Expert: Mark Harmon - 10/12/2003

Question
"Hello"! Mr.Harmon I could use your help and suggestions on a Christmas gift idea I have thought of for my Son.He is into Mad/Cracked magazines and also enjoys the usual super hero comics.My idea consist of locating older issues of the comics I mentioned above that were published during the year my son was born.The year he graduated from 8th grade and the year he graduated from high school.I think he would get a kick out reading what the issues were about back then.The years in question would be,1974,1988 and 1992.Do you know of a web site,store or collectors that sell older issues of mad/cracked/comics etc.They do not need to be collectors editions as long as they are in decent shape.Do you know if the actual publishers sell back issues.Also,can you offer any suggestions of your own as to which editions would be best for those particlar years.Here is some info about my son that may help with the search.My son is an artist as a hobby.He has been drawing since he was very young and is familiar with many of the popular illustrators.Some comics I know of that he reads are Superman,spiderman,hulk,wolverine,captain america,spawn,thor,batman and of course Mad and Cracked.Thanks for taking the time to answer !!!! I appreciate it !!  

Answer
Hi Ron,

Sounds like a great idea for a gift.  As far as the comics go, the various publishers do not sell back issues as far as I'm aware.  However, there are certainly a large number of comic retailers that sell back issues on the internet, myself included.  

I carry all of the titles you mentioned.  If interested, you can contact me direct at comix2go@aol.com, and I can send you some examples of what I have along with the prices.  Then, if you choose, you can either buy from me or take the information I give you and do some comparison shopping on some of the other web sites that are out there.  Just do a search on "comics for sale" and you should get a lot of hits.

As far as the Cracked and Mad magazines go, I don't keep those in stock but again, doing an internet search should give you some information on those who do.  Another thing you might want to consider is doing a search on the auction site Ebay (search by title and date) and see what comes up.  

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any additional questions.

- Mark