Once upon a time, in the long-distant, antediluvian past, comic books were a lot like movies, or television shows.  You caught them when they first came out (or on), or you were out of luck.  Eventually, as we all know, the advent of consumer videotape technology changed everything for TV and film.  Similarly, the gradual development of the comics collectors’ market ultimately made it economically feasible to reprint old, ephemeral newsprint periodicals in brand new, designed-to-last, real-book editions, and then to keep them in print for, if not ever, then a lot longer than a month or two.  These days, in fact, you can even download a digital copy of a fifty-year-old comic book for less than the cost of a new one.  (What a world we live in.  You kids today, you just don’t know.)  Read More