there were actually several very appealing and quite varied fandom-related stores in the area. Some were more geared toward Generation X nostalgia, like 1970s actions figures, lunch boxes, and such. One was a three story deal in the heart of the tourist section that gives Forbidden Planet a run for its money. My Gal found a vintage Playmobil from her childhood in their basement, while I hoarded a bunch of cheap '80s/'90s digest reprints of U.S. comics for "stocking stuffers." I was quite pleased to find Red Circle and First Comics representation in that department, although the condition on the latter was so poor that it's physically warped (while reprinting Warp.)

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Given the oft-noted fastidiousness of Germans, I was surprised to observe that they don't know how to store comic books. For instance, all of those digests were loose on a freestanding display rack, and some had been mauled to pieces by small children and clumsy adults (guilty.) They don't use standardized comic boxes either, with that mega-store I mentioned employing wooden shelves with dividing panels instead. Houston's own Bedrock City Comic Company has a similar set-up, with the key difference being that the Germans also don't use backer boards. Their vintage "floppies" are often on a thinner, glossier stock than their Bronze Age U.S. counterparts, and on top of that, they love sealing their comic bags with 3-inch-plus strips of tape. I over-zealously chanced opening them while on the road, and surely put some crimps in them spines, where a wiser man would have cut them free with scissors instead.

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I bring this up in part because there was one specific shop that I had targeted when getting the lay of the land. While on vacation in Europe, we saw plenty of modern style comic shops full of Panini reprints or North American imports, usually with at least some selection of more antiquated formats. This one shop in Cologne though was a proper Android's Dungeon hole in the wall. Mind, it probably still had more square footage and better bones than your average dusty old American dump, but it was still a dim and cluttered mess with treasures of yore. I could have easily spent a whole day there, and way too much money, but I had already punished my wallet and suitcase miserably at early stops. I needed to be as swift and objective-minded as I could be in the time allotted.

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This was tough because there were boxes everywhere, and again, random old repurposed and tape-reinforced cardboard of quite varied dimensions. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed a smallbox small box (about a square foot) off of an eye-level but deep shelf, and set it on another chest-level box. A severe and socially disinclined shopkeeper that was already giving my gal hairy eyeballs just for taking up the limited space scolded me in Deutsch. Following his gestures, I was meant to take any given box to a cluttered wooden table nearby to peruse, since again, these comics were not held up by backer boards. I had been selfish in many of my prior purchases, but also, there wasn't that much representation of the Bronze Age DC favored in my blogging/podcasting circles. Here I had a good chance of digging up varied Silver/Bronze reprint floppies of their childhood favorites, and I did. Several nifty old numbers and a few more contemporary items that were reasonably inexpensive, so I didn't feel to guilty about it.

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There was one though that kind of broke the bank. The first Mongul story from 1980's DC Comics Presents #27 has been reprinted a bunch of times, thanks mostly to his being immortalized in "For the Man Who Has Everything." However, that introductory story arc by Wein & Starlin was pretty well regarded by Superman fans even before Moore & Gibbons got to him. I thought for sure I'd gotten the UK hardcover collection with the original Bolland cover at some point, but I guess not, so this German edition is my first oversized collection of DC Comics Presents #28 with Supergirl and DC Comics Presents #29 with The Spectre, plus unrelated bonus reprints. Despite his fallen posture, the Jim Starlin Martian Manhunter cover remains a personal favorite, so it's nice to have it on squarebound cardstock in a 9" x 12" presentation. The interiors are also on a heavier white stock, recalling the Baxter format, which is much more vibrant than the original comics without becoming glossy eyesores. The inside covers are plain white, and the random reprint stuck between the first and second Mongul chapters is a Supergirl serial that started in 1971's Adventure Comics #408. Mike Sekowsky is joined by inker Dick Giordano for a tale of green-skinned alien invaders that concluded in Adventure Comics #409. I feel this was worth my 25€, but I do feel a bit bad for not feeling the same about getting a similiar edition featuring Firestorm's induction in the Justice League of America (as advertised on the back cover) for my buddy Shag. Eh, he's well traveled enough to go get his own, plus I already got him other cool stuff.

DC in Germany

• Aquaman in Top Comics Wassermann Nr. 108 (1970)
• The Atom & Aquaman in Superman-Batman Heft 8 (April 1976)
• Wonder Woman in JLA - Die neue Gerechtigkeitsliga #31 (1999)
• GrimJack in Die Cosmic-Ranger Nr. 3 (1985)