JB wrote: I'm not sure how that's possible, Glenn. There was no prior notice of what was going to be in 137. Remember, Chris and I didn't even know ourselves! It shipped utterly without promotion, hype, hoopla, whatever. I cannot imagine how an article could have been written about the issue that would have come out any time close to the month it shipped, let alone the same week. And, remember, if the book "sold out" at the LCS, that would have been no big deal in 1980. The Direct Sales Market was still only a part of the marketplace as a whole. Anyone who could not find the issue at his/her LCS could have strolled down the block to the nearest drugstore and found it on the spinner rack there. It simply was not an "event" in anything like the modern sense. In fact, what it was, was something almost impossible to achieve in the modern marketplace: a surprise!

I hear you, John, and I'll concede that my memories may be colored by nostalgia and what not; it was a long time ago.  It certainly was not released with the hype or fanfare of today's manipulated "events" and I didn't mean to give that impression.  And I may be wrong about the LA Times...but there was an article in the entertainment section of an LA-based newspaper, possibly the late, lamented Herald Examiner or the Daily Breeze...the thrust of the article was Jean's death, which was reported as being significant..."Major Marvel Character To Die!" or something to that effect.  As for comic shops, the biggest one near me was the Comic Vendor, owned by one of the earlier retailers named Nick Scotto...and he was VERY aware of the collectible potential of comics back then.  For that issue with a seventy-five cent cover price, he jacked it up to five bucks that same day...which was outrageous for an eleven-year old kid used to paying fifty cents for new comics!  All of the other stores in LA followed suit although to your point, they may not have increased their orders to accomodate the increased demand because they didn't know when ordering what was going to occur.  And as previously noted newsstand/drugstore/other outlet distribution was spotty at best...very difficult to collect runs from those channels because you could never be sure of what they would receive in any given shipment.  So, not arguing the point...I just recall there being a bit more buzz surrounding #137's release relative to the period compared to the average monthly comic. 

No knock on the death of Jean Grey, but would she have been considered a major marvel character at the time? Would anyone outside of the comic book community even know the difference between Marvel and DC at the time? I'm shocked that any news outlet would have done a write up on a comic book in the late 70's or early 80's.

I can understand how regular humans might misinterpret this, but the D'Bari were clearly asking for it. Jean's homosuperior, and so, she's never wrong.

{quote]...and he was VERY aware of the collectible potential of comics back then.  For that issue with a seventy-five cent cover price, he jacked it up to five bucks that same day...which was outrageous for an eleven-year old kid used to paying fifty cents for new comics!  All of the other stores in LA followed suit although to your point, they may not have increased their orders to accomodate the increased demand because they didn't know when ordering what was going to occur. [/quote]

Jean should've nuked LA comic stores too. >:(

The Thrill of the Hunt. Another element of reading comics lost on modern
audiences.

_______________________

I still experience that whenever I buy comics in Spanish... Everything else I buy it online.

I remember him  having a big stack of them.  I didn't see the book at many newsstands, but that was because in the town I lived in distribution for some reason was always spotty for any double-sized or larger books.

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It was the same way in my town. The nearest comic shop was over 50 miles away, so it was years before I got the first issue of Alpha Flight, FF 236, and all the rest of the double size issues.

I wonder why they didn't get them? Maybe they though $1.00 was more than people would pay for a comic?

••

Most likely. As I have mentioned before, the single biggest mistake the
comicbook industry made was trying to hold on to that 10¢ cover price as
all other books and magazine prices started to rise. When comics were
introduced at a dime, lots of things were a dime, including the likes of
TIME and NEWSWEEK. That dime tag was a pretty standard price -- but as
other magazines rose in price and comics didn't, comics began to stand
apart from the pack. They began, effectively, to define themselves by
that 10 cent cost. So much so, that even today you can find people
reacting in "horror" to the price of comics, as if they are somehow priced
more expensively than, say, everything else!

As Bill Gaines used to say, "When comic books were a dime, hot dogs were
a nickel." Try to find a nickel hot dog -- and if you do, I advise you not to
eat it!!

X-fan until # 172.

I jumped onboard with # 174, but I don't know that I'd call myself "lucky." Claremont had a point when he wrote Avengers Annual # 10, but the idea of Cyclops falling in love with a woman because she looks exactly like his dead lover strikes me as more than a tad unhealthy.