Date: May 1996 Publisher: Sirius Entertainment Cover Price: $2.50 2013 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 22 black & white pages plus “Letters to Akiko” and “Akiko’s Bulletin Board” Story & Art: Mark Crilley Notable Notes: The gang battles monsters – arena style!
Akiko and her friends sure are lucky sometimes, and in this issue some pretty fantastic events happen to help them out of some pretty dire circumstances. But hey, that is part of the fun of comics right? This super-fun all-ages comic pushes the borders of willing suspension of disbelief, but I enjoyed it immensely none-the-less!
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Date: 2012 Publisher: Ape Entertainment Cover Price: $3.99 Stats: 24 color pages plus one house ad Writer: Buddy Scalera Artists: James Silvani, Deron Bennett Notable Notes: Richie’s team is transformed into virtual super-heroes!
Several months ago I learned that Richie Rich comics were being published again – and I was ecstatic! These were my all time favorite comic books when I was a kid, and I was sad when they quit publishing them. These new ones have been going on for about a year now, but I had heard nothing of them until I saw a small review in Comics Buyer’s Guide recently. I decided to give this new series a try – and I wasn’t disappointed!
Date: April 1996 Publisher: Sirius Entertainment Cover Price: $2.50 2013 NM Price: $4.00 Stats: 22 black & white pages plus house ads Story & Art: Mark Crilley Notable Notes: Akiko and friends are captured by the Sky Pirates!
Have you ever had a bad day… and one that keeps getting worse? I have. In fact going to work yesterday, after a long holiday vacation, sure felt that way! Comics (and indeed most forms of modern story-telling) seem to incorporate miserable and funny circumstances into major plot points. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t – but this issue kept me smiling as Akiko and her friends keep getting into worse and worse situations. Fun isn’t it?
Date: July 2000 Publisher: CrossGen Comics Cover Price: $2.95 2012 NM Price: $3.00 Stats: 27 color pages plus house ads Writer: Barbara Kesel Artists: Joshua Middleton, Dexter Vines, Michael Atiyeh, Dave Lanphear Notable Notes: One of the 1st four flagship titles from CrossGen comics!
So, I was a big fan of CrossGen Comics when they first appeared back in the year 2000. I followed all the main titles and several of the later ones. The company put out some cool stuff, and they (supposedly) treated their employees with respect. So you shouldn’t be surprised when I tell you that I was devastated when I heard that they were going under and that they owed money to lots of people. It was truly a shame, but I figured after all these years it was time to give some of their comics another try and see if I still enjoyed them. Yep, turns out I did!
Date: August 1979 Publisher: Harvey Publications, Inc. Cover Price: 35¢ 2012 NM Price: $6.00 Stats: 23 color pages plus ads Writer: ? Artists: ? Notable Notes: Hot Stuff loses his cool and zaps all kinds of things!
Hot Stuff comics were my earliest comic reading experience. My mom used to buy them for my brother and me when we went on long car trips, and I would blast through them. It must have been here that I picked up my fascination with devils and demons. I’m not a devil worshiper by any means, but I’ve always thought they were cool characters in stories, movies and most of all Dungeons & Dragons! Reading this comic reminded my why I started thinking they were cool!
Date: March 1996 Publisher: Sirius Entertainment Cover Price: $2.50 2012 NM Price: $5.00 Stats: 23 black & white pages Story & Art: Mark Crilley Notable Notes: Chapter 1 of the “Back to Smoo” storyline.
I first encountered an issue of Akiko in the late 1990s, and totally fell in love with it. Over the next many years I tracked down all 52 issues of this excellent series, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through them. In fact the series was so good that I read it to each of my kids when they were but young ‘uns who climbed on my lap and begged for a bed-time story. Guess what? They loved it too!
Date: September 1983 Publisher: Archie Comics Group Cover Price: 60¢ 2012 NM Price: $6.00 Stats: 22 color pages plus ads. Writer: Frank Doyle Artists: Dan DeCarlo Jr., Jimmy DeCarlo, Bill Yoshida, Barry Grossman Notable Notes: The return of Jinx Malloy!
Good old Archie comics – they were another staple of my childhood. This series is aimed at teens, which probably explains why it holds up better on a re-read than my childhood favorite: Richie Rich . Is there any comic book fan who hasn’t read an Archie comic? Maybe people who starting reading comics when adults – if so they are missing out on a great, classic story!
Date: August 1975 Publisher: Harvey Comics Cover Price: 35¢ 2012 Price Range: $3.00 (good) – $25.00 (NM-) Stats: 37 color pages, plus a two-page text story and ads Writer: ? Artists: ? Notable Notes: In which Richie discovers a robot from an ancient civilization!
So, the cover of this issue shows that it is “52 pages” – which I took to mean 52 pages of story, however that is not the case. Sure, there are 52 pages in the book, but only 39 of them are actual story pages (and 2 of those are a text story!) Nevertheless, I actually enjoyed seeing and reading the old ads – things like Grit, Hostess, American Dental Association, Camp Fire Girls, Cub Scouts and the ever-famous Sea-Monkies! They were quite a hoot I tell ya! I’m sure I didn’t like the ads when I was a kid, but now they amuse me to no end!
November 1986 Gladstone Publishing, Ltd. 75¢, color, 32 pages Writers: Carl Barks, Byron Erickson Artists: Daan Jippes, Carl Barks, John Clark, Ken Feduniewicz
The Comic Experience:
I retire to the quiet solitude of my room and pop the scotch tape off the back of my mylar bag. After carefully removing the book, I gently flip through its pages, inhaling that slightly musty scent that only comes from old comics. Ahhh!
