Well, it looks like the Comics Code Authority finally came through with Marvel's licence to print money. This month's shipping list contains a rare gem. A reprinted, remarked version of Spider-Man, Revenge of The Green Goblin #1.
Turns out that these signed babies are available to you, the fan... or 'victim' for the paltry sum of $69.95. Oh, and yes of course they take credit cards.
Now, I'm pretty hard-core as collectors go. I don't mind shelling out a few dollars for something special - but this just winds me up a little too far. The minimum wage in New Zealand is a bit pathetic, and racks up at just over US$4 an hour... say $3.50 after tax assuming you have a decent accountant. That makes a reprinted comic with a hastily-scrawled signature on the cover worth half a weeks wages to some middle-class fan-boy.
Seems to me that the comics medium no longer considers itself 'entertainment for the masses'. Looks like the pickings are at bit poor down at the 7-11, so the Mighty Marvel Marketroids (in-between sipping Louis XIII brandy and admiring their Faberge eggs) have decided to throw in some product at the top end of the market.
So, what's it going to be for me? Christmas presents for the family, or a rare chance to purchase a uniquely reworked, hand-signed comic collectable? Ho, Ho, Ho, Marvel! The joke's on you this time. I'm not biting!