Mail Call For 10.8.23

I happened to be outside and randomly noticed that I had some packages at my front door, so it’s an unexpected Mail Call.

I mean, I knew these things were coming at some point, I just didn’t expect some point to be today.

Anyway, first up we have a mini-series from the 1980s that I missed back then and I decided I should pick up now, as I was reminded of its existence by seeing a scan of the house ad for it posted somewhere, and because the, er, titular character has been experiencing something of a resurgence lately, as can be seen from some of my other Mail Call posts as well as my Pull List posts.

While I was buying those, I picked up some other things I was reminded of by a post on Comics Bluesky. These I did have back then, but my copies have been lost to the ages.

And while I was buying those, I decided to pick up a couple of other nostalgic favorites.

I actually have a story that goes along with #21.

My mom never drove, but sometimes she would get a ride to town with someone during the day, either to go for lunch, or just to get out of the house, or to do the week’s shopping.

When I was a kid, whenever she’d do that, she’d usually grab some comics for me. It was always a bit of a crapshoot, because she didn’t know what I already had, or if it was something I’d like. She’d just grab some comics at random.

In any case, one Friday in the spring of 1982, she went to town in the morning and, for whatever reason, bought me a BUNCH of comics.

She was so excited about it that when she got home she called me AT SCHOOL just to tell me about it.

NTT #21 was part of that haul.

And she was right to be excited – I remember that, in addition to this comic, it was a very good haul.

Anyway, it still makes me laugh thinking about being in class and getting called to the office because my mom was on the phone, wondering what’s going on or if something bad had happened, only to be greeted by “I got you SO MANY COMICS!”

Like the comics above, both of these were lost to the ages, but while I was buying a replacement issue of NTT, I felt like I needed to get this one, too. (And I got #22 because it’s the conclusion of the story.)

Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.