Bill Mantlo benefit art auction left overs in Portland

Shitty art work from past benefit auctions

Just got back from a weekend get away in Portland and paid a brief visit to Floating World Comics while I was there. They had some of these 11 X 17 glossy prints on a pretty thick paper stock of some of the art work from the past benefit auctions. Sadly none of them was of any of the good art that came out of those auctions. Most of the art work that came from those auctions were really amateurish and down right bizarre much of the time. Too bad, a high quality print of some of the better art work would have been a nice thing to take home with me. Those prints were only going for around $5 and there's no sales tax in Oregon.

So moving on to more satisfying matters. Just before I left for Portland I got a copy of Excalibur 121 in the mail which I bought on ebay. I think you can all guess why I wanted that issue and it came just in time to give me something to read on the plane even though Oakland to Portland is a fairly short flight. Some of the highlights is the opening sequence with the debriefing of Sabra by her superiors over a mission she under took with Excalibur.

When the story back tracks to the before mentioned mission we find out that Sabra doesn't play well with others here. Even when it came to fellow mutants she has a common heritage with (Kitty Pride ofcourse) things got of to a rough start. But toward the end of the mission Sabra gets a lesson in the value of team work which in turn may help explain her having been more of a team player (especially with Storm) in what would be the pages of future X-Men issues back then.

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Why Bill Mantlo/ROM fans should remember Portland

Left click to enlarge interior mural from previous store location

It's hard to believe there are any ROM and or Bill Mantlo fans out there who don't know about Floating Worlds Comics by now but I guess there's still a few of you out there. In 2007 and 2010 Floating Worlds Comics hosted an art benefit auction to raise money and awareness for Bill along with some other related promotional events. That's the only comic shop I've ever known to have done something like that on behalf of Bill which is pretty crazy when you think of the kind of career he had. The promotional events at Floating World Comics had also resulted in an influx of ROM related fandom and newly created art work onto the internet just prior to me discovering for the first time the enduring fan base for the big silver guy which was some where in late 2008. So of course during my trip to Northern Oregon right after Thanksgiving Day Weekend I'll be sure to add a visit to Floating World Comics to my itinerary. You can see past blog postings about the Bill Mantlo benefit art auctions here . . .
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/search?q=floating+world+comics

I'll be updating this posting as soon as I get back late next week. Meanwhile, here's a couple of things you might enjoy. Written by Mantlo in the pages of HEAVY METAL magazine this is a futuristic short story about tyranny and rebellion told in an old English style of writing . . .

http://theporporbooksblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/rising-of-moon-by-bill-mantlo-writer.html

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Dec. 4 Update: Well I'm finally back from my trip and the ironic thing is when I flew out of Oakland on Teusday morning it was raining like crazy but the minute I touched down in Portland it was dry as a bone which was the case through out all of Northern Oregon for almost the entire time I was there. Needless to say I had a great time and I'd like to make some recommendations to all my fellow sci-fi comic book geek freinds who may some day happen to find themselves out in the Portland, Seaside and Astoria areas. Just a block down from Floating World Comics is this cool 80s retro video game arcade/bar called Ground Kontrol. Like I said it's also a bar so they do card you at the entrance. Only a short walk away is Billy's Galaxy which was one of the best vintage toy shops I've ever seen. Among the collection of awesome stuff there they had a couple of ROM dolls but I ended up buying this Gobot I used to have called Pathfinder. And on a side note amazingly even the small coastal town of Astoria (where Kindergarten Cop and The Goonies were filmed) had an 80s retro video game arcade called The Arc Arcade.

One last thing, I grabbed a copy of Incredible Hulk #258 (Mantlo / Buscema 1981) at Floating World Comics for some lite reading on the plane for the trip home and I discovered this house ad on the letters page. This is actually the first time I've ever seen this particular ROM promo in print although the 6" banner strip ad version I've had for a while now electonically thanks to Gary Martin Jr. although that version includes some extra art work in the left hand bottom corner. . .
http://romspaceknightart.blogspot.com/2012/07/marvel-80s-house-ads-promos-with-rom_24.html

Extra copies of Bill Mantlo A Lifetime in Comics still available

I spoke to the owner of Floating World Comics (Jason) earlier today and he informed me that they had a decent amount of copies of this wonderful magazine still in stock. If you have a Paypal account that would probably be your best bet but I'm sure he'll work out something with you if you have another way you want to pay. The cover price is $7 plus S+H so figure around $10 total. It's well worth every penny of your hard earned income all you 99 percenters who are Bill Mantlo fans.

Floating World Comics  400 NW Couch St  Portland, OR 97209    phone# (503) 241-0227
 

Now if this is what that Age of  Ultron preview had looked like then Rom fans certainly would have had something to get excited about. But at least this is something cool to look at.